Going to hell? Fringe lunatics

If a person asks me, "do you think I am going to hell?", the first thing that goes through my head as a Christian is, "huh?"You see, I don't actually believe or have a preliminary judgement that a specific person is going to hell. My official answer is that I do not know.The fringe-lunatics that go around telling people they are going to hell, having signs that say, "fa*s burn in hell", at peoples funerals.The truth is, I would rather have the nice none-believer go to heaven than an evil Christian go to heaven. I simply don't think God is stupid in this way!Because of the fringe lunatics, I think some atheists believe that Christians have a grim desire to see them in hell.So this question is actually a concern to me because it supposes that I have established a belief that a particular person is going to hell. That "belief" in itself, is a dangerous belief. I do not actually go around establishing thoughts such as, "oh he is atheist he must be going to hell". That would be - well, a horrible thing. We are taught not to judge others.Now in the scriptures, it appears CLEAR where salvation comes from, (Jesus Christ) but at no time does it say that we have a clear dichotomy.Sure - there are the "clearly" lost people, who we can't see going to heaven such as Hitlers or whatever, but to put me infront of a lovely person, who is an atheist, and expect me to even want to believe they are going to hell - this is the hardest thing for my belief system.Sure - I will always act with caution - that's why we share the Gospel, incase somebody is lost and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, but I think that sometimes this gives the impression that Christians would think you are going to hell, in a judgemental way.Our position is more adequately presented in this way;"We are told, by God, all have sin, and there is a way back to God, a way out of punishment for that sin, therefore we want everyone to take that way out. Everyone." Romans 3:22-24 (New International Version)

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22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.But to believe this would give us a mandate to individually pick on certain groups of people is just a horrible misunderstanding of scripture.That's the thing - if these fringe lunatics thrive and are happy that they believe gay people are going to hell, if anything, doesn't that show that they don't have the love of God? For how could anyone want somebody to go to hell? That is not a normal way to think, it is a sick way to think, to derive pleasure from thisSo if, for example, someone pushes me for an answer, and re-phrases it, and says, "okay - do you believe atheists are going to hell?", if you have to answer then I would say, "I hope not", but if they insist on a yes or no answer, do I qualify to have that belief either way? Do I believe they are certainly going to hell? I am not certain - no. Not that I am giving you a sugar-coated Gospel, but God says He will judge not by what He hears or sees, (like humans do), but with righteousness. Therefore I trust in God - and hope and pray for Him to be merciful.I think this is a major problem for a genuine Christian because you yourself know you are not a fringe lunatic, or that you have these beliefs towards people and yet there is the common belief that because of what the bible says, then you must believe that atheists are certainly going to hell. Does God even term "atheism", as we do?(I type this post because of the Theroux-program I saw on the BBC, and ofcourse, I was mortified by the fringe-loons, and felt so sorry for their kids that are guaranteed to be brain-washed in the same way.)Edited by mike the wiz, : No reason given.Edited by mike the wiz, : Shortened rantEdited by mike the wiz, : No reason given.Edited by mike the wiz, : No reason given.

I agree with your post.I am not saying that the bible does not say any of these things. I think my opening post might be mis-understood. It is not that I reject the sound doctrine you have outlined, the topic is simply saying that as Christians, yes - we preach the message, for all have sinned. That's the point - to mark one groups sins is to be self-righteous.Remember when Jesus said the one who asks for mercy goes away justified, but the judgemental religious person didn't?All I am saying is that it is dangerous ground to believe that a particular person is hell bound, CERTAINLY, when we have not known them.I am not saying that means that they are saved.

No - if we are looking at it according to some kind of Greek-thinking, a modern rationalism, which was irrelevant to the Hebrew writers, then Paul said one thing he claims comes from God, and Jesus, a supposed historical figure, says what He claims comes from God.I don't think I should have to explain the obvious, but as Christians, we take the whole bible as the inerrant inspired Word of God, as a whole and we interpret the bible, by the bible, in a complete whole context. Basically, we take it all as true, and any potential "contradictions" we deem as anomolies that come via contextual or syntax or linguistics, or misunderstandings missapplied by Greek thinking.Therefore you would believe Paul and Peter said some things, perhaps God another, whereas we believe what the bible says, that they both spoke as from the Holy Spirit.Now Paul, the apostle, is linked to Christ, in that the Gospel he preached, we accept, as part of the scriptures.Therefore when God accepts the righteous, we interpret "righteousness" as that which is imputed to us, by the new law of the spirit of life.Who is "righteous", in the context of the New Testament? Well - it tells us, that Christ has become our righteousness. That is how we would see it.But to take one thing as the word of God, and another perhaps not from him. At what stage do you begin and end?Do we accept just what Jesus says? Perhaps not the law, but perhaps the prophets, or perhaps just a few parable from Jesus? What's to stop you just saying it is all false, if you are going to explain in under rational thinking?So if Jesus walked on water, what do I do, to remain rational? Do I simply say he didn't walk on water because we know this to be against scientific principles?Yes - there are difficulties, we can't neatly pidgeon hole absolutely everything, but we believe that the New Testament is pretty clear as to what it is about. We study it to help us flow with the WHOLE message, not just out-of-context apparent problems.Edited by mike the wiz, : No reason given.Edited by mike the wiz, : No reason given.