For Christians: Thoughts on sin, salvation, and getting it wrong

(FYI: Atheist/agnostics are free to respond too, of course, but the questions at the end of this thread are probably much more relevant to Christians.)

Ive been doing a lot of personal theology study lately, so here are some of my thoughts and findings:

People (especially educated theologians) often have unique approaches to interpreting the Scripture. It can be argued, as people do (often self-righteously) that if The Bible is the inspired word of God (or the literal written word of God), that it is not a Christians task to try to put the teachings of The Bible together as if it were a puzzle, but to let The Bible guide a persons understanding on its own. In other words, instead of trying to search for the true messages of The Bible as a scientist would conduct an experiment, never being fully certain about ones conclusions and trying not to draw their own conclusions that suit their personal opinions, it is often insisted that Christians should blindly follow the text and take it at face value without questioning the merits, consequences, and intent of the various rules Christians are expected to follow.

Take, for example, the supposed forbiddance of homosexuality or better yet, the virgin birth. The point of this thread is not to delve into these particular issues, by any means, but these are issues that are simply not universally agreed on by scholars. This, of course, makes The Bible even more of a mystery, and this should warrant Christians to

take a critical, in-depth look at the text so that we each may find our own understanding which not only better informs us, but draws us closer to the faith. People, of course, do this all the time, and that is self-evident given the hundreds of denominations which each preach their own take on the scripture - even if those interpretations are remarkably similar.

Furthermore, nowhere in The Bible does it say (nor would it, because The Bible was written long after the events which would have taken place) that only those who accurately interpret the text will go to Heaven, nor does it say that those who mistake its stories and teachings will face eternal damnation. Instead, it is those who mislead others and knowingly rebel against its teachings that pay the price for it (2 Peter 2:1-3).

This had led me to believe that its not so much about the sins that people commit, but rather the motives behind the sins. If a person knows full-well that what they are doing is without proper moral justification (such as the murder of an innocent person), they would be openly rebelling against the teachings and, from my understanding, face punishment. Jesus demonstrated the exceptions to certain sins with His parable of an ox or a son stuck in a well (Luke 14:5). The Sabbath was created for the benefit of Christians and not of God, but nevertheless it is expected of practicing Christians to abide by it by refraining from doing any work. (Not that many of us do!)

Now as I have mentioned in a previous paragraph, The Bible speaks against false prophets (teachers) and condemns idolatry, but these rules are obviously not followed by

those who are not Christians, many of whom are not simply because they were brought up in a faith or culture that does not endorse Christianity. Thus, if there is, indeed, a price to pay for not being a Christian, the guilt would logically be more collective than individual, even though Christians specifically place emphasis on individual salvation and not collective. On the other hand, Jesus said that people will know who His disciples are by how much love they show (John 13:35).

Lastly, even if those who reject Him are condemned (John 3:18), that does not necessarily mean they are punished eternally, because condemnation can take many forms. One could argue that eternal damnation is one of those forms, but consider it this way: eternal damnation teaches nothing of value to people if they have no chance to repent and demonstrate that the punishment has meaning to it, which is why Ive begun to understand hell as a self-defeating concept for Christians, even though I used to be a firm believer of it not so long ago.

Theres a good mix of liberal, moderate, and conservative Christians here, so Id appreciate it if the other Christians here could answer these two questions:

1. Do you believe that God Himself is a Christian and only serves Christians that have the correct interpretation of The Bible?

2. Does God punish people for being wrong (either not following Christ or not following the intended teachings of Christ) but have pure hearts?

As someone who believes in a God that believes in giving chances to people until they get it right, Id say no.

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