alan@syacus.acus.oz.au (03/30/91)
> paragraph isn't what he intended to say. It does, however, express a > position held by some of us who have a hard time accepting the teaching > that people can be punished eternally for temporal sins. If we have > trouble conceiving of God punishing Himself, it is equally hard to > conceive that, in His infinite power and wisdom, God would create > anyone in His image and likeness to be punished forever. When you say "..God punishing yourself", I presume you mean God allowing himself, in the form of Jesus Christ to crucified for our sins? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Almighty God Jehovah? Do you believe in eternal punishment for the lost? > > This seems to imply that being Christian and being a Jehovah's Witness > are mutually exclusive. I expect that one of the Witnesses who reads s.r.c > will respond to this. Alan seems to go even further in saying that those True, Jehovah's Witnesses cannot be Christians by definition. JW's do not believe that Jesus is the Almighty God. They do not believe in the deity of Christ (2 John 9). Also, they do not believe that Christ paid their debt in full at Calvary, thus their belief in a mixture of faith in "another Jesus" (2 Corr 11:4) and works for salvation. And Charles Taze Russell certainly came and preached another Jesus back in the late 1800's. > who don't believe in a literal hell etc. generally have beliefs similar to > Jehovah's Witnesses and are, similarly, not Christians. The only requirement to become a Christian is to believe on the LORD Jesus Christ that he died for you and to accept his free gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23, Romans 10:13). Christianity is unique in this respect. How many other religions do you know that believe in faith alone in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation? > seem to take the Bible quite literally. To me, the differences between JWs > and fundamentalists show that even those who try to take the Bible > literally have differences of interpretation. Scripture interprets scripture! > > Here are some questions I would like to see discussed in this thread. Is > belief in a literal hell and eternal punishment necessary to be Christian? > Can you make a case from the scriptures that such a belief is necessary to > be a Christian? see above! > > C. C. Keirsey > Alan