09-07-2016, 02:37 PM
(09-06-2016, 04:43 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Yeah, there are some differences between different denominations. What Billy Graham describes is the "Concert" scenario: Believing in Jesus and asking for forgiveness of sins gets you into the concert, but good or bad acts decide what kind of seat you get when you are inside. This is in line with those who believe that there is no hell, no burning pit. Rather there is only a soul's distance from God in a situation where closeness to God is the sole desire for souls. For example, a Catholic might say that saints and martyrs have front row seats while everyone else falls in line behind.
Theologically, conversion to Christianity is a three part "salvation" process: 1) Justification - recognizing Christ as divine and asking for forgiveness of sins, 2) Sanctification - the soul is inhabited by the Holy Spirit which, over the course of a lifetime, guides and purifies the soul, and 3) Glorification - the ultimate reward, the soul being able to stand in God's presence in Heaven. The first and third are pretty obvious and straightforward. The controversy among different denominations primarily concerns the second. Questions such as "To what extent is an organized church supposed to be involved in this process?". Different churches have come up with a wide variety of answers over time, a range between authoritarian to laissez faire.
I like the concert analogy.
