Look up “Anonymous christian” or “anonymous christians”, or Karl Rahner, S.J. If I’m not mistaken, his writings are the basis on which the doctrine that a person doesn’t have to be Christian to be saved are established.
This does bring up a good point though; Baptists and other scriptural literalists are likely to discount the anonymous christian concept because it’s not directly based in scripture.
Dislcaimer: I am neither Christian nor atheist nor any standard flavor of religious. This may therefore be irrelevant to your inquiry but I’m gonna post it anyhow.
I consider God to be an inclusive, rather than exterior, sense of identity. God not as Entity but as Self — not individual “I / me” self, nor even plural/tribal “we / us” self, but an all-encompassing “I am that which is”.
The value of prayer is integration of the self. We spend most of our everyday lives perceiving things from the individual-self perspective. Or, rather, I do at any rate, and my attempts at integration up until now have given me the sense that this is true of other individuals, is part of the Experience Human. And my more transcendental occasions of integration have provided me with the sense that this is in fact How Things Are, that in the everydayness of God being universe, the thus-described activity is primarily one in which God is massively multitasking, simultaneously being uncounted octillions of diverse beings and things, individuals, some conscious but mostly and usually individually so; connection with others taking a back seat. And this is good. Playful fun, even.
But there is a time for integration. Cultures tribes families nations and communities as well as individuals have a need for the individuals who comprise them to commune, to share, to experience the shared sense of self which makes “us” a valid and real term.
Less obvious but more profound, perhaps, the entirety of That Which Is has a thirst for coming together also, as do the infinitude of individuals who are part and particle of that. It’s not a process opposed to the multiplicity of all that individuation, not in any antagonistic sense, but rather they inform each other. (Just as healthy communities seek the freedom, separateness, and privacy of their individuals even as they seek integraton and communication and a shared sense of self).
I believe the only value to God of human worship is the benefit the worshipers gain from the act. That is, God doesn’t need our worship. It’s humans who need to worship. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t appreciate the worship–happy humans make God happy.
(I am a Christian, if that affects your assessment of my opinions.)
Contrapuntal, the verses you give don’t say one must believe in God to go to heaven; they say that if you believe in God you will go to heaven. Important distinction.
The verse you probably want is John 3:17, “Whoever believes in him [the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” I would answer this with Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
I believe doing God’s will (see the Greatest Commandments, Matthew 22:36-40) is the criterion to being saved. The act of obeying these commandments shows belief, whether it’s conscious or not. Being an explicit follower of Christ is not necessary.
As a Christian, I don’t believe God needs our worship so much as we need worship to understand God. I also, by the way, don’t believe that worship can only be accomplished in church on Sundays, or something that you get only through big shows of religiosity. In fact, I think that today’s consumer-driven churches can often be more an impediment to worship than a help.
The Bible says quite a lot about worship being more than just performing the proper rituals or believing the right things; many passages suggest that the worship God desires is to center our lives defending the marginalized and standing up for justice.
“Is this not the fast I choose; to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see them naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” (Isaiah 58:6-7)
“…what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
“Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:23-24)
“Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” (Matthew 25:45)
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27)
That’s just a few I could think of off the top of my head, but there’s much more in the Bible that goes along the same theme.
Unfortunately, Biblical literalists are really selective literalists and place much more of an emphasis on passages suggesting exclusivism. As a former literalist myself, I must say that mainline Christians tend to read the Bible with a much more consistent hermeneutic, even if we avoid a literalistic approach.
The idea that The Creator of All Things has the same emotional needs as me is kind of depressing.
I doubt that an omnipotent, omniscient being would have any desires whatsoever. I think every one of our desires has as at its root the desire for something that we lack. An omnipotent omniscient wouldn’t lack anything.
Respectfully, I find it to be nitpicking. These aren’t directions to Grandma’s house, they are directions to heaven. Did Jesus give any auxiliary directions? Don’t you think if there were another way he would have said so?
*"**Except *a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." How would a man be born again absent a belief in God?
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.* Is this Spirit not the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit not God?
FWIW, John 3:16 was the linchpin of Christian theology when I was being taught the Bible. Accepting Jesus was crucial. If it no longer is, or never was, well, color me surprised.
Jesus also said this, in Matthew 22 36-38 : 36
How can one love God and not believe in him? By the way, this also seems to me to be a commandment to worship God.
Yes, he did, the Matthew 7:21 verse I quoted above.
I believe that belief in God is necessary to be saved. But how does one believe in God? Saying to oneself “I believe in God” does not make it so. It’s through one’s actions that one demonstrates beliefs.
The same way the Samaritan was a neighbor without living next to the robbery victim. It’s the acts we do, not the name we pray to, that matter.
Aw, come on LilShieste, are you gonna deprive **FriarTed ** of the delight of watching atheists thrown into the lake of fire? He is SO looking forward to that, you know.
Cite?
Great, now I’m singing Meat Puppets…Shirley is going to Hell at least!
You’re saying that saying “Lord Lord” is equal to belief. I don’t buy it.
Agreed. But believing that one believes in God makes it so. And if I don’t believe in God, I don’t believe in God.
I’m sorry. This is nonsense. If someone who has never heard of God performs acts that a believer would perform, that makes him a believer? Only for extremely diminished definitions of “belief.”
Again, this is a non answer. You can’t tell me that I believe in X just because your doctrine tells you that I do. I can absolutely assert a non belief in the Christian god, and still behave like the best Christian ever.
“Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Both of the above statements assert that there is only one way to enter the kingdom of God. And that way is to acknowledge God.
Where did I say anything about God having emotional needs? 
An artist needs an audience – and applause.
This is more of a historical perspective than a theological one, but didn’t modern notions of worship ultimately arise from ancient rituals involving actual physical offerings to the gods that were considered to literally feed them in some way?
AFAICT, it was believed that smoke from the fire consuming the sacrificial animal, or a libation of spilled wine, or whatever, actually nourished the gods and/or tasted good to them. So acts of worship performed by humans served a very practical purpose, from the deity’s perspective.
Actually I’m saying that it doesn’t. Belief is in the acts, not the words.
I would say yes. And not for diminished definition of belief, but a useful one: we are defined and judged by our actions. A “belief” that is only words is hardly a strong belief.
Yes, I can think you believe in God and are a good Christian, even if you deny it in words. Because that’s my belief. 
I agree, but I think we will disagree with about what “acknowledge” means.
Just shows how much scriptural interpretations can vary. 
That’s a bit of a false dichotomy. It is entirely possible to have a belief that one does not act upon, but to call it “only words” is patently false.
And if you can believe that I believe in God, even when I believe that I do not, then we may not be able to agree what “belief” actually is.
That’s a good point, but I don’t think desires are only limited to things that are not in your possession - though it’s certainly one avenue. (For example: No one has ever broken into my house, and I desire that no one ever will.)
On preview… I realize that the desire would be for a sense of security, which I would not have. So, I agree with the second sentence in your above quote.
Not necessarily. Just because God is capable of making us love Him, doesn’t mean He is going to force us to (for reasons I mentioned in post #3 - by my beliefs, that is).
I had this exact same question, myself. Particularly, I wondered about people who grow up in a part of the world where they are never exposed to the Bible (or the teachings of Christianity). This is hardly their fault, so why would God punish them for eternity for it? I can’t see why He would, but that would mean there must be other paths to salvation that weren’t explicitly described.
This is a huge tangent to the OP, though, and one that would probably merit its own separate thread.
LilShieste
I believe we do agree.
Probably enough of our hijack. Want to start a new thread, Lil?
I was more thinking along the lines of the underlining reason why any being would desire worship. Why would that cause pleasure in an omniscient/omnipotent being? I could see why it would be pleasurable for a human who, say, is insecure. I cannot think of any reason a being could derive pleasure from worship that is not at the root some kind of flaw or undesirable character trait.