Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?

That’s correct. (Sorry that wasn’t clear!) I really enjoy my visits there. I recommend that type of church to anyone who believes in God and wants to feel a sense of brotherhood without all the BS (i.e., signing petitions against gay marriage and such–happened to me before!) that goes on in some of the more conservative churches.

I did once, many years ago. After slowing realizing that I had been fed a heap of lies, I came to believe that my previous acceptance was meaningless, at least beyond it’s usefulness as biographical information. That is to say, I no longer think that act will have any meaning after I’ve died.

I did the “ask Jesus into your heart” ritual back in late '79 or early '80. It lasted for about 3 days. I kept asking God for guidance regarding homosexuality and kept getting piss poor answers. Afterwards, I walked away and never looked back. It’s just not for me.

Later on, I found Wicca and got touched by Freyr at Yule of '84. I’ve been happily walking that path ever since.

dropzone, what I mean when I say that the “ticket” is not secure is that willful separation from God in life leads only to a continuation of that.

If I am an unrepentant mass-murderer (or even an unrepentant one-time murderer), I think it’d be fair to say that salvation would be out of the question at that moment. While true repentance is possible, it is nevertheless fair to say that those who willfully and without repentance forsake and work against Christ’s example will remain separated from Him.

But firey-furnace and all that noise? Nope.

Idle Thoughts, let me make a suggestion. If you were interested in finding out how many people around here are Christians, a better title might have been “Are You a Christian?” Phrasing it as “accepting Jesus Christ as your savior” pushes a lot of people’s buttons, as you may have gathered. The sort of phrasing simply isn’t part of some Christian traditions, including Catholicism, Anglican/Episcopalianism, Armenian Christianity, and, I think, the various Eastern Orthodox traditions.

It also implies a conversion experience which may not last, as you’ve seen. One of my dearest friends did accept Jesus as his Saviour in his 20’s, even after being raised as a Presbyterian. He became a full-blown born-again Christian and was even a Young Earth Creationist for about 6 months. As the years passed by, he eventually fell away from the faith and became first an Atheist and then a Wiccan. He has, technically, “accepted Jesus Christ as his savior”*, yet he is no longer a Christian.

CJ
*Excuse me. Not capitalizing “Saviour” and leaving out the “u” bothers me. The former is spiritual; the latter is cultural.

Different path, maybe, but the same forest. You’ve always impressed me as a loving man.

Fair point. I was baptised a Roman Catholic. I’d have to ask the local RCC priests, but I think that allows me confess my sins, and accept communion. I’m not aware the priests would expect me to declare I “accept Jesus Christ as my savior”.

Nope.

Yes or no, depending on how liberal you want to get.

I’m sure that the laws of physics have not changed in the past couple of millenia and I doubt that God screwed with his own perfect model to let a stabbed and suffocated man come back to life. That said, there’s a lot of power in the idea that someone would sacrifice himself to save humanity.

Despite the evil done in its name, Christianity has been the driving force behind modern (as opposed to ancient) critical thought, literacy and social justice. I doubt that a guy, killed by the Romans two thousand years ago, got out of bed three days later and is now floating through the clouds looking at us, but what the heck. If a mass hysetria carries mankind forward like this, then I’ll accept that.

Since this seems to be simply a poll without any serious debate or even discussion by the OP, I’m sending it to IMHO.

(Idle, if you are just interested in the general religious attitudes of the Teeming Millions, you might want to check out an earlier poll on the topic:
Religion Poll.)

[ /Moderator Mode ]

Have you accepted “Bob” as your shordurpersav?

www.subgenius.com

Ordained minister.
I am authorized to accept your donations.

No.

Haj

Quite the opposite: I actively rejected him.

Yes. And like Siege, I’m nervous that you’re asking if I have.

This can’t end well.

Nope.

I consider myself an atheist, and during the very few moments when i even concede the possibility of a supreme being, my conception of its existence and role in the world can go no further than Deism.

No, I’m a Hindu and I’d like to stay that way. Although I wish I could be saved from getting a cold ass sitting on a temple floor.

Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God.

A God who preaches peace and loving thy neighbour as thyself.

Yet for 2000 years they have been unable to live with their brothers. They have waged wars, they have shed blood and they have spread hate for one another.
Just as soon as they get that straightened out I’m going to have another close look into Christianitly.

But you know; Church is like baseball, many attend, few understand.

Colour me a Buddhist.

I wouldn’t go so far as “saved.” I did have my head held under water by a preacher in what appeared to be a feed trough once, but I’m guessing it wasn’t worth much. See, I only did it so my then girlfriends parents would let me get engaged to their daughter. I was a pretty pragmatic dude and I wasn’t going to let a little lip service to their gods come between me and that body. :slight_smile: We’ve been married for 17 years now and fortunately she turned out to be just as much a heathen as I.

I guess a simple “no” would have been more to the point, but I thought maybe I could at least get partial credit for the dunking, even if my heart wasn’t honestly in it.

Jammer

Another Catholic here unsure how you’d like me and the other bead-jigglers to answer the question. Of course he’s my Savior, but if you’re in the Church community “accepting” him is like accepting gravity. He’s just there.