What are the chances that you would accept Christ just in case?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I thought the Christian God was all forgiving of sins? And if you change your mind at the last second, it sounds like it would be hypocritical of God to say, “Ohhh, now you believe? Sorry, but you’re going to hell”.

Anyway, I don’t think my views would change unless something of a supernatural event occured outside the rules of science that was pretty extreme. Don’t get me wrong though. The whole idea of a Heaven, fluffy clouds, and angels sound great! It really does! And I wish I could go if there, if such a place existed. But I don’t believe that it does, and the whole idea isn’t any different then a fairly tale.

22

And, I think, be offended by it. I certainly would, were I a deity. “What? So you prayed to me to avoid hell, not because you loved or believed in me, but only ‘just in case?’ Fuck you, buddy. I only want true devotion, here, not people who are trying to cover their asses.”

Secondly, as Angelic says, there’d be a problem of sincerity. I remember from my days in Christian school that forgiveness was only granted if you truly felt sorry for what you had done (and a person truly sorry would never repeat the sin.) I imagine that asking to be “saved” would be the same-- unless you completely believed in God and Jesus, your request would be bunk.

Thirdly, to be “sure”, you’d have to try every deity. That could take a while, and some of the religions are mutually exclusive.

So, no, I’m not going to be trying CYA payers at the last minute. There’s too many religions to cover, anyway. What if I forgot Isis, and she turned out to be the One True God? I’d feel really embarassed.

23

Probably not and this is why; I would be replacing one God for another rather than replacing nothing with something.

If I didn’t believe in anything then I would probably become a Muslim but I don’t think I would go all my life believing in a Christian God and on my deathbed reject Him. The entire time that my friend would be telling me about Islam I would be attending Church during that year strenghthening beliefs I have had longer than I’ve known that person.

Anyway the Theory is kind of that Most Atheists are insecure about their belief or lack of and the only reason they don’t believe in anything is because they don’t want to be accountable to any God or Gods. In reality they all want to know the TRUTH if there is one and it only takes gentle nudging to lead even a hardcore anti-theist to a religion.

One of the people who I have heard this from claims to have lead over 200 atheists to Christ in their final hours over the last 22 years.

24

Did this person tell you how many dying people said “Fuck off”?

25

To be perfectly honest, in my case, the chance is nil.
Maybe it’s not meant to, but being asked to accept ‘JCoLaS’, comes across as patronizing to me.

26

Anything is possible, but probably not. Mainly because, I’ve all ready heard of Jesus. Got baptised, read the Bible and everything, so my new pushy friend probably wouldn’t have any new information that could draw me back into the fold. Another thing, as someone else all ready said, is that God would know it was just a last minute effort to save myself, or to get the other guy off my back so he could feel happy and let me die in peace. So it wouldn’t be very sincere.

27

“Just in case?”

Not a chance.

28

In my last hour or minute, I’ll be looking for the Bodhi tree of enlightenment. I believe that I’m coming back for another go-round, I just don’t know if I’ll be blessed or be a demon. I’ve witnessed enough people’s passing to know that there is peace, regardless of whether or not you believe in God. I’ve been treated
so poorly by so-called “Christian” people recently, and I forgive them, but it makes me think which group I definitely don’t wanna be hangin’ with for eternity.

29

While we’re on the subject… why does this God fella have human-type weaknesses?

Anger and ego for instance, why does he need people to believe in him? If I could create universes I would at least be noble enough not to need or even want people to worship me.

30

I’ve always thought that, too. If I thought God existed in the general Judeo-Christian tradition, I’m really not sure I’d care to worship him anyway.

31

There is one major problem I see with the “just in case I might go to Hell” idea – I have no clue what happens after death. I most certainly do not believe in a fundamentalist-type-Christian Hell. Beyond that, I don’t know what happens, but why would I try to fake a belief to avoid something I don’t – can’t – believe in?

32

What are the chances you would accept Christ, just in case?

Zero.

33

The strange thing is that I do seem to have a lot of Christians witnessing to me. I live in SoCal where the fundie population isn’t very large, but I’ve already had four different individuals try to witness to me this year. Some of them have tried to debate with me, but most of them couldn’t answer any of the questions I asked them or slunk away after I demonstrated my biblical knowledge. The sad thing is, I knew more about the bible than any of them did. They would quote select verses and when I replied “Well what about ___ verse?” some would even deny that that verse existed until I opened their book and showed it to them. So if there is a God and he keeps sending me these people, he’s a friggin idiot!

I was raised in a very religious family. I am baptized, I went to church every Sunday, I used to pray every single night, I went to 12 years of Christian schooling where I studied and was tested on the bible, I’ve read the bible from cover to cover several times, I’ve read countless books by religious people on all different subjects and I just don’t believe it. The reason I stopped believing in God was firstly all the questions of mine that never got answered after I noticed all the contraditions. The second, and main, reason is that I just stopped believing that a God even existed. I no longer felt the connection that I used to feel before.

As to us talking to the point where I go to their church, that hasn’t happened because all of them walk away from me. I am a bit surprised, if they have questions they can’t answer, I would think they should direct me to an authority in their church or just ask me to come. But they get scared and leave. I warned the last girl that I was the worst person to talk to ahead of time, but she still tried anyway.

I would not believe in God unless I felt that connection that I lost many years ago.

34

Sorry to nit-pick a very well constructed post but if you know you felt a connection once, and you now don’t believe in God. How do you explain the connection you felt. And why would feeling it again make you reconsider your belief. Surely the knowledge that you felt it once should be enough to make you reconsider if feeling it again would.

IMO…

My personal opinion about ‘the connection’ is that it is simply a brain function that happens to be mistaken as ‘sensing God’

35

The assumption is that the witnessing Christians are all going to heaven for eternity.

This, if anything, would make me **not **want to “accept Christ” and join them in heaven. I can’t stand being around these people here, on earth; why would I want to spend eternity with them? It’d be hell.

36

I wouldn’t accept Christ. I might, however, threaten god. Something along the lines of “God, if this happens, I swear, I will kill you.” I’ve done it before (threaten not kill). I try not to thought, because it’s illogical

37

though, not thought

38

No it’s not!
Read Preacher!

39

You seem to have some confusion over the meaning of a theory.

And to answer your question: absolutely not.

40

START, I know you as a sincere and thoughtful person, so I’m angry not with you, but I do need to get across to you just how insulting and thoughtless this idea is.

Over the past several years, I have grown more and more atheistic in my beliefs. Not because I’m insecure or because I want to do bad things and get away with them, but because as I look at the world around me, I see that the Christian faith does not jibe with the reality of my life. It doesn’t fit. I would have to deny the evidence of my senses and give up on logical thought to become a Christian. It’s not going to happen.

If there is a God, and if I am created by that God, then that God intended for me to be as I am. I am not damned to eternal torment because of the actions of two supposed people millenia ago. I am not damned to eternal torment because I will not lie about what my mind perceives of the world around me. I do not need the torture and death of one poor man to protect me from the retribution of the God who made me. Hell, if that’s the price, I’ll stand up and pay it. I don’t expect some other schlub to take the blame for me.

If I am a good person, it’s because I act out of the love in my heart and the need to see the world become a better place. If I help a person, it’s because I understand their pain and wish to stop it. It’s not because I believe my creator will give me a metaphysical spanking at the end of my life if I don’t. Along with that, if I do some evil, a quick apology is not going to cut it, and I won’t make amends because my creator is tapping His foot I do it because I have caused pain, and I have a responsibility to deal with it.

START, you have found an answer for yourself. I congratulate you. But you need to understand that it is not The Answer for every other person. You have found a truth that helps you understand the world around you, but it is not The Truth for every other person. The fact that others have looked at your answer and shrugged does not mean there is something wrong with them - or even something wrong with your answer. When you go around saying things like “Most Atheists are insecure about their belief or lack of and the only reason they don’t believe in anything is because they don’t want to be accountable to any God or Gods”, you are saying that your answer is better than theirs - not just for you, but for everyone. That’s insulting. It’s narrow-minded, and it’s guaranteed to drve people away from you and the faith you have to share.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that any person who feels the need to push their faith on others does so because they are insecure and want everyone to think like them so they don’t have to face questions or doubts about their beliefs.

As to your question, my answer is no. I wouldn’t have gone to the church service with a pushy evangelist to begin with, and if they were bugging me while I was on my deathbed, I’d have them removed. Then, I would face my death - I hope - with dignity and clarity, knowing that if there is a God, then I am His Creation and I will be welcomed just as I am, disbelief and all. Or, that with my death, I will cease to exist as anything but a memory and some paperwork, and that perhaps during my life I made the world a better place.