I have no doubt there are a lot of people who claim to be Christian that on the day of Judgment they will find they are not. I once asked a man why he wanted to be a Christian and he told me there were two reasons, the first was he wanted to go to heaven and the second was he wanted to not go to hell. How selfish. This man is only thinking of himself, his only motivation to be Christian has nothing to do with what Jesus taught, Think about it, do you really want to spend eternity with such selfish people? I don't think they will step a toe into heaven.
Having read how Jesus lived his life and taught others to live, I am of the opinion the only reason to be Christian is for the good you can do in the lives of others. With that in mind, I don’t attend church because I can find no where in the Bible where Jesus taught his followers to gather money and build churches and attend them. Image that after having his disciples gather the fishes and loaves of bread, Jesus had told them to go sell that they had gathered and use the money to build him a church building and please make sure it has all the luxuries of the day. Jesus didn’t do that, so why does his followers of today do it? Jesus blessed that they had gathered and had it redistributed among the people. It appears Jesus was a socialist, he believed it was his duty to care for others. I also never pray in public because Jesus instructed us to go into a closet and pray in private and in every example but one Jesus went off by himself or away from others to pray and the only example where he didn’t do this was when he was asked how to pray. He gave a public example that has come to be known the “Lord’s Prayer” and it seems the only prayers many do pray are those made in public, contrary to how Jesus said we are to pray.
I don’t believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God. It is a book written by men and I find it odd that Jesus never wrote a single word, nor did he tell his followers to create such themselves. The Bible that Jesus used was the Jewish Scriptures and while Jesus did foretell the future including the end of time, I find it odd that he never foretold that which has become the center piece of most modern Christian’s faith, the Christian Bible in is almost countless versions and varities is the center of most Christian's faith. None of the things modern Christians do were taught by Jesus, yet every Sunday millions go to Church, read from a Book, and join in public prayer. I think it is worth repeating, none of the things they do was taught by Christ and if someone such as I points this out, most will become very forceful and angry in the defense of their custom, and it is a custom that is passed from generation to generation but i find no evidence, not even in the Bible, that it is authorized by Christ.
I was raised in a small country church and I grew up learning the same customs that I have posted about. I find it ironic that there is so much concern over terrorism today because in the 1960’s in small town America, I was terrorized not by foreigners but by my own county and my church. My country wanted to draft me and send me to Vietnam to fight in a war that I didn’t believe in and for the most part one that was a religious war; Christians vs. Atheists (Communist). My minister preached many times as I was growing up as a young teen about it being our Christian duty to fight the devil in that war. In my teens, I wasn’t as knowledgeable as I am today, I had to depend on my elders to guide me, and yet all my elders seem perfectly willing to risk my life in what history has now proven to be an unnecessary war. To add to my misery, our minister often preached about the end of times and how we were living in it and the world would soon end. I am not sure Ministers and Elders understand just how destructive some of their teachings can be for the young mind. Every Sunday, Sunday Night, and one night a week I was forced by my parents to attend Church and listen to our minister preach about how the world was soon to end. To a young mind full of wonder just waiting to experience the world as a young adult but being forced to listen to such gloom and doom, well I lived in terror. All those around me that were suppose to care about me, seem only interested in their interest and not mine.
The truth is 10 minutes after the death of Jesus, those claiming to know, have been foretelling the end of the world and the second coming. Every generation believes they are the last, that the world has become so evil that God is going to destroy it, and yet that generation dies off and another takes it place. The truth is in my lifetime the world has been a paradise when compared to the days of the past. We have had terrible wars and sickness and drought in man history that has destroyed 50% of the world population at times so there is nothing in modern time that can compare to man’s past. I have over the years come to learn these things but at the time of my youth, depending on my Minister(s) and Elders, believing they were telling me the truth served only tormented me because I didn’t want the world to end, I wanted it to continue and I wanted to live. I lived a childhood in terror becuase of these things.
That was a long time ago, and I not only lived through that terror but that elder generation has died off and are now rotting in their graves, yet all one has to do is attend church and they will find another generation preaching the same tired old gloom and doom of the previous generation that terrorised me in my youth. My all those who played a part in this and continue to do it today burn in hell.
My message to the young is don’t believe it. They don’t know what they are talking about. Jesus doesn't require you to go to church, he doesn't require you to wear a cross, carry a Bible, or pray in public. They may pretent they know when the world will end, they may pretent that God talks to them, or they get some special understanding from the Bible but in the end they will die just like the unsaved and rot in their graves while others will take up their deceptions. From my readings about what Jesus lived and taught, all Jesus really requires is for you to try to live your life in peace and care and do for others in the time you have given to you. Use the common sense that God gave you and let the others work their way into hell.