vlad

I did not say that only being righteous was the way to heaven. I mean that trying hard to be righteous and making efforts to withstand sin is indispensable for a Christian. I am sure you are trying to be just and good and righteous. May be it is easy and natural for you. As for me it takes efforts.

I guess that "works mindset" is a good catch phrase but I am talking about efforts. As you know moral efforts may be harder than daily work.

I did not say that the Church would take part in it, did I?

May be Christians are many but those who are born again (true Christians) are not so many. The world would have been a different place if all those millions of Christians had really been born again. Or may be they think that the cleaning process can be conveniently stretched? Matthew 25:41-46 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. My question to you is this: Is it easy to be righteous? It is difficult for me. Does it not take efforts? What about temptations of this world? My impression is still that some people are already very clean (unlike me). Would you advise me to change my ways and now that I am a Christian take things easy. And what if I fall into temptation? Can I be sure in advance that it would be enough to repent and repeat this again and repent and so on? Will I not be lead into temptation and sin with this mindset?

Have you read all this thread? I respect your point of view though I have a different opinion. What really worries me is that having read what you have written an outsider might think that it is so easy to be a Christian.

Yes, the judgement. That will tell where we go exactly, everyone of the living or dead. Yes, to mistreat Jewish people is a sin even if they are not believing for if some of them begin to believe what shall we say.. And there will not be any church after the judgement.

May be Christians are many but those who are born again (true Christians) are not so many. The world would have been a different place if all those millions of Christians had really been born again. Or may be they think that the cleaning process can be conveniently stretched? Matthew 25:41-46 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

I think being a Christian is not only about what we believe but also about what we do. What I really mean in this thread is that it is very easy to stop being a Christian without even knowing it. Do you agree with that? If a person calls himself a Christian and theoretically agrees with the Scripture that is not all. That does not automatically make him a Christian nor does it take him to Paradise. That would have been too easy to be a Christian. Do you think all Christians are Christians forever whatever they do? It is not easy to be a Christian. In fact you quote: so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. That is the point. But who says that it is easy to become righteous? Or is not automatic. It is a constant fight with what is bad in us. There is so much work to be done.

You must be a very good person. I think you are not weak and you are not rich. But you will agree there are different pitfalls with others. A person who believes that he will be in Heaven by all means may sometimes lose vigilance and commit bad sins without repentance, even without knowing it. It concerns mainly those people who have much power and on whom many people depend. For some sins are tricky and a person might think that he is not sinning. Take the list of sins and you will see that our life is a constant fight with our own weaknesses. There is not a person without sin but only repentance is not enough. A sin should not be repeated. There are pitfalls all around and if we are not afraid to do something really wrong then there is no guarantee where we would be.

And by "act accordingly" I mean that we try to behave properly and repent when we are doing something wrong.

Who told you that? We hope that we will go to heaven and we try to act accordingly.

This is an interesting question. As I do not have a direct answer I can only suppose that may be after the Resurrection the body was the same for those who saw Him and touched Him but not the same in His substance as he could come and go with the doors being shut. On the analogy a human being is created by God after His image but of course the substance of man is different. What do you think?

I am not a pastor. The church is separate from state, isn't it?. So there is no governmental salary. Of course if there is some other source than that money is not needed. Imagine that you are a pastor. How would you live? When you put your money to the collection plate you are already sharing generously. What is your idea of pastor's or any other church leader's life?

And what did you expect? Did you expect improvements for yourself here and now? I guess you thought your efforts would be a kind of an investment. The relation with God is different. The right way is to be sincere and loving without looking for a feedback.

Yes, it is a construct. It depends on material correlations My hypothesis is that the whole of the Universe is pulsating or oscillating. We will never notice that as we and our instruments pulsate with it. Consequently there are time waves.

I think time exists there. Where there is a material change there is a correlation which we call time. There is theoretically no time where nothing is changed. Black holes have their beginning and their end. There is a change within a black hole within this span and this change destroys it. So time is applicable.

I think God not just knows the future. He creates the future and the past. And he can change the past or the future at will. When it happens (nobody knows when, may be rarely) nobody can see or remember or register the difference as all is so to speak blotted out automatically and becomes different without us knowing it. God can do it with us seeing no trace of it. Remember that all your hairs are counted by Him. He is far greater than we can even imagine. He is the master of time as He is the master of everything that time depends on. How do you like that?

I think God not just knows the future. He creates the future and the past. And he can change the past or the future at will. When it happens (nobody knows when, may be rarely) nobody can see or remember the difference as all is so to speak blotted out automatically and becomes different without us knowing it. God can do it with us seeing no trace of it. Remember that all your hairs are counted by Him. He is far greater than we can even imagine. He is the master of time as He is the master of everything that time depends on. How do you like that?

Sometimes modern people look for assurance is if it were insurance. Some wishing there were cell phone connection with God. All that is not the right key. Take it easy. Do not sin. If you did something wrong repent and do not do it again. Joy, affection all that in good time. Do not worry about that. Just stay calm. Nobody loves you more than God whatever happens.

I remember many years back a guy told me he would shoot himself. I did not believe him but he did. Then there was a student who was abnormal. I could not talk him out. Some people have it genetically, suicidal inclinations. That does not depend on any suffering. Create the best conditions and this person would say that he is tired that there there is nothing interesting in his life and do it. It is a kind of genetic sickness as I see it. Abnormality. In this context talk about God's love or no love is only a pretext. You have a health problem. That is for sure. Some smart people avoid suicidal depression with medication. Wish you had enough power of will to see a doctor.

A sin is a sin but there are deadly sins and that gave me the idea of stratification of sins. That is all beyond our knowledge though. Only God knows that.

Clear.

I agree that it was sin and all but I would like to ask everyone if it is the same thing: man to man homosexual relation and woman to woman? I have a feeling that man to man homosexuality is worse. Then the main question is: is it the same cheating if a woman was with a male lover or with a female lover? May be if a wife is cheating with a male that causes real jealousy. May be some husbands would not feel that offended and jealous if it is an accidental lesbian affair? Does it always cause a divorce? What I mean not all sins are equal. Is that right? Major sins, minor sins? What do you think?

May be I am wrong. They were laborers mainly.

I have seen a documentary and remember the name was Zeitgeist. It said that the present monetary system and banking were not for ever. Ironically I see attempts to distribute money to those who can not be employed as a result of automation. That is not a dole. It is important. I believed in all those ideas of wastefulness and inefficiency of modern marketing economy and in the growth of Strategic Planning which has nothing to do with communism and socialism (find about Zeitgeist on the Internet). There is just one thing that I will never accept. I do not know why but they appended atheism to their system that they expect to emerge. They begin with it. For me it was like in the Russian saying "a spoonful of tar in a keg of honey" or rather a spoonful of honey in a keg of tar.