I was unfortunate enough to have been brought up in a fundamentalist Christian home (pentecostal). The pressure to get 'saved' was great even from a young age. I was told at six years old that if Jesus came I would be left behind, which of course is abusive. I had a sadistic grandmother who took pleasure in telling me from the age of two about the tortures of hell for naughty little girls like me! I held out until I was eleven before giving into the pressure and 'giving my heart to Jesus'! I was even devout for a while and embarrassingly trotted out the cliches so beloved of fundamentalist Christians. However, before long the doubts assailed themselves overwhelmingly, and thankfully by the time I married at 19 my faith slipped away, which was a relief. I am firmly of the opinion that the fundamentalist Christian dogma 'only the saved go to heaven the rest to hell', is a silly nonsense and can be very abusive too.
Misty,
I am very glat to see that you put yourself in the category of Agnostic and not atheist. I know you still believe in a supreme being!!!
Just a paul reason with the people of his day, I would like to reason with you for afew minutes, Acts 17:2,17, 18:19, Eph 5:17.
To start off, I want to tell you that your parents were trying to put you on the road to life, even though they were misguided. They had listened to the vast majority of the religious teachers of today, who try to frighten people into belief. The problem is their teachings are not from God so they have no real weight. Consider Heb 4:12, which says that the word of God is alive and powerful. If what they taught you was right it would have become real truth to you, and it would ahve changed you into a lover of God, and His son, Jesus.
The problem was you never PROVED TO YOURSELF what God requires of all of us, Rom 12:2, 1Thes 5:21. The way your parents taught you, it seemed that the Bible kept you from happiness. This is the opposite of truth, the Bible has rules to protect you from harm, because no man knows the right way, without God, Jere 10:23. Notice how John puts this principle at 1John 5:3,4. Consider also what Isaiah recorded, Isa 48:17,18, also Ps 32:8,9, DEUT 10:12,13.
If what people teach about God is not accurrate, the words they say have no power to change your beliefs and your life. My word has no more authority than yours or anyone elses. All authority comes from God, because He cares for you, and He knows all things, 1Pet 5:7, Job 37:16.
One thing that most people teach is the promise of heaven to all those who obey God. This is false, God never promise mankind in general, Heaven. God made the earth for men, and they will live forever on earth, Isa 45:18, Ps 37:29. When Jesus was on earth he taught that he would resurrect both the righteous and the unrighteous back to life on earth, John 5:28,29, Acts 24:15.
God has determined to take a small number of people who have lived on earth to heaven to be Kings and Priests of the ones who are resurrected, and also the ones who will live through the Great Tribulation, Rev 5:9,10, 14:1-5, 20:4-6, 7::14.
There is something even more important about the generation that we are living in. This generation will be alive when Jesus returns to earth. Thgis means that we are the only generation that ever lived that can live on and NEVER die, because when Jesus come back to earth his Great Ransom Sacrifice wil then be in full force, Adamic Death that we inherited from Adam, will never take another life, Matt 24:34 explains that the things we are seeing today all point to the generation that will be alive when Jesus returns. The first verses of Matt chapter 24 tell about the things to look for. Luke 21:31,33, also tell that the things that Jesus said to watch for would be the sign that would point to that generation as being the one Jesus would return in.
Everything Jesus said to watch for is coming true today and on an unprecedented scale, so that there could be no doubt as to which generation Jesus was talking about, Wars, earthquakes, famine, pestilences, all on a scale never before experienced.
If you want to survive along with your offspring, you will look into God's word, and this time with a little more experience try to understand that God is going to make this earth a paradise, and is opening His hand to satisfy the desires of every living thing, Luke 23:43, Ps 145:16, Deut 30:17-20. God wants all to be there, but He does not force anyone to obey Him, 2Pet 3:7-10, 1Pet 5:6,7.
opcorn: