No, this is not trolling or looking to **** anyone off or offend them. Even when I was Christian I never understood this.
I hear all the time that this person or that person has accepted Jesus as their savior, or "accept Jesus and you'll find peace/salvation". So just what does that mean? What is the mechanism for accepting Jesus. I'm not looking to do it or go back to Christianity because I'm quite happy in my own faith and believing in God as I see him and think I'm coming to know him.
- Jesus says he is the Way. OK, I understand he taught how to develop a personal relationship with God.
- Jesus died for us. So did Army Cpl. Joseph Maciel. He died trying to keep terrorists at bay and maybe preventing a terrorist attack. So did all the soldiers who died in WWII, defeating Hitler.
- John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
OK, I do believe he existed, as a teacher with great wisdom. I'll even concede he may be God (God can do whatever he wants, and send whomever he wants, after all). Does that mean I'm saved? Does it mean that anyone, from any religion who thinks as I do, mean we're saved? Not every Christian denomination believes in Original Sin. The Eastern Orthodox Church doesn't. So why did Jesus die for them? If not for Original Sin, and one's personal sins, people still commit them. Did Jesus die in vain? Or do people misunderstand and/or misinterpret?
These are things I don't understand. This
Quora Q&A comes close, but I get the impression from Christians that there is much more to it than this. Is this all it means?
