by violating God's command that is also in 10th commandments -- ( not the exact words ) don't make statue ........idol makers / worshippers will go to heaven ?
Not sure what you are asking here. Obviously, people don't go diirectly to heaven BECAUSE they violate God's commands. It is possible for people who viiolate God's commands to still go to heaven, inspite of doing so, BECAUSE he grants them grace and forgiveness. Catholics would not consider themselves to be idol worshippers. Why, because they don't worship idols. Yes, they may have statutes of people in their churches, but the idea that this is forbidden by the 10 Commandments is an interpretation of the scripture:
Exodus 20
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
It says don't make any idols. To understand what that means I have to ask some questions:
1) Are all statutes idols? In my understanding of what and idol is, not all statutes are automatically also idols.
2) Or are idols a particular type of statute? Yes, idols are a particular type of statute. A statue that one would create and then claim was one's god or worship as a god or would consider to have divine power like God would be an idol.
3) Can things that are not statutes also be idols? I believe the answer to this is also yes. Any created thing that we substitute for God would be an idol, be it money or a family relationship or even God's own book, the Bible. None of these things should be worshipped, only God.
Do u believe Hindus who also believe in Trinity concept & make idols for worshipping will also go to heaven ?
Whether or not Hindus will also go to heaven is something I can't answer. They like Muslims need to depend entirely on the grace of God. There is a guarantee only for those who have already committed their lives into a trust relationship with God that they will indeed be recipients of his grace.
--why it's dark side ? I m trying to understand why Jesus (p) died & why his death is so unique to Christians ?
I am not saying that trying to understand this question is looking at the dark side. I am saying that if one reads the Jack Chick Publication stuff, then you will (in my personal opinion) be looking at the dark side of Christianity. And the reason I feel that way about Jack Chick is not because I think he is insincere. I do think he is sincere, but I think he is also sincerely wrong, and expresses himself in ways that are not loving. Though I do believe he sincerely intends them to be loving; they don't come across that way to others.
If so many Chrisitans believe majority Christians are going to hell , then the purpose of his death became useless ( sorry if this sounds negative criticism or hurts anyone's feelings ) . But i really want to understand.
Well, while there are a few who call themselves Christians who believe that there are others who also happen to call themselves Christian that are going to hell. That does not mean that Christians believe that other Christians will be going to hell. Sadly, what I see happening is best examplified by someone like Jack Chick. He is a Christian, and he thinks that Catholics are going to hell. But he also doesn't think that Catholics are really Christians. The only people he thinks are Christian are those who believe exactly as he does, and none of them are going to hell. In Jack Chick's mind, Jesus' died for the sins of those who believe in him, and he does not think that Catholic really believe in Jesus but in something that the Catholic Church has invented that isn't the real Jesus.
As I have said, I don't agree with Jack Chick on this. Nor do most other Christian that I know. So, the truth is that while there are a few Christians that might think as Jack Chick does, the situation you asked about (many Chrisitans believe majority Christians are going to hell) does not actually exist.
On the other part, the purpose of Jesus' death, I am in the midst of writing another of my long responses. But I have been too busy to complete it yet. I'll be sure to let you know when I am done. However, give me another week, at least.
do they also believe Saints have power to accept the prayer ? If not , then why not pray DIRECTLY TO GOD ? Is it prohibited for Christians to pray directly to father ?'
Remember, I am not a Catholic, so I could be mis-stating some of their views. But as best I understand it, yes, they believe that Saints have the power to receive the prayer, but then the saints would pass on those prayers to God on behalf of those who originally prayed to them.
Your next question is one that I ask myself of the whole aspect of praying to saints. The best response I have heard (which doesn't quite cut it for me) is that the prayers of these saints, viewed (mistakenly in my mind) as "super" Christians, might have a better chance of being heard than those of the average Christian.
No, it is not prohibited anywhere for a Christian to pray directly to the Father. Indeed, Jesus taught his disciples to pray in that pattern. All Christians do this. But whether one is praying to God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit it is all the same because you are still praying to the one and the same God which ever way you pray.
can u explain it ? If u talk to God directly , u can feel God is talking to u or u feel peace & tha't the response from God ?
Sometimes yes to the first, sometimes yes to the second, sometimes yes to both.
so non-Catholics do pray dircetly to God & NOT via Jesus (p) ?
I sort of explained this above. Non-Catholic Christians do pray directly to God. Sometimes that prayer is to God the Father and is directly to him. Someitmes that prayer is to God the Son and is directly to him. Sometimes (though probably rarer) that prayer is to God the Holy Spirit and is directly to him. All of these prayers would be the very same prayer offered to the very same being. All are prayers prayed directly to the one and the same God. They wouldn't be three different sets of prayers. And they certainly wouldn't be understood as prayed to three different beings. We just don't understand there to be more than one God, so all the prayers would in effect be to the same being, to the one and only God and none other than him.
Now, just to confuse you more: we might pray to God the Father through God the Son (i.e. Jesus), that would be like asking God to speak himself on on our behalf. Yes, sometimes we can get very close to schizophrenic in our prayer life. And I've even done it myself, but the whole concept is sort of redundant, if you've prayed to Jesus you have prayed to the Father at the same time, you don't really have to ask Jesus to take these prayers to the Father for you. Remember, they are one and the same being, it isn't like there is a second God or anything, so the whole idea of praying to God via Jesus is rather redundant.
umm..like calling someone Foolish ? This sin & killing hundreds innocent lives.....these 2 sins are same to u ?
A sin is a sin is a sin in my opinion. If the way to paradise consisted of jumping a huge canyon 1000 meters across with hell at the bottom, and you jumped 999.99 meters and only fell .01 meter short, would you be more likely to end up in paradise than the person who only jumped 1 meter and fell 999 meters short? Or would you both end up in hell just the same? Sin is any falling short, it doesn't matter by how little or how much. The cross of Jesus fills that canyon and becomes a bridge that we can cross rather than having to jump it for ourselves.
Faith in Christ is trusting the bridge to be able to support us and that he will help us cross safely to the other side. Non-Christians are invited to cross the bridge too, but in doing so, they are in essence trusting Christ, even though they may not realize that this is what they have done.
I guess , i will never understand Christianity.....i m tooooooooooooooo dumb for this relilgion :-[
We are each preconditioned to have certain expectations about even our basic concepts about God that may not be those shared by other religions. So, we have to learn not just the words, but what those words mean for other people. That is like learning a new language, only in this case you are trying not just to learn the language but to think like a native while still living in a different culture. You aren't too dumb, but it does take time. On the whole I would say that you are learning a great deal rather quickly. But it is a life long process for all of us, we are never fully there until we are there with Christ.
