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Unlike Judaism or Islam, Christianity doesn't offer an easy, concrete legalist framework as guidance for the faithful and those who wish to be faithful. The God of Christianity being interested in our emotional and cognitive states rather than our actions, it's very difficult for someone in my...

I think that Christ's injunction to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you is, in the abstract, one of the most beautiful notions in the Bible. It seems to put the fundamental impulse of Christianity in such wonderful perspective– enough with this mire of terrestrial pettiness...

I have heard some Christians say that the very young are innocent– that one does not become complicit in humankind's sinful nature until one is capable of rational decision making, since only then does one begin to "choose" sin. As such, anyone who dies before "the age of reason" dies with a...

I was raised Muslim, and read in the Qur'an that one should never pray for nonbelievers, since no member of the faith, no matter how ardent or obedient, could possibly "convince" God to alter the lot of a sinful person. Do Christians hold a similar belief? For example, if a Christian woman...

As I understand it, the influence of the Spirit provides the believer with all the faith necessary for salvation, and that there can be no other such source of saving faith. In other words, if the most talented human preacher in the world were to preach to me for every waking minute of the rest...

One barrier between myself and organized religion, Christianity or otherwise, is the presence of people like Fred Phelps– high-profile sensationalist figures whom I would consider to be bigots appropriating the teachings of their faiths as a justification for their own prejudices. I would...

If faith is the only condition for salvation, then would an unrepentant murderer who happened to affirm the truth of the Bible be saved? I've heard one Protestant say that belief simply "inoculates" one against bad works– that is, the spiritual influence of Christ causes one to behave well, and...

I think it's a matter of the degree to which their practices interfere with the members' ability to function in society. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and so forth can live in cities, own houses, hold down jobs, have friends, and all the rest. Members of cults, as they progress...

Thanks for the thoughtful answer! I really am quite uneducated on the matter, so I appreciate every morsel of insight on offer. I'll definitely look into that Edwards sermon. I admire him as a writer, so I'd love to see him in a gentler mood :)

We always use "He," "Him," and "His" when referring to God in the third person, but isn't it strange to think of God having a gender? Has anyone wondered about that before? It seems like idle kid stuff, or pseudo-philosophical navelgazing akin to the old "how many angels can dance on the head...

It seems improper of me to found my religious wonderings on a physical desire– on the desire to avoid pain. That's where all this seeking started, really. I'd think of the times I've accidentally burned my finger on the stove or tried to get in the shower when it was too hot, and I'd imagine...

As I read about the history of Christianity, I get a picture of a far grimmer religion than I see now. In centuries past, it wasn't the inviting, lovey-dovey (for lack of a better word) institution it is now. The focus seems to have been on God's wrath and unshakable justice, on obligation and...

I want the gift of salvation so badly, but I'm still teaching myself how to ask for it. I pray often. I ask, seek, and knock, and wait patiently to receive the gift, but the time hasn't come yet. In the mean time, what choice do I have but to live in uncertainty?

If so, do you gain a substantial amount that's lost in translation? Is it worthwhile to take time and learn to read those two languages?

Of course I'm too timid to take a stand. By definition, I live in a state of uncertainty and helpless doubt. I don't know how I'd feel if I felt certain that Christianity was true and that I was bound for Heaven, although I'd certainly anticipate it greatly.

I'm reading the Bible "cover to cover," as it were, right now, and I'm currently in the Book of Judges (long way to go). I had started reading it largely out of literary interest (for those of you who were smart enough not to major in English in college, the Bible is also a collection of...

I apologize if this question offends– I'm only curious. If this world is a valley of tears, a transient state of sin and suffering, and the afterlife is a state of eternal bliss in the company of our creator and the source of all good in the universe, then why cling to our present existence...

That is, if you have any slight doubt about your having been saved, are you not yet in Christ? Is salvation an unmistakable feeling, or is it simply a strong hope? Another way of putting it might be: are you absolutely sure that, if your present spiritual state persists until you die, you'll go...

sadness

Dante thought that the Biblical patriarchs were ultimately taken to Heaven, that the remaining nonbelievers who lived virtuous lives go to a painless but Godless limbo, and the rest go to Hell– but if we all got our theology from medieval Italian poets, the world would be a very different place...