But how do you answer the topic question?This one too:
Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
What do you make of this?
Isaiah 14:9
The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.
But how do you answer the topic question?
Would you be a Christian if there was no afterlife?
It's more like would you still love your dad, even if he wasn't going to leave you his billion dollars in his will? Some people become Christians just to get a ticket to heaven.
There are 29 references to the realm of the dead in the NIV translation. Do you care to refute them all?My vote is that it’s not literal, due to the previous verse using not-so-literal language, referencing how the Cedars of Lebanon are singing.
do cedar trees sing?
That's not the question.I already did. In summary i can't separate eternal life from spiritual life, can't imagine worshiping God without being a spiritual being etc. That was before the OP was revised.
With the revised OP i also reject the OT forefathers were not aware of the afterlife. Thats why i'm posting evidence they did
There are 29 references to the realm of the dead in the NIV translation. Do you care to refute them all?
Saint Steven said: ↑
What do you make of this?
Isaiah 14:9
The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.
Is an afterlife required to make that happen?If God is not in the business of healing and saving the world, then there is no Gospel. Everything in the New Testament is a lie. And Jesus was at the very best a martyr and failed false messiah.
They could in the realm of the dead. Lots of strange goings on if you read ALL those passages. The trees of Eden ended up there as well.possibly, but do trees sing? Yes or no?
Is an afterlife required to make that happen?
A broken relationship with God needs to be restored. The benefit could last a lifetime. What more is needed?
We are so geared to thinking in terms of an afterlife. But what if there were no afterlife? Obviously the scriptures would be written differently, but it could have been set up that way.
Imagine if humankind fell and the main point was to be reconciled to God in this lifetime. That you could have a full life with a reconciled relationship with your creator. And at the end of your life you could pass from this life knowing that your life meant something.
Would it be worthwhile to be a Christian in that arrangement?
But how do you answer the topic question?
Would you be a Christian if there was no afterlife?
Do i have to spell it out? I'm saying it doesn't make sense and therefore can't be answered. Unless i add more assumptions or parameters. But then i would not be answering the same question anymore. So no i won't fry, an acceptable answer per the OP. Yo, i'm outta here.That's not the question.
Would you be a Christian if there was no afterlife?
You seem to be saying, "No."
Saint Steven said: ↑
But how do you answer the topic question?
Would you be a Christian if there was no afterlife?
Did you mean to post this...
The present tense is the focus of the question. For insurance many Christians believe in once saved always saved. So why do they continue as Christians and all that being one entails, when the afterlife has already been taken care of?
... as it showed up in my e-mail.
I'll respond regardless...
My belief is that once we have been born again into Christ, a.k.a., saved we have a new "eternal" life -- unless we willingly throw it away. How? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will be our guide until we leave this earthly body to be with Him forever. If one has the attitude that "once I am saved I can do whatever I want" then they're not being led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not guide anyone into sin. If one regards salvation as a "get out of jail free card", guess where they're going!
Two things:
1) The topic question is about no afterlife.
2) Your doctrine of the afterlife would statistically more likely put the child who died prematurely in an eternal state of torture with no hope of escape. If you were that child, wouldn't you prefer no afterlife? And what does it say about the God that would do that?
I think the title of this topic is a great question.
Would you be a Christian if there was no afterlife?
The majority seems to say, "No." they would NOT be a Christian if there was no afterlife. Or that there is no Christianity without an afterlife. Another way of saying, "No."
This is a sad report. It means most do not follow Christ based on what it means in the here and now, but rather on the basis of what it will mean for them alone in the afterlife.
Does Christianity really have no practical value in this lifetime?
It is very eye-opening indeed just how many people dont value an actual relationship with Jesus as much as they do the prospect of heaven.
On the other hand, if one believes in a forever burning hell with no hope of escape, where countless billions have been predestined to suffer, we could ask those victims if they would prefer that their existence be snuffed out from the universe, or if they prefer to be remembered this way.A homeless mother in a war-torn nation lost her husband and all of her children to war, poverty, and sickness. She dies alone, in the street, as people pass on by.
In light of such cosmically cruel injustice, what should we say? Too bad? She lost everything, and then she died, a nameless, faceless woman who lost everything and was tossed away by the world as though she were garbage, whose existence is now snuffed out from the universe.
My hope, and it is the hope which came in the form of a small infant child born to a Jewish virgin woman from Nazareth, is that the injustice of this world is not the final answer to existence.
The world doesn't exist just to be host to billions of minds and experiences, of loves and laughs and sorrows and griefs, a history of life, and life burdened with the cruel and uncaring coldness of a mechanical universe. That isn't the world's point or purpose.
What does a restored relationship with God even mean in the context of such existential nothingness? More than that, what does God even mean in that context?
"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied." - 1 Corinthians 15:19
-CryptoLutheran
So, your answer would be, "No." ?The apostle Paul thought not.