Thoughts of a Doubting Christian ✓

Salvation

Ultimately, most major religions boil down to the question of salvation: is there life after death, and, assuming there is, who gets to go?

In the Christian view, the idea of salvation is intricately connected to the suffering and injustice we see in our daily lives, including everything from the negative choices we make to natural disasters and disease. Most people agree that a truly just God would not allow for such evil without some form of eventual justice (although some people argue that a just God would never allow evil, which is a different debate), and that justice comes in the form of salvation. Christian theologians observe that children come into the world with no awareness of God and with their own needs and interests in mind, and that the world is filled with evils, and come to the conclusion that humans are inherently sinful beings, destined to remove themselves from God's presence and love over and over again.

Thus, Christian salvation is born. In Christian theologians' eyes, humans are naturally bad and cannot be "good" on their own. That means that if God didn't intervene, every single human being on Earth, no matter who they were or what they did in their lifetime, would be destined to spend eternity in hell. Humans need Jesus's sacrifice on the cross to wash their sins clean with his blood. Only then, once they have accepted Jesus and committed their life to him, will they have a chance at being saved.

Within different Christian sects, this view of salvation varies slightly, but it almost always boils down to exclusivity, where only Christians can go to heaven, no matter how "good" of a person someone was during their lifetime. However, it isn't just Christianity that claims to hold exclusive access to God, salvation, and a blissful afterlife; varying levels of exclusivity can be found in most other world religions (Islam, Judaism, even Hinduism and Buddhism). They all claim to give followers the One True Way to peace and salvation, whether through God's grace, following specific rules and customs, establishing good karma, or ascending to a higher realm through meditation.

A topic as complex as salvation deserves an entire tome, not a tiny chapter in my book, but my above points cover the very basics: that most world religions comment on the afterlife and salvation; that in religions like Christianity and Islam, dedication to the specific ideas of the faith (salvation through Christ or following the commandments of Allah) is the only way to salvation; and that most religions have an air of exclusivity to them, where they hold the One True Truth™, so following anything else could cost you your eternal life and salvation.

Unfortunately, the more that I've thought about it, the more the Christian idea of salvation, especially that one must be Christian to be saved, seems illogical and unjust. The example I always give when discussing this possibility is this:

Say you have two people. One is an atheist who has spent her entire life serving others and bettering herself to be the best person she can be. She volunteered at soup kitchens and animal shelters, fostered children and pets alike, and dedicated her career to being a doctor who saves the lives of people who couldn't normally have afforded healthcare. On the side, she worked in healthcare reform and protested against racial injustices. She was well-beloved by everyone, and died peacefully at a ripe old age, still an atheist.

The other person is her exact opposite. He began stealing things when he was only seven or eight, wound up in jail for the first time at the age of eighteen, sold drugs and illegal guns, raped and sexually assaulted women, and murdered several people. Except, right before he dies in jail, he professes that he is truly remorseful for everything he has done, and asks Jesus into his heart and asks for God to forgive him, and then dies.

Are you seriously telling me that the first person will end up in hell, while the second person will enjoy eternal bliss in heaven just because he converted at the last moment?

That is the biggest bull I have ever heard in my entire life. The one person spent their entire life being a good person and doing good deeds, and the only thing she did wrong was "choose" the wrong belief. But that's too bad, she'll end up in hell forever! The other person spent his entire life destroying himself and others, and then at the last minute he gets to be remorseful, repent and become a Christian, and now he's guaranteed eternal life in heaven? If that's justice, then I'm the next President of the United States.

Not only that, but some people argue that if someone has never heard the "good news," God has another way to get them to heaven. So, if that's the case, why tell the entire world God's message, if people who don't hear it could still be saved but people who hear it and reject it are damned to hell? Aren't you increasing the likelihood that people will not be saved? Why not just leave them alone?

To make matters even worse, many Christians believe that there are many other Christians (never themselves, mind you, just others who disagree with them) aren't truly saved and are just deceiving themselves. How could you really think that you're that special, that you have the only right beliefs and are a part of a select few out of 7.5 billion people that get to go to heaven? That doesn't bother you at all? That not only are all non-Christians going to hell, but even people who claim themselves to be Christian, too? How does that make sense?

I don't know what I believe, but I do know that I think a truly just God would not create billions of humans and then save only a select few with a very specific worldview that comes from a book that is over two thousand years old (and that includes other religions, too).