Ghaniel said:
path of one, wishful-thinking was a bad wording. But I cannot accept your reply as qualified because you speak of
1) ....not believing in the original sin...
The original sin is named so in the Bible. Why not believe in it when it actually happened and because of it, Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden and humans are where we are today?
2) ...and you believe we have many lives...
This is not consistent with the teachings of the Bible.
3) ...you do not believe in a literal meaning of Heaven and Hell.
Heaven and Hell are described as the final destinations of the world. Either you go to Heaven or you go to Hell, depending on whom you have been loyal too, God or earthliness(Satan). Heaven and Hell are actual existing things. One cannot ignore things because one doesn't agree with them. God's will comes before anyone's opinion.
Actually, all three are biblically consistent, depending on your interpretation of scripture in light of Judaic text, culture, and history. If you search back through my posts, you'll find me discussing at least some of these concepts (and the reasons for my interpretations of scripture) at length. But I think in this post you just proved Bandit's point- you are not out for others' answers, but rather confirmation of your own beliefs. You already had the answers to your own questions from the beginning. And so my guess is that you are not actually interested that much in my beliefs or the reasons for them (and the scriptural basis), unless it is to debate them, which I just don't have time for right now- I'm in the middle of my dissertation and very busy. I have had time in the past, and you can find such debates in my posts (as well as countless books on all three subjects, church history, and the interpretation of scripture- better to go to original sourcers and draw your own conclusions), but all in all I think it's irrelevant compared to both of us loving Jesus and following in His holy example. So I wish you peace on your path and only ask that you give the same respect to me.
However, I am very fascinated to meet a Christian druid. I think druids are peculiar. And I want to learn more about them.
I suppose druids are peculiar to those who don't know any. If you would like to learn more about modern druidry and Christianity, I would suggest beginning with several excellent web articles on the site
www.druidry.org. There are Christian druids, Pagan druids, Buddhist druids, and so on. Druidry, the way I practice it, is not religion but rather a path. I've also got a few posts describing my combo of the two if you look them up under my profile. Somewhere back in the forums I gave my testimony, I believe under the title "Alternative Christian" something, too.
Do these particular conclusions of yours come from your reading in the Bible and spiritual connection with God?
Yes. And studying (as much as I'm able) church history, apochryphal documents, Judaism (and its history), the languages of Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek (a lot less than I'd like, but I try to at least get the basics of how they differ from English and what things mean in context). I study a bunch of other stuff too, but I wouldn't consider it directly relevant to biblical interpretation. However, my spirituality has certainly been enhanced and my perspective broadened by studying Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Hindu texts, ancient mythology, anthropology, and modern physics.
Other than that, what you have said seems to me to be very consistent with what the Bible tells us. I am not someone who adds things to the Bible and remove things. I take it for what it is, whether I like it or not.
At the risk of starting a debate, I will say that I don't think the Bible tells us anything directly. It is a text, and hence must be interpreted. We "hear" what the Bible has to say through our own cultural, historical, and religious biases. And everyone has these. The hope that comes with the Holy Spirit is that God will help us to interpret the text and transcend (at least partially) these biases and clouded thinking. I think He gave us reason to help us as well. In the end, though, I personally think there is no one
right answer when it comes to biblical interpretation, though I'm sure you'd disagree. I think the point is for us to learn, through the text, how to directly commune with God, how to become better people, and how to work for God's kingdom on earth. Maybe for some, it is necessary for their spiritual growth and becoming closer to God to believe in original sin. For others, it may not be. This is why I don't think I'm right, I just think the beliefs I have are right for
me, at least until God reveals something new for me to incorporate. I'm always open to change, unless it contradicts my own spiritual experience of the Holy Spirit. But even if others' beliefs do so, I can't see why not their experience can't be right for them, and mine right for me. God created us each unique and I believe communes with us each differently, just as loving and wise parents will respond to each child differently, based on his/her gifts, flaws, and personalities.
Do you need to constantly do good works to gain salvation?
Some Catholics believe this, as well as Lutherans. Do you need to seek out situations in which you can do good, in order to please God and deserve salvation?
Or is salvation guaranteed by believing?
I think I already gave my response. Salvation is attained not through believing, or through doing, but through God's grace alone. The way we attain this grace is by turning toward Him- not our beliefs, but our faith. There is a difference. Beliefs are how we think God, the universe, and whatnot work. Faith is our personal outreach toward God, our desire to get closer to Him. The natural outgrowth of faith is spiritual experience, which yields our beliefs (our interpretations of sacred text and our experiences), and also good works, because in faith we desire to please God.
And by the way, not sure where you got the idea about Lutherans. I don't know about Catholics, but I was raised Lutheran and half my family still are, and I never heard that belief. All the Lutherans I know believe they are saved by faith and God's grace.