CHRISTIAN SALVATION

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Jesus brought 'salvation'.

Christians have different theories about 'salvation'.

1. The moral transformation view.

According to this view, Jesus teaches people how best to think and behave, if they want to achieve bliss.

Thus salvation is achieved by being merciful, meek, pure in heart, feeding the hungry...

Some evangelical Christians, such as the crypto-Jew John Calvin, disagree with this view, claiming that God demanded a human sacrifice before anyone could be saved. 

This ties in with the ancient religions of Iraq and Iran whose priests  enjoyed human sacrifice.

And if nobody could be saved prior to Jesus's death, then Abraham was not saved.

2. The Christus Victor view.

According to this view, Jesus brought salvation by defeating Satan. 

The problem with this view is that wars, famine and evil continue to exist.

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3. The satisfaction theory of atonement. 

According to this view, thought up by Anselm, God is a feudal lord.

Jesus brings salvation by appeasing the feudal lord. 

4.  Penal substitution

In the 16th century, the Calvinist Protestant Reformers declared that God was full of anger and demanded a sacrifice.

So Jesus was sacrificed to appease God.

This Calvinist theory conflicts with the idea that God is a loving and merciful God.

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Advocates of the New Perspective on Paul argue that many New Testament books by Paul the Apostle used to support the theory of penal substitution should be interpreted differently.

When Paul said you could not be saved by 'works', Paul meant 'works' such as having your penis circumcised, not eating pork, and not working on the Sabbath.

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Jesus taught people to be merciful, meek and pure in heart.

In 11th Century Christian Europe, "an entire class of warriors ... had little to do but fight among themselves.[9]"

In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade as a way of getting rid of these Christian thugs.

In the Holy Land, at that time, Christians and Moslems 'lived in peace'.

The Crusades changed all that.

Radulph of Caen wrote that the Christian Crusaders "impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled."

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Can homophobes and racists be saved?

Everyone can be saved if they 'tune in' to the 'Holy Spirit'.

When you are tuned in to compassion and not forcing your own selfish agenda you will find that life goes better.

Anonymous writes:

The modern emphasis on salvation is a radical departure from the essence of Jesus's message, which was to follow Him, which meant to "Go [act in the world?] and sin no more". 

Indeed, obsession with one's personal "salvation" is closely linked to pride, the ultimate deadly sin. 

When you "sin no more" - simply, like a child - you align with divine purpose and become attuned to the real world, not the coercive counterfeit foisted on us by the corrupt financial system. 

And you don't fret about your destiny, having faith that God, who is Love, will take care of it.