That part of Christian doctrine troubles me. A Buddhist monk who has done no harm to anyone or anything in his lifetime, and who has lived a virtuous life, goes to eternal torment upon death, but a sleazeball small-town politician or thieving businessman who has screwed people over all of his adult life gets to go to heaven, just because he was a deacon in church for the connections it gave him?
No, not at all. The only connection required is to Jesus Christ, period. And that is the only way. Period.
This whole thing is so badly misunderstood that it's mind boggling. Religion is about making yourself acceptable to God (and will always fail). A relationship with Jesus Christ is about putting your trust in him and him only---and it is NOT religion...it is not ritual, it is not tradition, it is not any of those things. It is just too simple to understand for some.
But wouldn't the Buddhist monk and the mentally ill people in my example still go to hell because they didn't know and accept Jesus (even if their non-acceptance wasn't their fault), but the sleazeball deacon goes to eternal glory because he presumably asks Jesus to forgive his sleazy ways on his deathbed?
