That's not what I meant, To my knowledge, in Christianity , you ought to do good, not because you'd be rewarded, but because it's the right thing to do
The same applies for doing bad things, your motives shouldn't be to not be punished, but to act rightly
An extension of this, Could you be blamed for the things you do when you're under duress? If I pointed a gun to your head and made you do something wrong, are you to blame?
The threat of hell (And the reward of heaven) might just be a different kind of gun, you might not be to blame for the wrong, but then you're also not the source of the good either, you're just acting on your own selfish interest
Id rather not hijack this thread and make it about the bible so this reply is only for the purposes of clarifying my original comment, and will be my final reply. There are many denominations of christianity, my interpritation of the bible shows heaven and eternal life as a reward for those who follow jesus. The bible says in black and white that those who live in sin do not inherit the kingdom of heaven. If you point a gun at me and tell me to sin, i wont. If you shoot me, i go to heaven. A HN comment section is not the place to form your opinions about the bible. I recomend reading the bible and bringing your questions to a priest.
Ah, but the Bible also says that you can sin all you like as long as you later follow Jesus: he’s a get out of hell free card! And that it’s OK to sell your children into slavery. And I’m pretty sure you, sir, sin a hell of a lot by the lights of some of the people who claim to live by the bible.
Your knowledge of these subjects is not only very weak, but comes across as dishonest as well. To the extent that if we had this exchange with our faces and reputations on the line, you'd be savaged by my words and look like a fool. I encourage you to be more humble and also to actually contest your own claims on your own in earnestness so that you can see if those claims are actually true or just edgy hot takes from some dishonest individuals you mingled with or learned from in the past.
The Bible is against slavery. See Philemon. Sinning until the last moment doesn't count unless it's a true heart change. See Ezekiel. Treating it as a Get Out Of Hell Free card would not fly.
It’s okay to learn about Jesus and the Bible on HN. It’s only one of N threads underneath the submission, after all, not to mention relevant to the parent. Definitely agreed that the best approach is to read the Bible and consult an expert in a real setting if possible.
I'm a Lutheran. We believe it's impossible to do enough good to reach God, so you'll never earn your way into heaven by being doing good deeds. Strangely, the church (ELCA) is one of the most active when it comes to actually doing good deeds.
The same applies for doing bad things, your motives shouldn't be to not be punished, but to act rightly
An extension of this, Could you be blamed for the things you do when you're under duress? If I pointed a gun to your head and made you do something wrong, are you to blame?
The threat of hell (And the reward of heaven) might just be a different kind of gun, you might not be to blame for the wrong, but then you're also not the source of the good either, you're just acting on your own selfish interest