"You can't go to heaven unless you're baptized." Actually, no. Perhaps if you are Roman Catholic (and even then that's questionable); Evangelical Christians either believe that you don't do anything to get to heaven and Jesus saves you, or you choose to believe that Jesus Christ died as one perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of those who follow Jesus.
You may not agree, but I'm pointing out that the statement by Kay is pretty inaccruate.
There are many interpretations of what it means to follow Christ. The rational interpretation is Christ's own interpretation, the historical gospel story, from the beginning of the Old Testament right through to the end of the New Testament. The Scriptures are historical, they provide the facts of the events. Thankfully they are also theological and interpret the meaning of the events. Did it happen? What does it mean?
Fundamentalist radical literalist Christian here :) It's simple: when Jesus and two thieves were being crucified together, he told one of them that he would see him in paradise that day. Ergo, baptism is not a necessary requirement of getting to heaven.
Agreed - however, I was merely pointing out that Alan Kay stated that Christians believe that "You can't go to heaven unless you're baptized", which is about as far as possible from the position of such a considerable number of Christians it's unfunny!
So it's not that I disagree with any assertions that there are many interpretations of what it means to follow Christ, but that I disagree that the statement was accurate for all Christians. It is my opinion that a very small minority of Christians really believe that.
I realise that I've been voted down for pointing this out, but I thought it was an important viewpoint to bring forth in the discussion, given that Alan Kay made it the basis for his "Socrates should go to heaven" argument. Alan Kay might be excellent as a Computer Scientist, but his digression into the Christian religion was remarkably uninformed.
The problem with arguing over what Christians actually believe is that there are so many different beliefs that all call themselves Christianity. You can find some group that believes almost anything, and wonders why everyone else doesn't believe it. Even really unusual beliefs most people never even consider, like the idea that the Old Testament "God" is Satan in disguise, have adherents, or at least had them at some point. (I'm guessing other popular religions are similarly hard to argue about, but Christianity is the one I'm most familiar with.)
You may not agree, but I'm pointing out that the statement by Kay is pretty inaccruate.