If people of all religions can be saved, why do we need Jesus Christ?

From a Catholic POV, yes, all people can be saved but all must be saved through Jesus Christ. However, there are a number of ways a person can be saved though Jesus that may not involve the Catholic Church. One good example is a person that is completely ignorant of Jesus through no fault of their own will most certainly be saved in most cases.

Also, the Catholic church (in spite of all the false information out there) does not teach that any particular group of people will go to hell. All sinners, unrepentant, will go to hell but after that it is God's decision and not ours. So, on individual cases Catholics are taught not to say who is or isn't going to hell. Also, people commonly say that according to the Catholic church all gays will go to hell.....no...all sinners will go to hell and homosexuality is simply a sin and like anyone that sins and isn't repentant then they could potentially go to hell.

So, in short everyone must be saved through Jesus but there could be many paths to Jesus and given he's the almighty and all knowing we cannot possibly know who will or won't go to heaven but we know you get there through heaven.

Of course, Jews, Muslims and every other belief system will disagree with part or all of this.


And for the record, I'm psuedo Catholic but consider Jesus to have been a Jedi.

Do you (no one in particular but in general) know how The Bible got put together - when - and who did it? Many scholars say there are properly five gospels. I agree. Add The Gospel of Thomas and see what happens.

Here are the first 10 verses.


These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1. And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

3. Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

4. Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live.

For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

5. Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]"

6. His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"

Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

7. Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human."

8. And he said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!"

9. Jesus said, "Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure."

10. Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."

...

Full text at:

The Nag Hammadi Library - The Gospel of Thomas

http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html



So close to Jesus we've been mistaken for co-joined twins.

Br. John wrote: Do you know how The Bible got put together - when - and who did it? Many scholars say there are properly five gospels. I agree. Add The Gospel of Thomas and see what happens.

Here are the first 10 verses.


These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1. And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

3. Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

4. Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live.

For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

5. Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]"

6. His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"

Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

7. Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human."

8. And he said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!"

9. Jesus said, "Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure."

10. Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."

...

Full text at:

The Nag Hammadi Library - The Gospel of Thomas

http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html



So close to Jesus we've been mistaken for co-joined twins.

Yes, there are many books that were excluded from the bible that, IMO, should be part of it. The Catholic Church but the bible together and left out books they felt were inconvenient to the faith. The Protestants further removed books that were not convenient for Protestantism.

Aqua wrote: I am writing my essay about Abrahamism at moment, during my research I saw this question.. Just wondering, what do you think or understand when reading this question?


~ Aqua



,,If people of all religions can be saved, why do we need Jesus Christ?''

out of curiosity saved from what? if jesus saves you from your "sin debt" then you dont need him? you could save your sellf? you have the payment for the "sin debt" ?

I dont think we can offer more than an opinion on the matter unless we agree on the validity of the following assumptions inherent in the question:

1. People of all religions can be saved.
2. Being "saved" is the end goal for all religions.
3. We need Jesus.

This thread is suspect. The question is pointless. It presupposes that one believes in Christ, that we need to be saved, that everybody will be saved, or any combination of the three.

To one who doesn't believe in Christ, it's a pointless question to ask or answer. Now, if it was being directed at a Christian (or believer of any other religion) who believed in universal salvation, that would make sense. All I see is a very poor and juvenile attempt to troll or mock Christians.

Star Forge wrote: This thread is suspect. The question is pointless. It presupposes that one believes in Christ, that we need to be saved, that everybody will be saved, or any combination of the three.

To one who doesn't believe in Christ, it's a pointless question to ask or answer. Now, if it was being directed at a Christian (or believer of any other religion) who believed in universal salvation, that would make sense. All I see is a very poor and juvenile attempt to troll or mock Christians.

Without being snarky, I think the whole idea of the thread is a question for a Christian POV because it is pretty obvious that only Christians think you need to be saved and you need Jesus to do that.

Ousan Ka wrote:

Star Forge wrote: This thread is suspect. The question is pointless. It presupposes that one believes in Christ, that we need to be saved, that everybody will be saved, or any combination of the three.

To one who doesn't believe in Christ, it's a pointless question to ask or answer. Now, if it was being directed at a Christian (or believer of any other religion) who believed in universal salvation, that would make sense. All I see is a very poor and juvenile attempt to troll or mock Christians.

Without being snarky, I think the whole idea of the thread is a question for a Christian POV because it is pretty obvious that only Christians think you need to be saved and you need Jesus to do that.

Islam has a somewhat similar concept of salvation, as does Zoroastrianism. Hinduism and Buddhism have a concept of salvation as well, if the world is used more broadly.

Star Forge wrote:

Ousan Ka wrote:

Star Forge wrote: This thread is suspect. The question is pointless. It presupposes that one believes in Christ, that we need to be saved, that everybody will be saved, or any combination of the three.

To one who doesn't believe in Christ, it's a pointless question to ask or answer. Now, if it was being directed at a Christian (or believer of any other religion) who believed in universal salvation, that would make sense. All I see is a very poor and juvenile attempt to troll or mock Christians.

Without being snarky, I think the whole idea of the thread is a question for a Christian POV because it is pretty obvious that only Christians think you need to be saved and you need Jesus to do that.

Islam has a somewhat similar concept of salvation, as does Zoroastrianism. Hinduism and Buddhism have a concept of salvation as well, if the world is used more broadly.

Yes, but this question is specifically about Jesus so it almost certainly is asking from a Christian POV.

There really wouldn't be much point in asking this to a Muslim, Jew or Buddhist as none of them believe in the divinity of Jesus. Though, Muslims do believe he was a prophet.

I understand the question as a problem that arises in Christianity whenever people try too hard to make it moderate or liberal and by extension tolerable in this day and age. We have come to a point where people are no longer utter irredeamable savages and recognize that a system of justice that relies on the awareness of and submission to a religious message fails the instant people exist who have no such awareness. When in earlier days somebody not of the faith was evil by virtue of not being of the faith and deserved eternal torment by our and inevitably our gods' sick standards, today we came to recognize this as immoral and pushed theology to abandon that particular stance. Since however the entire construct was originally designed to be irreducibly complex, pulling out one string would have to result in most of the rest of it falling apart also. This question is but a symptom of that wound. They cannot have their cake and eat it, too.

I was going to post a long rant about this, but this will suffice.
Why do we need Jesus Christ?
We don't if we aren't Christian.

How can Jesus be relevant to non-Christians?

Short answer - by being the example on how to live a life of service and devotion to mankind.

Long answer - The Bible is a collection of books that was first compiled in the 1611 by King James (hence the King James version). At that time most, if not all of the writings were in a language that was long dead, or had changed dramatically over the centuries. It was the task of those that compiled it to get at least two different language versions of each book and try and decipher what the text meant by comparing the two versions. Even in that time, there was great discussion on the meanings of different parts. For example some scholars took a word an interpreted it to mean "brother" while others interpreted it as "male family member", so that in the Gospels, where it talks about Jesus' brothers, some believe that it means that Mary had other children who were physical brothers to Jesus; while others believe that it refers to Jesus' uncles and cousins. There is no definitive answer because even in 1611 it was an educated guess on it's meaning. My point is that much of the Bible is up for interpretation based on the values, and needs of the individual. Did Jesus come to forgive sin, or abolish sin? I have read it both ways, in different versions, and it takes a totally different meaning depending on which version you ascribe to .

For me, my journey and search for answers led me to look, not at what is literally written, but what was the context of the passages when viewed from the perspective of the times that it portrays. If you look at the conditions and way of life in Judea at the time of Christ, you would see that there was massive corruption within the church. Each individual would have to go to the priest, and the priest would decide the level of atonement that was necessary; then you would have to go into the outer temple and purchase an animal that coincided with your level of atonement and present it to the priest at the entrance to the inner temple; who would then sacrifice said animal, and you would be forgiven. Most people spent their entire lives working to pay for the sacrifices demanded by the priests, and had forgotten what it was to really live the word of God. Jesus was born into these conditions; lived an immaculate life; then became the perfect sacrifice so that no other sacrifice was ever needed again. To me, this is line with the interpretation that He came to abolish sin, because he has paid the price for all sin, now and in the future; so that now we can free ourselves from the need to "repent" and can concentrate on the real message - living a life of service and peace.

So how is Jesus relevant to non-Christians? He leveled the playing field and set the example of how to live, not just for Christians (because Jesus was not Christian), but for all people!

Rick D wrote: The Bible is a collection of books that was first compiled in the [sic] 1611 by King James...

Here's an English translation from some eight decades prior to King James' birth:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_%28Wycliffe%29

It's not the first compilation nor the first translation, just the first full English version. Have fun.

i don't think christians need him either....just his lessons and example...

just like buddhists don't need the buddha, just his lessons and example....

people need the wisdom, not the person...

Cabur Senaar wrote:

Aqua wrote: If people of all religions can be saved, why do we need Jesus Christ?''

My experience has been that various scriptures from around the world are not intended to be presented as A truth, but as THE truth. Many religions promise some manner of salvation, but they stipulate that their own path is the only one that works.

The question looks like it has been written from the perspective of a comparative religion student. It implies that all paths work. It suggests that all people of all religions can be saved. Why then would any particular path be necessary if any one of them will do the job?

Except that, from the perspective of most any particular religion, their and only their path leads to salvation. You will often find individual practitioners that will allow for multiple paths to salvation, but I cannot think of a religious scripture that allowed for that. If someone knows of one, I'd be interested in giving it a read.

The assumptions don't coincide. Thus the confusion.

Just to throw my own hat into the ring, I'm not really interetsed in being saved. Beyond the immediate dangers of speeding cars, I see nothing from which I need be saved.

Because, if the paths are true, all religions could be a perspective of god. Different cultures would develop different ways to understand the perspectives of religion? So it would be necessary for god to create different religions to give cultures a way to understand the path to be saved at their own level of understanding?

Aqua... create is the correct word.
There is a created need that the creators fill. That's all. It fills from many different views. I as a Jedi don't have a need for salvation in the same religious way. My wisdom comes from within and the credit doesn't go to an individual but me...and that's where the path gets involved...the ,I know more I'm Jedi, mentality comes. The dark side lol feel free to pm of u like I graduated from Pensacola Christian College...name drop lol

We need jesus for food!

carlos.martinez3 wrote: Aqua... create is the correct word.
There is a created need that the creators fill. That's all. It fills from many different views. I as a Jedi don't have a need for salvation in the same religious way. My wisdom comes from within and the credit doesn't go to an individual but me...and that's where the path gets involved...the ,I know more I'm Jedi, mentality comes. The dark side lol feel free to pm of u like I graduated from Pensacola Christian College...name drop lol

''Creative thinker sees the invisible, feels untouchable, and achieves the impossible.'' :blush:

Aqua wrote:

Cabur Senaar wrote:

Aqua wrote: If people of all religions can be saved, why do we need Jesus Christ?''

My experience has been that various scriptures from around the world are not intended to be presented as A truth, but as THE truth. Many religions promise some manner of salvation, but they stipulate that their own path is the only one that works.

The question looks like it has been written from the perspective of a comparative religion student. It implies that all paths work. It suggests that all people of all religions can be saved. Why then would any particular path be necessary if any one of them will do the job?

Except that, from the perspective of most any particular religion, their and only their path leads to salvation. You will often find individual practitioners that will allow for multiple paths to salvation, but I cannot think of a religious scripture that allowed for that. If someone knows of one, I'd be interested in giving it a read.

The assumptions don't coincide. Thus the confusion.

Just to throw my own hat into the ring, I'm not really interetsed in being saved. Beyond the immediate dangers of speeding cars, I see nothing from which I need be saved.

Because, if the paths are true, all religions could be a perspective of god. Different cultures would develop different ways to understand the perspectives of religion? So it would be necessary for god to create different religions to give cultures a way to understand the path to be saved at their own level of understanding?

A comparative religion student would say that religion is created by people, not by a God. It is a social system. And there are people who would agree with you statement of different messages for different people. But no religous text says so. The basic premises of the question don't line up. A person standing on the outside of a given religion, or religions in general, operates on a different set of assumptions than a person squarely within a particular religion.

According to the Apostle Paul:

Romans 2:6-8 New International Version (NIV)

6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

So you only need to be a good person to be saved. Yes Paul does state that salvation is through Jesus, but it's more meant for Christians than the rest of us.