If Christ isn't the only way to get to heaven and to God...why in the world would he come to earth, be tortured and ridiculed and hung on a cross? Seems a bit drastic if all you had to do was believe in Yahweh, Allah, or just some kind of God in general and be a good person.

Guess you don't either. ;)

What happens to all the billions of "good" people who died before Christ was born? Are they damned to hell merely as a consequence of when they were born?

And offer the love and forgiveness of God....

....thanks pookie;)

"Give unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's, and give unto the Lord what is His....."

which he said could only be achieved through him.

which is why the whole idea that he isn't but you still claim to follow him confuses me.

actually, faith that the messiah was coming was what saved people prior to christ.

this isn't a political question, it is a religious one.

Basically, Christians refer to the statemtn Chirst made that "Heaven" would be found through Him.

I believe that. BUT...it is my opinion that his words had two meanings:

One, that Heaven can only be achieved by a belief in GOD. JESUS, by the very definition of Christianity, IS "God on Earth." Thus, my Interpretation of that statement is that one must "find God" in order to achieve Heaven....

Second, that, if one actually TRIES to follow in Chirst's footsteps, and open themselves to God's love and Mercy, they will find Heaven. That does not mean there is not another way, just that His is the easiest, and, as I said, he has SHOWN us how....

If one HAS to be "Christian" in order to recieve God's Love and redemntion, LOGIC must tell us that God is not all that loving, holding off his love for a select group who adhere to a single philosophy. GOOD Jews, Muslims, etc., as well as those who are never really exposed to Christianity just get thrown into a big lot of humanity destined for Hell.

That simply is not the God that I know.....

one that placed responsibility for your spiritual life on the individual rather than on mindless ritual. He also brought about the concept of an actual relationship with God.

False first premise, Jeff.

Jesus....said nothing.

He was QUOTED as saying things by his followers. Therefore anything claimed for him...was claimed by flawed, imperfect, SINFUL Men, right?

Who gives a fuck about your stupid religion, assuming that you even believe in these fairy-tales?

Jesus was just a guy who preached an offshoot faith from Judaism, got on the Romans' bad side, and got himself executed. Then some of the junkies who followed him proclaimed that he'd been 'raised from the dead' and hey presto!

Thousands of years of torture, death, and war followed. Some "Prince of Peace," that...

What about all the millions of "good" people who were born after Christ, but never had the opportunity to hear Christ's word, such as American Indians priror to European settlement?

Are these people damned due the quirks of geography or lack of technology?