To everyone: Thanks for all the interesting viewpoints.
If I may request though, please indulge me with more comments closer to what I am currently exploring.
In this, I would like to explain myself (and think out-loud) a bit further.
I have always had a critical and scientific approach to things. Sometimes with good results....sometimes with bad results. And in doing so in regards to religion I have started with the beginning.......(Is there a God?........If so, then) ....that kind of thing. What I have come down to is my present view, that of seeing a clear need to please God. That said, ...just for the sake of argument,....if you believe that the Bible IS from god, then it would follow that you would proceed from the most accurate translations, and from these proceed under your ownconscience in following God's Word. Because, IF you assume that he wanted us to please him, he would have to make sure that a "reasonable" picture of his original thoughts survived from the first century down to our day. That said, for him to hold against us making mistakes due to differences in translations, after doing the best we can, would be flat-out WRONG.....even for him.
So..then it would follow that logically, the answer must be that, as someone posted earlier ( I can't remember who): Organized religion ,is, at best,nothing more than a guide to help us, but one that "should not" have any divinely-authorized authority or corrective capacity.....just a meek guide.
Now, admittedly, christianity is NOT the only religion on earth, so it must follow that until some kind of supernatural ultimatum is given (in the form of a booming voice or universal revelation, of sorts, to all, so as to prompt a choice to worship him or not, ......UNTIL THEN, it would be wrong of him to hold our uncertainty against us individually, especially when you consider that Jesus himself warned us of false prophets, false angels of light, etc.
It seems that it would be cruel to knowingly submit us all to vast uncertainty and then punish us with death for not being sure about which way to go.
But, to go a step further, it could be argued that organized religion in ALL its forms IS the object referred to in the book of REV as...Babylon the Great and is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he stated that after he was gone that the APOSTOCY would arise....leaving what I stated above.....All of us, individually, using the bible and the holy spirit, which Jesus said would be our "helper", to train our conscience in doing his will, as we await the end.
That is....if you agree with the title of this thread.
Just some food for thought.
Bourne
