Harry, Harry, Harry.. This is why I wrote the message and haven't replied to any of the answers, well, until now! Your reply to me is why IMHO, we are loosing the MESSAGE WAR, to a wider audience in the voter booth..
Who are you, in a broad context, to tell me what is in my heart, or how do you believe that only YOUR WAY, IS THE ONLY WAY?
Who, other than those who have actually conversed with THE ALMIGHTY, can say that I am not allowed to develop a devout relationship with MY LORD..
It is that arrogance that has driven me away from my former Church, and man made religion in general.. My Church told me my own sainted mother was excommunicated from her beloved Catholic Church, because she divorced my worthless and cruel father, and married a man the treated her like the queen she was..
If you actually believe that I will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven because I developed a more devout method to worship MY GOD, you might want to rethink that mindset..
In this thread, I never suggested that the Bible wasn't the spoken word, or that my way was absolute, I attempted to open up a dialog so others could tell us of their relationship..
IF there is an afterlife, IF, not there is not, you might be surprised who will be there to meet you, then again you might not ever find out who is there.. jus sayin.. :)
You are absolutely correct in the statement about me not knowing your heart, but what I do believe is that the bible is the inerrant word of God, and that word says that "because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9&10)
I (and everyone else) can only know your spoken confession (or written in this case), but God knows your heart.
I haven't been a Catholic for 50 years, and have been a Christian for the last twenty. Nothing that I every learned in the Catholic church prepared me for eternal life so I put almost no value in their teaching.
Here is the bottom line. If you have a right relationship with Jesus as defined by His teaching, your name will be in the Book of Life. Only you and God can know that, although others can gain insight into your life by witnessing the type of fruit that you are bearing for the Kingdom. "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit."(Matthew 7:17)
In the end, one thing is certain. We will all stand before the judgment seat of God. "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:13-15)
I pray that you make it!