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Comment by nevster | Hacker News Reader

Slightly off-topic - I always find it a bit sad when people say things like "Christians go through life trying to gain points... If by the end of your life you gain enough points, then after you die you go to the next level of the game (aka heaven)".

It shows the author has never actually heard the gospel (ie the good news) of Christianity - that you don't need to do that! That's why it's good news.

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> It shows the author has never actually heard the gospel (ie the good news) of Christianity - that you don't need to do that! That's why it's good news.

Eh, that's just one view. Christianity also sold indulgences as insurance (sometimes preemptively)

I wish more people tried to gain a high score instead of entering a cheat code right before death

I'm pretty sure most Christians believe God is all-knowing enough to be able to detect cheating.

As I understand it, if one accepts Jesus into his/her heart and as lord and savior, that is, according to the good news of the gospel, all that is required, as long as their heart is pure and they truly repent. I may be mistaken. I only went to Catholic school for 12 years so what do I know?

Yes, pretty much. There are probably quite a number of exceptions, for example denominations that believe in predestination (although I don't know much about that).

I guess my point was that the way I see it, if someone is truly repentant, they're not cheating. On the other hand, if you live your life in an 'evil' way with the idea that you can just speak the magic words on your deathbed, it wouldn't be truly repentant.

(I have no doubt that there are also groups that believe it's all about the magic words, but I suspect those are pretty rare.)

Have you read the gospels?

http://biblehub.com/john/14-6.htm

> Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

That's a conditional statement.

And I'd argue a despicable thing to say

I think the believer was trying to refer to the distinction between works and faith (and is, therefore, most likely Protestant.) Perhaps in error, since the original analogy in the article might work with "grace points" or "actions according to faith points," too.

The author is wrong, though: only a fraction of Christians think that way. For example, the entire Calvinist concept of predestination is a reaction against thinking you can earn your way into heaven by scoring points. I've often heard what you just expressed as being "saved by the grace of God", and that's the doctrine of a large fraction of Christians.

Basically, the author would have a hard time finding a generalization about Christians theology that's more wrong.

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