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ELI5: If you're a Christian, why do you have to be good if Jesus will forgive you no matter what? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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I grew up going to church but I'm not religious now and I never really understood this part.

Please, no answers along the lines of "aha, that's why Christianity is a sham" or "religions aren't logical". I don't want to debate whether it's right or wrong, I just want to understand the logic and reasoning that Christians use to explain this.

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[–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

That's an... interesting take on predestination. The idea is that God already knows what you're going to do, because he's omniscient. It's not a matter of just picking you and then whatever you do is fine. He already 'knew' what you were going to do. So if you're good, he already knew and you're in.

If you wanna get into a religious debate about predestination, though, strap in. It's a doozy.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    It sounds like you know more than this about me so correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is there's a difference between just plain omniscience (which sounds like what you're describing in your comment, and is pretty widely accepted among Christian denominations) and actual predestination (which to my understanding is almost exclusively a Calvinist belief).

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