[nmh]

I stopped here:

"Russell and other fretters aren't impressed by fads like the sudden popularity of the girl's name Naveah (heaven spelled backward) or polls that show most Americans believe in some sort of heaven."

Heaven spelled backwards is Nevaeh; not Naveah.

[wideawake]

In Catholicism, the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) declared that persons who do not know the Christian gospel but sincerely seek God “can attain to everlasting salvation.” The church decided that requiring explicit Christian faith was too pessimistic, said U.S. theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles, writing in First Things magazine.

That is a misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine and of the Second Vatican Council's teaching. It's probably a misrepresentation of Dulles as well.

The Church teaches that God alone grants salvation and He grants it to whomever it pleases Him to grant it to. The Church reaffirmed in the document Dominus Iesus the Scriptural essential that Jesus alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

[nmh]

"He said that when Christian truth collides with the dominant cultural belief, promoted by psychology, that individuals should choose whatever they want, then “something has to give. And in our world today, in America and much of the West, what is giving is Christianity.” That includes the faith in “ultimate right and wrong” that undergirds heaven and hell."

God forbid if you correct misguided beliefs of those that claim to be "Christian" with what the Bible states! Geesh!
If yo do this, then you're "bashing" whatever their religious denomination is.

Today you cannot criticize even if you are trying to NOT have the person go to hell.

[Iscool]

each of us faces just two possibilities, either “everlasting happiness in the presence of God” or “everlasting torment in the absence of God.”

Lots of folks are going to be in for the shock of their lives (deaths), including this author...

[murphE]

In Catholicism, the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) declared that persons who do not know the Christian gospel but sincerely seek God “can attain to everlasting salvation.” The church decided that requiring explicit Christian faith was too pessimistic, said U.S. theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles, writing in First Things magazine.

The Church has infallibly defined doctrine on salvation and that ain't it. This is:

"There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)

"We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)

"The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church." (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)

[stuartcr]

Since they are beliefs....How does it matter what someone's conception of it is?

Isn't a humans' moral sense and the supernatural, including heaven and hell, equally arrogant and unprovable....as these are relative to a person's belief.

[tmp02]

No fear of HELL and no hope of HEAVEN - to sum up this story.

It's because people no longer have the fear of God in their hearts. If they did have the fear of God, they would have a different perspective of God, life, holiness, others, and evil. People want to get as far from fearing God so that their "Christian liberties" aren't stepped on. Christian liberties with the Almighty God in the picture, should make us pull closer to HIM and further from the world, but sadly that is not the case. If you spend all your time in the world, you will act like the world...if you spend more time with Christ, read, prayer, and learn of Him, you will be more like Christ. You can't have both...

Christ is coming soon. Is your lamp prepared?

[Vision]

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3

Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. ”- Matthew 7:13-14

Do not envy wicked men, do not desire their company. Proverbs 24:1

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:7-9

[bannie]

Forgotten?

Naw, and it's ok because I worry about it enough for everyone else.