Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. MOST ARE DAMNED

The Bible says that most people will go to the place of torment that never ends when they die and there is nothing they can do about it once they get there. Most people will be damned forever. This is hardly surprising when the book of Ecclesiastes says that laughing (2:1) and everything we do below the sun is pointless and just vanity (1:2). Vanity is a sin. The book does not mean that all human works are useless – even sin has its uses - it means that they are nothing to be proud of in the final analysis for there is no real goodness in them just pride. Even the humble person must be proud of his humility.

The teaching of holiness has been abandoned by virtually the entire Christian Church. Holy means separate – keeping away from what or whoever is unclean. In the Jewish law, the Jews were commanded to avoid unclean things no matter what. Jesus in Mark 7 said that a man was made unclean by his intentions and his will. So you are not to have anything to do with sinners. But we all do. We go to weddings of unrepentant people who lived in sin first.

It is not surprising that the Bible says that the vast majority of our works are sinful (Romans 3) and makes no distinction between sins that deserve eternal punishing and those that don’t like there is in Roman Catholicism but says that all sin merits the endless agonies of Hell. Also, it says that nobody is perfectly righteous at any moment in this life and all sin at some level (1 John 1:8). And it says that if you sin all your works will be sins until you repent even if they are good works (James 3:9,12).

Paul said that many will receive the salvation won by Jesus (Romans 5:15,19). But many can mean anything. If salvation is very unlikely and a thousand make it that is many. Its as many as can be expected. He didn’t say most and he didn’t say all. That is very important. We must not forget that Paul didn’t have that many converts at that time and he was ready for the second coming any minute. His many must be understood in that context. He chose to use that word for he didn’t know what else to use. It was the most neutral word he could use.

Romans 8 says that anybody who has the spirit of God is a son of God. This means Christians for there is no hint that it can be any other kind of people. And the real Christians are as uncommon as papal offspring. There are millions of Christian denominations and every one claims to have the correct Christian faith and that every other group is in error. When Paul said that even Christians will not be saved from sin and death if Jesus has not risen he is saying that sincerity is no good at all and people have to have the right gospel to be saved meaning that salvation is only for a handful.

Once when he was asked if only a few would be saved, Jesus replied that people have to strive to get into Heaven and to squeeze through the narrow door (Luke 13:23, 24). He did not say straight out that only a few can expect to be saved but when he started talking about the need for a struggle and to get in through a narrow door yes was written all over it. So all do not go to Heaven, namely, those who don’t strive. He did say then that only a few go to Heaven. When anybody asks you if your pub can hold many punters and you tell them that they need to do something hard to get in it is obvious that you are indicating that it does not. Jesus was doing the same thing here. It is laughable that some argue that 99 out of hundred would be few to Jesus who wants all to be saved – meaning that not many doesn’t mean not many here (page 288, Handbook of Christian Apologetics). But when Jesus was on such a serious subject he was hardly likely to be unclear and childish. Only a few go to Heaven so the rest must suffer forever. If he had been talking to himself saying so few will be saved we might believe the laughable interpretation of this but when he said it to others who would have taken him to mean few in the real sense that is what he meant. If sincerity could save most would be saved.

Jesus said that his yoke was easy and his burden light and the First Epistle of John tells us that the commandments are not difficult. From this it would suggest that most people should be saved. How can it be reconciled with the statements of primitive Christianity that only few can be saved? By holding that correct and orthodox faith is necessary for salvation. Few people are orthodox. Protestants hold that everybody is trapped in sin until they turn to Christ in faith. “In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that comes by faith from beginning to end, just as it is written, “The just one will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Luther reasoned that since the righteousness of God condemns the sinner, how does this have a righteousness that doesn’t condemn? The answer for him was that faith was entire self-abandonment to God, you abandon yourself because you can do nothing to save yourself and the work is all his. He saves you and you believe as a result. You are clothed with righteousness in his sight like a robe but in yourself you are still unrighteous. Few understand salvation by faith alone without good works and the Roman Catholic Church rejects it as heresy so few will have any hope of being saved.

The rich young man could not turn to Jesus because Jesus asked him to give his wealth to the poor. Jesus then said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The apostles then objected that nobody could be saved if that was the case. Then Jesus replied that it was impossible with men but not with God. Only God could save them. The apostles meant that everybody was rich in the sense that they had material things they would not give up for anybody even God. Jesus does not disagree with them but actually agrees when he says only God can help them. This tells us that only those who make outstanding and unnatural sacrifices will be saved. Those who claim to be saved and do not have not been really saved. The saved will be less less less than a tiny minority.

Today, nearly everybody in the West and Europe is rich. The rich never valued money because it was just money but because of the opportunities it gave them. Today even many of the so-called poor have more opportunities than had the rich of Jesus’ day who he condemned for their wealth.

Jesus is also saying that the rich man could not come to him. The rich man was too weak to do what Jesus asked and still Jesus said he was unfit for Heaven. This undermines the Christian doctrine that Jesus preached an understanding God. It would take time for God to change him but Jesus still condemns him for he approves of all God does and God has rejected him. If the rich man was strong then it would not be impossible for him to be saved without much help from God.

In Matthew, Jesus says the road to life is difficult and rough while the road to everlasting torture is wide and smooth.

His references to his generation being an evil and adulterous one hint that few were considered fit for Heaven.

Jesus said that the last will be first and first last implies that many are called to be first and few are chosen for only the last called make it for anybody that is a follower of God for long falls away and that is why the last get saved.

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 7, states that 144,000 men will be saved or sealed as the slaves of God. Seals are final so they are servants of God forever. The angels sealed and took these servants of God from the earth. They pick members of the Israelite tribes only. Christians say it can’t mean Jews only so it is a symbol. But it could for anybody could have Jewish blood in them for the Bible says the Jews were scattered. Paul said that we are all Jews – spiritually – if we keep true to Christ. God could rig it that this exact number could be saved too. He did stranger things after all and it is Bible doctrine that you cannot be saved unless God gives you the gift of faith. But if it is Jews then when God chooses so few of his chosen people for salvation things will not be any more encouraging for the rest of us. The 144,000 sang a new song that nobody else could learn. This means they were singing of their salvation and nobody else was allowed to sing this hymn.

After the 144,000 are mentioned the scriptures mention a great numberless crowd praising God. Some think the 144,000 is symbolic and refers to the same crowd (page 175, The Book of Revelation for Dummies). This is wrong for why use such confusing symbolism and how can a numbered crowd symbolise an innumerable crowd?

So God chooses 144,000 Jews who have to be spotless virgins.

There is no evidence that the 144,000 is to be taken figuratively. Even if it is, it still indicates that the number of the finally saved is tiny.

Some say as the 144,000 includes Israel's tribes but as Dan and Ephraim is left out the reference is symbolic. So the 144,000 is figurative for the tribe of Dan has been left out but it is there by implication for it says all the tribes and it is omitted from explicit mention probably because Dan was the black sheep tribe (page 432, Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties).

Bible scholars agree that the figure could be literal (page 433, ibid). The view that the idea that only 144,000 will be accepted by God is elitist and contradicts the assertions of Galatians 3:28,29; Colossians 3:11 about there being no elitism with God is a common view. But it is wrong. The Bible says that all who really want to come to God will come.

Revelation also says that they will be virgins or parthenoi probably in view that they will comprise the Church which will be the bride of the lamb of God and a virgin for Christ – their not being real virgins being a different issue though to me it is still a hint that virgins are preferred for they could have been called chaste not virgins and chastity does not rule out sex but only illicit sex. Since God forgives sexual sin it is possible that the virgins are not physically virgins but are virgins in God’s eyes because he forgave them.

The 144,000 are Jewish Christians because it seems that it is only Jerusalem where God is praised (Revelation 11:13).

There are twenty-four elders with the 144,000 but the elders could be angels or the Old Testament prophets who were saved.

Then after the 144,000, Christians say they read about a great crowd of innumerable saints being safe in Heaven and free from suffering and worshipping God all the time in his temple in Heaven. This appears to be a different group from the 144,000.

The crowd is made up of people who suffered intensely for their faith in Christ. What Revelation tells us about them is that they wore white robes and carried palm branches and praised God and the Lamb and the author says that a member of the Heavenly Sanhedrin told him they came through the persecution and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. They stand before the Throne of God in his Temple and they hunger no more and they thirst no more. And the sun or heat doesn’t smite them for the Lamb will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of water that give life and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

They might stand before God and use his Temple but that doesn’t mean they are saved. The passage doesn’t say they have any more contact with God than any living person can have. If they are saved then why do they still need the Lamb to guide them to the waters of salvation? They are protected by God. They can dirty their robes again for it is only if their robes keep white that the Lamb can guide them. The reference to the sun and heat not smiting them is similar to the promise of the psalm that if you do the will of God the sun and the moon will not harm you. It’s not to be taken too literally. Nothing in Revelation hints that the number of the saved will be high. On the contrary it hints that the number will be very low.

The message is that God has given the grace of saving faith only to Jewish virgins and to some Gentiles who have suffered intensely for him which indicates that only those who live incredibly holy lives have received the grace of faith and will go to Heaven. Only unique people will be saved which implies that this is not many when you think of how many people have come and gone and are still here on the earth.

There is no reason to suppose that the 144,000 and the great crowd refer to something that is yet to come. That would leave it possible to insist that the references to them do not indicate that the number of the saved will be small for the great tribulation and the disasters and earthquakes that they will see on earth have been happening bit by bit since Revelation was written. Before the 144,000 was mentioned we were told that the Lamb opened the fifth seal in Heaven to the pleadings of a crowd in Heaven who had been martyred and wanted him to take revenge for them and they were told to wait until more martyrs would come to join them at the foot of God’s altar in Heaven. So the great crowd is being made up even now.

Revelation says that anybody who misrepresents the book will be lost implying that the saved will be those who understand it perfectly by the power of God (22). Thus, the book means it when it says salvation is just for a few. Verses that speak of the almost total depravity of the world serve to underline that (eg, 16:10, 11).

The Church says we do not know how high the rate of everlasting damnations is. We have to assume that it is very high to be on the safe side. It is better to die of fear than to suffer in Hell forever. This means that it is wise to murder anybody who draws others into sin. Humanists should be murdered for trying to draw Christians into the so-called sin of apostasy or disbelief. It is a sin to let the people who are a stumbling block to God’s people live. The doctrine of the Christian Church is responsible for the burning to death at the stake and torturing of heretics which both the Catholic and Protestants considered noble activities not too long ago. Those who won’t kill are hypocrites and those who do are nutters. Thus, the argument that it is worse not to believe in Hell is completely exploded. If most believers in Hell won’t become full fanatics that is only because their faith is too weak so they are no argument for the safety of the doctrine.

The road to Hell is easy and wide. This is hardly an encouraging doctrine. Jesus said that few find the way to Heaven meaning that sincere but mistaken faith is not enough for most would enter for most sincerely believe. One has to know and believe what he taught.

The Roman Catholic Church has officially and infallibly decreed against the Reformers at the Council of Trent that nobody can know beyond any peradventure of a doubt that they will enter Heaven when they die (Canon 30, Session 6, Justification) which tells us that mortal sin must be extremely common and every person commits it a lot and may only think that he is right with God now and be proved wrong at the judgment after his death.

Jesus claimed to be the way, truth and the life (John 14:6)- that is he gives us the life of God and we experience God living inside us. It follows then that he came to be truth and life for us. It follows then that once you believe in him and experience his life-giving power you have no excuse for departing from the faith or any part of it. The New Testament claims to be the truth and that those who believe have the truth (2 Timothy 6:3,4). So it is forbidden for the Christian to say, “I believe I have the truth”. The Christian must say, “I have the truth.” There is no doubt that Christianity advocates stubborn arrogance. Truth is naturally intolerant of error so if you have the truth then tolerating those who differ or their views would be wrong. The arrogance is evil but becomes gross evil and puts evil off the scale when the faith involves doctrines such as that God sends those who die divorced from him to Hell forever and that contraception is a grave sin and so on.

Jesus claimed to be the Truth and Catholicism and Christianity claim to be the one true faith. They say Jesus commanded we must worship God in truth, that is by having his truth. So you are not allowed to treat say, your Catholic religion as probably true or possibly true. You treat it as the truth and as if everything was proven even when it is not. In other words, you obey the papal ban on birth-control no matter how evil or absurd this ban seems to you. This is a very arrogant, stubborn, pig-headed, irresponsible, dangerous and fanatical example that the Roman Catholic religion is setting.

You are forbidden to argue like Pascal did, "I will follow God's Church in case it is true. If it is false I will be virtuous because I obeyed. If it is true and I don't obey, then I will go to Hell forever. So it is safer to follow the Church." That totally contradicts the insistence of Jesus and his mad apostles that you put ifs and buts out of your head. For you, the Church and Jesus are the truth. Period. This shows how the faith is about control over minds and lives.

The Catholic and Christian religion uses Pascal's argument to get followers for it ditches honesty and consistency when it wants to get new victims. But what it is but mere fire insurance against Hell? It thrives on religious fear. It boosts that fear. It is the fear that leads Catholic to fear the Protestant and Mormon and Muslim to name a few. It is the fear that makes Catholic families disinherit and cast off sons or daughters who leave the Church. It is the fear that makes Catholics vent hatred towards priests who forsake their "vocation" and get married. It is the fear that is used to bully and frighten and put pressure on women to avoid getting pregnant out of marriage. It is the fear of giving a "bad example that draws to sin and Hell" that leads parents to rip the babies from the arms of their unwed daughters and have the babies sent off to adoptive parents to keep the "scandalous" knowledge of the births from the neighbours and the rest of the family. It is the fear that leads a Catholic father to beat up his son or daughter for doubting the religion or failing to go to Mass or getting drunk or whatever - all of which Rome considers to be serious sins that deserve everlasting torment. All it produces is hardship and hypocrisy because it has people living in fear and only doing good and obeying to avoid Hell. The good person does good for it is good. Doing it to avoid Hell means you are not doing good for it is good but to avoid torment. Its begrudged good. Yet the Church approves of this good for it says God will forgive you in confession through the priest even if you are only repentant of sin for the sake of avoiding Hell! Unmarried mothers and gay people, to take two examples, who support the Church by being classed a member, by going to Mass or by giving financial support to the Church are betraying themselves and other unmarried mothers and other gay people. One day the Church could have the power to make unmarried motherhood and being gay the horrific shame it was able to make it in the past. And indeed in many parts of the world it has that power. Morality changes with the fashions. As long as the Church condemns something, it could get into a position in the future where it can persecute and suppress those who flout its condemnation.

What a fine preparation for death Christianity is! When you feel death coming upon you, you are naturally going to accept the Wager as correct and applicable. It will be irresistible. After all who wants to go to Hell especially when it could be only a few minutes away. But rejecting sin to avoid punishment is in reality not rejecting the sin at all but the punishment. It means that because of your Christian faith, you go out of this world hating punishment and wishing you could sin all you want without the fear of it hanging over you. It's a no-win situation. You are damned if you do repent and damned if you don't.

Christianity has sometimes suppressed or ignored the doctrine of salvation for a handful for it is bad for business and her schemes to court popularity. But the fact remains the tradition of the Church and the scriptures teach that it is the correct view.