I spent most of my youth deeply entrenched in the ministry down here in the fundamentalist deep South. It's to various degrees. One denomination believes that if you aren't physically dunked in water, you're going to hell. Many Baptist denominations think the whole speaking in tongues is sacrilegious while a lot of Pentecostals think you aren't "saved" if you don't. I remember as a kid thinking the differences were so petty and trivial and many of these thelogies were so at odds with a "loving, merciful god."

He's a nutball. They all are. Orthodox Church is no less stupid than Catholic Church.

No some of them have even more stupid ideas

No, some believe in exclusivity and some believe in inclusively. The reason they have different denominations is a difference in some core belief. The non denominationals believe in the chinese menu variation, that is some from column A, some from column B, and desert from column C or D.

Different denominations as well as individual believers will approach the subject differently. Some appear to recognize that good honest people were raised and remain in other faiths while others are hardcore even about other Christian denominations.

The issue of deciding who gets into heaven is just silly. To think that an infant who dies who was born to Buddhist parants is going to hell because the baby was not baptised as a Christian is repugnant. Any scenario can be rationalized, but who cares? Such an unjust attitude toward a baby lacks compassion for the most innocent of human beings.

Just the hardcore ones.

Not religious, and never having been … after reading everything below this, I’m still confused If all ‘believers’ are going to their heaven, then what matter would/ should the details make? Why all the nit-picking and adherence to specific doctrines if their g-d doesn't really care?

If not all ‘believers’ are headed up.. ..where do they go, down? Get the day wrong for tossing jc’s bath water - and to ‘ell with you? Are there better seats for those having been ‘closer to right?’

Maybe I’ll ask the next street-preacher I meet, when it’s safe to have some crazy in my face again ...and no disrespect to the responses below, being ‘religion,’ I didn’t expect much sense to be made..

They all think theirs is the “one true faith”...given that the Jews already claim to be “the chosen people”, I don’t know what rationale they believe they’re using! This applies not only to Catholics but all of the Christian denominations as far as I can make out....only their interpretation of the bible is the one that will gain them entry. Of course other religions such as Islam believe only they will be favoured by god...so it is quite difficult to choose any and have certainty that the choice will be the correct one. It’s literally like picking a lottery ticket!

If they are literal fundamentalist believers yes, though they may be a minority even in the churches. Though amusingly there have been some sects, which limited their total numbers to five thousand members, because some interpretations of the bible say that only five thousand will be saved on judgement day, and they are obviously the five thousand. LOL

I expect that most do believe thusly, though some give lip service to the idea that only God can know, it's not our place to say, blah blah blah.

The church that I was raised in did NOT believe that only we would go to heaven, but that was only because we didn't believe that ANYONE would. We were just as chauvinistic as any other in thinking that only we would be saved.

Beliefs are frivolous and fickle, they evolve and change in order to keep faith active.

Some in your friends faith may believe that she will go to heaven.

Beliefs basically give the beliver the delusion they are safe and saved. Even in the hell they are living in at the moment.

"Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication in the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves." Eric Hoffer (author of The True Believer)

My post here may help: "Humankind has evolved to the point that they are conscious of their own mortality."

Yeah...Apparently Jesus is picky.

Most of them don't know what they believe. My housemate's a Catholic but when I asked her if she believed in papal infallibility she said "No".

While I no longer care for such opinions, there may at least be one Catholic who does not appear to share your friend's belief.

“You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience."
Pope Francis

Most Christian denominations believe they are the one and only "true" church, and all other demonimations won't go to heaven.

fuck religions!

I grew up Catholic — strict, religious upbringing, parochial school for seven years, altar server for ten years, very Catholic college — and views range from conservative to liberal, but the Church itself taught (since the reconvening of the Second Vatican Council) that non-Catholics, and even non-Christians, can go to Heaven. When it comes to leaving the Church, though, it gets a little murky. The Catholic Church still claims to be the "one true religion," and those who have known the supposed truth and turn their back on it are seen as having turned their backs on God and the reward of Heaven as well. But, at the same time, the Catholic Church has said that those who cannot attend a Catholic Mass (to meet their Sunday obligation) because of inaccessibility can substitute from the Eastern Orthodox churches. I think there's also a provision for attending the Episcopal Church. These are considered to be close enough to have some validity, because they share a common tradition (but don't recognize the authority of the Pope). I have friends who are Christians of other denominations, and the spectrum of belief is vast. For them all to use the umbrella term "Christian" seems a bit odd, in fact, considering how different their views can be. Regardless, some think only their stripe will be saved and others believe that everyone will be saved, and there's every belief in between from strict belief in biblical inerrancy, to mere belief in Jesus as Savior, to needing to do good works irrespective of belief. And then there are those who follow Calvinism (e.g., Presbyterians) and believe that those who will be saved have been predestined, that God wrote their names in the Book of Life and no amount of praying or blasphemy, good works or evil will change this — although there's some confusion around whether it's possible to reject salvation by not fulfilling one's role, but I've been unable to find a clear explanation for this and I suspect that it's a muddled theology that boils down to "mystery" and "faith." Anyway, I hope that answers your question. You'll find believers who defer to Church teachings in all matters, and you'll find others who have differing views in some areas, and different denominations vary significantly on such issues as the path to salvation.

If you have any Mormon friends, they can get you in after you die. Yep, they have some sort of official prayer at the church and names are read for bringing in lost souls. There was an outrage years ago when they decided to and started to add all the known dead from the Holocaust.

Yup they do

To the most intense, very much so; especially between protestants and catholics.

I think this is the reason behind Trump saying Biden is against g-d. It will play well to a segment of his base, even though many catholics would have been much inclined to vote for him.

Would not posting this on Facebook make more sense than here on Agfnostic.com?

No one has ever gone up to heaven but He Who came down from it so i guess they are have their heads up their...Apollos, lol; that is Mithraism, the belief that one might attain the Elysian fields after death
I came that you might have LIFE...

Why would I care what they believe.
It's not real, until they F up government.

No not all but who cares.

Who cares what zealots think about a made up heaven and hell?