

SALVATION FROM WHAT?
The bible never ever states that we are saved from eternal torture and torment in "hell." "His name will be called Emmanuel for he will save his people from their sins." And "the wages of sin is death." --not an eternity of suffering and torment. Jesus never said he came to save us from eternal torture and torment. He said he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He said the kingdom of heaven is within you. Sin causes death and destruction of our lives here on earth. It ruins our health, destroys relationships, destroys families, and leads nations into ruins. That is what we are saved from.
Jesus forgave sins without people having to go to the synagogue and purchase an animal to be sacrificed. Jesus ended animal sacrifice! Thank God!! Jesus preached outside, in nature. On the mountain tops, by the lakes, by the rivers, or on the roads. If he was inside the synagogues, he was challenging the religious traditions of the time.
And what does this have to do with the teaching of "Hell?" Institutional religion has used the fear of "Hell" to control it's congregations and to extract money from people for centuries. The Synagogues sold salvation. The Roman Catholic church sold salvation in the form of indulgences for hundreds of years-- "for every coin in the coffer that rings, a soul from purgatory springs." And most churches teach that "salvation" is salvation from eternal "Hell" not from sin as the bible teaches. Furthermore, the bible says that "the wages of sin is death." But that death is spiritual. We know that because God warned Adam and Eve, that in the day they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. But they did not physically die. Paul says we are dead in our sin. So the "wages" of sin are not death and therefore "hell," but spiritual death on earth. I think many Christians and non-christians really think that sin is fun. That we are sinless and boring so we can go to heaven. But God doesn't think that way. God does not think that sin is fun. He knows how destructive it is to us and wants us to be free from it not so we can live boring, resentful, judgmental lives and then go to heaven, but because he knows what sin really does to humanity and he wants us to be free here and now.