Riddick said:
there is a division of thought in the school of christianity.
one school believes you go immediately to heaven or hell on death.
the other school thinks you go into a "sleep" at death --- to be awakened by christ when he returns.
ONLY ONE??? My, what a sheltered life you live.
I can't take any particular Christian's word on what it takes to be "saved" too seriously. Christian opinions differ. Not on little things.
Some believe you go straight to heaven (or hell). Others believe you wait... and still others believe in that "beam me up nekked" rapture thing is the only way to be "saved".
What are the requirements for being "saved"?
Some believe "once saved, always saved". You get "saved", and it doesn't matter if you go to a maternity ward and douse newborn babies in gasoline and light them on fire. In fact, you'd be guaranteeing those babies go to heaven!
Others believe those babies you murdered will go to hell, since they never got a chance to "let Jesus into their hearts".
Others believe you have to actually be good, too. Being "good" varies from simple definitions to a lot of rigorous stuff, like showing up for church every single weekend and on holidays, and tithing at least a certain percentage of your income, and going out knocking on people's doors, all the way to what color pants are appropriate to be 'raptured' in.
Do you need your head dunked in water (i.e. 'baptised')? Some believe so, others not. Some believe you have to be 'born again'. (Being baptised as a baby isn't enough - you need to be baptised again.)
Still other Christians deny their brother Christians are even Christian at all. Lots of web sites dedicated to Catholics
not being Christian. Some even believe that all other religions but
theirs are "demon led".
I think the folks at
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ have a fine quote:
Differences among Christian faith groups are so great that some observers have suggested that a useful way of classifying Christian groups is to view them as a number of separate religions with different beliefs and practices, who share:
1. The name "Christianity,"
2. The text of the Bible, and
3. Not a great deal else.
Of course, even #2 is defective, in that there are lots of "bible" versions, some have chopped the Old Testament portion of the book out, and others still don't put much stock in the book. So maybe "2. Some misquoted bits of text here and there from the bible that suit them"?
Here's a lovely table comparing conservative Christian and Catholic positions.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_capr.htm
And another happy chart comparing other christian faiths line by line with things important to catholicism.
http://www.saintaquinas.com/christian_comparison.html
And another table.
http://www.wamware.com/world-religions/comparative/
And yet another table.
http://wri.leaderu.com/wri-table2/salvation.html
And these folks cooked their table into quizzes...
http://www.beliefnet.com/