No. Understood from reading from the book of Acts 17:16-23.
That's the short answer, and probably not the one you were hoping to get. Actually, depending upon your interpretations of "peaceful" and "life" and "religion," it always appears that yes, certainly there's a chance of living a more or less peaceful life of a given duration.
But faith and judgement must be considered to answer this question, because "religion" cannot save anyone or do anything. The confidence we have in God, His words and Jesus are known as "faith," and that is critically important to living a Christian life.
You have to consider this also: the peace and comfort we believe we have in this world are fleeting, at best, and will end for each of us at some point in our lives. God is not optional, and after all the "peace" we may have enjoyed has finally run out, there is the final judgement before the throne of God that we must consider. Without having accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior while living, we alone have condemned ourselves to eternal hell and separation from God's everlasting peace.
Salvation through Christ Jesus is the only way to be cleansed of the sin in our lives, and made "right" and acceptable to God. Sin is something we cannot escape through any of our own efforts.
When we accept Jesus, we need to repent (which means to 'turn away') from our sin, "sin" being those things that are displeasing to God. Should we sin for any reason after that, we must ask God's forgiveness and press onward to keep from sinning again. But no one can avoid sin fully, and that is one reason why salvation is so important.
Because if we could manage to remain sinless, there would have been no need for the life, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus on this earth. We wouldn't need Him to save us - we could then do it ourselves, but that isn't possible by any means whatsoever.
We must accept Jesus as our Savior while we are alive. It is utter self-delusion for anyone to believe they can live a peaceful life while knowing every day that after death it's too late to accept God's gift of grace. There can be no true peace whatsoever in that.
Again, as initially stated, the short answer is "no," you cannot live a peaceful life without belief in God's only Son, Jesus Christ. "Religion" can't save anyone. Only faith in God's promise of salvation through grace - accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life - can do that.
That's the short answer, and probably not the one you were hoping to get. Actually, depending upon your interpretations of "peaceful" and "life" and "religion," it always appears that yes, certainly there's a chance of living a more or less peaceful life of a given duration.
But faith and judgement must be considered to answer this question, because "religion" cannot save anyone or do anything. The confidence we have in God, His words and Jesus are known as "faith," and that is critically important to living a Christian life.
You have to consider this also: the peace and comfort we believe we have in this world are fleeting, at best, and will end for each of us at some point in our lives. God is not optional, and after all the "peace" we may have enjoyed has finally run out, there is the final judgement before the throne of God that we must consider. Without having accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior while living, we alone have condemned ourselves to eternal hell and separation from God's everlasting peace.
Salvation through Christ Jesus is the only way to be cleansed of the sin in our lives, and made "right" and acceptable to God. Sin is something we cannot escape through any of our own efforts.
When we accept Jesus, we need to repent (which means to 'turn away') from our sin, "sin" being those things that are displeasing to God. Should we sin for any reason after that, we must ask God's forgiveness and press onward to keep from sinning again. But no one can avoid sin fully, and that is one reason why salvation is so important.
Because if we could manage to remain sinless, there would have been no need for the life, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus on this earth. We wouldn't need Him to save us - we could then do it ourselves, but that isn't possible by any means whatsoever.
We must accept Jesus as our Savior while we are alive. It is utter self-delusion for anyone to believe they can live a peaceful life while knowing every day that after death it's too late to accept God's gift of grace. There can be no true peace whatsoever in that.
Again, as initially stated, the short answer is "no," you cannot live a peaceful life without belief in God's only Son, Jesus Christ. "Religion" can't save anyone. Only faith in God's promise of salvation through grace - accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life - can do that.
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From
a 2003 series titled "Questions - and
Answers -
about Everyone's Life," by Len Hamilton. Please reference use of any
portion
elsewhere to this website and its author.
Online since 1997
© Len Hamilton
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