Am I correct in my understanding of this?

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5. i have known some who believe it's the spirit of jesus you need to accept in your heart

but that you do not need to acknowledge or even know his name.

so if you believe in being a genuinely good person and try to live your life that way, then that's what matters, not declaring "i believe in jesus". conversely, even if you say "i believe in jesus" but do not try to live your life as a good person, then you're not going to heaven, all protestations to the contrary (because god knows you didn't really believe in jesus).


of course, this is not the view of those who have converted heathens throughout the ages, at times under threat of death....

of course, i've also known more people who say "but that's judaism! it's precisely belief in jesus, by name, that distinguishes christianity from judaism" which is certainly a more widely held view.