How can our loving God give us only one shot on this earth? And send us to Hell if we screw up?

Question

You may say we get more than one chance throughout a lifetime, true, but we still only get ONE life and then we either go "up" or "down". I can't fathom it. People compare God and humans to parents and their kids- okay, I have a son, and punish him as necessary for his own benefit, but I would never banish him forever from me, no matter what. As my son, he would always get another chance. And I am sure God's love for us is exponentially greater than a parent's love for his/ her child.
So, missionaries-in-training, interning pastors, and seminary instructors, give me your best! Please!

About having 77 years of chances- you never know when you will go, so that point is invalidated, sorry.
In response to the Muslim guy, actually this questioner happens to speak Arabic, so does know that _bill arabee, Allah kilma ashan rubbinna_, ok.
Next, about questioning God- I don't think God gave us the intellectual faculties He did to not love Him with our brains as well as hearts.
Lastly, I understand that God cannot tolerate sin in His presence, but it's His world, He makes the laws and the loopholes.
What i'm asking is... this just doesn't seem so loving to me.. it's hard for me to feel God's love when I think about this... so I can't simply accept Jesus etc... because then I would have to accept the Bible, and this question is only one of many that I have.. before I can get close to God.

Answer 1

Let's use that comparison of parent to child a bit more. I agree, I would never banish my child for any reason ... but what if my child walked away from me? What if they packed their bags and walked out, giving me the finger and saying they wanted nothing more to do with me?

I'd wait, of course. Wait for my child to come back to me, as the prodigal son story goes. I'd be so happy when she (I have daughters) came back, I'd have a feast too! But, what if she never came back?

Knowing my own nature, I'd go after her, find her and beg her to return. But what if she just walked away and said I didn't exist?

So I ask YOU ... what do you expect of God? You forget your own culpability in this, you walked away from Him, He didn't walk away from you. Are you refusing your entire life to have a thing to do with Him, hoping that at the last second of your life you can confess sin and He'll let ya in? Good luck with that.

Oh, and btw, no matter how much you screw up, if you love God, He'll forgive you.

Answer 2

How Can This World System Give You No Shots And Send You To Jail Or Prison If You Screw Up!.....It Is Very Obvious That You're Not Spiritually Trained In GOD To Even Make A Statement Such As That!...Did You Think That Up Or Did You Believe A Rumor!....In Any Case, I Suggest You Get Into Some Serious Bible Studies So That You Can Learn GOD'S Ways, And What Governs His Spiritual System!...

Answer 3

Most religions have this three tier system, the world we live in and the heaven and the hell. But you should try to explore beyond that. You must also understand metaphors were used widely thru out the literature in those days. In Hinduism we do not have one life, but many lives until we achieve the realization. So if you keep on screwing up, you will be born again and again until you realize your true-self after which you wouldn't be screwing up probably! But there are some souls who still want to be born again for the good of the world even after they realize their true self. In Hinduism we are all one . It is what we say as God , the one who is everything thing and we all belong to that one whole thing too. We have evolved to what we are now because of our desire. And we then enclose our self with in the bonds of our desire and when we once again realize who we are we break these bonds and remain in eternity. I am not a missionary or a pastor or an instructor. What I have written is what I know thru the words of our gurus.

update:
i just read something now which remided me ur question and thought to share this with u. ( also has something about screwing up)
http://www.allayurveda.com/reallife.htm

Answer 4

Jesus did not sacrafice in order to give us a chance. That is dumb. Although that is what we are taught. That is because the apostles insisted on keeping old Jewish law as well as teaching Jesus and starting churches.

Paul did not agree with them. Grace and peace, that is all there is.

See my answers to some questions on bible verses today.

Your heart knows already. The parent/child is the example I use as well. God is love, you are God, the earth is God.

The law was used to show us that we can not measure up by law. Righteousness would have to be given by the grace of God only. And so it was done. A deal made between two unmovable forces. Unmovable.

P.S. When the law was fulfilled, so was the law that required you to believe. Accepting Jesus as your personal savior is NOT taught in the bible!!

Answer 5

You assume too much. It is not the pastors place or the missionary's place or anyone's place to determine whether or not you are going to go to hell.

God is a loving God . Remember when you make mistakes you can repent of them. God looks at the hearts of men . ...he knows when one is trying their very best and that is how one will be judged.

One cannot determine how good or bad they are.
Only God can. God knows us more than we know ourselves or more than other people know us.

God knows our weaknesses and has said that he will give us strength if we ask and if we do our best to make that weakness strong.

There are many things about our Father in Heaven that we do not clearly understand.
There are so many religions out there that preach hell , fire in brimstone, they do not seem to focus on what a loving Father in Heaven we truly have.

Answer 6

One shot? Let's see, I think the average age is around what 77? So you have approximately a little over 28,000 days here on earth. That's not enough time?

This is not an invalid point. It's an average. Which means the majority of people will be around this age. Can you explain why need more than one life?

Answer 7

You have thousands of opportunities through your lifetime. Remember, "The wages of sin is death". Technically, we deserve to die when we commit our first sin, but God gives us a lifetime of opportunity to change ourselves to become like Jesus. The good news is that Jesus is there to help us in this process.

Each time we face a difficult situation, it is an opportunity to stand on God's side, or to stand on the side of Satan. If we consistently stand on Satan's side by sinning, we show who we want to be our master. It is a matter of choice; choose to do good, or choose to sin. God knows that if you don't accept Him now, you won't do it if you get a second chance. He also knows that if you don't love Him now, you would be miserable in a place where almost everyone else loves and serves Him.

A liftime of obedience to God during trials compared to and eternal life for millions of years is nothing. But it is hard to stop doing what you enjoy. Choose what you want more, fun and pleasure now, or an eternal life of pleasure later.

On the light side you can be thankful that a liftime of sin will not result in an eternal life of punishment; God is merciful, He is not cruel. But, it will result in a painful second death that will last forever.

I would love to be able to do as others and say that you will get a second chance, but that isn't true. I'm not going to blow smoke.

Answer 8

Because what your son would do to you, isnt even a comparison to what we do to God EVERY SINGLE DAY! Each and every single day, all we do is sin and sin and sin, to the point where we dont even realize! I mean....what more could God possibly do for us, even as we sin he blesses and fogvies us! So if you dont think thats love, then I dont know what kind of love your expecting, because it doesnt exsist. No love is greater then Gods love for us. All he is asking of us...is that we believe in him, and live our lives for him. They dont even have to be right, as long as we try. So its not that he banishes us for "screwing up" because we do that EVERY DAY! Everyone of us do it! But its your choice, if you chose to not believe, then congradulations, YOU just sent YOURSELF to Hell....God didnt send you there, he BEGGING you to come with him, but if you dont....if someone is too headstrong to have faith in him, well then, there isnt much more that he could do.
And by the way, im not a missionary in training, interning pastor, or seminary instructor, I'm just a kid who has been touched by the love of God, he can do the same for you.

Answer 9

Well you see, you've got it all wrong because you seem to think that salvation depends upon you when God has done all of the work.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

God sent his Son to die on a cross to pay our sin debt which we could never pay by ourselves. He gives us the gift of faith and his Holy Spirit so that we will persevere and be sealed unto redemption. The only thing He asks of us, and even this could be debated, is that we trust Him and his love for us.

Answer 10

We love Jesus, Moses.
Muhammad PBUH told us to.
The questioner doesnt know that pre-islamic Arabic Bible also called their God Allah (because that's a common much pre-islamic arabic term for the divine) The questioner should visit
www.mostmerciful.com/moongod.htm

Moreover, the christian priests (esp Jimmy Swaggert)
couldn't fess up in front of Sheikh Ahmed Deedat in open debate about such accusations as moon god etc.