Is God insecure?

Question

Most Christians will tell you that if you want to go to heaven, you've got to believe in God. Fair enough. After all, who would want to go to an afterlife that they don't believe in?:-)

Doing good deeds gets you bonus points (perhaps you go to a better class of heaven?) but the most important thing is that you believe in God.

So logically if you do loads and loads of good deeds (cure cancer, negotiate peace treaties, care for your ageing parents), but refuse to acknowledge the existence of God, you're still going straight to Hell, and your good deeds don't count for ****.

Poor old God. Does He crave your acknowledgement and affection so badly that He's prepared to ignore pretty much anything else you do in your life when He decides your fate?

If an adult behaved in that way, people would say they were very insecure. Although when dogs and young children behave like that, it's pretty normal and nothing to worry about.

What do you think?

Answer 1

That is an excellent question, one of the best thought out questions I've seen on this site. Does God need us? Does he require our praise for his own survival or self-assuredness?

Christian beliefs go actually much farther than just believing in God. You have to submit to him as ruler of the universe, and ruler of your own life. This means he calls the shots on the way you live and act, and I can attest, sometimes that can be quite rough.

Let us consider though, God, as he is understood in the Christian faith, has always existed. No beginning, no end. That's a long way back. Which means God exists infinitely before he created the universe, however old you want to claim it is. Which means he obviously got along fine through that time. Why then did he create the universe?

Being perfect, God has absolute self-sufficiency, so he didn't need to create the universe. He created it to have a creation that praised him. Much in the same way that if a person paints a picture, they sign their name to it to indicate that they are responsible for it's existence, God did that with all things. If the person does not paint, then it does not mean that he has stopped being self-sufficient, he merely didn't paint a picture.

God, being perfectly holy, has every position to demand glory for himself. He's God. If there was anyone ever who could toot their own horn, he's it. Ephesians 1:4 tells us that he chose us (referring to Christians) before the foundations of the world. That means that he loved us before the foundations of the world. That means he loved us before we existed. Because he loved us before we existed, he would create us so that we could exist and enjoy our Creator.

God also loved us enough to give us the choice whether to love him back. He could have made us puppets on strings, with no ability to think for ourselves, but he made us with the option of whether to follow him or not. Not only that, but when we as human beings made the choice to separate ourselves from him, he also loved us enough that he came down to take the penalty for our sins (Becuase God is also perfectly just, he will not overlook sin, it has to be atoned for).

If anything, the arrival of God in the flesh of a man says that he is not insecure at all. He took the glory of heaven and traded it for a body that can break down, get hurt, and is a mere dim reflection of God's glory. He would have to be pretty secure to do that.

What you say about refusing God and still having good works is true. Not only the existence though, if you refuse to acknowledge God as YOUR God, then you will suffer the consequences for your rejection. After all, God is perfectly just, and as much as he may love us, he also will not tolerate sin. A parent punishes their child, God punishes his creation as he sees fit. Our good deeds are not the purpose of our existence, worshipping our Creator is the purpose of our existence.

Our good deeds, if we are worshipping our Creator, is one way that we show our gratitude to him, by serving other things that he has created. If we are not worshipping our creator, then what purpose is there for our good deeds but to worship ourselves and make ourselves look good? Or to feel good about doing something good?

Yes GreatEnlightened One, there are Christians that are prepared to deal with difficult questions, by God's grace I am one of them(and there are many much more prepared than I).

Answer 2

You're right of course .
I know that there are some intelligent god believers, but there don't seem to be many ready to respond to the difficult questions ,like this one, in a reasoned fashion. I guess it would require the ability to think independently, which is fairly advanced for a materialist as well .
It would be lovely if someone could come up with a question that caused materialists to question their fundamental assumptions too.
Alas such discussions are probably only possible amongst a limited crowd, and many of them would be sophisticated enough ,not to try and capture truth with words and ideas anyway.

Answer 3

I think you are right especially when god is nothing more than a alien/aliens convincing humans as such. Logically if there was a God we would not have to speculate of it's existence or follow those B.S. rules blindly. I fell prey to the concept as a baby, but now I'm a big boy I see it for what it really is now.

Answer 4

so basically if u dont want to go to heaven u can just go to hell i guess..

and... doing good deeds ONLY does not do it. doing good deeds will ummmmmm give u like... compliment. God will recongnize u for doing good things and He will rememeber when ur judged...

so basically the thing i said before answers everything u said

curing cancer wont get u into heaven. the only way to heaven is through jesus christ and believing in Him. mmkayyyyyyy soo.... do good deeds but also believe in God. becus good deeds dont cut it..

Answer 5

I would have to say that it's quite obvious that you don't know Him in any Personal way...which is through and by and in Jesus Christ. Why do people who aren't even in the slightest way "spiritual"...(a reality and concept that they're fully ignorant of), and yet ask questions of a spiritual nature. Believe this...whoever you may be...God IS real...and the ONLY way to KNOW HIM PERSONALLY is through Jesus Christ. I mean, how many times in your life have you been told these things or you have heard them, but you continue on in your own ignorances and attempt to MAKE God fit into YOUR scheme of things?? God isn't going to change for you, because God never changes. You are carnal, of the world, and obviously only know the world. "God is a Spirit: and those that worship Him MUST worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." (John 4:24)

Answer 6

If you are raised in an environment that does not foster belief in God, God will not blame you for not believing in him. If you are raised in an environment that promotes belief in God and still choose not to believe, God doesn't reject you. You reject Him. Since He gave all of us free choice, He will not force you to believe in Him. You have the right not to believe and not to love Him. Heaven is believed in many cultures/religions, to be the opportunity to spend the rest of your existence in the presence of God. If you don't believe He exists, than the possibility of being in His presence for the rest of time would seem impossible and/or undesirable. Once again, since you have free choice, you would reject this possibility, thus choosing hell (the absence of God) over heaven. Much as it suffers Him to be rejected/unloved by you (or anyone),God lets you make that decision. Ultimately, I'd say that's very mature.

Answer 7

GOD does not condemn. You condemn youself, and that is the only hell. You condemn yourself for/from being selfish. You will be reincarnated until you see the truth, which is why the One, The true AEon sent Christ to open our eyes to the spiritual world. My GOD, the True God, IS pure love and gives as much chances as you need until you do so. Christianity is not a religion.
Gnosticism is TRUTH.

Answer 8

i don't contradict any religion but here's what i believe in...
as the bible says, men can't live by bread alone.
you have to learn the word of God.
you gotta have faith in something or someone..
course...those good deeds count.
but without the word of the Lord/God you wouldn't know what is right and what is wrong,right?
that's what the law is for, so you would know what you're doing is right or wrong.
as the world evolves, there are now 2 types of law...
the Law of God and the Law of Man...
there are instances that it contradicts each other and that's where you use your heart and mind.and that's the time that you have to decide and that's the time when your faith have to kick in.
you have to choose or do what you believe in.
life is all about decision...things happen because you chose it.and that's freewill.
God doesn't push you to believe or have faith in Him.it's your decision.He can't touch freewill coz it's up to you.

try watching "Bruce Almighty" it makes more vivid explanation of freewill.

moreover,i'll give you an example.
take God as one of your parents...
He created you but you're not His property. like your parents they just brought you into earth or this world but they don't own you.you're your own individual.
you have the right to follow or break your parents rule.your parents are there to guide you but it's still upto you if you obey,right?it's still upto you if you would believe them,right?
and like God, your parents reward you for your good deeds.they give you presents and everything to compensate what you've done.they feel proud of you.they're happy that you're doing the right thing.but you're good deeds couldn't make up to the hurt you'd cause them if you're not recognizing them as your parents,
or you're their child.
vice versa, any wrong deeds that you have done, if you just accept your faults and be sorry or repent and recognize them as your parents and ask them for your guidance, all these wrong deeds can be corrected and they will lead you to the right path and parents couldn't be much happier if their son came back to recognize their faults and ask for their guidance again.like our parents,God, loves us so much that He's willing to forgive us for whatever wrong deeds or shortcomings we have done if only we Love them back.
and again they're not forcing you to repent and be guided by them,it's your choice,not as their son but as an individual.

Answer 9

I agree with part of what you say, but then you start on hell and afterlife. There is no hell, or heaven either. No afterlife. Even if there is, if you don't worship at the altar where that dogma is law you aren't in any danger of hell. Something the Christian yahoos on Yahoo don't seem to understand. They say it, You have to accept, yadda yadda yadda, but they don't understand it.

good question though.

Answer 10

I think atheism is the only logical choice.

The bible stories are so full of holes it's hard to imagine anyone promoting them as being truthful.

To elaborate on your point, according to Christian doctrine, Gandhi is in hell and Hitler is heaven if he repented.

That is so idiotic, it isn't worth contemplating as a valid guide for civilized behavior.