2006-07-12 15:12:54 · 29 answers · asked by allie in NY 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God does not punish people for eternity. Adam & Eve were punished and what was their punishment? They lost the right to live forever on a paradise earth and they returned to the ground ; "for from dust they were made and to dust they returned." They were not tortured. They just ceased to exist. That is how our loving Creator will deal with willfully disobedient humans. They will be put out of existance, with no hope for a resurrection. All others will be blessed with the hope of living forever on earth.
Psalms 37:9-11: "For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
2006-07-12 15:44:55 · answer #1 · answered by Micah 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm curious--would you rather have no free will and live as a slave or God's little puppet of some sort? Would you also like a world where there is no consequence for sin? Imagine that scenario--What if God just allowed everyone into heaven and we all knew it? If there were no fear of judgment--Wow! And people like to say the world is messed up now...
I am a Christian, and yes, the question IS a good one. In humility, I just accept that God represents love and justice and get my final answers when I die. I am not brainless or blind, but I do not have all the answers because I am not God. Until such a time as I meet Him, I choose Him. I'm glad to have the right to choose Him. It makes the relationship a bit more real--like Pinocchio and Geppetto.
2006-07-12 15:34:02 · answer #2 · answered by SpisterMooner 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christians view God as some kind of admonishing parent trying to teach his children a lesson. He gives you the choice to do whatever you want, but if you don't choose "his" way, you are punished.
The problem is that people have made considerable suppositions over the years about what is actually the Will of God. Many of these suppositions have been indoctrinated into major religions to the point where they are now mandatory articles of faith. So organized religions put tremendous pressure on people to choose their particular views of God and the world, threatening them with damnation if they disagree. All the doctrines that religious folks cling to were originated as a way to gain power and control in an age when religion and government were the same. Fortunately, we at least allegedly have freedom of religion in the modern United States, so we face far fewer social pressures to conform to the doctrines of organized religions. We are more free to search for truth about God with our own spirituality rather than feeling forced to accept the doctrine that someone else claims is true.
We can decide for ourselves whether or not we think a) God is loving; b) God damns folks to hell; or c) we even have free will at all. A Christian would explain their opinion in terms similar to those I used in the first paragraph.
2006-07-12 15:22:57 · answer #3 · answered by Tiger 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He doesnt punish you for all eternity... thats an organized religion misconception.His free will is a gift and it is not His desire to punish you for using it.. He does want you to come to Him on your own, but if you choose not to, He does not automatically condemn you..He is not judging anyone.. His son will judge.. which is really good for us, because our savior has lived in a human body and he knows what we go through..God is not some big cop in the sky waiting for us to screw up so He can condemn us.. on the contrary He made us to be part of His family..and he loves us... those wicked ( and c'mon you have to know there really are wicked ppl in the world) .. they will suffer ...but not some fire and brimstone crap out of dantes inferno... but they will be destroyed and seperated from Gods love forever and the very memory of them wiped away--- total nonexistance-- u never were here --what a waste is that---dont believe the hype..just read your bible and dont listen to what " they" tell you all the time
2006-07-12 15:28:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God loved us so much that he endowed us with his own image that includes a totally free will. But he also is God and can command that we do those things that are best for us in our human nature. Such as follow the 10 commandments etc. With a unrestrained free will we could choose to do wrong (murder). But Christ has given us the warnings needed and a visible Church (Catholic) to inform us as to what God demands of us to secure our place with Him. Should we choose by our own free will to disregard his written and spoken words, the impact is that we would die outside of the state we need to be with a God who is all good. We would then find it necessary to separate ourselves from Him for all eternity.
2006-07-12 15:23:09 · answer #5 · answered by Patrick 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is just it he wouldn't
a worldly father would not continue punishing his son for disobedience. Certainly not a loving God.
He told adam you are dust and to dust you will return
Never a word about eternal punishment
that is a pagan doctrine brought into christianity.
2006-07-12 15:21:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is just what George Carlin says, that there's this big invisible guy in the sky, and he's got 10 rules. If you don't follow them, you will burn and suffer and have pain and anguish for all eternity...but he loves you.
This is what happens every time someone asks a logical question about a topic to which logic does not and cannot apply. Here come all the "you must have faith" answers now....
2006-07-12 15:17:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If all of your life, by the way you live and the choices you make you say "God, I don't need you, I don't want you, and I don't love you," then at the end of your life God will say "Ok, if that's the way you want it, see ya!".
But all during your life God calls you to turn away from that path and to turn to Him to receive his love and the gracious provision He has made for your salvation by sending his precious son Jesus to die on a cross and pay for your sins. That's what a loving God does. He makes a way where there is no way for us to not have to go to Hell and then He encourages us to take it before it's too late!
People that want to argue about that have about as much sense as a person who is on the 5th floor of a building that's on fire who want to argue with the fireman who is at the window on a ladder trying to tell them that coming to him is the only safe way out of the building.
Don't argue, just take the way!
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
2006-07-12 15:30:34 · answer #8 · answered by Martin S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
....and hence the #1 reason why I left Christianity. That never made sense to me either. Frankly the Christian God is too much like an immature bratty petulant child...the WAAAHHHH it's MY way or the highway syndrome. And yet he supposedly gave us free will? But when we follow it we get punished for it? Yeah he gave us free will alright....he wants us to follow HIS will.
Like I said, I'm so glad I left that messed up religion. Good for the people it works for, it just wasn't my bag.
2006-07-12 15:22:32 · answer #9 · answered by Abriel 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He gave us free will, but he also gave us common sense, don't you realize that you don't have to go to hell if you accept Christ as your Saviour? God is Just, perfect and righteous, He has to punish sin. But He is also loving, and that is why He sent His Son to die for yoursins and take your punishment. Believe in Him!
2006-07-12 15:18:18 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋