If I am okay then why am I not okay? I am following the rules (even if they are not in the Bible)?

Question

Pride- that’s a tough one, I am proud of my friends and family and their accomplishments and my own, to excess? Probably not but I have it just the same.
Envy- I don’t envy much if it all, so I am good here.
Anger- Well, come on you answer questions here too…
Avarice- Tough one, I make more than I actually need to survive and I purchase items more luxurious than absolutely needed to survive. Is that greed? I do donate more than 10% of my gross to charities and ironically they are usually Christian charities that do work with homeless and displaced families.
Sadness- really am pretty happy all the time
Gluttony- I am not overweight but I do have a hearty appetite
Lust- Well I could probably work on this. Enough said…
And I think I good with those 10 commandments,
So all in all I try (to the best of my abilities) to be a pretty good person, it seems like the only fly in the ointment is that I do not believe in God. That is what is keeping me tied to the bowels of Hell … and I am not really worried about going to Hell since it doesn’t exist…But can you at least see the hypocrisy of a lot of Christians (not all-mostly televangelists) condemning me when I am really living life according to their rules with that one major exception?

Answer 1

You "a pretty good person"? Now that's a joke especially when you want to recruit an atheist "Bad Influence aka Bad atheist" to come to my house to "beat" my "@ss" because you said that I have "annoyed" you. You really help. You expect others to agree with you and this is how you feel better about Ur self. You will regret ur words towards me if not in this lifetime but the next! God bless you and I will continue to pray for you and yours!

Shalom

Answer 2

Escaping hell is not done by the good things you do, it is because what Christ has done for you. You can only get to heaven by Him, christians look like hypocrites because of their sin but I haven't met a perfect person yet. Joining the 'christian club' doesn't make you automatically perfect. TV evangelists are in it for the money so don't look to them, meet some real people. You can believe whatever you want--just like I did from age 17 to 25 but deep down you really know a God exists. The bible says that creation itself cries out there is a God. and Jesus said there is no other way to heaven except through Him. Hope you do some searching.
You need to get some good definitions of each sin you listed up there. Pride would be defined as denying that you need God in your life. Feeling good about our accomplishments is a natural thing and we should feel good about the good things we do as long as we are not blabbing it to everyone. Gluttony is eating when you are not hungry, which unfortunatly I think we all do that in this country. Sadness is not a sin. Anger is not a sin. Greed is always wanting more and more which I think alot of us do without even knowing it. Not forgiving people is a big sin and alot of people dont have a good definition of it and get confused. It means saying to someone --You don't owe me anything so that God will be free to forgive you. Sorry for the rambling, God bless you.

Answer 3

what you just listed aren't the commandments, just the 7 deadly sins... it's not going to matter, come Judgement Day, how good of a person you are or have been.. there will be alot of "good" people who won't be going to heaven simply because they didn't accept Jesus as their personal savior..that IS what it's all about.. I'm sure God is very pleased that you are a good, moral person. but that alone won't get anyone into heaven...but then you don't believe in God or Heaven anyway, right? so what do you care what the Christians think about you?

Answer 4

well, for one thing sweety anyone that is condemning you is in the wrong. Living a "just" life is good yes and nothing can be said against that...but it takes more than that. Forget the hypocrisy and judging others and commune with your own heart....what is inside you? is it hate and loneliness and despair and hoplessness and anxiety or anything else negative? or is it peace, and love and joy and patience? God doesnt make you do good actions and good actions wont lead you to God. God will heal ur spirit and ur heart and the good actions will spring up from within you. Its a very personal thing between you and God. You wont have to justify yourself with God...He will justify you and will never condemn you but will accept you exactly the way you are....just soften your heart to Him.

Answer 5

Jusr following the rules will not make you happy. The reason you follow the rules has a lot to do with it. IF you are a Christian, trust God/Jesus to lead your life. Making money isn't bad. Buying things isn't bad (it creates jobs for others). There is NOTHING you can do to be "saved", except to claim Jesus as your Savior. When you do that, everything else, eventually, falls into place. PS Hell most definately exists.

Answer 6

You don't believe in God, you don't think hell exists, and you don't like the messages of the televangelists, then don't worry about it. Live your life and enjoy what you've got.

There are some interesting words worth pondering:
Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20)

You've a good life, enjoy it. Perhaps you might inwardly want to express some appreciation to the One who permited it to happen to your favor, that is normal. If you liked the 10 commandments, remember, the first of those were an appreciation to the One. You don't have to subscribe to some televangelist teaching to gain the benefits of the line embedded in them "shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me [God], and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). So if you find them moral and right not to steal or kill or tell tales about your neighbor or live unhappily in jealousy or greed because someone else has more or better than you, what have you to worry about? Jesus described people with a "which in an honest and good heart" as a productive place for the good things of God to grow in (Luke 8)

Try a quiet, simple prayer, "God, I don't understand you. I don't even know you exist. In this often awful world, I have a surprisingly good life. Thank you." That may be just enough for you to finally feel okay, expressing your gratitude for all the good things of your life. As for the televangelists, just change channels. BTW, the Bible can be a tedious book, but people are constantly amazed and motivated when reading it through.

Answer 7

You say you lust.
strike one.
Have you ever hated? cuz that's sin.
strike two.
have you ever called or thought your parents were foolish or dumb?
strike three.
Pride: you are proud of yourself, thinking that doing all these things is some great accomplishment that can get you in to heaven. its not. it can't.
strike four.
you don't believe in God.
strike five.
do you always do unto others as you would have them do unto you? I thought not.


how many strikes do you need, again?

the hypocrisy you speak of is of your own making. As a christian, I know that I can never keep even those ten measly commandments. I can't. He didn't ask us to be perfect. He asked us to love him, like he loved us. You think you are a good person? Maybe you are. But there's gonna be a lot of good people in hell.

God bless. [e-mail]

Answer 8

All of the "deadly sins" are normal emotions that become problematic when they consume you to the point of behaving sinfully. In other words, it's OK to be proud of your family and of your accomplishments, but it's not OK to be so proud that you think you're better than other people. Envy is a natural emotion, but to be so jealous of someone that it makes you think harmful thoughts about that person ~ not so good.

Some Christians will tell you that God *requires* us to believe in Him and worship Him in order to please Him and earn His favor. I am not one of those Christians. In fact, I'll be one who tells you that you're living your life in a more "Christ-like" way than some Christians do. There is much hypocrisy in the world, and sadly, much of it comes from so-called Christians who forget that we are told not to judge. God asked us to spread the word, but He never said "share your belief with others, and if necessary shove it down their throats until they are so turned off they'll never believe in anything and be sure to inform them that they will go to Hell." Trust me, that's not in the Bible. I do not believe you are "tied to the bowels of Hell". I believe God will forgive you because of the good you have done. And I apologize that so many Christians have condemned you. God will forgive them, too.

Answer 9

You can follow the teachings of Buddhism which is a very moral religion. You do not have to believe in a god. Buddha said that there were no gods, and, if there were, they would be of no use to you. This was his reaction to the religion into which he was born, Hinduism, which has 30,000,000 gods.

The culture in which you live is overwhelmingly Christian, at least in name. The pressure of the majority can make you feel guilty and disconsolate. Travel to other cultures. It will be like a breath of fresh air.

Answer 10

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Acts 16:31
There is NO OTHER name under Heaven by which we MUST be saved. Acts 4:12