For Christians: Do you follow God because you want to go to heaven?

Question

Do you follow the Lord because He is good? Or because you want to go to heaven? What if there had been no promise of heaven? Or what if there is a promise of heaven, but you have to do BAD things?

Please don't take offense. I've wanted to ask this question for a while. Thanks.

Would you still have followed God if he asked you to slaughter your own child (or anyone for that matter), like he asked of Abraham? And I know God was just testing. But pretend you didn't know that. What would you have done then?

Answer 1

I was born into a christian family, so naturally I've heard of God while growing up. My father and mother didn't wish to force God on us, but wanted us to make our own choices. They taught us of God, but didn't force us to go to church or read the bible or anything.
So, I've known ABOUT God for years, as long as I can remember. But I didn't known Him, only about Him. When I started to follow Him, it was to go to heaven and avoid hell, yes. But since about a year or two ago, I realize that I now follow Him becuase of His love for me. Heaven is still a nice benefit, but as I mentioned in another question, I'd rather go to hell and have the Lord's love, than go to heaven without.

It's like marriage, I guess. You can give a woman gifts to try and win her heart, but it's your love for each other that holds the marriage together. I guess I'd be the woman in this case. =(

Answer 2

The reason I chose to follow God..... The night that I got saved I had no intention of letting go of my pride and doing something soooo scary as opening my heart to the unknown, but when God came to me (figuratively speaking) and tugged at my heart I knew it was the right thing to do. I didn't stop and weigh the pros and cons. So what I'm trying to say is that if when salvation is TRULY knocking on your hearts door you just know it's the truth, it is absolutely undeniable. Heaven is just a bonus knowing Christ in your heart of hearts is the true JOY of following Jesus. For the later Q. God is pure and Holy and would never ask you to do something bad. And God does not say do this for me and I'll do this for you, after all when Jesus got on the cross and died for my sin and yours did you hear Him say, I'm doing this for you so now you owe me and you have to do what I want, and then I'll show you good favor,. Nope, He died so that we could have an option,Heaven Or Hell.. Because His Love for us is so great that He would rather die than to see us without even a choice.

Answer 3

The reason a Christian follows God is because the Christian realizes that God is good and that the world is evil and lies in wickedness. The Christian loves what God loves and hates what God hates. God hates the world and all that is in it....The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The Christian seeks after God. Because God is in heaven, the Christian wants more than anything than to be with God for eternity. That is God's promise to the believer. But be careful, God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts.

Answer 4

I follow God because I love Him.
I love Him because He first loved me. He showed His love by sending His son to die for my sins.
I follow Him because He gave me a gift, because He loves me and cares about me and is also my creator, and Father.
It just so happens that He showed it by giving me a way into heaven.
It's not just a thing where you're like, "alright, I'll follow God because I can get into Heaven."
It's more than that. It's love.
I believe that I would love Him and follow Him if Heaven wasn't involved. After all, He is the Lord and He is worthy of our praise!! Amen!
But that's what makes it all the better, He is a loving God AND has provided a way for us to live with Him forever in everlasting life, not everlasting damnation. What reason is there to not follow Him?
Aside from that point, I follow Him because He is the creator of the universe.
He saved me and I believe He has a plan for me. I want to be all He wants me to be, I want to do what He has planned for me. He's saved me! Why wouldn't I follow someone Who's cared about and loved me so much? Why wouldn't I?
If I didn't love Him I wouldn't follow Him.
But I do love Him, as I've said, because He first loved me :)

Answer 5

I do want to go to heaven, and I guess that aspect was in the back of my mind when I made my decision to enter into the relationship I have with God. But the reason I came to a saving knowledge of God was because of the mess I'd made of my own life by living according to my own will. I submitted to the will of God because I believed He could do a better job running my life than I'd been doing.

I have benefited greatly because of this decision. I've learned to manage my money, I've learned to be other centered instead of self centered. I've learned a good work ethic. I've learned to trust people, and to evaluate who is trustworthy. But most of all, I've learned that God wants me to love Him because He loves me.

Everyday brings a new lesson in how little I know about running my own life.

http://judgeright.blogspot.com

Answer 6

No, heaven doesn't have much to do with it for me. If this life isn't amazing, what good is the afterlife? If God couldn't change my here and now, what difference does later make? And what if I had to do bad things? Well that would intrinsically change the nature of God to require that, and I wouldn't want a relationship with that kind of God.

Answer 7

I can't speak for all other Christians and why they follow God. As for myself I have learned through experience that to follow God's "instructions" for good living Is good for me or anybody, and has ample rewards right here and now on earth.

No I'm not perfect! But by helping others and understanding that they are not perfect either and forgiving them their shortcomings I have seen the "benefits" for me and my family, as well as the benefits of seeing "them" grow in compassion for others.

Ever since the plight of the "Boot People", the refugees from the Vietnam war over 25 years ago, we have been involved with refugee sponsorships from all kinds of trouble spots in the world. We still have contact with most of them and know that they have grown in compassion and forgiveness toward the "others". This is just one example of what we are doing and feel good about.

That's what God's message to us is all about. We should strive to do the will of our Father who is in heaven, not just because we are told to or for the "reward" but because it is GOOD and we WANT TO do GOOD.

For you science believers: try the experiment and study cause and effect! Use the proper cause and you get a proper effect.

Answer 8

I follow God because I want to go to heaven.

I trust God because He is good.

We don't go to heaven because WE are good, but because HE is.

Salvation is not a transaction based on our behavior. God never said, "If you're good, I'll let you into heaven." None of us are good. He knows it. We can't hide it. The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, even as bad as we are.

"If you're BAD, I'll let you into heaven" sounds like something Satan would say.

Answer 9

that's a complicated question guy. i might decide to declare i'm a solid adequate Christian to persist with all that God instructions of me, yet in such numerous strategies i'm nevertheless vulnerable. i think of a few thing your fake impact is that God won't be able to ask you to do undesirable issues. God by ability of definition would not do undesirable issues because of the fact he defines solid and undesirable. The definition of a sin is an act that is going against God's will. So if God's will became to kill Abraham's son then it would not be a sin nor undesirable to do it. you will locate nonetheless a basic topic of the Bible is God's mercy. that's probable the final of God's traits. all of us deserve dying (I maximum probable extra effective than maximum) yet by using his present he delivers new existence. You reported Abraham approximately to sacrifice his purely son for God. God, in his mercy, stopped Abraham. Later he might sacrifice HIS purely son for us.

Answer 10

No, I don't serve God because I want to go to heaven. I serve God because it is the right thing to do, because He is the creator of Heaven and Earth, because He is the great God and ,as such, worthy of all devotion and praise. =)
Going to Heaven is just a benefit (because God is good and loves to reward those who choose to serve Him with good things)- one that I praise and thank God for, but with or without it, I am God's forever.