I am a scientific person by nature. I still believe in God, but it is a God I have come to know through experience, not one taught to me thru 13 yrs of school. I believe that there is a heaven but it's never been written about. I believe that all 3 major religions are right at their cores, namely treat others w/ dignity and respect and respect and love God. I don't believe in Hell (and at times when I wonder if there might be one, I often think this world could be it already). I only believe the Bible to an extent, mostly the symbollism but also, strangely enough, the prophecies w/in it and believe they are still coming true. I think that anyone who believes in creation is misguided but I also feel anyone who subscribes to evolution is equally amiss. I will be happy to send anyone further thoughts if they wish (prbly a pg or so). My question: anyone think I'm going to hell? I would like to hear some of the evidence, too, I guess.
2006-09-13 18:23:08 · 21 answers · asked by randyken 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Sandy-
the core of Christianity is to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Love God and neighbors. I was maybe paraphrasing.
2006-09-13 18:39:29 · update #1
I actually mostly agree with you, Sarge. I don't think it's idiotic. It is unexplainable. Look how long it took just to have a grasp of what outer space was comprised of. We had to go there.
2006-09-13 18:50:12 · update #2
Upallnite - where did the first nucleopeptide come from? What did it evolve from to evolve into everything else alive?
2006-09-13 19:15:16 · update #3
The core of Christianity is not "treat others w/ dignity and respect and respect and love God." The core of Christianity is "accept Jesus Christ as your Savior."
Christ's teachings are nothing without Christ. This is because--among other things--we are fallen beings who cannot treat others with dignity & respect 100% of the time, nor can we love and respect God 100% of the time. Given that at times we fail, this proves that we are imperfect and need salvation. For, all of us sin against others and God, and how shall we pay this debt to God, he who created us?
We can't pay the debt, which is why he sent his Son to pay it for us.
In acknowledging him as our Savior, we are cleared of the debt. Moreover, he begins working in our souls to utterly transform our lives.
The instructions are pretty clear: Accept Christ as your Savior.
As for whether or not you are going to Hell, I think that you should ask God. Seriously; I am not being arch, and this is not a joke. Get on your knees and ask God to illuminate your heart and mind on this matter. If you ask in earnestness and humility, chances are exceedingly high that he will answer you.
2006-09-13 18:29:20 · answer #1 · answered by Gestalt 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Nope, I'm a Hindu. I used to be a Christian. Like you my belief in God is based on experience and not what was taught to me. I still enjoy reading the Bible, although my appreciation for it has changed along with my understanding of it now that I am a practicing Hindu. Still, it is always a joy to reread the Bible and get more nuances that I missed so many years ago as a Christian.
As a Hindu I don't believe in Hell. Thus you cannot go somewhere that does not exist. I do believe in evolution, but I think that there are, naturally, aspects of the theory that aren't fully revealed. Science can't just say "oh well that's God", they have to, well let's be honest, more creative their explanations. I mean the answer to "what was before the Big Bang?" being "Not exactly sure but it appears it would have been some kind of singularity."
In the words of a Hindu teacher "Science describes the natural world and religion describes the spiritual world...both seek to discover God, but on two different dimensions."
Peace be with you.
2006-09-14 02:02:54 · answer #2 · answered by gabriel_zachary 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no one has seen heaven and hell. but before that u need 2 understand god. these are the things which u will not experience in real life.
its very hardly to believe in it. i believe that we meet god after death or have a rebirth.
i always believe that "we must do our duty and realize our goal of life", "look our elders and family" and "help others depending on our capacity". lastly never hurt others.
every religion says these 3 vital points. thats all. u have reached the door of god. and reading sacred books and gaining some other spiritual information is just time waste.
work is god and love is goddess.
cheers
2006-09-14 02:14:42 · answer #3 · answered by gudlava 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Believing in God is a great start. I have a question for you. Since there is a God why are we on this earth. This earth is a test. If there is a heaven but no hell, why are we not all in heaven rihgt now? Whats the point of us jsut wasting a bunch of time ehre then. Heres why were here, you can choose to disregard this or not (obviously) its jsut a thought. This is a test to see if we will give into our will, or Gods will. Our will is totally differant from God's. Ours is misguided by this world, which is the devils fault. He is the master of Chaos and lies. If we follow the devil we follow him stragiht to hell. If we follow God we go to heaven. If you honestly try to find the truth, and askGod for his assitance, you will find it. People who say things like, "theres no God, were here to jsut please ourselves, we can do whatever we want"...there just not logical.
So to answer your main question..Are YOU going to hell?
You can decide that for yourself. It is after all your choice completely. Thats the test i jsut tlaked about. Its the sum of all of your choicesbeforeyou die. Are you gonig to choose your will or God's. Choose your own and yes, you choose hell yourself.
Now the hard part..how do we know what God's will is?
Ask him!! Look into the Catholic Church and see what they have to say about this.
newadvent.org jsut do a search for whatever you want.
God bless and good luck on your fatith journey.
Shane
2006-09-14 01:36:11 · answer #4 · answered by Shane 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many good answers are above this one randyken,
I was the same way - I am a Chemical engineer, Very edukated. :)
Then God got a hold of me for real and made me much humbler.
The one thing I would like to add that I did not see above.
If you believe the bible is word of God, and see the proof in the prophecies, then who are you to pick and choose which parts are true, and which are false? That would make you God.
Good luck, and blessings on your faith search.
2006-09-14 01:38:24 · answer #5 · answered by Slave to JC 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hell is referred to in the book of Revelation as the bottomless pit (Re.9:1-2). The bottomless pit is a reality upon this earth in the spiritual realm. In the Dead Sea is the location of the bottomless pit/perdition/hell.
The Dead Sea is outside Jerusalem in the “new” earth, and the Dead Sea is outside of Jerusalem on this earth as well. In the "new” earth, outside "that great city, the holy Jerusalem" (Re.21:10), are those who have taken part in the second death (Re.21:8, Re.22:15, Re.14:9-1, Re.20:15). In the "new” earth there is no more sea (Re.21:1), and those whose who have taken part in the second death can be looked upon (Isa.66:24, Re.14:10).
Pat (ndbpsa ©)
2006-09-14 20:00:08 · answer #6 · answered by BibleProphecyOnTheWeb 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You state that you don't believe in hell....so why care if others think you will go there? I don't believe in the flawed, man-made Bible. I believe in God as being our creator, but not in the idiotic way described in the Bible.
2006-09-14 01:46:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sounds fairly reasonable to me. A few more years in school and you might come to the same conclusion as the scientfic comunity about evolution.
I happen to be a Secular Humanist but at least you don't think the bible is the only posible answer. I sure wish more Christians were like you.
2006-09-14 01:31:35 · answer #8 · answered by upallnite 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Wisdom is foolishness to God. Read the book of Proverbs, it talks about people like you. As a s matter of fact, read the whole Bible guided by the Holy Spirit, not your own understanding.
2006-09-14 01:31:04 · answer #9 · answered by twelfntwelf3 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Only God can judge.
Read the Bible again and live according to your understanding, God judges us by our knowledge and our works, both good and bad.
2006-09-14 01:35:07 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋