How is this love?

Question

I keep hearing that god is loving and yet:" I will kill you and torture you for eternity unless you worship me" doesn't sound like a loving person to me, it sounds kind of like Josef Stalin. If god is truly loving, would he have to resort to blackmail? Couldn't he just destroy hell and not torture people for eternity because they don't worship him?

Really, how is this love and not blackmail and threats?

(And don't just say that god gives you the option to believe in him so you can go to heaven, because he predetermines everything and therefore, since he controls everything and created everything, he created Islam and Budhism and Satanism and Atheism.)

The bible told me this, christians tell me this, god controls everything is what I hear.

Answer 1

Thats why I dont do that religon ,it seem so fake ,even if there was a higher being out there,he wouldnt be that cruel and threatening.What about the people in africa?The small children in tribes?They havent heard of that faery tale,and they could be good children at heart...but they have no chance to hear about the religon,will this so called"god" make them burn forever.That to me is sick!(im not trieng to offend you christians so get off my back)!!!

Answer 2

You're right. The way you describe this, it is blackmail/manipulation...not love.
If I understand Christianity right, "believing in God" (whatever that means) is the path to heaven, both in this life (you can get a taste of it by having a fulfilling life) and in the hereafter.
If you don't believe in God, then you will likely make yourself your own god, which will lead to a life of selfishness (even though you may not realize it). A selfish life will often (if not always) lead to anguish because self in pursuit of it's own will is never satisfied. I guess if you become this kind of person, you are not compatible with heaven.......not because God doesn't want you to be. It's just that you aren't.
So the "you will go to hell" thing isn't a threat, it's a warning. It's kind of like someone telling you, "Don't smoke three packs of cigarettes a day or it will kill you. I'm telling you because I love you." And you're complaining and saying "How is that love? To give me lung cancer and kill me just because I don't do what you tell me?"
About destroying hell, I think evil has to exist in order for love and free will to exist.
Really, I don't know all the answers, but this is my best guess.
I don't know if Christian stories are true or not....but I do believe living according to the Christian principles and virtues of love, patience, faith, and humility (the most important) is one of the best ways to live, if not The best. I highly recommend studying Jesus' teachings (and to a large extent Paul's) and apply them in your life. There's a goldmine of good stuff in Christianity. Unfortunately there's a lot of stuff in the Bible that seems very implausible and made up which people use as an excuse to throw out the whole thing so they can do whatever they feel like whenever they want. That's a tempting way to go...but Jesus encouraged us to take another path. He said something like (in Yoda-esque wording), "Wide is the road and easy is the path that leads to destruction and many go by it. For narrow is the road and difficult is the path that leads to life. Few will find it."
I encourage you to keep questioning like this..but also seek the kind of life Jesus recommends. Don't go on the selfish path...go on the one that leads to life.

Answer 3

Im an Atheist but it doesnt actually say you will be killed and tortured unless you worship him. This is somehting that Bible interpreters have created into a universally believed truth (kind of like the upside down cross is 'Satannic'). Look up the "Lake of Fire' on google and you will find some very interesting Bible facts about this issue.

The Jews certainly do not believe in Hell or eternal punishment, this is mostly a Christian idea. it makes sense in that Christianity was mostly spread by fire and sword.

Answer 4

Would it be truly loving for a parent to let a child do ANYTHING they felt like? So if you discipline your child or say, teach them not to steal, is that somehow blackmail? Do good or you'll go to jail. Doesn't sound too much like blackmail. Sounds more like common sense.

hell is often described as seperation from God. The burning is a reference to the garbage pits that burned outside of major cities. The original word used most often in the Bible to describe hell is actually the word they used for the burning garbage pit where dogs would gnash their teeth when fighting over the garbage they ate. Seperation from God isn't something you want to experience.

He gives you the option because love means more when it's not forced. If you forced a woman to "love" you or marry you, it wouldn't be a very sincere love would it?

You should keep wrestling with these issues. Eventually the blinders fall off. I used to be an atheist. I made these self-same arguments.

If your avatar is Gandolf, I don't think Tolkien would like you misrepresenting his character. Tolkien's books all had Biblical themes.

Answer 5

Have you had to spend time with sinners? I`m talking about degenerate, selfish, lusting greedy behaviour. Have you tried to be decent to people to only find that your every effort was ruined? What if hell is a place and heaven is a place and people are told to choose which place they will go. Into hell go sinners those who abandon everything they could do to be heavenly so profoundly that they chose to go to hell. Rather, would you like to spend eterinity fending off horrible souls? Earth is like that now. We are tired on earth of the evil. Does God send or do we choose? And why does it have fire? How are we to know why? A place that God has abandon may by some sort of logic contain fire because it is a place where God can no longer control anything.

Answer 6

God created hell, yes, but hell is not a place of eternal torture and killing, God doesn't torture or kill,

he gave us free will to determine what we want to do and what to believe, if he would have interferred with our free will , he would have reduced his creation to mindless robots.

Hell is a place where people who refused to belive in God and put their faith in him during their whole life, experience "life" after death without him, separate from God and separate from his love

God doesn't need backmail or threats, he offers love and compassion, in christianity - unlike other religions - nobody forces you to belive anything you don't wat to believe,

He predetermines a lot, thats right, but he doesnt predetermine our decisions, he gives us all the options, but remember, he doesnt take away free will, so in fact he is not determining all and everything

he allows us to do our own thing, he leaves us a book with instructions and advice about putting our faith in him, he offers us millions and millions of faithful christians as witnesses, he offers us evidence - for a lot of people I admit not quite proof - that Jesus lived and died for us and that he was resurrected, he offers us indirect evidence that there has to be a creating God, otherwise there is no explanation for what created everything ...

by the way, what/who caused the Big Bang ? what was before the Big Bang ? Around the Big Bang ? etc.

Its great that you ask the question becuase I hope may be we - christians - can make you think and start researching and may be getting a bit closer to God,
God Bless you

Answer 7

I am an atheist, but I really believe that if there is a god then these wouldnt be his words. They are written and used by humans, trying to manipulate religion and control people using fear. Sometimes I question the reason I am an atheist and I cant help thinking "what if there is a God indeed?" but then I remember that the only reason I think of that is the fear everyone is shoving down my throat, and I dont want a god like this.

Answer 8

Okay here it goes, Adam and Eve were the first people to be created on this planet. They were told to eat whatever they wanted except they couldnt eat from the tree of good and evil. Well, Satan comes along and Eve eats from the tree because she is persuaded by Satan. Then there is the fall of man.(Adam ate it after Eve). That is the beginning of sin for man. Every single day we sin. The only way to get out of that sin is by asking God to be your Savior then asking for forgiveness.

Now I don't know where your quote came from, but definitely not the Bible. Since God hates sin so much, we do not have the right to live. But he has mercy on us, and allows us to come to him. Once we die, we have run out of time to ask him to become our savior. Immediately we will go to hell where we will burn forever. I think that's where you're getting the burning, killing part. He will destroy Satan not hell but see, the whole reason is becuase we dont even deserve to live.

I hope this has somewhat helped.

Answer 9

God does not predetermine everything. He just knows everything that ever happened, is happening, and will happen.

God doesn't blackmail or make threats. It is really simple: If you choose not to know him in life, he respects your choice and allows you to remain apart from him eternally.

Answer 10

You can discern the insanity behind the belief in such a psychologically unbalanced god; but understand, God did not create the religions you name, nor any other. The Reality behind the word "God" is infinitely wiser and kinder than the world insists.

You are close to knowing the truth. Don't give up.