If hell exists, and what the Bible says is true (you must believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, and of God, etc), then people must realize by now that literally BILLIONS of humans are going to be sentenced to hell when they die.
I have a serious problem with this. God loves everyone, and he is obviously intelligent - shouldn't he understand that if one is born outside of Christianity, then it isn't their fault? Think about it: if you were born and raised Buddhist, was only taught to believe what Buddhists believe...why would the idea of Christianity sound any better? It's sort of like Christians saying the idea of Buddhism doesn't sound any better.
So why is loving God, who cares about his creation so much, willing to cast so many into eternal damnation?
2006-10-15 07:44:58 · 13 answers · asked by Rebecca 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Okay maybe I should add this: I'm not Buddhist, and I'm not talking about Buddhism specifically! I'm just using it as another example. I could easily just as say "If you were raised Muslim...Hindu...etc..."
2006-10-15 08:13:48 · update #1
The human soul is infused with the desire to know God. God planted this desire in the human soul. Anyone who wants to know God--not what other people have to say about God--will seek God himself and will not be contented by treatises and doctrines and philosophies offered by other people.
Buddhists don't seek God. Buddhism is atheistic, with the belief that perfection is within people, and so Buddhists--as I understand it, and if I'm wrong, please correct me--constantly look within themselves for truth, enlightenment, understanding, etc., instead of looking outside of themselves for God. Therefore, however lofty the aspirations, the fact remains that they are seeking themselves, not God.
One must seek God in order to find him, generally speaking. There have been exceptions to this general rule, but they are rare.
If you were born and raised Buddhist, and you did not seek God, then you have offended God. If you have constantly offended God by looking within yourself for something higher and better, then God will allow you to remain with yourself, and apart from him, for eternity.
Buddhists have the same opportunity to seek God as everyone else does--since God placed the desire to know God in people's souls. If Buddhists did not seek, it is their own choice.
People are born many things. I was born and raised to be a violent liar. This is what I was taught. So why, at this stage in my life, am I devoid of violence and speak only the truth? Because I sought something other than what I was taught. Because I knew that what I was taught was plain wrong, and so I sought something besides the knowledge and code of behavior that was passed down to me. Would God condemn me if I had taken what I had learned all my young life and upheld it as truth, never having had sought something else? I think so.
The bottom line is that if we do not seek, we do not find. And if we do not seek, the responsibility for that choice is on our heads. If we choose not to know God on earth, God will respectfully allow us to not know him in eternity.
Buddhism vs. Christianity is not a question of what sounds better. It is a question of what is true.
2006-10-15 07:55:44 · answer #1 · answered by Gestalt 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had the same question before. I am now in a bible study.God is a loving god.There is a part in the bible that tells us about reserrecting the people of earth and letting everyone have the chance to redeem or choose the Lord.He will make himself known and people will have to choose Him or not.More or less He is going to weed his garden.I think that people who think God is nothing but Hell and damnation are going only by their religion beliefs. Man made the rules of religion, God inspired the bible. I am confused about the serial killers and such if they willo be resurrected too or not. Just because diffent people have different beliefs doesn't mean they are going to Hell.The only thing we can do is do what we believe is right and let God do the rest. God bless and Happy Holloween!
2006-10-15 07:54:19 · answer #2 · answered by Piper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think that he will. I think that he will understand. Who is to say that Budd ism isn't another incarnation of the spirit of God. Then again God told his disciples to go out and spread his word. Everyone talks as if the end is coming tomorrow. It is not. I am sure that God is going to allow time for everyone in the world to hear his word and make up their own mind on the subject. You have a good point though. Why should i give up the religion that i was raised on for yours, especially if i think mine is right. I wish i knew the answer.
2006-10-15 07:53:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God does not condemn any they condemn them self by rejecting what the Lord Jesus Christ did for them on the cross. He died for your sins and He was buried and took your sins away and He rose again the third day for your justification. If your son died for somebody and they didn't want to be saved what would you do. All people are sinners and are condemn already but God has made away. John 3: 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
2006-10-15 08:39:28 · answer #4 · answered by Ray W 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God is nondenominational. God only loves. Being condemned is a figure of speech. It set up the rules but does not make the choice. One of the rules is that you have the freedom to choose to join God or not by your thoughts and actions. You can condemn yourself but, God will not condemn you. God will not stop loving you if you choose not to join It.
What you are hearing and reading are the interpretations of men and women, not the word of God.
2006-10-15 08:11:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Eternal damnation? Do you mean a place of everlasting torment? There is no such thing.
The punishment for sin is death. Death is the absence of life.
A loving God will not condemn anyone to eternal death unless that one deserves it.
That is one major reason for the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. There will be no innocent people punished with death. And there will be no guilty people blessed with life. God loves everyone, yes. But he does not forever tolerate unrighteousness. If he did, he would be untrue to himself, untrue to his own justice and he would be disloyal to the very ones who are faithful to him and look to him for deliverance.
Hannah
2006-10-15 07:50:50 · answer #6 · answered by Hannah J Paul 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
becayse mercy love is only ONE aspect of HIs character..
justice and wrath and holiness are others and no one has returned the glory due God
through the gospel based on the work of Jesus on the cross paying for sin and offering mercy, God is both merciul and just and achieves both
2006-10-15 07:49:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
He doesn't they condemn themselves by their unbelief in His gift of Salvation through Christ Jesus. Thats like having a deadly disease with the cure right next to you and refusing to take it then blaming others for your death.
2006-10-15 10:36:17 · answer #8 · answered by CM 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have never in your life been exposed to the teachings of Jesus then you cannot be required to have lived by them. In that case God would have to jusge you by your works. The ones who have been exposed to his word but have chosen to ignore it or disobey it willfully have made their choice and no one should feel sorry for them. They were given freewill just like the rest of us.
2006-10-15 07:49:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
God doesn't cast anyone in eternal damnation.You cast
yourself
2006-10-15 07:51:54 · answer #10 · answered by bettys 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋