Serious question. I believe Jesus loved us so much, He came down to earth, lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to take the punishment for OUR sins so we wouldn't have to and that we could be saved through Him.
But my question is: if He loved us so much, why is the BELIEF part so important? If He was willing to come and DIE for us, why would He then say 'I died to save you, but if you don't believe Me than I'm sorry but your gonna be punished FOREVER'?!
I don't know whether hell is 'eternal' or not but it seems to be the commonly-shared belief. I am a very loving person and couldn't imagine punishing someone forever, not even my worst enemy.
Jesus is surely even more loving than me, so why would He condemn someone forever just for the crime of not believing??!
It doesn't make sense to me. In theory you could have a really loving person who doesn't believe going to hell, and then someone like say Hitler repenting on his death bed and going to heaven.
???
2006-12-19 22:21:27 · 18 answers · asked by Buck Flair 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Bender R - Nice analogy. But if going over the 'waterfall' is hell, and Jesus is reaching out to save us - surely God created hell, and loves us, so wouldn't He/they be able to rescue us from it once we are there?
2006-12-19 22:34:48 · update #1
Have you seen the Lawnmower man? God is like the guy in the computer at the end trying to escape - belief keeps him there. If nobody believed in God he'd stop existing in any sense and then we'd be free.
I think you know all this. God condemns good people to hell and saves evil @ss kissers because he's not real - he's a construction no more intelligent than the ignorant cretins who believe in his existence. The God they've made isnt worthy of belief. I'm a better person than God. All it took was not advocating rape and genocide like their vile monster.
Come back Baal - all is forgiven! lol
2006-12-19 23:21:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Use King James that is an instantaneous translation from both the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts! no longer an Interpretation! Jesus broke with maximum of the Traditions of adult men! Mark 7:7,Colossians 2:8-9. See Genesis1:a million-2,26 and Revelation a million:a million-8 and Revelation Chapters 21 and 22. Jesus is God contained in the flesh in accordance to John a million:a million is a reapeat of the former testomony. the hot testomony is the fulfillment of the former. Jesus is The fulfillment.Isaiah 9, Genesis 3:15, Matthew1, the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant.
2016-11-27 22:07:32 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The belief part is because there is no actual proof. Try and look on this dispassionately and you will see that there is no real hard evidence. Even the gospels were written many years after Jesus's death and life, some gospels are omitted from the Bible so we don't get the whole picture, and St Paul never actually met Jesus at all and yet a huge part of the Bible is written by him.
So - if you choose to believe despite all of this then you deserve something! Heaven sound pretty good to me! And as for Hitler - well, God is all seeing and all-powerful and would surely know if someone was saying 'I repent' just for a free ticket to paradise.
2006-12-19 22:28:38 · answer #3 · answered by NORSE-MAN 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because we are only get ATONEMENT for what Christ did for us. What Christ did neither gave us a "get to heaven free card" or made us righteous people. We gain righteousness through the Holy Spirit, and we get into heaven by God's Grace. Grace is a gift - it is something that you cannot earn, and you do not deserve it. In a way what Christ did was a manifestation of God's Grace, but like all gifts, we need to ACCEPT God's Grace (and thus accept what Jesus did for us). You see if God said, "There Jesus died now you are all going to heaven, no strings attached" that would be a form of compulsion - a form of force. Now it seems silly saying you are forcing someone to go to heaven, but as great as heaven may be, God will not force you into heaven. Thus we get atonement from what Christ did, we gain righteousness through the Holy Spirit, but ultimately the most important thing is accepting God's Grace.
And of course you misinterpret what hell is. Hell is not a place of punishment. God will not be in hell telling you how evil you are, and Satan will not be "Lord" over you. Hell is just a place for people who refuse God's Grace, and I think you get to keep your sinful nature in hell. In hell you will have immortal bodies so you wont feel any pain or burning or weariness or whatever. In heaven we will be consumed by the Holy Spirit, but in hell people will be consumed by the sinful nature. Thats it. Of course hell isn't a good place, but its not a place of torture and such.
Lastly, about Hitler repenting on his death bed, though naturally I would never say Hitler was a good guy, remember that Christ died for the sinners; he did not die for the righteous. Grace, again, is underserved, and if people with as brutal a past as King David or Paul the Apostle could become such esteemed figures, then certainly there is a chance for anyone to be saved. Of course I'd be very surprised to see Hitler in heaven, but if I did, I hope I would rejoice that he repented. No matter how bad someone is, I don't wish them to be put in hell.
In a poetical way, the more people I see in heaven that I regarded as evil, the more I will know that God has extreme mercy and is a much better judge than me.
Christians should be more accepting of people who embrace the faith. If a wicked person comes into church, do not cast them out, but instead praise God that they came to the right place for transformation.
If God forgives, who can condemn?
Blessings and Merry Xmas
2006-12-19 22:42:15 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Jesus said, "I have come into the world as a light, so that no-one who believes in me should stay in darkness" but the darkness has not understood (or, overcome) it. Yet some men love darkness. That's why Jesus added, "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light." For them, blackest darkness is reserved, in company with the devil's camp. So try considering 'belief' as a way of comprehending God's light in a sin-darkened world. Belief enables you to start seeing things spiritually, and you clearly have such belief!
To be under God's condemnation is to be in darkness but "whosoever believes in him [Christ] shall not perish" and, "He who believes on the Son HAS everlasting life; he that does not believe in the Son shall not see life". The Philippian jailor cried, "What must I do to be saved?" and was told, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ"!
It's the simplicity of this command that legs so many people down - due to their pride. If God asked them to do something difficult, they would rush to do it, hoping to score points along the way with better endeavours than their neighbours. Yet God insists that his one requirement cuts across the board - and the poorest person, and the vilest sinner, can attain belief as can rich and 'decent' people. Jesus said "The healthy do not need a physician. I have come to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance" and, "If you do not believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins." "And this is his command, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ."
Nobody warned more solemnly of the horrors of hell than Jesus Christ. He used the strongest possible language, and the scariest parables, to warn people of the consequences of not believing him and God. By not believing Christ, we effectively choose hell, whether we realise it or not. That's why Christians have a God-given responsibility to state the gospel clearly, and not just rabbit on about love and heaven. Eternal darkness - hell - is the other side of the same coin. We have been warned. Do we believe, and heed that warning? Yet take heart! Remember the poor man desperate to see his son healed? Jesus said all things were possible to those who believed and the man cried out, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief!" And his son was healed. Belief is a gift from God - we cast ourselves upon God and he enables us to trust him and his word. Isn't that wonderful?
2006-12-20 04:38:22 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
We all live a life of sin. None of us is pure. Mother Theresa wasnt even pure. You cannot enter the gates of Heaven a sinner. Only by reaching to Jesus Christ and asking forgiveness can you ascend to Heaven. But by not believing in him you are turning away from him.
Analogy....
You are in a canoe and about to go over a waterfall. Jesus Christ is on the bank of the river and reaching to you to save you. If you dont reach back he cannot save you. You'll just go over the waterfall. He wants to save you but he wont force you.
2006-12-19 22:27:45 · answer #6 · answered by Darktania 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You have answered your own question. You said that you BELIEVE this was done. Also there is Faith which you cannot SEE, but you rely on being real so you HAVE to believe it. If anyone does NOT believe what Christ has done for us, they will NOT follow Him and His teachings as you can see by some, (most) of the answers in YA about Christ. Yes I do BELIEVE myself that Christ is the only Begotten Son of God. I have that faith that I cannot see, but to say it again, I BELIEVE IT.
2006-12-19 22:53:57 · answer #7 · answered by Ex Head 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1) Faith is knowing that God will do what He says. He wants to know we trust Him to do His part.
2)Hell is eternal and once there you can't be rescued from it. That is why God gives us all of these chances to accept Him as our Savior. You will get chances until you take your last breath. After that you have made your choice.
I know this seems harsh, but it is what it is-a lifetime of opportunity.
2006-12-19 22:44:21 · answer #8 · answered by Julia B 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You might like this book:
"The Mythmaker, Paul and the Invention of Christianity" by Hyam Maccoby
2006-12-20 00:20:31 · answer #9 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jesus said that no one cometh to The Father but by Me. You have believe in Him to get to heaven. He died for our sins in order to save us and I believe that you have to truely feel, in your heart,
that He did die for us. Keeping Him holy and following His word is
an important part of that belief. But you should also remember
that He forgave the two sinners that died on each side of Him and
they were admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven because at the time of their deaths they truely believed in Him. If you know of Him
then you should keep Him in your heart. But the one thing to remember is that it is not a crime to not believe, it is a sin.
2006-12-19 22:40:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋