If Jesus loved us so much as to die for us, why does it matter what we believe?

Question

Imagine you are Jesus. You see humanity condemning themselves to destruction through their sins, and deeply concerned by this, you come down to Earth and make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save them from eternal punishment.

Why would you then say, "Well I died for you, but I will only save you if you BELIEVE that I did! And not only that, you must reject ALL your worldly desires and give me EVERYTHING! Otherwise, you will be cut off - FOREVER - with everlasting agony and unbearable pain"

Does that make sense? According to the Bible this is the only way to get to Heaven. Not only must you believe, but you must give up everything.

OK... in that case I would predict that 95% of the entire human race are going to hell, because people sure ain't doing that from what I've seen.

If Jesus loves us so much why would it matter what we believe? Is there no forgiveness after death? Ever?

This is depressing me no end and frankly I am close to the point of insanity. Please can anyone help?

Answer 1

The Scriptures quite plainly explain that humans can disqualify themselves from receiving everlasting life; it is only the faithful COMPLETION of a life course that assures salvation.

(Zephaniah 2:3) Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. PROBABLY you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah's anger. [emphasis added]

(Amos 5:15) Hate what is bad, and love what is good, and give justice a place in the gate. It MAY be that Jehovah the God of armies will show favor [emphasis added]

(Matthew 7:13-14) Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; 14 whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.

(Matthew 24:13) But he that has endured TO THE END is the one that will be saved. [emphasis added]

(Philippians 2:12) Keep WORKING OUT your own salvation with fear and trembling [emphasis added]

(Hebrews 10:26-27) For if we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, 27 but there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment

(Hebrews 5:9) [Jesus] became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those OBEYING him [emphasis added]

(James 2:14,17) Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if a certain one says he has faith but he does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it? ...17 Thus, too, faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/19960201/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm

Answer 2

Not putting you down, but it's obvious that you are missing some important information about salvation and Jesus' point of view. Also, your rendering of scripture is not quit accurate. Since there is not enough room to fully respond to your question, I will suggest that you get with a pastor, or someone that understands The Bible, or, if you don't know how to get in touch with someone, get a modern day version, such as the NIV or Good News Bible, and study it for yourself. A good place to start would be the book of Hebrews, where Paul tries to explain to the Jews of his day, what it is he believes.
And, always start off in prayer, asking God for wisdom and understanding.

Answer 3

:) hi there...i see the problem in ur statement: the thing is, humans INTERPRETING the bible (and i'm not just talking theory, but literal Translation from greek to english). that is why, some people do believe Yes u MUST profess Jesus as ur savior, and there are some who do believe that ALL of us are saved, or that all are given the ability to be saved as long as they do not reject God, etc etc...

i wrote this summary from one of my pastor's sermons.. he is very open minded, and tho many conservative christians may condemn him for his thoughts i find it most refreshing. all he's saying, is What IF?? :) i hope this inspires you~

(basis of sermon on Romans 3:19-26)

Martin Luthor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_luther), famed German Monk whose 95 Theses criticized the Church and its dealings, had translated for himself much from original Greek Text, and found that there were certain theology in Greek that was not discussed in the common translations of the bible. He actually said that if you don't understand the true meaning of these verses (Romans 3:21-26), you understand NOTHING of the Bible!

Ok, before we go any further, I'd like to say we need to Always keep an Open Mind. The whole purpose of reading and learning and studying the bible is to constantly challenge our Understanding and Mindset! :) Some of the questions we have, will NEVER be answerable by human minds. Therefore, there can be many things in the bible that we do not understand, that we question, that we challenge, but it never for one minute means we are "for" or "against" the bible; we are just trying to regain focus, to clarify (as much to our ability), or even just to keep an open debate about the thousands of controversial things in and of the bible. :) Isn't that what makes religion exciting??! yes, Exciting!! Not Stagnant, not Useless, not Cumbersome... a Living, Breathing, Wondrous, Amazing, and Growing thing in our lives! So I will probably personally never know the answers to the questions being thrown out here, but I'd like to open it up to you all to decide for yourself what this means, to YOU.

When you look at a literal Greek to English translation, simply put, without annotation, it is amazing to see how much Bias could change and twist the understanding of the original text!! (the Pastor had brought his greek bible and discussed the simplicity of the wording, and u can contrast it to the NIV version)

vs 19-20: No One Is Considered Righteous

The Law Is There So We Are Conscious Of Sin

vs 21: Old Testament Testifies To This, Apart From Law

vs 22: All Those Who Believe Gets Righteousness From God Thru Jesus

(ok, so "controversial" question insert here: if we are So Lucky, Chosen, Different from Non Christians, why is there No Difference denoted in the text between Christians and Non Believers???!)

Righteousness Even God (Righteousness OF God?)

Thru Faith Jesus (Thru Faith OF Jesus??? English translation says Faith IN Jesus... hmmmm!! questionable or no?)

Towards All And Upon All The Believing

There Is No Difference (Why does this say "towards all, AND upon the believing, there is No Difference"?? could it be that God's Grace is sufficient for even those who are not said Christians, because of Jesus' faith, and not ours??)

So, is God's Faith SUFFICIENT for All??? hmm.. age old question! some Christians say nope, only those who believe and confess Jesus as savior will go to heaven. some say "good people" will go, "bad people" won't. still more think that Jews will not go to heaven, some say they will because they are the "chosen" people. etc etc etc. What is the point of hankering over this or that though?? Why do we care so much WHO will go, WHO will not? Why so much BOASTING that we are "better" than Non Believers? This is where vs 27 comes in:

vs 27: Where Is Boasting? It Was All Done With God

27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. (NIV version)

Our job as Christians is NOT to condemn, but to Encourage, to Show and Tell, and SHARE the "mystery" of Christ, that He is the Mercy Seat, and what Jesus' Blood has done.

this is just some of it... i hope this helps you out a bit. don't worry, questioning and seeking answers is the only way u can learn~ :) good luck to u~

Answer 4

Buck I actually think that Jesus keeps on calling everyone until death, and that he looks at hearts and responses to him. We none of us can know how or who has responded in the end. I think it will be very clear to everyone because as you say He did make the ultimate sacrifice. And also set the captives free.

If you were on your own on an island, entirely on your own I think Jesus him self would witness to you. People also need to know that once you have responded the new covenant is permanent.

This may not help you. I really hope it does though.

Answer 5

Jesus loves unconditionally, he loves everyone including the most crime commiting people in this world. But he died for your sins and many people don't believe that's why there are "athiests" i mean he gives you free choice to believe if you think he died for you sins or not. It would be a bit too easy if he just did all the work and then wether we believed or not we could go to heaven! You have to work you way into heaven, like you work you way into a (for example) good university because you worked hard in your exams. You have your whole life to complete all the things you need to complete to earn your place in heaven. It would be highly unfair if there were some people that spent their whole life being good to earn their place in heaven and then after death these bad people can have all the time in the world to get into heaven. If everyone knew that they could be sinful all their life and then even after death find forgiveness this world will be 20 times worse than it is already! God bless x

Answer 6

Well, yes God does have unconditional love, however, He is also a God of justice, that means that for people to get into heaven - a holy and righteous place - people need forgiveness; forgiveness is not automatic, it involves turning our lives around with God's help and choosing to place God at the centre of ours lives. When we become Christians we accept God into our hearts through the Holy Spirit and God actually lives in us, Jesus died for us so that we might have freedom and life. I think a major thing many Christian forget is that we're not perfect - just forgiven.

Answer 7

Sorry for your pain, Buck, but what a terrific question! And it makes perfect sense. This would seem to be the fundamental dilemma of Christianity.

Either Christ died for our sins, completely, or he didn't. To say this universal salvation is conditional on our believing in it refutes God's essential love for humanity. It's like clapping for Tinkerbell, or teasing a dog with a treat.

There are countless preachers and their followers who will insist that God only accepts believers, but are they saying this for your sake or theirs? Your participation in their church makes their church better. I'm not against building caring communities. But the individual matters too. As noble as it is to sacrifice one's time, wealth and privilege on behalf of others, everyone also needs to be taken care of. If you are completely miserable following a doctrine, you should question that doctrine. It's not laziness, it's not the devil tempting you, it's self-preservation. God made the world for a purpose, and not to see how well you can avoid it. The world is good. It can be abused, but so can faith.

Preachers hand out harsh doctrines because they have no other control on people. For them, God's "justice" is punishment for the uncooperative. "Mercy" implies letting people get away with something. It seems unfair. But that's not what Jesus really taught. Remember Jesus' parable about the workers' pay? "Fairness", proportional "justice", is not what real justice is about.

Your question reminds me of the passage in which Jesus looked on the crowds who looked "like sheep without a shepherd". His response was not a riot-act sermon, it was compassion. He had to determine what people really needed at the moment. The rules went right out the window. Again, when he want to raise Jairus' daughter, he was interrupted by a woman with another problem. Did he brush her off? No, he stopped and gave her what she needed.

Some people think if you follow all the rules, if you believe all the right things, God will reward you. Martin Luther said you can't earn your way into heaven, but isn't that kind of faith just another way to impress God? James said faith without works is dead. So just preaching the gospel is useless. It has to be lived. Christians need to act as if they are already part of heaven, not stand around and wait for it because they think they know the script. Belief gets you through the hard moments. It's not an enforcement tool. If faith oppresses people, it's not faith, it's fear. Imposing "faith" on other people is not authentic. If you can't convince them by your actions, you'll never do it with threatening words.

Please, don't be depressed. The God I believe in is not so petty as we are. God will work things out for every loving person, believer or not. Evangelization is a process of demonstrating God's love, not a war on non-believers.

And "giving up everything" is an attitude, not a mandate. Jesus means don't get obssessively attached to anything. When a thing or a person or even an idea becomes more important than helping a neighbor, you're in trouble. Keep you priorities straight. Keep your life balanced. Keep your eyes on what's important. Don't worry about "saving" others. Give them an opportunity to figure it out from observing you.

Answer 8

It's called Free Will. If everyone was given blanket forgiveness, where would the opportunity to choose come in. God doesn't want mindless robots. He longs for people to worship Him. Worship is an overflow of a lifestyle that is grateful for redeeming them. Jesus says you cannot serve two masters, you'll either love one or hate the other. Jesus or the world. Your temporal treasures now, or an eternity with Him. No brainer, for me anyways. You have to make your own decision. It all comes down to one phrase, "Thy will be done." Either you can tell God Thy will be done for my life, or you can reject Him, which Free Will allows, and He will tell you, Thy will be done.

Answer 9

Love requires free decision to love. Slave love or robotic love that is forced is not True Godly love.

Agape Love is the love of others so great that one is willing to lay down one's life for the other. This is the Love Jesus has for each human person. This is the love that he calls His followers to aspire!

This is the love that the firefighters on 9-11 had for strangers when they began and died in their rescue attempts for the trapped victims in the World Trade Center towers. The firefighters knew the risk to their own lives, yet moved forward in Agape Love to try to rescue strangers!

Jesus died to forgive sins of each person. He opened the gates of heaven to all if each person is willing or choose freely to Love completely God!

Eros love = sensual love physical love
Philia love = family love, parent child, brother sister
Agape love = husband and wife love, the total self sacrifice for the other.

Western Civilization is struck on physical only lust, unfortunately. Explains the many divisions and breakdowns in our cultures.

Answer 10

The concept of god and the validity of the bible are classic examples of how a premise that is wrong evolves over time. With a correct premise, hard conflicting evidence is non existent and corroborating evidence slowly builds up giving the concept more and more credibility over time. With an incorrect premise, as more knowledge and experience accumulates, the evidence invalidating the premise grows exponentially and more and more absurd rationalizations have to be invented in an attempt to keep the premise alive. It is so obvious that this is what is happening in organized religion. If it weren't for a world rife with desperate people clinging to whatever hope they can get and the outlandish promise of immortality paired with the threat of eternal hellfire, this premise would have died centuries ago.

Answer 11

Understand that God loves you. True.
Understand that he Knows everything and we do not. True
Understand that he has a reason he dose things his way. True
You are not condemned for not understanding but for not doing.
The Bible say he that believes is saved not he who gives 100% of him self to God (this good and rewarded but not required for salvation) What is required is 100% trust in him, this should produce good works, but good works by them selves do not produce salvation.

Just except it from God, and believe and be saved and he will give you his spirit and you will understand a lot more than you could otherwise.