Christians, i have a question...?

Question

(in reference to the one asked about atheists and why they bother working if they dont believe there is an afterlife).

how come you guys do anything on this earth if you believe the afterlife will be so much better? why hold a job and do good deeds if we are all going to die sooner or later and go to either heaven or hell in the end.

doesnt this form of immortality lessen the preciousness of life? where as some believe this is our ONLY life, they treasure it. why treasure this life if you believe in a greater one afterwards?

Answer 1

Chippy you make an excellent point and this is a good question. I am a Christian as I sure is obvious, and I believe in a good afterlife, but I exist in the right now. I have family and friends I love and things I love to do. So I do treasure my life at the moment. I am not looking to buy any new Nike's and rush off to the afterlife. I feel like God has work for me here to do (and no, its not converting anyone, that is not my gift). So, if its okay, I will stick around and enjoy the preciousness of this life along with you and others.
cal

Answer 2

Well, if you believe this life is all there is, does that make you value it more?

For myself, it would make me value it much less, I think.

Cause, in this short life, not even a full minute in all of the space/time continuum, we start many things.

Find our one true love, maybe. Have children. Start projects that sometimes get continued by foundations, long after we are gone.

But we wouldn't be able to see any of it, if they're were no afterlife.

So that would seem kind of frustrating, and pointless.

On a much smaller scale, on this earth we usually get the end of the story. And that makes us feel good. We even consider a story much more satisfying, say, a movie. If we feel it had a good ending. But the funny thing is, things don't seem to end. That's only part of the story. Time never seems to end, but only moves on into the future, much more like a circle or spiral, then a straight line that has a beginning and ending.

Now, not to quote the Bible, in that religious sense, but it says, "As above, so below", which essentially seems to mean, The way things are here is the way things are up there.

That sure does not belief that everyone must belief it.

I also belief in many other books.

Answer 3

Umm.. I'm not a Christian but I do believe in God, Heaven, and Hell. Well, the thing is, it's best to treasure this life because it's THIS life that determines your entry into Hell or Heaven. If you live it by the guidelines God has set up for you, then Heaven is your eternal home; if you don't, then... well, let's just leave the judgment to God. As for the "preciousness" of life, it's how you view this life that helps you decide whether or not to follow the guidelines of God. Besides, you only get to live this life once, so why not live it in a way that your Creator tells you to? That's how one finds peace and happiness. After all, He knows you more than anyone else, so He knows what's good/bad for you.
Peace be upon you!

Answer 4

I like your question.

I do it because what I'm doing is in preparation for the afterlife. I don't think we'll sit around in Heaven either. The Holy spirit inspires me to be like Jesus. While I'll never come close, the process is what's important.

Though, I know a few christians that do just sit around, go to church then sit around some more. They're going ot Heaven too I think, becasue they do believe, but I don't think their life is as fulfilled as mine.

Thanks for asking!

Answer 5

True. If heaven is a place where there is no suffering, why not let your sick loved ones die and go to heaven? Why did Jesus brought back Lazarus to life on earth if he is somewhere peaceful already? Why did Jesus went down to hell for 3 days and was raised to life...isnt hell supposedly eternal torment?

Because in our subconscious we know that the dead do not go to heaven and hell. Ecclesiastes 9 clearly says the dead are conscious of nothing. They do no feel pain nor comfort...they are all sleeping in death as Jesus said waiting for the resurrection.

Heaven is the dwelling place of spirits. Jesus made a covenant with a certain number of people to be with him as corulers in God's kingdom (Revelation 14:3). All others will remain on a paradise earth as where God purposed man to be.

Hell, the translation for the hebrew word sheol and gree hades simply means grave/pit/to cover. God would not make a fiery hell of torment as Jeremiah 27:30-31 states . 30 ‘For the sons of Judah have done what is bad in my eyes,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘They have set their disgusting things in the house upon which my name has been called, in order to defile it. 31 And they have built the high places of To′pheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hin′nom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.’ ----

We live this life to its fullness because we see the greatness of God simply by giving us life...it may not be the easiest life but we show God appreciation by knowing him and his purposes for us...that we may be able to enter the 'real life.'

Answer 6

For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ to give an acccount of the things done in the body, whether they be good or bad. Sort of a paraphrase, but we receive rewards or rewards are held back according to what we did with the free gift of salvation.

Answer 7

It doesn’t take believing that this is the only life we have to know that life is precious. Why not treasure this life when you know that every day you wake up to is one more given to you by the one who gave you life?

Answer 8

Its odd, but people who do not understand the reverance for life that the old Christianity teaches, hold your postulation that this life is worthless. Todays Christianity puts a damper on the value of a sharing life attitude, but the truth is that we do get to heaven by our works and beliefs.

Answer 9

THAT'S what I was saying. Why would they care about this "inbetween" time? Why give a crap about this tiny bit of existence if it's a drop in the bucket compared to eternity? They could just do what is required of them and wait for judgment day. Why value ANYTHING here?

What afrowning said reinforces my point. They don't want to do anything for THIS life, they just want to spread the message of the NEXT life. That's not valuing THIS life, that's simply using it as a means to an end, the end being taking as many people as possible along with them to the REALLY important part AFTER this triffle of mortality.

Answer 10

The things we do here are to glorify God (or not). We are encouraged to "run a good race". Our existence has two planes and we are not to shirk out responsibilities as assigned.

Far too many Biblical instructions on our responsibilities in this life to start cutting and pasting endless references. I have responsibilities to work hard, raise my children well, help those in need, be a good example, and on and on.....