Why does a God...?

Question

who loves us soooooo much, condemn us to eternal damnation for doing wrong after he has given us free will? This is one of the major reasons i do not believe in god. Please give me LOGICAL answers not 'praise him, praise him supreem is he!' rediculousness.

My appologies for not being clear. Im a non-spiritual, non-religeous person myself... i like the views of some of these 'religions' or beliefs. Im kind of trying to get a better understanding of the beliefs that relate to the question posted. These other ones seem quite interesting though. I really appreciate your comments.

Adsar... I do think...that when we are born... we are pure of sin are we not? Because if we are... 'defective beings' from the start... than i think that is just wrong and will stay where Im at thank you =)

Excellent points guys. To the ones who tried not read scripture to me =) thank you. I have good understanding now. More responses are welcome. Thank you for the current ones. have a great day everyone.

Answer 1

The eternal damnation (I gather we're both thinking of hell) you speak of is NOT for "doing wrong" so much as rejecting God Himself. If you accept that heaven is where God dwells and that to be there would be to spend eternity with Him, then wouldn't that be eternal damnation for a non-believer? You're right, God does give us free will to accept Him or not, to do His will or not, and to spend eternity with Him. Or not. Because God loves us, He won't make us spend time with Him is we don't want to. When we do wrong -- in a Christian context, when we sin -- we're building up barriers between God and ourselves. And God allows you and me to make the choice to circumvent those barriers by accepting personal salvation in the form of Jesus Christ. Without God's forgiveness, eternal damnation is unavoidable not because we're bad people but because we choose to not be with God. And it would be a drag if you spent eternity with Someone you don't even believe in, wouldn't it?

Answer 2

Free will leads to the opportunity for disobedience. And disobedience leads to the possibility of doing real evil. We have free will so that we have the choice whether to believe or not, whether to praise or not, whether to talk to or not. If you pick up Lee Strobel's A CASES FOR FAITH, I think you'll find a lot of your logical questions answered by a man who was an atheist. And if you really want to wrestle with this whole thing, try CS Lewis' MERE CHRISTIANITY, again written by a man who was an atheist. It's funny that we demand God to act logically in a world and a universe that we probably don't fully understand and without feeling the need to act as he demands. What if what we consider "logical" makes no sense from a different perspective, God's or otherwise? Look up at the stars and find that wonder at the majesty of the size of the Universe. Then look inside yourself and wonder at the majesty of the way you work. You're so much more than $5.00 worth of chemicals and water, and the reason is already in you.... Listen to your heart, not someone else's. You have everything you need to answer this question for yourself.

Answer 3

Man has created many Gods over time because he does not want to die. Man then tries to kill those people that worship in a different way. It is interesting to note that according to the ancient Egyptian historian, Manetho, and the Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius, the name of the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus was Amenophis, more commonly called Amenhotep. His son and successor, Akenaten, did away with the Egyptian collection of gods and taught a monotheistic religion throughout the land.
From a Yahoo answer:
And what is beyond death?
We all know that death is certain. That is the reason that religions exist to comfort us and make us believe that there is something beyond death and because of that we must conform or be punished after death for our actions while alive. But is there anything beyond death? Will we dream that Eternal dream
I would ask the question but there would be no good answer for me. What lies beyond your last breath is your own journey and in my opinion can only be decided by the individual.

Answer 4

It seems that these answers are mostly based on Christian thought, which is pretty presumptuous. The idea of eternal damnation is based upon dogma. Not all belief systems think that eternal damnation for doing wrong is an option. Perhaps think of it as taking either a step closer to or away from perfection (as most people view their God as perfect) as opposed to being damned to some fire & brimstone place forever. And to all of you born again people, that's your belief. However, I find it hard to believe that any God would agree with your viewpoints that anyone who disagrees with your philosophies is scum and should be ostracized.I believe that we all should be aware of each other's beliefs without stepping on anyone else's.

Answer 5

Thats a variation on the problem of evil, i think. (If god is all * then why does he allow bad things to happen - because of free will etc.) First religion, as i understand it, is an attempt to synthesize law and enact a state of power. Religious law, as we know uncomfortably these days, can be taken to be the preeminent source of law and because it is divinely inspired the true source of all power. Which is to say the schmucks who initially dreamt up this philosophy were trying to codify their place as arbiters of said power. For people who are predisposed to believing in the divine being condmned to hell for actions which are displeasing to the priests is a pretty good motivation for doing good things.

I agree with another of your respondents that going to hell or sinning is basically the willful ignorance of your actions. Repentence, which is not to shuffle ones feet and say gee, i'm sorry, when you're really not- is the key. Its important to understand the reality of your action, how it effects others, its chain of action in a nasty sense. That will redeem. Of course this is in christian terms but it works on an atheistic and philosophical level too. Regret and a will to change your actions into a positive energy and understanding their effect is the important thing. Doing wrong should be thought of more as 'willfully doing things that result in a negative result.'

Boy i'm wordy today. Sorry.

Answer 6

He doesn't condemn us; we condemn ourselves. We have the choice to do right or wrong on this earth. Hell is for those who have done nothing good in their lives and have only evil in them. So these people deserve nothing less than this. When you die the only thing that God cares about is the love and goodness you've showed towards humanity and the respect you've had for yourself and others. Very simple. Nothing complicated about the way God works. You believe in God because if you didn't you wouldn't be asking this question. God is good and cares and loves us all. Don't ask what God could do for you but what have you done lately that's been good? So, yes free will is ours but if you follow the path of evil you don't deserve paradise. But first and foremost God wants to see us in paradise and He forgives if we truly feel sorry for what we've done. So I hope I've answered your question.

Answer 7

Is your problem with God, or the interpretation of this divine figure? The interpretations of God are man-made, and so open to error, and contradiction. The image of God seems to change over time, with popular culture, so the interpretation depends on the attitudes of the time, and on how people read into religious texts, whether they take them word for word or otherwise. Ultimately anything said about God is created by man, a finite, imperfect being. I think really people project their own ideals and beliefs onto this figure, and so, even supposing there is a God, the image of God that you describe is man-made

Answer 8

Not all "religions" believe that we are condemned eternally. The vedas say that each person receives his reward based on his actions. The reward, in the form of punishment for crimes or a better situation for goodness, has a beginning and an end. "Eternally" is a relative term. When you are a kid, being grounded for a month can seem to be forever. As an adult, being in prison for "life" can be eternal. If you were told that you would have to spend ten thousand years in prison, that would be forever in your eyes. It would make no sense for God to punish us infinitely. Punishment is used for correction, and according to the Vedas, while we are being punished we receive instructions on how to correct our behavior.

Answer 9

watch this


god gave us free will to be good and choose him right that one GOD

so what did we do we made a million religions out of one on one planet if the religions are all the same thing led to one god then why don't all people admit this is it pride what is it maybe when we figure that one all the questions will be answered that's what i think its all a puzzle that's it a test you can say

people being poor fire hurts when u touch it we are in hell now wait actually the way things are going we are making hell right now its up to us to stop that there's that free will

but you know what in general people aren't given enough power or money to care about each other they cant support there own family on that low pay and take care of people starving in Africa when all the nations spend billions of dollars on war that's their free will they choose to rule no matter what that's it and we choose to be ******* and cry to God all day long help us help us you got free will God wont help you if you don't help your self

in general none cares about nothing anymore that's what i think toa point........

i think i kinda went off topic but you know what I'm going to post this anyway lol

Answer 10

Religion is a very personal thing; that is to say, it is something that resonates within our very own souls to inspire and enlighten us. Unfortunately, many religions have fallen prey to dogmatic teachings; made-made postulations that were devised to make others believe as some do, rather than to inspire us, as individuals, to develop a personal desire for studying the teachings.

I, personally, believe that it's all one Spirit, one God, just different ways of worship and understanding. If we look at the beautiful aspects of all theologies, we may come to understand other people and their belief systems, and ultimately discover the common bond that exists between all of us. Unfortunately today, many religions fail to respect others, which is why we have so many problems in our strife-torn world. The Abrahamic Religions; that is, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, all have some beautiful teachings; yet, they have been warring with each other throughout history, rather than recognizing the common bond that is between them, a fact that is interrupting the peace and harmony of the world even today.

The only way to understand religion and theology is to make a personal quest into the studies and to make a personal decision as to what you feel may be best to incorporate within yourself.

The Buddhists have a wonderful philosophy: "Every individual on this earth is on the pathway that they are meant to be upon." There are many pathways to God, just different ways of understanding.

Only man condemns other human beings. Eternity is a time element. Time as we know it is only measured on earth, based upon our revolution around the sun and the revolution of the moon around the earth. God, or Spirit in its purest form, is a timeless realm and is neutral in regard to our material needs, but is nurturing and loving to our inner spirits, if we allow that love into our beings and if we can learn to express that love toward others. This does not mean that harmful behaviors go unresolved. What is consciously done to others must in itself be balanced, and the soul personality must eventually learn its mistakes in order to move onward and upward. Nobody knows all the answers, so the best we can do is to try to learn all that we can in order to live a well-balanced physical, spiritual and intellectual life on earth.

Good luck on your quest and always strive to reflect the Highest Good that is your birthright to all beings.