Scared of death....questioning existence of afterlife - Christians may answer :)?

Question

I try to be a good decent person, I try my hardest.
I am not sure if there is a god or not because I feel like if there was I wouldn't have gone thru so much crap in my life....I mean stuff I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy!!! If God loves me he wouldn't have put me thru all that, IF there is a God!!!
I hope there is a heaven - I don't even want to fathom "Nothingness" ya know??
I typically shy away from christians because they tend to push their faith in your face & act like they are better than you because of it, well tonight you get your chance to try to convert someone!!!
How do YOU know that there is a God & Heaven & How do you know you have a soul??? Bible verses typically don't mean anything to me & I don't read long lists of them BUT if you have 1 or 2 that are really relavent you can use them!!!
I would prefer to hear from YOU rather than a book!!
PLEASE be kind to me....I'm emotionally fragile right now.
Thanks!!

Answer 1

Quotes by Mother Teresa on Love

The success of love is in the loving
- it is not in the result of loving.
Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person,
but whether it turns out that way or not
does not determine the value
of what we have done

~
It is not how much we do,
but how much love we put in the doing.
It is not how much we give,
but how much love we put in the giving.

~
If we really want to love
we must learn how to forgive.

~
We can do no great things;
only small things with great love.

~
There is a terrible hunger for love.
We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness.
We must have the courage to recognize it.
The poor you may have right in your own family.
Find them.
Love them.

Answer 2

You arrogant fool. How can you so steadfastly believe that us as mere humans can conclusively prove anything in our expansive universe, let alone understand a minute fraction of it, let alone the entire thing. Firstly, let's not even talk religion now, let's just talk size. I don't even have to bother trying to explain to you how incredibly microscopic we are in this Solar System, which comprises of only a handful of planets. Take that and times it by the largest number your mind can think of - and the universe is larger. Now do you honestly believe that you can grasp the concept of an afterlife or a being with such a mind to create such an expansive galaxy. Don't be ludicrous, and so quick to believe that you can understand it all. You just can't. However, I suppose you'd rather put your faith in a THEORY which is changing daily, and like the religions you ridicule which are based off hypothesizes - is undoubtedly what foundation of science is. After all, believing in something other than a creator and an afterlife means you put your faith into another - science. You and I both know that science is changing everyday, little by little. 100 years from now, our great grandchildren will be mocking the theories we held about things such as physics. So how can you place your belief system on something without a firm foundation. Conversely, don't you think that placing your belief on something which has remained the same pretty much since the beginning of time and isn't swayed by external influences realistically the more sensible approach? Think about it.

Answer 3

Life is not about what happens to you. I know you might think it is, but, it really isn't and the first step is understanding that.

You have no idea how much I, and many other yahoo users, have been through. In fact most of the people in the world have had it much tougher than we have.

Often bad things are personal, even if they are not. Someone committing a rape or murder could care about you and yet those things are very personal, often they are directed at you.

God could have made us all slaves in the Garden of Eden. We would have all food we wanted, happy and content, kind of like a pampered poodle or cat, only, he would have had to take our ability to choose away. We wouldn't have the ability to choose that a cat or a poodle has.

We might choose to hurt someone else, and that would ruin Eden or Heaven for that matter.

So here we are, making choices.

If we make good choices and we treat each other well and we put our faith in the Lord our God we go to heaven. It does not matter what happened to us.

If we make bad choices and hurt each other then we can hang out where the Lord is not.

If we do not believe in God then our life is still about the choices we make.

Life is never about what happens to you. Life is always about the choices you make.

Answer 4

Hi Catcan!
I know where you are coming from. I have been there many times! For me.. I questioned for a long time if God was there because it's not like you can sit down and write him a yahoo question and get an answer ya know! Ha seriously though it for me anyway comes during the times that I look back on all that "crap" that I went through. I went "through" it. I wasn't destroyed by it. I didn't cave into it completly.
Yes, I was often scared by it and I have bad memories of a lot of it, but most of it has made me stonger and a lot stronger for it!

In your question you already have a strong faith.. .

Faith by defintition is the hope of something more... that's it.. that simple.. and really that complicated.. Faith is hoping in something that we can't physically see...

OK so.. when you feel that rush when your happy.. when your in love.. that awesome feeling.. it's like that... it's not something that you can see... it's not something that you can measure.. but it is very real and it is very much there... that is kind of how I describe faith.

I don't think that God "puts" us through anything. I think that he allows us to make our own decisions and allows us to come to our own decision to come to him (freewill) a topic for another time.

I have Hope (Faith) That there is Heaven too! I have driven myself batty before thinking about nothingness..paniky thinking if you ask me.

I won't throw bible verses at you because it wouldn't have any context for you right now. It would be like reading French or Greek! Though you said one or two so.. here....

John 11:35 "Jesus wept" Shortest verse in the whole bible. Yep even Jesus cried. Kinda powerful to know that God incarnate himself even was weak and cried.

and one of my favorites is Proverbs 3:5 "trust in the Lord in all your ways and lean not onto your OWN understanding..."

"I" know there is a God from all the little coincidences that have happened and all the BIG no so little coincidences when I should have been literally dead and I survived by no ones other doing then God (I was abused as a child badly) ...How do I kno I have a soul? Because I havent met anyone else on this earth that is exactly like me! I am unique, fearfully, wonderfully and uniquly made and that can't be randomness.

You can email me anytime!
Hugs
Heather

Answer 5

I've been through some pretty hard experiences in my life as well.That was something that kept me wary for a long time.But eventually I realised that it wasn't God doing those things to me,but other people and their selfish actions.
I'm sorry that the Christians you've met have been pushy and arrogant.There are always a few bad apples in the bunch,hopefully they will learn to do what Jesus said in the Bible,and be loving.
I'm convinced of the reality of the Bible.Archeological eviddence has proved it's accuracy,the accounts of Jesus (and the Old Testament books) have been preserved for centuries.
I have also had several experiences that can not be explained naturally.An example of this would be my friend's father.After an accident,he had been left with one leg 10cm shorter than the other.At church one day,they prayed over him.His leg became the normal length that very moment.Another experience was when my teacher's grandson was healed of his autism.
If you have any questions,you are most welcome to email me.I'll do my best to help.

Answer 6

To say that Death hold either nothingness or Heaven is rather short-sighted. Given how much we know about the magnitude and complexity of the universe, we have begun to realize just how much we don't know. The size difference between a quark and a galaxy is incomprehensible, and it shows that space could easily keep on extending in orders of magnitude, resulting in unfathomable layers (string theory points to parallel universes fracturing into more at every discreet moment of the universe, for every possibility). This is rather comforting because it shows just how much there is in the universe. Just think, you managed to find life once, why not again in some other place...or dream?

Answer 7

I am convinced there is life after death for one reason: Jesus Christ died and was placed in a tomb—and three days later came back to life.

Think about it a moment: What would it take to prove to us that there is life after death? The answer is clear: Someone would have to die, and then come back to life again. It wouldn't be enough for them to have a so-called "near-death" experience; their death would have to be real. And it wouldn't be enough for only one or two people to see them; it would require many witnesses.

But has this ever happened? Yes—when Jesus Christ rose from the grave! His death was real; hard-bitten Roman guards made sure He was dead before they took Him down from the cross. And His resurrection was real also, because hundreds saw Him during the next forty days. Paul, writing over 25 years later, noted that "he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living" (1 Corinthians 15:6).

How could this happen? It happened because Jesus Christ was not just another man. He was God's only Son, sent from heaven to save us from our sins. Only He could say, "I am the resurrection and the life. ... Whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11:25-26). This can be your hope, by giving your life to Christ today.
Let me assure you that the Bible teaches the life we live after we die will be real—just as real as this life, if not more so. We won't be in a state of dreamlike consciousness, but we will fully exist in body, mind and soul.

The pattern for this is Jesus Himself. When Jesus died on the cross and was laid in a tomb, His physical body was completely and absolutely dead. But He came back to life by the power of God—and when He did, He had a different type of body, without the limitations it once had. His resurrected body wasn't an illusion; it was a glorious and immortal body that was just as real as His earthly body had been.

And someday, if we know Christ, we too will be given new bodies—bodies like Christ's resurrected body. The Bible says, "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable" (1 Corinthians 15:42). Our bodies in heaven will be real, and so will our whole existence. Only in this way will we be able to serve God.

But the real question is this: Are you ready for that day? Do you know—really know—that if you were to die tonight, you would go to be with Christ in heaven forever? You can know, by confessing your sins and your need of Christ, and trusting Him alone for your salvation. Salvation is real—and it can be yours by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today.

Answer 8

You have quite a few questions, but I will do my best to answer a few of your questions.

First, you have mentioned that you have had a lot of problems in your life, and it sounds as if you are blaming God for this. God does not bring hardship to us, but he allows various trials to occur, as a test to see whether we will obey or not. We are not forced to obey, but it is a matter of making choices. It is all about whether you want to serve God or not, but there is no force from God.
(Jos 24:15) And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

If you believe that God causes the bad thigs in our lives, you have been deceived by someone that is serving satan.

You have believed another lie if you believe that people HAVE souls. You ARE a soul, but you do not have one.
(Gen 2:7) And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

There is an after life for everyone, but for some that afterlife will be short. Many christians would have you believe that the unrighteous people will burn in hel forever and that God will be delighted by this, however this is a big lie. According to the Bible, the unrighteous will burn, but it will be until they turn to ashes and their sin is consumed in the fire.

Is there a God? YES. I have gone through some difficult times as well. I have had major problems in my life, and they continued until I started to MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES in life. One of the first choices was to give my life to God. How do I know He exists? Since I surrendered to Him, He has answered many prayrers and I have seen a lot of things that can not be attributed to luck, fate or coincidence (I don't believe in these things anymore). God has saved my life (literally). He has given me the perfect wife, and I know that if I had chosen on my own, I would have picked a looser.

This has gotten pretty long, but I will be happy to answer other questions or help in any way that I can through email.

Answer 9

i don't think you should be looking to fit into any religion. take a close look at who you are, and i bet there is a religion that you have been a part of your whole life, but just didn't have a name for it. there are many many different views out there, and who's to say what is right or what is wrong, because nobody really knows, its how you personally feel. and as long as you're a good person (which it sounds like you are) then practice what you believe in, not what people dictate. i found paganism was where i fit in. it was the missing part of my life. there are many different pagan paths out there, maybe they're right for you, maybe they're not, but i wish you all the luck on your journey. here's a website that will explain many different religions, including christianity http://www.religioustolerance.org/

Answer 10

ok well im a christian.im sorry u have had a hard life but if there was no suffering we wouldnt need god would we?but i really need u 2 know this ok:U DO NOT GET 2 HEAVEN BY GOOD WORKS THE ONLY WAY 2 GET 2 HEAVEN IS THROUGHT BELIEVING IN GOD & ASKING GOD 2 FORGIVE ALL UR SISNS.remember that pleasssse!&& the bible is gods word...its confusing i know.see i know god is real bcuz of many reasons & a personal expierance.even tho i cant see him i still believe in him.im only 13 but i have more faith in god than u could imagine!i love go with all my heart,soul,& mind!i really would love 2 tell u all abou god but i do not want 2 over whelm u.read the bible as boring as it could b it has very important information and answeres.well i hope 2 see u in heaven♥!