How can religion make you feel this hopeless?

Question

What I mean is:

I am told I am a sinner.
I need to be saved.

There is no guarantee I will be saved, despite my best efforts to appeal to & appease God. I am told that only God knows who will make it, & that there will be those who genuinely think they will, that don't.

I don't get it. If there is no bona-fide guarantee you will make it to heaven, doesn't this make all religion obsolete? How can peopel sell a biblical solution to people that isn't even a solution?

How can ministers preach a hopeless hope to their congregation? How can people feel encouraged to seek God, if there is no way to know if their names really will or won't be in the lamb's book of life when he returns?

I don't even want to waste my time on it if I can't know.

Answer 1

You are not a sinner alone. EVERYONE ever born is a sinner and remains sinning until they die. Yes, even Christians are not exempt from sin. Those that think they are, are more lost than those who are not saved/born again.

You need to be saved, yes, everyone does! What is being saved? Being saved/born again is accepting the gift of grace and salvation by asking for forgiveness from Jesus for all your sins and asking him to lead your life and walk you through life. You can't just ask in vain (not really from your heart, just words) you must mean it from your heart. If you truly ask from your heart, guarantee, you will be saved! Will you still sin? Of course you will. The point is that you live your life trying your hardest to not knowingly (on purpose) sin, or with the intent to sin. Also to not take your forgiveness for granted, the attitude that, oh if I do this I just have to pray and I will be forgiven. If you do it that way, then you were not really sorry for it and therefore, you lie, another sin.

The statement that not all who think they will go to heaven will end up there is true. That can be more related to one who is so overly confident that they are so righteous and they do no wrong. Anyone who says they do no wrong is lying to themselves and God. The Pharasies are a great example in the bible of people like this. On the outside, they look perfect and they do no wrong, in their hearts and in private, they sin, but God knows everyones TRUE heart.

Your faith in Jesus and your RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, not religious rituals, is what you need. If you go to church every Sunday, sit there for apperances, even maybe attend church functions but never talked with Jesus and really listened for him, then you don't know him. How can you know him? Jesus is the WORD made Flesh, you read the Bible and you pray for understanding and you begin KNOWING Jesus, in your heart. Jesus WILL make himself known to you if you search for him and you will feel his presence with you. God does not lie, he can not lie! He said you would find salvation through Jesus, and you will. If you have faith and believe, you will receive his Grace, Mercy and Salvation! Its not hopeless my friend, I think you need to find a church that gives you a better outlook on our Lord. Its not that what your preacher says is not true, but he doesn't seem to explain details in the love of Christ. I don't know, I am not there listening to him.

Answer 2

There is absolutely nothing unreasonable about the concept of hoping to be saved, but at the same time, not being sure that you will make it|

Is that not the case with all the good things that we hope for on this earth?

We might love to have a particular woman, a particular job, a particular thing that we desire - yes, we hope to attain these - but usually we are never quite sure of our ultimate success|

That is the principle of life, and that is the principle of the after-life|


What do we do in the face of this?

Press on, and have courage, all people of integrity have done so in times of peace *and* war in trying to attain an objective|

That is the way reality is, and that is the stance we must take in life|


Of course if we might not make it, it doesn't mean that we necessarily won't, we might on the other hand make it after all.

But what is needed in any case is *courage|*


Cheers|




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Answer 3

I think you've either misheard the theology or heard some false teaching.

Allow me to explain the actual theology:

Humans are basically good, but in the past chose to exercise their option to disobey God (which He gave because it is necessary for free will). This is why we have sin. The mark of this disobedience is called "original sin."
Everybody sins at some point. Saying "I am a sinner, I need to be saved" is synonymous, in a moral sense, with saying, "I'm not perfect, I need help."
God decided to help us out with this. He came down as a human, Jesus Christ, to provide us an example as to how to live, and as a human he paid back God the Father for all the sins and mistakes we committed.
You can't be saved unless you actually try to be saved. First, you have to get to know God in prayer. Second, try to live a sinless life as best you can. If you mess up and sin anyway, you can ask God to forgive you and reconcile with Him. If we love God and try our best, we will be saved.
Sadly, LOTS of people are very prideful and mean and yet think they are saints. Everyone has met fake Christians at some point. Other people may appear really good on the outside and yet are ugly on the inside.
Some people are thought of as horrible by society, and yet are true saints.
Therefore, it is not for us to judge who will be saved, but only God, who sees our hearts.

Do you still find this hopeless?

Answer 4

You are right that your best efforts to appeal and appease God are of no avail. The only thing that saves is Faith, not being good or doing good things. Sinners who believe that Jesus was good enough to appease God will be save. You can't save yourself no matter what you do. Jesus saves because He pleased God and paid our penalty. Therefore you can be assured you are saved because of Jesus' righteous life, not your own. Hope that helps.

Answer 5

You need to clean your mind so you can hear the word. No church EVER preaches as you say. You are obviously transfering your opinion onto Christians. If you ever see the light, you will see that the real message is the opposite of what you say. Besides the "we are sinners" part. The word is alive, and in the world, you just have to open your eyes and your ears to see and hear it.

Answer 6

I think your looking at it in a way thats odd.

personally I do NOT believe in Jesus, and the God that I do believe in, I trust to be just and that "he" will arrange for me the appropriate and good situation as he deems such.

a God that would punish with eternal torment for merely making an imperfect choice, with our imperfect minds and knowlege, is not worthy of my attention or devotion.

Answer 7

Religion defines what's a sin, then offers you the solution. It's like someone breaking your leg, then offering to splint it for you.

As for the question of "how can they do it," I think you mean, "why have they been allowed to get away with it for all these centuries?" The short answer is: People like to be fooled. That's how magicians, televangelists, and shamans make their living. Take a few psychology courses and you'll understand what I mean.

Answer 8

There is a guarantee that if you ask Jesus into your heart, you are saved and can know that your name is in the Lamb's book of Life.

Answer 9

We are to be thankful and praise God that our names are written in the Lambs book of life.

Faith,Love and Hope will be the 3 that remain...

Answer 10

there is a bona-fide guarantee, and the Bible gives it, just people ignore it.

be born again, grow near God, die TO sin.

there's lots of hope. God teaches hope, even hope through despairity (when you're in it).