Well, you are kind of saying, "Gods way is stupid. If I were God I would..." But we are not God, we do not know all that He knows. Here on earth we have a sinful nature, we crave things that are not good for us, we tend to normalize things which are sinful until it is easy to say "everyone is doing it, so it must be ok" But if you look at the world around us, the violence, the immorality, teen pregnancy, divorce, child abuse, child abandonment, rape, the continual focus on "me" and what makes "me" happy.
When we put ourselves in authority instead of God we get to the point where all these sinful things become commonplace. We cannot imagine life without it. But look just 50 years ago compared to now. There was less divorce, less teen pregnancy, less drug abuse, less violence, but then there was less of that on TV as well. I mean I love Greys Anatomy, I watch it every week, but look at the characters. Meridith has many one night stands, Izzy sleeps around, Mc Dreamy was married and then divorced because his wife cheated. There is more sex than medicine on this show, and no one is married. And no one is happy either. Look at all the shows targeted at teens, how many show characters having sex? Watch the View (again, I watch this) and you here Joy talking about how she doesn't need to be married to be happy with her man, in fact marriage would ruin it, Rosie is gay and would love to have the rights of a married person, but can't. People have children out of wedlock on purpose or divorce because they expected to be totally happy and fullfilled all the time and weren't. The sizzle is gone time to move on.
And if you look at all these examples, their lives are filled with heartache, disappointment, depression, self loathing, anger, frustration, therapy, disillusionment, lonliness, they are constantly seeking that thing that can fullfill them or they live a jaded life of sarcasm and disappointment because they have decided this is as good as it gets.
We don't do a good job when we play God. We are too ignorant of each other, ignorant of the past, the future, and the long term results of our actions. We are too focused on ourselves. We are only at our best when we focus on others, and we are not capable of focusing on EVERYONE. Only God is. So at some point you have to decide to trust Him or to not, and then be willing to accept the consequences. Because no matter how much you think your idea makes sense, you cannot make it reality. I mean I think the idea of me winning the lottery and traveling the world sounds like a really good idea, but so far I haven't found a way to make it happen.
Now, to address some of the other things you said. Do we just sit on clouds all day? No. Heaven is partially desctibed in the bible. There are wall surrounding it that are like diamonds, it is a huge place. From the measurements given in the bible it is a 1500 square mile cube. If there are 20 billion people in Heaven, and there probably won't be because not everyone is saved, everyone would have 75 acres all to themselves. Personally, I hope there are more people, I can do with a lot less than that. I live in 1600 square feet on less than 1/4 acre and share it with 5 other people. I don't need 75 acres to feel blessed.
There are gates that are huge pearls, not made of pearl, but actual pearls set into the walls. The walls are 200 feet thick. It is a safe place. It is set on 12 foundations. It is a stable place. It will not shake or crumble. The streets are gold. Here on earth gold is our most treasured comodity, the whole world economy is built on it. In heaven it is just asphalt. Heaven is a place of mansions and living water. It is an opulant place of great riches and beauty. Our greatest earthly treasures are garbage in heaven.
There is no sickness, no violence, no handicaps, no death, no floods, earthquakes, or devistation, no mourning, no crying, no pain, no lonliness, no hospitals, no funerals, no divorce, no abandonment. No more bad memories, no strain, no stress, no scars on our hearts. All your emotional and physical suffering will be gone, you won't even have a memory, or to me if you do it will be like the memory of child birth, you remember that it hurt, but the result is so amazing it becomes a distant small thing. You know it hurt, but you don't remember it really.
Can you even imagine that? Really, look at your life and imagine the most beautiful thing you ever saw, the most loved you ever felt, the most at peace, the time when you were happiest. And the bible promises that the greatest that we experience on earth is just a shadow of what is in heaven. A shadow. The greatest thing we have ever seen, touched, tasted, smelled, heard, or felt here on earth is nothing compared to what is in heaven.
So, there may not be ice cream, but there will be something even better and it won't make us fat or sick. Sounds pretty good.
I don't know what a baby does in heaven, I don't know what anyone does there. Maybe we are all restored to a certain age, whether we live that long or not. I know that we are given a knowledge we do not currently have, we will be able to see the big picture. But what exactly happens we don't know. We are given promises that let us know it will be amazing, and in my personal opinion I think maybe it isn't described more in detail because we just could not comprehend it. I mean for me the idea of a world totally without suffering, that is hard to imagine. Much more and I might not even have a context to put it in. So I stand on the promises that God has given me and let Him take it from there.
For you? You have a choice. You can try to be God and fail, or you can let Him handle all that for you. You can choose heaven or hell. Those are the only choices, there is no none of the above I want to do it my way choice. I know it is harsh, but it is just how it is. Believe me Christianity would be an easier sell if we could just say live a good life and blessings await, but it is just not how it is.
Hope this helps, sorry it was so long winded. If you have any questions feel free to email.
2007-03-18 17:34:45
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answer #1
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answered by micheletmoore 4
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