I know I will be ridiculed for this. Why can't we believe?

Question

Some of us that believe, say things we should not, but not most of us. What is so wrong with having hope our children will one day be in a better place? Do you watch the news? Children taken out of their beds at night by sick people, raped, tortured, buried alive. -this has happened. You all know about some of the horrible, evil things that happen to children. I don't know if there is a better place, no one is 100% sure. But what is so wrong with having the hope that there is. A place full of love and understanding, and true happiness? I love my children more than anything in the world, to think that one day they may be someplace like this, gives me some hope. You may feel it's a fairy tale. I choose to believe it's true. I hope for all of us. Everyone, that it exists.

I do alot of things to ease suffering. I do alot of things to make the world a better place. These things I do won't stop someone from torturing children, or from dragging someone behind their car because they are a different color than them.

Deep Sky. You actually made me laugh with that. I'm happy to see you do have a sense of humor. I have been worried about you, you know.

Answer 1

Why not make the world that these children live in now better? It's the only one you can control, and yet you'd rather focus on the next life.

We need to better educated children, we need to have tougher punishments for people who abuse children, and we need to start looking at the root causes of these problems. We need to start looking at helping children not become rapists, or kidnappers. We need to bring back the loving family, we need to protect, but not shelter our children, and let them know of the dangers out there.

So you can help be part of the solution, or continue to be part of the problem, by living in a bubble.

Answer 2

Why not indeed! All 6+ million of us Believe it:
http://www.jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/statistics/worldwide_report.htm

Can You Make the World a Better Place?
- Religious Efforts to Improve the World
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2001/10/15/article_01.htm

Can GOD Make the World a Better Place?
Can You Believe in a Paradise Earth?
- Why You CAN!
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20031115/article_01.htm

The Solution to the Problems of Children at Last!
- Parents Can Provide Part of the Solution
- A Divine Government to Provide the Complete Solution
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2000/12/8/article_03.htm

Actually, there are Sound Scriptural reasons to Believe that the earth & mankind WILL be restored to their original purposes!

Do You Know the Truth About Armageddon?
- A cataclysmic end, yet a joyful beginning!
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20051201/article_01.htm

Answer 3

I have an analogy.

There are two teenagers. The first teenagers has a wealthy, wise father. The father gives the boy a broken down, rusty car on his birthday and says. "i have sacrificed a lot to buy this car for you, and if you take care of it, I will reward you with a BMW when the time is right."

The second boy is an orphan. He struggles through life, but manages to scrape together what he has earned to buy his rust bucket.

The two boys resent each other. The orphan thinks the spoiled brat will just trash his car, after all his loving father will forgive him for anything. The rich boy will party with his car, and probably get drunk and drive it into a ditch or kill someone.

The rich boy resents the orphan, after all he is just a lonley bastard, and he will never do anything with his car, because after all, he has nothing to look forward to. The poor boy will probably just try to drown his sorrows with a fifth of vodka, and drive his car into a ditch or kill someone.

That car is our life. The orphan is an atheist and the rich boy is a theist.

Whether we feel it was given to us or we earned it, or it was just simply there and we found it, its all we have here on this earth. Its the only vehicle we have, unless we fix it up or make a better one. But resenting each other will not change anything.

I dont think anything that might give you hope for something better is a bad thing, as long as you don't lose touch with what you already have.

Answer 4

You don't give any clue but my best guess is that you are living in the US.
The US is an anomaly amongst civilised nations, having far too high a religious element compared to western Europe, YET, despite religion's rules for life, it is a nation which is riddled with crime. Same goes for the Philippines, incidentally.
Religion does not provide morality. A sensible upbringing by parents and selected peers as a youngster provide that.
The best thing that you can do is learn to cope with your situation and NOT rely on a fictitious god or a promised after-life to solve your problems.
Watch over your family constantly, 24/7.

A better place? Outside the US would be a good start but nowhere on this planet is 100% safe from crime. Try Canada but don't relax for a moment. There will always be some crank looking to capitalise upon your weakness. Chances are, that crank will believe in god and all the associated nonsense but that crank will believe that he will be forgiven for the earthly sins ...

Thus, my message is that belief in a supernatural paranormal entity that was invented by man a few thousand years ago is NOT the answer.
The afterlife is a lie so don't count on that to solve anything. Maximise on the one and only life you will get and protect your children at all times BUT give them some freedom, especially from religion and that is very important. You do not want them to grow up to be the same as you. They need to grow in their minds to see reality and to gather some street smarts along the way. You can teach them this and this is far more use than anything in the bible.

Be safe. Be real.

Answer 5

It's not just belief, it's true--no matter what anyone says. Heaven is real and so is Heavenly Father. If everyone followed the teachings of Jesus there would be none of these terrible things on earth.

Pride is a fear that leads people to believe that everyone can't have the same worth. They have to be the best or better.

I'm glad you have truth. Keep it, hold it, and nourish it. Let's make this world a better place through hope and action(faith)--especially for our families.

Answer 6

I am assuming that this is in response to my telling you to make this world better while you were on it instead of assuming that you live in a terrible world and doing nothing to make it better.

I stand by my question: Why NOT seek to carve out your own place of love, understanding, happiness in this world? Why NOT seek to promote a good situation? What do you have to lose?

There is nothing wrong with having hope that you will go to a better place. There is however something wrong when that hope makes you in the least reluctant to help the world around you.

Answer 7

Will that hope make the world a less dangerous place? Or is it merely a pair of rose-colored glasses that makes the world a little less dangerous looking?

Wouldn't it be better to face reality and work to make the real world a place of love, understanding, and true happiness? I certainly think so.

Answer 8

I know life can be tough and we do all want this world to be better but the truth is it is heading for destruction as the hearts of men draw closer and closer the the workings of Satan who the bible calls the god of this world [not that he is god but that because Adam sold us into slavery giving up the authority God gave Him.] But there is hope both for the future and today because Christ said "in this world there will be tribulations and trials" " but fear not for I have overcome the world" He says "the ruler of this world is already condemned" so we see we do have hope for the future but only by trusting in the free gift of salvation that Jesus died and then rose again and now aides us through His Holy Spirit from Heaven as He is bringing all things into subjection to Him.

Now we also have hope for the present, by walking with Jesus He said " you are the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" salt is a preservative and the light signifies shining light into a dark place. so let Jesus' love shine through you by coming to Him seeing your need and your children's need for His cleansing sacrifice for every lie theft and lust we ever did, and ask Him to work in us and through us, growing in the knowledge of Him through His word the holy bible, I prefer the new king James translation into english, but the New international version or the new living translation may be more understandable.

but you can do know good without God.

God bless and hold you and use you to shine truth and love into the lives of your children and the people around you.

Answer 9

You never saw news items about loving parents reading their kids a bedtime story before the kids peacefully fell asleep?

Me neither. Because it's common. And normal. And it happens too many times a day to be featured in the news. Good news won't get enough viewers, and with that the channels have less advertizing incomes.

The world IS a beautiful place.

Last year my father died. Of course I hope he is in some sort of Heaven now. It's a nice concept. Unfortunatelly, I don't think it's real. But my father lives inside me, in my heart and in my memories. And that IS reality. And that's not so bad, really.

Answer 10

Your hope sounds questionable by you yourself. That in itself cannot be TRUE hope that I'd trust in! There IS a place that is perfect, full of love, joy, and without anything bad. It is Heaven that all true christians will live for in eternity and a place that you can know you will go! That's real hope! The Glorious Hope for us christians is Jesus coming for His own to live in the mansions He said He was ascending to Heaven to make for us so that we too could be with Him and His Father. It's all in the Word of God --the only Hope in a dying world. Rejoice, Jesus is coming soon, so be ready.