hospital, he was already hallucinatory from the effects of the cancer treatment. Therefore he was not in the right condition to accept christ before he died. I prayed intently for years for him to be saved but it didn't happen. I've lost my faith and stopped going to church because of this. He was the kindest, loving and most generous man I've ever known and to think that he's not in heaven kills me inside. I'm never the same after his death and I'm still hating God for it.
2007-04-20 18:09:19 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because God does not exist. Most prayers go unanswered, but when something that was prayed for happens everyone acts like it is a miracle and proof God exists.
2007-04-20 18:13:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
God is perfectly just, so who are we to say that your father is suffering because he was hallucinating when he could've accepted Christ? You and I have no way of knowing whether your prayer was answered. We don't always get our prayers answered. Six months ago, I found out my uncle had liver cancer. I prayed many times that he would be healed. He died 3 weeks ago, and left 3 children behind (oldest is 15). My prayers were not answered, but I have not given up on God. I know that God had a reason for what he did, and I will not question his decision. God's justice is beyond our comprehension, and all will be made right. I am very sorry for your loss.
2007-04-20 18:18:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Don't hate God or loose your faith over this because perhaps in his own way your dad was saved. He died and went to the Lord, the Soul knows where it needs to be and your dad must have met God along the way, whatever happened from there you won't know until you die. Now you are insulting God and yourself by rejecting your faith don't you think? I think your dad is in heaven, if he was a good man in life he couldn't go to Hell, it's not possible. I wish you peace.
2007-04-20 18:31:03 · answer #3 · answered by Princess Tigerlilly D™ 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It may have seemed impossible to you that God could have reached your father at a time like that, but all things are possible with God. God is not constrained by time like we are. I have heard credible near death encounters from people who were comatose, delirious or on the brink of death. They had loved ones by their side who say only a few minutes went by, but the patients tell of encounters with Jesus where they believed they'd been with Him for hours or days. When they "came to" they'd been changed forever , having accepted Jesus as their Savior. Although your father died, it doesn't mean that God didn't give him another chance to receive salvation before it was too late. God desired your father's salvation and loved him even more than you did. And I believe God honored your prayers for your father and they were possibly the very reason He reached out to him at the very last moment. Prayer by His children moves God. Please don't assume the worst when you know how much God loves you. Pray and ask Him to help you through this--ask Him to give you peace about it. I believe He will, because He would not want you to go through life with that fear, or want you to walk away from Him. Please trust Him. I will be praying for you.
2007-04-20 18:39:04 · answer #4 · answered by beano™ 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is not easy, my Friend. I hope I do not offend you, and you are able to see my point dispassionately.
How do you say that God did not answer your prayers?
God answers---ALL the time--but it may not always be to our liking! HE loved your Father so much that HE relieved him of pain, and took him straight to Heaven, to be with HIM!
God loves you too! He has made you so rare, unique and special that there He has made not a SINGLE duplicate you!
If your father was the most generous, loving, and kindest man, that was GOD,[Our Father] in the form of your father!
My God is like "My Friend Upstairs", who is always there for me to talk to, confide in, and approve me at all times!
Try and talk to HIM! Tell HIM your woes, your disappointments, and your feelings!
Write HIM a letter, in minute details, and post the letter in the 'God Box' today. Okay?
Do it, and then let me know how you feel.
2007-04-20 18:23:20 · answer #5 · answered by thegentle Indian 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have faith, that your father was saved. Only God knows the heart, and it is possible that your father accepted Christ during a lucid moment. Have faith that God answered your prayers. It is entirely possible that God used your father's illenss to draw your father closer to Him. Please find your way back to church and talk to the pastor about how you are feeling. And remember it takes a really committed atheist to not seek God when they are facing death.
2007-04-20 19:30:12 · answer #6 · answered by ohbrother 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are two possibilities. Either people have free will and their choices are not determined by any antecedent conditions, or people do not have free will, and they choices are determined by antecedent conditions.
The only way God could answer that prayer is for God to do something that determined your father's choice. But if God determined your father's choice, then your father wouldn't have free will. So the only way God could answer your prayer is if the second option is true. Your father's choice would have to be determined by some antecedent condition--namely a condition God met in order to cause him to choose to embrace the gospel.
If causing people to embrace the gospel is something that perfectly within reason for God to do, then God could do it for everybody if he wanted to. But since Jesus himself said that not everybody will be saved, then it must not be God's intention for everybody to be saved. God only saves those he intends to be saved by causing them to choose to embrace the gospel.
So if you believe people have free will, then you should recognize that you were making an inappropriate request of God. But if you believe God determines who will be saved and who won't, then you must accept some form of divine election or predestination. If God determines who he will save and who he won't, then that decision is entirely his.
Neither scenario is very comforting, is it? I'm sorry to hear that you're so hurt. I'd like to offer you some words of encouragement, but I think honesty is the better part of valour. There's nothing encouraging to tell you. You've been hurt, and you have good reason to be hurt. I hope that somehow you'll be able to come to terms with it, but I don't have any advice to offer you.
2007-04-20 18:20:41 · answer #7 · answered by Jonathan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't hate God. I'm pretty sure if your father was this wonderful he is in a beautiful happy place. There are alot of religions in the world. All of them have different ideas. The three big religions say you absolutely must belong to their religion and follow their rules or you don't go to heaven. Can all three be right? nope. Which one is? Who knows.Maybe none of them. Do you really think someone who lives for let's say seventy years, even if this person is mean, hateful, does bad things, does this person deserve to burn in hell for ever and ever? Especially since we have not really been taught the right way to be.No, I believe if your father was a good person, everything is all right. I strongly believe there is not hell. Please don't hate God for rules people have made up. Be grateful you had such a wonderful father.Alot of people have horrid parents.
2007-04-20 18:18:03 · answer #8 · answered by Rosalind S 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
We are all responsible for witnessing to the lost and professing our faith to non-believers, but in the end God knows who will be saved or lost and as much as you are sad and mad just think how God feels if he indeed lost his child to a firey lake for eternity...oh man...really what you need to do is concentrate on your salvation...be mad at God, yell at him, tell him, but please don't stop loving your Father in Heaven. Ask for healing of your heart and I will personally pray for you and I hope the best for your heart(which I am sure is like that of your father's)...
God Bless you!!
2007-04-21 03:53:25 · answer #9 · answered by Lin B 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Maybe you were praying to the wrong god?
Maybe you should have prayed to all the gods out there,
"just in case"
Sorry to hear it, but cancer killed your dad. You were praying to an imaginary concept.
My dad died of lung cancer when he was 38 years old - when I was 12 (I'm 40 now). He died because he smoked cigarettes.
I also had a brother who died before my father passed on - that was in 1975. Crushed by construction water pipes at a lot all the neighborhood kids played at. He was I think 12 years old at the time.
It's sad, but I don't blame God - he doesn't exist
2007-04-20 18:19:40 · answer #10 · answered by thirddownman 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
If God forced us to do what is best for us we would have no ability to make choices of our own. It is not God's will that any should perish. He has done all he can do in giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He convicts the hearts of people showing their need of a savior and sends people to declare the good news of salvation to them. God cared for your father enough to do all of this and to honor your Dad's freedom to choose for himself. You love your Dad. I understand your hurt and frustration and so too, I believe, does God. He is big enough to handle your thoughts and feelings. Tell them to him. Now that your father has passed none of us can say with certainty where he stands before God. All we can do is look toward the future. You will only harm and deprive yourself if, due to anything you do not understand, you reject your only hope of new life and salvation and your best source of comfort in this difficult time.
2007-04-20 18:27:11 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋