Can anyone explain this paradox?

Question

Things that are scientifically proven, such as mathematical facts, may not be understood fully by individuals, or even ridiculed for years or even a lifetime.

But take something that has NEVER been proven, like people going to hell when they die..., something that has been repeated, beat into people's minds, but never proven...

And it is accepted as the gospel unfailable truth.

Yes, there is a heaven, yes there is a hell, & the reason I want to go to heaven is so I don't have to burn in hell (Fear).

Well, I don't really believe all this, as it seems that the majority of people only want to go to heaven to avoid burning in hell, & I have never seen anyone die & come back to tell us we are going there.

I have never seen God, & I don't believe that God is our conscience talking to us, or explain how people who believe in cannibalism got their beliefs?

What gives, how can so many people believe something with so little proof?

Are we all THAT afraid of..., IT?

Answer 1

I am not sure where you get the idea that most people want to go to heaven simply to avoid hell. I haven't heard that before. If that is the only reason then what's the point. God didn't make hell for people and fear is not a good reason to want to know God. God is perfect love and perfect love relieves fear, it doesn't encourage it. Knowing God is to have no reason to fear.

For proof of a designer (who I refer to as God) look around at creation and you will see that if something has design then there is a designer. You wouldn't look at a bicycle tire and say look at how that tire evolved to fit this bike and work perfectly with it but you would say someone designed that tire to work with that bike frame. Therefore the designer of the bike tire is real. Yet we are willing to believe that the human eye came about by chance to work perfectly with the human body even though it is immensely more complex than a bike tire. I say therefore there is an eye designer and a human body designer. What other proof do you need? I dare to say that even if someone did come back from the dead (Jesus) and tell you there is a hell (Jesus said there was a hell as written in the Bible, Matt 5, Mark 9) you would choose not to believe it.

Answer 2

If any 'Christian' says that they are 'afraid', then I would have to have a talk with them and find out how that is scriptural. The Word of God says that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. Anyone in fear does not belong to God. That is why it is detrimental that we all study the Bible to learn what is true and know how to cast down falsehoods that satan and his imps try to sneak in. We are now a society that is obsessed with show me and prove it. I have not seen the wind, neither can I prove it exists but I can feel it. That is why the Word of God says that without 'faith' it is impossible to please God. Just because some refuse to believe, does not say that it is not so. For those, we must pray. May God Bless U.

Answer 3

The only satisfactory answer to your question can only be found within yourself. That's not a cop-out, it's just the truth. Belief, or lack thereof, in God is a very personal thing. You either believe, or you don't. That's it. Christians the world over hope you will choose to believe, and I, at least, would be happy to discuss the issue with you through e-mail, but if you choose not to believe, Christians will be disappointed, but no one on earth will really care one way or the other.

Answer 4

Not only is the Holy Bible infallible but also inerrant and self-attesting.
On top of that, all phrophesy in OT has been fulfilled. Nothing described in the Bible, is in contast to known history of the world.
The text in our Bible, has/is over and over again held up to original documents, and yet there is no errors or inconsistensy, and will never be!

>>Our ultimate conviction that the words of the Bible are God's words comes only when the Holy Spirit speaks in and through the words of the Bible to our hearts and gives us an inner assurance that these are the words of our Creator speaking to us. Apart from the work of the Spirit of God, a person will not receive or accept the truth that the words of Scripture are in fact the words of God.<<

The Holy Bible is written by God, through His choosen writers for the choosen people, His people (Christians).

By serious study of Scripture, it is revealed; salvation is not something we choose for ourselves, it is directed by God (elect) and Christians does not seek salvation to avoid Hell, but solely to glorify God.

Soli Deo Gloria

Answer 5

It's not fear that draws one to Christ......but love. When the Holy Spirit gives you a chance to understand what happened on that cross and what that means to you personally, you see a small portion of the love God has for you personally. God gives each of us a tiny grain of faith and we are brave enough to go for it or not. That's a misconception that one can be scared into faith. When you make the choice to receive Christ it's all about wanting to really know God and become one with Him. It's a beautiful thing. The fear thing would never accomplish that. It's a hard thing to understand until it happens to you. God bless & keep you.

Answer 6

I'm not sure if fear is the reason people believe in God. I think that fear of death and of other unknowns is the reason why religions were created, but i think that at this point, most people believe in God just because they were indoctrinated into religion as children. I'm sure religious people think that they have a good reason to believe in God, but their reasons are just things they were taught to believe in by their parents or clergymen.

Because honestly, if you think about it logically, things like evolution actually make sense based on what you know of the world, whereas things that are written in the bible do not. So as reasonable adults, there is no reason to believe in God. But, most people who have had religion instilled in them ever since they were young cannot change their ways despite overwhelming evidence that they should.

Answer 7

Faith is the belief in the things unseen. I belive in God because their is no way we are all here by mistake or chance or the big bang therory. I have eperienced Gods love many times and I know He is real. Heaven and hell are real, if you dont believe just wait.

Answer 8

In my opinion, people believe in hell and heaven because of the abundant proof, not a lack of proof.

People do a million experiments in their lifetime of choosing right or wrong. In their regret over wrong choices, they recognize the taste of hell, and in their satisfaction over right choices, they detect a hint of heaven.

Their belief in "heaven" and "hell" is only an extension of the emotional reality they're in contact with every day of their lives.

Answer 9

I think the reason why a lot of people believe in God/heaven/hell is because they have been predestinated to become heirs of salvation. Others never believe because it has not been given to them and hence God never draws them. There is proof but many people reject that proof while others see it clearly. This is why Jesus said many times "He who has ears let him hear.". Only those who have been given the gift of eternal life truly hear and understand... the rest think it's nonsense and illogical.

Answer 10

Perhaps this quote from a renowned scientist might help you to understand this paradox as you see it.

Dr. Francis S. Collins is Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He currently leads the Human Genome Project, directed at mapping and sequencing all of human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. His previous research has identified the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. For the rest of his credentials, click on the link here: http://www.genome.gov/10000980. Collins spoke with Bob Abernethy of PBS, posted online at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/transcripts/collins.html, in which he summaries the compatability of fact and faith thusly:

"I think there's a common assumption that you cannot both be a rigorous, show-me-the-data scientist and a person who believes in a personal God. I would like to say that from my perspective that assumption is incorrect; that, in fact, these two areas are entirely compatible and not only can exist within the same person, but can exist in a very synthetic way, and not in a compartmentalized way. I have no reason to see a discordance between what I know as a scientist who spends all day studying the genome of humans and what I believe as somebody who pays a lot of attention to what the Bible has taught me about God and about Jesus Christ. Those are entirely compatible views.

"Science is the way -- a powerful way, indeed -- to study the natural world. Science is not particularly effective -- in fact, it's rather ineffective -- in making commentary about the supernatural world. Both worlds, for me, are quite real and quite important. They are investigated in different ways. They coexist. They illuminate each other. And it is a great joy to be in a position of being able to bring both of those points of view to bear in any given day of the week. The notion that you have to sort of choose one or the other is a terrible myth that has been put forward, and which many people have bought into without really having a chance to examine the evidence. I came to my faith not, actually, in a circumstance where it was drummed into me as a child, which people tend to assume of any scientist who still has a personal faith in God; but actually by a series of compelling, logical arguments, many of them put forward by C. S. Lewis, that got me to the precipice of saying, 'Faith is actually plausible.' You still have to make that step. You will still have to decide for yourself whether to believe. But you can get very close to that by intellect alone."