Does believing in God simply so that you are safe when you die a valid form of belief?

Question

What I mean by that is this. There are some people who say that I would rather believe that there is a god and when I die I find out that there is no god and therefore I'll have nothing to lose then not to believe in one and be proven that there is a god and be punished for not believeing in God. Now I ask you is that a good reason to believe in God simply for fear that if you don't believe in him and are proven wrong in your assumptions that you will end up going to hell? Now let's say that there is a God. Wouldn't this God be intelligent enough to realize that I didn't do such a good job of proving my existence therefore I won't punish them and judge for not believing in me therefore I will judge them by their behavior while on Earth? Also if there really is a God then would it really care about any religion at all? Would it really care if you chose to believe in him or not? Would he care if people chose to be religious or non religious?

Would this God be happy that everybody is arguing about which religion is the truth and which one is false? Respectful answers please.

Answer 1

VERY GOOD QUESTION!

Lets look at sin. Sin is an intent. So if a man looks at a woman and thinks, “Man I’d like to bed that.” Sin is made. If you look at a woman and think, “Man that’s a lot of make up shes wearing.” Not a sin. You looked at a woman but intent was the sin.

So with that frame of thinking Intent is something important to God. If you fake faith for the sake of playing it safe, then your intent is more than likely worthless in comparison to believing because you love God.

I guess one could surmise also that faith is faith and since all sin is equal then all faith is equal. This could be, however If intention is important to making a simple action a sin then why wouldn’t intention play out in the Faith factor?

Many things like this are mysteries and are a matter of interpretation. As a Bishop myself, I have been cornered with many interpretive questions. I have transcribed books from Greek and anyone who has ever tried knows how incredibly hard some words can be to pinpoint its meaning.

Religious belief should be a personal thing. I hate how mankind as a whole has taken a militant approach to religion. Politicians saying how non-Christians are un American and how people start wars over faith. I think many people believe out of fear not only in the afterlife, but in the actual life.

I think some people believe in a God just to fit in their current social circles. I think Believing in a God for any reason other than the betterment of self and the passion of faith is wrong. It’s a lie to yourself and a lie to everyone else.

Answer 2

I'm with "Anticore". I never believed in God, and have always refused to give lip service. He/She/It would know that it was just lip service anyway. Lip service is a form of lying isn't it? The worse kind maybe, lying to yourself. I have been a Buddhist since 1990 after meeting the Dalai Lama and feeling for the first time such a depth of emotion in a single person. He made me feel.........calm. I found out that Buddhist beliefs and my own personal beliefs were one in the same. Apart from that, I don't like the way I am judged by so many Christian fundamentalists for being gay. It would really rub me the wrong way to be part of such a group where so many judge me and my life (not lifestyle, i dont have a lifestyle, i have a life) to be evil, or bad, or whatever.

My 2 Cents.

Answer 3

The parable of the two sons comes to mind. One son said "No" to his father but did what he asked. The other said "Yes", but did not do what his father asked. The next day the sons reversed this.
Both are the sons of the father, so both are going to be rewarded. This is for the father to decide, one day does not make a judgment, GOD and fathers/mothers take into account the whole life of their charges.
A person would have to be evil on a scale I can't imagine to never do any good reward-able action or thought for GOD not to see hope in that person.
(That's a normal 88 year lifespan. I never heard of an evil 2 or 3 year old. See?)
Also, you are possibly correct that GOD doesn't care about our religions we have formed, more than the care we take in living as we should. (I don't know anything about GOD to answer this.)

Answer 4

No it is not valid. In fact, it does not work even for the person who decides this is how they will live thier life. When God's laws conflict with what is in their hearts, they are more likely to follow that if their reason for serving God is not out of love for him. The Bible says "For this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome," -1John 5:15

To those who do not love God, obedience to him feels like an extraordinary burden. If they carry it for any reason less than that, they will eventually put it down because of feeling God's laws are too restrictive.

However, if one is making a genuine effort to draw close to God as James 4:8 says, and they are building a relationship with Him, although at first this may be difficult, then they can rightly expect a reward. Paul said at 1 Corinthians 9:16-17 ":If, now, I am declaring the good news, it is no reason for me to boast, for necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news!  If I perform this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it against my will, all the same I have a stewardship entrusted to me"
God recognizes that it takes effort to go against our sinful flesh, especially as we are just beginning to do grow as a Christian and that it takes time to put on the "new personality."(Epehesians 4:23-24)

Answer 5

Invalid via the reason of evidence because of the fact in basic terms on the foundation of religion you could say in case you think there is God, or that there is none. that's basically as impossible to teach the existence of God by scientific approach as that's to disprove. There whether is the way, and it is the way of a few thing you won't be able to deny. you won't be able to deny which you exist, whether you're in basic terms a working laptop or workstation simulation, or in basic terms a information imagining certainty. there is no way everybody would be basically as specific approximately ones parentage, or something in existence for that remember, aside the existence of ones very own being. Your theory that God exists subsequently is predicated totally upon the easy evidence of your individual existence, and that's why it isn't any longer an trouble-free concept, like those that make up the physique of your know-how, all wanting a evidence. Your concept in God is your basically suited way of believing in your self. that's your ability of religion. We have confidence in God by ability of religion, and that's why it is so effectual while interior the ideas.

Answer 6

People have still not evolved much out of the old tribal ways, so unfortunately still many many people believe in religions to explain what they don't understand. Then the rise of the manmade religions came, and further corrupted humankind. Maybe in a few hundred or thousand years the bulk of humans will join us few who have developed past the need to turn to manmade religions to help us function in life.

Answer 7

Believing that Jesus died on the cross is what is going to get you to heaven. When you turn you life over to God and say that he not you are in control you just know that there is a God. No, life isn't any easier because satan has to work that much harder to get you back. Religion is not believing in God. Having a relationship with him is believing in him. I think that God doesn't care what religion you are as long as you believe that his son died to pay for your sins. There are not gonna be rooms in heaven that the baptist, catholics, pentecostal, etc..... go to. We are all going to be one.

Answer 8

The first time I heard Pascal's Wager I was 12, I made the adult who quoted it sound stupid when I promptly replied "Lost nothing? What about all that money you gave to the church? What about a wasted lifetime praying to a god that doesn't exist? I call that a significant loss.".

Answer 9

The funny thing about doing the right thing for the wrong reason if you do it long enough you feel good just doing the right thing. You know, any port in the storm

Answer 10

You are describing Pascal's Wager.

No, it's nonsense, considering that any self-respecting god would see through such a facade, and know that it wasn't real faith, but lip service.