Christians, does this sound fair to you?

Question

According to your bible, if you commit a sin, no matter how trivial it is, if you don't repent and ask god for forgiveness, you'll go to hell. So if a Christian peadophile suddenly sees the light, repents and begs god's forgiveness, he'll go to heaven since Jesus died for his sins. On the other hand if there is an atheist , who stole a lipstick or a magazine and that was the biggest sin they commited for the rest of their lives, apart from not believing in god, apparantly they'll go to hell and burn in the lake of fire. Does this sound like a just god to you? One who would place a Christian paedophile or murderer above a genuinly good person who just doesn't believe in god? My Question is, why does god value belief over how good a person someone is?

Answer 1

God will judge in the end. Not me. God will look into each person's heart. Not me.

Answer 2

There is no scripture to suggest that Christians go to heaven. Jesus will rule God's kingdom here ON EARTH. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven." There also is no scripture to suggest that you will burn forever in a lake of fire. The lake of fire may burn eternally, but that doesn't suggest that YOU will. If you have rejected God, you can steal whatever you choose to steal. You're lost anyway, so what difference does it make? You'll reap what you sow and whatever else happens. Understand that the Bible is an instruction book for Christians. Non-believers need not adhere to its teachings.

God has said that none are good--that we have all sinned and come short of His glory; so it's foolish to discuss what a "genuinely good person" believes. Furthermore, a true Christian would not be a pedophile or a murderer, so it's foolish to discuss that, as well.

The reason God does not consider our "goodness," (or our good works), is because our motives are suspect. This is why He is no respecter of persons; so that no man can boast. Neither do the rich have more of an opportunity than the poor. Our salvation is a gift that is based purely upon what Jesus has done, rather than on our own goodness. We have only to accept the gift. That is, we have only to become followers of Christ to receive the promise.

Answer 3

This question is a fairly typical one from Atheists. The short answer is yes, that is a just God. The long answer is…if a person is truly, from the bottom of their heart, sorry, who are we to deny them forgiveness? The difference is the repentance...while the Christian pedophile was sorry for his misdeed (and believe me as an abused child, I have an extreme distaste for people who commit these types of crime); the Atheist wasn’t sorry and never repented. All sins are created equal in the eyes of God, none is greater than another, and while the pedophile was able to humble himself and fall face down before the Lord and truly be sorry, then yes, as long as he doesn’t recommit the same sin…because if someone continues to do the same sin over and over again then they really aren’t sorry…God is just and he will forgive. On the flip side the Atheist had no remorse and refused to humble herself to God because she does not hold herself accountable to a higher power…without asking forgiveness there can be no forgiveness. Psalm 10:4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Answer 4

Where in the Bible does it say that?!?!? I can't say that I read every answer in detail, b/c I got bored, but I'm a little disappointed in what I did read. The idea that one could go to hell for stealing lipstick or a magazine is ridiculous, nor does it say anything remotely close to that in the bible. Yes, God most certainly wants us to repent for our sins, but He is not someone who sits on a throne handing out judgements from above in order to ruin our lives.

I hate to throw my fellow christians under a bus here, but God is a rational logical being. So I'll try to me make two points in that light:

One, in order to repent and ask for forgiveness for your sins, you have to have some idea of "the good news." Otherwise, how are you going to know that you're supposed to repent and ask for forgiveness in the first place? Although God does expect you to continually search for the truth, He's not going to hold you accountable for what you honestly don't know. (I'm certainly not holding out an excuse for people to commit sin and plead ignorance. That is still a very dangerous road, and can still have very grave consequences, though the consequences may not necessarily be hellfire (there are other kinds of fire)).

Second, if stealing lipstick is the worst thing you've ever done in your life, then chances are God is definitley inside you. People tend to focus on the fact that sinning is a rejection of God, but the other side of the coin is that doing good is an acceptance of God. So every time you do something good you are accepting God in your life, whether you realize it or not. No good can be done without God inviting you to do so (even for athiests)

I think the only people that really go to hell are the ones who have a chance to know God, and then completely reject him. Of course if you do that, then you're already in hell.

Answer 5

To ask for forgiveness and to have forgiveness would mean that you would never do it again whereas disbelief is a continuall thing that is never wiped out. As to heaven it is entirely centered around God. To an athiest who has not found the joy of being with God thwy would not enjoy it or, sorry to put it in such a harsh way, deserve it. As to hell, christians are split into two groups, some believe it is just being away from God which would be terrible for chrisitians. Sorry to any chrisitians who disagree with this view :)

Answer 6

It isn't a matter of right or wrong. In Gods eyes one sin is as bad as another. The point is that we are all sinners and since the fall that occurred in the beginning with Adam and Eve, all of us needed a covering a sacrifice for those sins.

In early Bible History the Jews sacrificed animals and offered the Lamb without spot and blemish, perfect sacrifice to the Lord God. They continued to Sin. Jesus then came in the Flesh, created in Gods own image as a once and forever sacrifice for all mans sins. But, the catch is you must accept that by FAITH, and confess those sins for repentence.

The sin covering is there for anyone. Not a question of which one is the worse sin. If you examine the account in the Bible, of Christ death on the Cross, there were two thieves, because the one recognized the need for a Savior, and accepted and knew Christ was the Messiah, that came to take away the sin of the world, was forgiven and Jesus told him, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Meaning he was forgiven and was going to be with the Lord.

Just God....how can you question GOD? The Supreme. SOVERIGN. Creator of all things. You can question all you like He don't care, because He owns everything, created everything, and if you don't want to accept that, your loss not HIS.

Value belief over how good a person is? The word says Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the Heart. Man can appear to be good on the outside, but inside he can be a horrible ugly mess. Only God knows the truth.

For thousands of years, people have been trying to put down God, and the Bible and the Christians. Many movements have transpired in History where Christians were persecuted. Years the Jews have suffered tremendous loss. Christians died for what they believed. Deciples were beheaded, stoned, murdered horribly and yet they never bulked at their FAITH. If there wasn't something to this, I don't think man would try so hard in their efforts to continue to destory it.

Could it be everyone stands in AWE, and wonders why it is? That one willingly will give up there entire life in this life for a promise for a future existing life where one will live eternally. I have always said this. If I am wrong, I have lost nothing by believing, in fact, I have gained, because I know Man is only truly satisfied and sustained by the ultimate inner man, power from the Holy Spirit.

If you are wrong, you have lost everything.....everything. Which would you gamble on? A sure thing? Or a possibility?
A sure thing to me is ETERNITY...life without end... Good or bad all will live eternally. The possibility is,,,where will you choose to live eternally? Heaven? or Hell. I'll gamble and stake my life on the future of a Home in Heaven, whatever that takes I will do. i've loss nothing if wrong,,,although, I know I am not wrong. On the other hand, HELL,,torment,,,is forever!

Answer 7

More Tea I like some of your past answers on this topic and they obviously reflect your "position" on this subject (which is pretty similar to mine I have to agree). However your wasting your time asking a serious religious question on here because 90% of the "Christians" just repeat the same thing, most don't have their own opinion on ANY topic related to Christ. For what it is worth, here's mine.

I wouldn't even think about what God does to a repenting Christian paedophile, I would simply hang him, and let the Almighty deal with it, if he lets him off, more fool him, but what can we do. If he refused entry for pinching a lipstick, well none of us are ******* getting in, so we may as well pull up a stool by the fiery lake and wait for the rest

AFTERNOTE: see same old sh it

Answer 8

God is not christian, God is not an institution, god is not a religion, God is faith..
Christianity is man made like all religions, it is only mankind who says these things in the embodiment of a bible written by man for man in a time when mans mind was limited to its surroundings.

God is infinite, the Alpha and the Omega, he is the Universe and is in everything from the great oceans to the tiny ant.
Just look at mother nature and you will see god. he is not confined to biblical text and doctrine, scripture or religious warped teachings.
Mankind made him this institution of religious babel where
"Your damned if you do and your damned if you don't"

I am a deist and see God in everything and love him unconditionally. For only God knows my true heart.
Only God will judge me when my time comes not some white collar priest with ancient beliefs 1000's of yrs old...

Answer 9

Yes it sounds fair to me. Because God has clearly stated the way to get to heaven no matter what. If the pedophile is truly sorry and repents and believes in God he should go to heaven. That would be a wonderful ending to a story that started tragically. The atheist has that same simple choice and if they are stubborn enough to resist it, then sadly enough they go to hell, that's how it works. He's a very just, equal opportunity God. We all have the same opportunity, some just choose not to take it. God is not about how good someone is, he wants us to believe in him. That's just how he is, Good works don't get you into heaven, believing in him does. Believing in him is a small sacrifice considering all He's done for us. I'll choose Him anyday!!!

Answer 10

Yes, God does value faith in Him over how good we are. Because without faith in Christ there is no forgiveness. We can not stand before a perfect God unless we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That is what Jesus died for, so that all who believe in Him would receive this gift of life. Without Christ we stand before God as a sinner and God will not live in the presence of sin. God made a covenant with Abraham based solely on the fact that Abraham believed in God and that covenant exists still to this day. To us we grade sin. This one is really bad, as the paedophile, and this one is not so bad, as the one who stole a lipstick. But to God it is all sin, no difference. We were all born sinners. You don't have to teach a little child to steal, they already know how. It is the nature of man. You have to teach the child manners and how to behave because of this sinful nature. It is really a stumbling block to many folks to understand this fact. So, yes, God does indeed value belief in Christ over our actions. I for one am glad because believe me in the over 50+ yrs I have lived I have probably committed enough sins to go to hell for eternity. Yet, most people who know me would probably disagree. God knows my heart and thoughts, trust me they are not always pure. Hope this helped. We must understand that God is our Father and yet He is a Judge. Trust Him to do the right thing, we can't fool Him.

Answer 11

Oh man, why do i keep getting this burning sense of de ja vous? This has got to be the most common "god must be a total Ba$%$^d" question asked by those who have a problem with cristianity.

The Whole argument is based on the very over used line : "i am the way ect ect".. Its FALSE!...GOD DIDNT WRITE THE BIBLE... men wrote lots of little letters and articals in the 1st century versions of todays tabloid newspapers! WHAT IS WORSE is that all these seperate letters and notes were then EDITED by the council of Nicea and about half the letters were then destroyed or ordered to be destroyed to protect a single church based ideology supported by "BIBLE" TM. After Nicea the three hundred or so christian groups world wide became three super groups based on seperate and conflicting rules and ideology and using seperate dates for principle church dates (xmas, easter etc) : greek orthodox,Egyptian/Coptic and Roman Catholic. All the others became "fair game" for witch hunters and religous intolarance and rapidly died out or were driven underground.... despite the fact that THEY HAD GOSPLES THAT SUPPORTED A VERY DIFFRENT TAKE ON THE WORDS OF CHRIEST!... these were named as heretic documents by the council.

The mod bible is a set of riules en regs choosen to demand total devotion to the church... but its not the only set of rules out there and it has no right to claim sole right to be the "word of GOD"

Also try to remember that the bible is in two parts...the old testement and the new... according to all the jews the 1st part is still contractualy binding so you could allways ask the bible thumpers annoying you if they trully think the jews will go to hell as they dont accept JC as the son of GOD... if they say yes report them to the police as In most of the WEST this counts as insiteing religous hatred

Any one starts preaching to you about repentance and s not being able to be saved if you dont follow Jesus is full of very smelly brown stuff that has most likely replaced their brains. "GOD IS LOVE"... a very basic and very ancient truth (the jews/hebrews used this to describe the relationship between us en the guy upstairs for years). Basicaly if your a slime ball and get of on hurting the innocent you had better be very VERY afraid ...but if your a decent human being (creed dont enter into it) all you need do is be aware of god waiting to say "this was your life...now about those tax returns?..."

IN SHORT GOD HAS HIS OWN MORAL CRITERIA AND ITS VERY BASIC... forgivness has Nothing at All to do with it.. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is what its about. So all you scumballs on death row who converted to cristianity to escape the hell that awaits you had better hope the devil has a breach of contract legal team... cos your all going to burn no matter what the happy clappy bible thumpers have told you.

Hope this sets the record straight, im not a "text book" christian (the thumpers will tell you that) but i have a total faith in god and a strong sence of right en wrong. When most "christians" stop to take a breath and actualy think about the above...they tend to give way.