So . . . does the Christian God punish humans . . . .?

Question

. . . for the decisions they make through the free He gave them?

I mean . . . if I live a healthy, happy life and never maliciously harm another human being, but I never accept Christ as my personal savior, I'm making those decisions based on free will. If what believers say is true, Christ gave me that free will to make those decisions.

Why give someone free will if you're going to insist that they believe in something specific to begin with?

To me, it's like saying, "You can choose between these colors. Pick the one you think is best." And then I choose green, and God goes, "Errrr, sorry, green was the wrong answer."

I know that we nonbelievers can be aggressive, cynical, and sarcastic sometimes, but I'm actually seriously trying to understand this. Please know I'm not attacking.

John D. How can I take my meds when you keep stealing them for yourself?

Greedy little punk.

Nina, I have a lot of respect for you because you always make an effort to answer questions intelligently. But I could not disagree with you more. I tried to be open-minded, but most of what you said goes against everything I value. I appreciate your answers, but I am unwilling to subscribe to the same beliefs you do.

Answer 1

There is actually No Free Will --- If one wants to go to "heaven." There are Choices, accept the teachings as truly from the "Son of God" and be Saved and go to heaven; or accept the teachings as from the "Son of Man" and live a life that cares about others; or, quite simply, live your own life any way you want to live it.

Your analysis is correct, as far as I am concerned. What good is free will if you really only have one choice> It is kind of like putting a tree in the middle of a garden that has delicious fruit on it; then telling your children that if they eat any of it, that you will punish them...... You know good and well that sooner or later they are going to try to eat that fruit. But, you not only punish your children, you punish their children, grandchildren, and so on, forever. Does not make much sense. Makes even less sense that to make up for your children's misbehaving that you are going to have them kill your son, so that you will forgive them.....
I digress, sorry.
The simple answer is this: Yes, you have free will to choose the correct answer. Problem is: NO ONE knows what the correct question is, much less what the proper answer should be to that question.... just choose 42 and all will be ok.

Answer 2

Free will is always within God's plan. I do not know if you have read the book millions of people have read, but it is called "The purpose Driven Life". It taught to me that the more I become God's friend, the more I will care about the things He cares about.

I learnt that I must choose to value what God values. That is what friends do - they care about what is important to the other person.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more important than developing a friendship with God. It is the friendship that will last forever.

Surrender is not very popular word these days. However, surrender it is not only the best way to live: it is the only way to live. Nothing else works.

Answer 3

What good is it to be a free spirit if you are not given total freedom to do and say what you please. You are fortunate that you are healthy, and its' nice that you are a good person and do good things for people but that has nothing to do with your salvation. Some people have chosen to use there freedom to be malicious to other people. Jesus weeped over the children of Israel in that they didn't recognize Him as God-their Savior. Even Mother Theresa is not "good" enough to get into heaven, it's not what you "do"---God says, "...if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, you will be saved. You have been given the gift of "free will" to make up your own mind where you want to spend eternity. Your God-given conscience is telling you to ask these questions for a reason- He prefers you choose to believe in Him. If you choose not to believe in God, that's o.k. and if you're right about the non-existence of God then you would have nothing to worry about ie. salvation, heaven or hell...Your right to believe is deep within your heart, nobody, even God will not violate that privileged area of your being.
Sorry that was such a long response.

Answer 4

Simply put.
You have the free will because it was part of the deal.
Now did you or did you not listen to your parents?
Did you follow their rules?
If so why?
If you broke the rules there must have been a consequence.
Living a life to honour a loving God is a blessing.
Ignoring the parent hast it's own troubles even though you know they are there.
Was it simple enough?

Get A Grip

Answer 5

Well, let's continue with your analogy, and suppose that God not only gives you the choice of different colors, but tells you, "Okay, here's a few hints..."

The fact of the matter is, we get a LOT of hints while we're here. God gave us intelligence, and a thirst for knowledge. We also have a capacity for creativity, and to do great things.

There is SO much evidence for the existence of God, there really is. Unfortunately, many people (and I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm a former atheist myself) require more evidence to believe in God ("I'll believe in God if God Himself comes down and TELLS me to believe in Him") than they do to NOT believe ("Well, we don't have an explanation for that yet, but some day we will!").

We're supposed to examine the evidence. We're supposed to try to find the reason for our existence. And we're NOT supposed to give up searching!

So God says, "I'll give you a hint..."

Keep searching. God knows whether a person is sincerely seeking or not, and if we're sincerely seeking, we WILL find Him.

Answer 6

You are capable of more, so God expects you to put in the effort with this free gift of life he has given you.

Do you know the difference between a platitude and wise counsel?

Proverbs 9:8 says: "Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you."

Answer 7

Excuse me. Do you think God of Christianity give Freewill ?

I don't think so.
He imposed that "I am the only God and there are no other God "

Is it Freewill for religion.
To make stronger your argument.

Have the prisoners had freewill ?

They still can move, eat, sleep and do as most human can. However they can't go out of the prison because Judge said so.

Answer 8

Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. Ahaha. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin' His sick, f u ck in' as s off! He's a tight- as s! He's a SADIST! He's an absentee landlord! Worship that? NEVER!

Answer 9

it's your choice. and in the end, your choices will come to light. Christians believe the will be in heaven. you, as a non-Christian, do not believ in heaven - for that it a religious place. you will choose not ot be there. why are you living a good life? who tells you it's good? who's rules do you obey - yours of the gov't? God is my gov't by choice.

God diesn't insist you believe in anything - it IS your choice. but just like if you choose door number three - you have to live with the $1million, toaster over or donkey :) it's ALL your choice - He is just giving us the best option for eternal happiness :


BTW - you didn't sound like you were attacking - no worries!

Answer 10

!st of all...wow...very bold of u...2nd ...idk how 2 tell u but ill try my best..im only 13..."life" on earth is like a test u kood say...throughout ur hole life one will be put through many obstacles..theres not reely a right choice or a rong choice...4 one it kood b either..but sumwhere deep dwn in ur heart u shood kno which one is the right (moral) thing 2 do...as 4 believing In Christ ..!st God Gave u da free will....since Jesus (Christ) is God's Son, we must belive in Jesus as we believe in God..its not dat we hav 2...i meen no1 reely "has" to..like u said...but we choose to...again He's not forcing you 2 belive in Him...if u truly r a Catholic then dat regularly meens u belive in God..but u dnt belive in Jesus..i mean look at da Jewish faith...if u dnt believe in Jesus or God den well..i kant stop u...in da end it all comes dwn to faith..if u truly belive ..i guess ull find out in da Afterlife