does he require us to believe in him, repent our sins in order to be saved from the hell he created? Why wouldn't an all loving benevolent god simply convey salvation to all? Couldn't an all powerful god accomplish that?
2007-07-15 07:43:27 · 15 answers · asked by CC 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because it's all utter crap-that's why. (hope that helps)
2007-07-15 07:51:19 · answer #1 · answered by thethinker 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
He does convey salvation through His Word. Christ died for ALL, but it doesn't mean ALL with accept it. Consider this:
A man knocks on every door on a city block to give a free gift. Some will answer the door and some will not. Others may not be home at the time in which he will return for a follow-up visit.
The man is Christ. The door is one's heart. The gift is eternal salvation. The follow-up visit, well let's just say that God gives every person the chance to accept or reject His gift. Eventually the follow-up visits will cease and the person's heart will become hardened.
2007-07-15 14:57:28 · answer #2 · answered by firefighter70288 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
read angels and demons, it's a really good book and it pertains somewhat to your question. I'm not saying it will give you a new philosophy on life or anything, but it will definitely provoke some serious deep thought. Personally I believe that if there is a higher power or energy, it's not all powerful. I kind of think 'god' is more like a kid with an ant farm- they can watch us, and change some things, but ultimately we're behind a glass wall, and it's up to us to fix our world and our society.
2007-07-15 14:48:41 · answer #3 · answered by Rach 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hello. I'd like to answer this question by means of the Bible only. Since it's a question about how God feels about things He should be the one to answer it, right?
First of all, the idea of a fiery hell is not Bible based. In the book of Kings it showed that it didn't even come up into his heart that people should burn in a fire.
Notice who went there in these examples:
Jonah 2::2
Now my question to you: Was the righteous man Jonah in a fiery place? No, he was in a place that would become his grave.
Genesis 37:34,35
Now my question to you is: Did the righteous man named Jacob want to go to a fiery place to see his righteous son who was suppose to be there also? Of course not. He believed his son had been killed and was in his grave.
Act 2:24-28 This is the best example!
Did Jesus, a non- sinner, go to a fiery place. No, because there is no fiery place. Hell is just the grave and that is where Jesus was for 3 days and then he was resurrect on to this earth for 40 days and then arose to heaven.Acts 1:3,11.
So that means that all persons when they die go to what the Bible calls hell. Notice Acts 2:34 which speaks of the righteous man David as not ascending to heaven. Does that mean he went to hell. Of course. He went to his grave.
All good dictionaries will tell you what the word means originally. It's a deep pit !
So why must we repent? Adam and Eve passed on sin to us because they didn't have children until after they sinned. Romans 5:12 says "Through one man(Adam) sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned." We have inherited their sin just as we inherit other things from our parents. Jesus because of his obedience and love for God bought back what Adam lost. Soon mankind will be released from their sin.
Romans 5:18,19.
Read Genesis chapter3, Romans 8:20,21, and Revelation 21:3-5.
And the term UNCONDITIONAL is not from God.Man says that so they don't have to obey their Creator. He has always had conditions for worshiping him. Notice a few verses in this regard.
John 4:23, 24; Matthew 7:21-23 and 2nd Thessalonians 1:6-9
2007-07-15 15:49:50 · answer #4 · answered by CURIOUS IN STOCKTON 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You've misunderstood almost everything.
Our Creator is asking us if we would become His sons and daughters in a supernatural fellowship relationship. By making his existence something that cannot be proven, He gives us a way to say no to his offer. All we have to do to say no is to say, "prove God exists before I do anything" and that effectively rejects God's offer.
If we want to seek our Creator and have a fellowship with Him, then we have to hold it true that He exists (that is the definition of belief). This is true of anything we really search for, after all, we wouldn't search for something we hold doesn't exist.
Our relationship with God isn't an equal one. Repenting of our sins is part of the process of establishing the right relationship, i.e. He is God and we aren't.
Salvation IS, I repeat IS, the relationship with our Creator. Heaven is just a place for us to be with God. Heaven is NOT the reward and is NOT salvation.
God cannot force us to love for the very definition of love includes free will.
2007-07-15 14:47:05 · answer #5 · answered by Matthew T 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Do you believe that God is responsible for our separation from Him? It sounds as though you do because you apparently see His requirement for us to repent and believe as somewhat unfair. If you do, this is not what the Bible tells us about who left whom. We all have chosen to leave God (Ps. 53:3, Romans 3:10-18), with our ancestors, Adam and Eve being the first to do so (Genesis 3:9); not Him with us. In fact, it even gets worse than this. The Bible also tells us that we in fact hate Him, and are His enemies! (Romans 5:10, 8:7) Yes, we chose to hate Him, and be his enemies; not He with us! This situation is similar to a rogue nation like Iran declaring war on Israel. Does Israel really have a choice to not go to war with Iran? Well, of course not. So, having chosen this path, we are really the creators of Hell, because for all intents and purposes, that's what Hell is, total separation from God, which is just what we really want anyway in our sinful nature; or the total opposite of Heaven, another word for the fullness of His presence. And, given that we hate Him and are His enemies, why would any of us even want to be with Him in Heaven, since we don't like Him and certainly wouldn't get along at all with Him, that is if we are still ruled by our sinful nature, being that in this rebellious nature we actually carry alot of hostility against Him?
In addition, other than the attributes of omnipotence and love which you have mentioned, other very cardinal attributes of God that you haven't mentioned, and aren't talked about very much today, are His righteousness, His justice, and His holiness (Romans 3:25-26; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:16). The requirements He has given us in the ten commandments are a good example of His holy character. Since we chose to rebel against Him, we now must sleep in this proverbial bed that we made, as-it-were, and are now slaves to sin and doing evil in the world (Romans 7:7-14), despite our God given status as being in His likeness before we actually did fall into sin. According to the Bible, the Ten commandments were actually given to us by God so that we could observe for ourselves the stark contrast between our character and conduct, and His (Romans 7; Galatians 3:19-20). And, that this comparison would show our need to seek for a Savior, Who is Jesus, of course, God's love.
As for God having unconditional love, that's true for those who have recived Jesus as their Savior. But, it is not true for those who haven't. His special love in Jesus is only givento those who believe, and that repentig and believing is the condition for experiencing this love.
2007-07-15 16:06:57 · answer #6 · answered by Tom 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
What is the purpose of the creation that you describe? I mean I really don't know what good that brings. God gives us the opportunity to choose to serve Him or to serve ourselves, and when we choose to serve Him before ourselves is this not more glorious?
Think how much more powerful a sign of righteousness it is when a man goes against his self-serving nature and chooses to serve a Holy God.
2007-07-15 14:51:26 · answer #7 · answered by L.C. 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
He does not desire a bunch of robots. Your choice whether to believe or not. Jesus Christ is God's way that he conveyed salvation to men.
2007-07-15 14:51:26 · answer #8 · answered by A Voice 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
God IS all powerful. He gave us free will, in order for us to choose what path we wish to follow.
Let's speak of a fair judge. Would it be fair for a person who is completely innocent to receive the same verdict as a murderer? God wants all of His children to be saved, but he can't and won't make us do his will. It's our choice and it's in our actions where we will show that we deserve to look upon his face.
2007-07-15 14:49:35 · answer #9 · answered by zytlaly 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋
hi cc, im a christian and i agree with every thing you just said, just because someone is a christian please dont think we all think the same thing, im 1/2 jewish by descent and christian by choice, hard to believe with blonde hair and blue eye's huh? lol i hate people that pigeon hole there beliefs the older i get im starting to think they just are scared and just like to be told what to think ya know? i dont even know about this hell thing? i think it may be more of a scare tactic then anything else..........just my opinion please no hate e-mails
2007-07-15 14:50:06 · answer #10 · answered by Elizabeth (the jewish princess) 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sin has already corrupted the human race.It must be dealt with.
2007-07-15 14:49:56 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋