question for the majority of outspoken christians?

Question

First off, i am a christian in my sense of the word, i believe in christ and god, but i dont believe in the bible particularly and i dont like blindly following. So anyway my question is why do so many christians (or maybe other religions, but i mainly see christians doing this) believe that you will go to hell if you don't believe in God? How much sense does it make that a forgiving god would punish you eternaly for not believing in him? a point one of my friends made was that godless people usually arent held by morals... but if that is true why are there so many fanatic cult killings over godless killings? Budhists who follow budhist beliefs are very good people, but many of them dont believe in a god... so why do they go to hell? how much sense does that make? and go ahead and send me quotes from the bible but i doubt they will answer my question.

so far the replies i've got to the contrary of my beliefs is that I'm going to Hell because i believe that god is merciful, and that people who don't believe in god are going to go to hell because he isn't.... am i interpreting right?


use your head to think instead of the church, look in the bible for something to tell me that I'm going to hell if you wnat, you arent going to find anything besides things people can't interpret in the first place "i am the way, the truth, and the life" could just mean follow my example and dont hurt other people.... makes much more sense than him saying "if you dont believe in me you'll go to Hell"

there, now i am getting answers that are making me think. finaly. first off i am not saying that atheists want forgivness from god, they have nothing to respect or fear from him, i am not saying they currently want forgiveness i am saying after they die god won't forgive them just for the reason they followed the way of logic? can't they accept Him when He shows proof of his existance?
Secondly, I believe in Jesus because i was raised to and the belief won't drop from me, I believe in God because i was raised to and it is impossible to provide proof against his existense, but i do NOT believe in the bible because it will not have gone this far without being edited by corrupt rulers, such as popes
Third it seems to me that people who are critisising MY view are somehow saying that God has clearly defined what a christian is.
And lastly someone said something about God's list of requirements... which would be the ten commandments, correct?

the ten commandments say nothing about needing to follow God, only that you can not follow other Gods, and that you cannot worship idles. It may seem like i am grabbing for straws here but i seriously doubt that god is an asshole, and only an asshole would condemn the majority of earth to eternal damnation. and if you didnt realize, the majority of people are not christian. and i'd say there are MANY more assholes that are christians than are Budhists by religion.... and there are a hell of a lot of budhists

to the analogy of a child to his mother... the road becomes obvious in later years, and so do the cars. the kid sees on the enws that someone was killed by a car, maybe they lose a friend to it as i did when i was small, they do not have to believe blindly for there entire life that the road is dangerous. This is a whole different ballgame, how is an atheist, or how am i (seeing as I am obviously going to Hell when i don't start believing in the bible, because i won't) going to see the cars on the road? You can't until the afterlife and according to a whole lot of you, it seems, once there is proof the ones that were looking for it are bound for hell. again, it doesnt make much sense. And the only proof we have is a little black book that was put together by extremely violent rulers (the first popes did, after all, order the executions of anyone non-catholic) and a book that was put together in an age when people needed a reason to have hope. that is often the base of a religion

ok well I'm basicly at a close for this right now, I liked alot of your answers... they made me think, even tho i didnt change my stand. i saw someone say something about morals and if i interpreted it right it was that if you follow the bible then you will not want to break the morals.... but the same could be said of budhism, couldn't it?? I've met quite a few budhists, tho many many more christians, and I have to say budhists are generaly much more openminded and much nicer... less snobby, nice, not many budhists that are assholes... yet theyre all going to hell? lol hell must be the place of good people then. well i've spent my 5 hours today trying to comprehend religion =p someone wants to discuss this further with me my email is [e-mail]. and FYI for all you people who are now anti-me, usually i have very devout christains saying i will go to heaven within a week... and you might have noticed i dont exactly have a silver tongue

Answer 1

God is a purely righteous being. He cannot stand any form of sin. Therefore, if someone doesn't abide by God's rules, He cannot associate with them in the afterlife. Whether they believe in Him or not doesn't matter, what matters is that they didn't follow His laws.
Let me give a parallel:
Your grandfather dies and puts you into his will. He says that you will inherit his whole estate IF you volunteer at a soup kitchen 10 hours a week every week for the next year. Even if the lawers forgot to tell you about that stipulation, or if you heard it but decided that you didn't believe it, if you don't complete the requirements, you're not getting the reward.

It's the same thing with God. He has given you his rulebook (the Bible), and whether you believe it or not, you will be judged by it.
It's hard to hear, but necessary. The good thing is, that God is faithful that if you DO follow the requirements, God WILL reward you as He's promised.

Answer 2

You said it yourself the reason is they do not believe in God. It is a little more to it than that but that is how it starts.

Truth is there is no ground breaking philosophical answer. Just believe in the one True God & his Son Jesus Christ and accept the Son as your savior.

As for morals if they are defined by God (throught the belief in God) then you know that by reading the bible (Gods rules) you will not want to break them. You will break them and it is through Jesus you are redeemed.

Now if it is through man that you define your morals you are more apt to adjust them or bend those morals to fit the situation. Example: If you beleve that no one will know about if you do something wrong then you can get a way with it you will be more apt to do that thing that is wrong. This cannot happen with God he knows all, sees all, and is all powerful.

Added 08/06/07

God is merciful. However that mercy does have rules.

Even the bigest non belever can have a better more easier life than those who do beleve. God has a reason for this. One that my human brain cannot comprehend but I do accept because I do not have God's power and knowledge of things. I do know that he will provide me with all I need & he will not let me go through anything I cannot get through.

Answer 3

Its not for the christians to decide such a fate first of all, so rest at ease.
That very personal decision is exactly what it is and should stand as a sacred decision between you and god as only god will save you and no one else.
Cult killings are more prevalent than godless killings for the very simple reason of a group containing followers of a follower blindly leading a ministry of death,
in most cases of occult killings its the simple twisting of the truth that creates the deadly beleif system.
Its the plurality of the group comitting the killings to others or to themselves that exceeds the killings of a homocide with a single motive.
People of other beleifs, once again very sacred decision, they were told they have a chance to choose, its clear lts a one on one decision, theres no Jury in the matter what is is what is.

Answer 4

I agree. If God is love, then he won't send a little kid to Hell because the kid never heard the Bible. I'm sure if God exists, the Bible is just a good set of stories and morals to live by, but lots of it was changed and the love taken out--it was used wrongly to make people hate each other and everyone different from them.

Blind following is wrong, finding your own truths is what life is about. Ignore nayone that says you're not a Christian--you show more compassion and thought than most so-called people of God on here.

Answer 5

The way we can know God is through His Word, the Bible.
The credibility of the Bible is great---hundreds of its prophecies have been fulfilled, it is historically and archaeologically accurate,it was written over a 1500 year period and there is unity in its message. Many who believe it have changed lives.
In the Bible, we learn about God and how to have peace with Him. We learn that sin entered the world thru Adam's rebellion against God and we are all born with this sinful nature. God is holy and sin cannot be in His presence. He made a way for us to have our sins forgiven when we trust fully in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God the Son. When we accept His payment, we will have eternal life that begins at that moment. Those who trust Him will spend eternity with Him. God is merciful and made a way for us. His justice had to be satisfied also---that is why Christ died. Sin is serious to God and He cannot just ignore it. There will be no sin in heaven. The time to believe God is now. In the book of Hebrews it says ----it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgement.

Answer 6

He is a forgiving God. Which is why He provided a way for us to be able to have a relationship with Him. That way was paid by Jesus Christ. But in order to get the gift of eternal life from God, wouldn't it make sense that you first must accept that God exists? Your question doesn't really make sense from that standpoint. If someone is an atheist and doesn't believe in God, (or the Bible, for that matter), why worry about mercy from someone you don't believe in? And what do you mean you are a Christian in YOUR sense of the word. Either you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ or you haven't. There's no middle road here. If you don't believe in the Bible as the Word of God, then I have some real doubt. Incidentally, God created Hell for the devil and the angels that rebelled with him, not for people. But if one chooses not to believe in Him, then they have made their choice as to whom they will serve. Either you'll raise your hands in the praise of God, or you'll spend eternity with the devil and his angels. But that isn't God's choice, its YOURS.

John 3:18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

I think these verses are pretty clear. If you don't believe in God the Father, how can you believe in His Son? And you must believe in the Son to be saved from hell.

By the way, even the devil and his angels believe in God and Jesus and they tremble.

Answer 7

I believe in God and Jesus,but don't consider myself a Christian. I agree with you completely. There are many churches filled with people like me who can't and won't follow this crazy and illogical fundamentalist shortsighted view of the Bible and God.They have given all followers of Jesus and God a black eye on the world stage with their outlandish statements. They give all non believers good reason to stay non believers. Believe me, there are Churches for people who believe differently and want to utilize their mind.

Answer 8

To deny Jesus or the Holy Spirit is to deny God. You deny the word of God and have your own version of Christian, you come across more like a atheist troll.

Answer 9

To go to heaven all you have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is your savior. God ALWAYS forgives your sins. It's not "oh, you stole that watch! You'll go to HELL!" if you feel sorry, you will still go to heaven. That is the Christian part of it. I don't know much of other cultures.

Answer 10

I understand what you are saying. My husband is Catholic and they say if you are not Catholic you will go to hell. So if I raise my child to be Lutheran or Buddist will my child go to hell for not being catholic? I say no. I think as long as you believe in the afterlife and try to be a good person and be honest to yourself you will go to heaven or wherever you believe you are going. I feel the same way about children. If a child of an atheist couple dies will God send the child to hell? Of course not, its an innocent child. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think a lot of people are all talk also. They say they do not believe in God but when your plane is falling out of the sky towards the ground you are gonna be praying yor butt off for God to please spare you and take you to his kingdom and not to hell. Then again if they don't believe in heaven they probably dont believe in hell either and don't care what happens to them.