I understand he doesn't feel the need to prove himself...that we should just believe because a book tells us to. But...why the punishment then? Why hell if one does not believe? We expect children to believe in Santa on faith alone (or maybe dad stomping around on the roof for some evidence,) but we certainly don't punish the child when he says he no longer believes. Why did God design it that way?
Leave the 2000 year old people out of this...I'm talking about today.
2007-08-16 14:23:28 · 22 answers · asked by KS 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God has given you free will. therefore, it is totally up to you to decide whether you want to spend eternity in Heaven or Hell.
God loves you, and He wants you to choose to be with Him in Heaven. but He will not force you to do anything you don't want to do.
"For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life." John 3:16 (New King James
Version Of The Holy
Bible)
God loves you my friend.
P.S. Hell was not intended for people, it was made for the Devil and his fallen angels. We were made to have fellowship with God, He wanted to have fellowship with us. But when Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying the one and only commandment to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil then sin seperated us from Him. God can not be where there is sin. Now we are all seperated from God . The wages of sin is death. That means the price you pay for sinning is you have to die. If Adam and Eve didn't sin they would still be alive today. God knew before hand that it would be impossible for us to not sin because we are flesh, human,and not perfect, so he made a way that we could be reconciled to Him and have the fellowship with Him again. He came to earth Himself because He is the only one who is perfect and without sin, to wrap Himself in flesh,empty himself of all His Godly powers and to walk as the Spirit led him. And to die in our place to pay the price for sin for us. He did this as a gift to us. We don't have to do anything for it. But accept it,and believe it. The choice is yours.
2007-08-16 16:13:57 · answer #1 · answered by atiana 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Firstly, your asking this question in the wrong place.
It is not just faith alone, trust me for a second. Its so hard to explain it, untill you feel it yourself. I dont mean just believing so hard, or blind faith. No, not at all.
You ever felt things that you cannot explain? Maybe ghosts? Or uhmm someone you love so much is in trouble, and you sense it? Or something along those lines? You must have heard of stories like that. That is just scrathing the surface of our human communication and the unknown world. We have a communicator inside us, call it energy, or whatever you want, but that is what gives you a direct line to god.
God has said, if you seek the truth, you shall find it. So simply close your eyes, and ask the universe (or the world or whatever you like to call it) and ask it, to show you the truth. Mean it, because you do want to know the truth right? if thats your objective, you WILL find it.
BUT remember, people are only human, we make mistakes, and can say things wrongly, so trying to seek truth from others, is not the way to go. the way to go is, by looking inside yourself, asking the world around you, and looking for answers. i know it sounds kinda stupid in some ways, but that is why many people never connect to god.
And also, many people blindly follow god, out of fear. Even that is wrong in my opinion. Why have blind faith when god has actually given us everything we need right with us??? We just need to develop it.
2007-08-16 21:57:16 · answer #2 · answered by DudeWantsAnswers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hell is our own doing-- when we reject God, we are saying "I want to live in a Godless world." So that's what God gives us. It's not about punishment at all.
Think about human relationships-- they're no good without trust and faith in one another. The same with God. He gives us the choice to love and believe in Him so that our relationship will be genuine. He longs to be closer to us. But he won't force us. He just isn't that kind of God, and I'm glad.
2007-08-17 00:54:59 · answer #3 · answered by Daisy J 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe god doesn't need people to be faithful, maybe if you seek him out you can find him, or some sort of spiritual "ground" that has a relation to our everyday experience. Instead of Chrisianity/Islam's insistance on blind faith or else impending doom, maybe we are ultimately masters of our own fate; there are many more philosophies than the one underlying Christianity/Islam (and yes, they're very similar in a lot of ways).
2007-08-16 22:08:50 · answer #4 · answered by Joez2103 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's not a matter of merely believing. You're a sinner, we all are. That sin comes with a price, which is hell. We're all hell-bound from the getgo. Being a believer or Christian is putting Christ's sacrifice on us, covering the sin, letting us into heaven. God, in His holiness and perfection, can't let us into heaven if we're imperfect(this doesn't mean we're perfect NOW, that comes after death).
God wants us to believe to make our trust in Him stronger. If He held our hands all the time, we wouldn't get stronger. This is also woven into Old Testament law. You said leave 2000 year old people out of this, but with a book written over a 1600 year span over 2000 years ago, that's impossible.
2007-08-16 21:29:54 · answer #5 · answered by sonofjesse007 1 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Believe or hell is not a choice. It's an ultimatum. As such, I run the other way. Same as if any person was to give me that kind of "choice".
2007-08-16 21:29:12 · answer #6 · answered by punch 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
When they were creating the religion they needed something to make people believe. They had no "evidence" so they decided that people had to believe on faith alone. They also decided that if you couldn't do that (or at least pretend to) you would burn in hell for eternity.
Apparently that hell thing is very effective because so many Christians here use it as a tool to try to convert people. They are so afraid of hell that they can't imagine even saying that they don't really believe.
2007-08-16 21:30:13 · answer #7 · answered by Sun: supporting gay rights 7 · 1⤊ 5⤋
Why should someone get into His kingdom if the person doesn't believe in Him? Common sense dictates that those who believe can come into His house, and those that don't are left outside.
2007-08-16 21:45:32 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Religions are specifically designed to reward blind faith and discourage doubt. The less you question, the better a disciple you are, and thus the less you feel the desire to question.
Once you realize that god is imaginary, the blueprints to religion are as plain as the nose on your face.
2007-08-16 21:48:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Knowledge of God only comes after the trial of our faith. Basically, He tells us what we need to do in order to know that He is...and then leaves it to us to decided if we want to honestly know him or not. But since God isn't going to force Himself on anyone...He gives us the choice as to what type of relationship we want with Him.
2007-08-16 21:31:41 · answer #10 · answered by LDS~Tenshi~ 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋