What's going to happen if...?

Question

...when I die, I'm proved wrong and it turns out that there IS a heaven, and God or St Whatever is sat there and I tell him that I've never committed a crime (beyond having an opinion, as that appears to be a crime on this site) never done drugs, never been so drunk I can't stand up, never been pregnant outside marriage, I've done nothing at all that has ever made my parents or the law disappointed in me? Are they going to tell me that I can't come in because I chose to be with my family on a sunday rather than sitting in a cold church listening to some ancient scriptures? Christians must surely be able to see that I will have been treated unfairly.
IF all my good deeds on earth mean nothing and all it comes down to is whether or not I believed in god, surely everyone might as well commit crime and do everything wrong because you're exempt from hell as long as you went to church.

Oh, guys, I'm not worried about death or what will happen after, I'm just asking if Christians REALLY believe that I'm going to hell despite all of the good things I've done JUST because I don't believe in god?
And if Christians can have their own fictional idea of heaven, I can have mine, and I'd rather go to mine!

Answer 1

According to all the super-religiostic hell-mongers around who love to threaten us with the "fiery pit" where we will scream and holler in excrutiating agony for all eternity, that would be the way things seem to work. This "God" it appears is so narcissistic that it is far more important to him that people go about pretending to believe something that there is no way of proving, than for them to say with honesty and sincerity, "sorry, I can't believe in something just because people tell me I have to".

If there is such a mysterious invisible superbeing called "god" floating around the Cosmos, all I can suggest is that he gets off his godly butt, comes down here and uninvisibles himself so the folks can see him/her/it. I'll be delighted, in that event, to step right up, shake his/her/its hand (if it has one) and say "I'll be darned, you really do exist". Until that time, I'll just go on being the regular, decent, honest, honorable human being I have always tried to be. I don't buy any Pig in a Poke. Open the poke and let me see the darn pig, or shut up already, with the hell and damnation stuff.

Answer 2

"Christians must surely be able to see that I will have been treated unfairly."

What we see is not what matters.

"...never been pregnant outside marriage..."

It's SEX outside of marriage - not pregnancy.

"Are they going to tell me that I can't come in because I chose to be with my family on a sunday rather than sitting in a cold church listening to some ancient scriptures?"

No, apparently we aren't going to be able to tell you anything.

"IF all my good deeds on earth mean nothing and all it comes down to is whether or not I believed in god, surely everyone might as well commit crime and do everything wrong because you're exempt from hell as long as you went to church."

I knew you were getting at something with this line of logic. Now enough of the cheap shots, here comes the truth if you are still interested (or ever were to begin with). No one goes to hell for doing good, bad or in-between. People go to hell because they insist upon it, by refusing to accept the cure for sin that God has so mercifully provided (Jesus' sacrifice on the cross). If you don't want it, you don't have to take it. It is completely your free-will decision. But I guarantee that you are going to want to change your mind after the first 2 seconds in hell, should you end up there (at that point it's too late). I don't make the rules, I'm just telling you what I know and you can do whatever with it.

Answer 3

Please read completely.
Let us look at it from a human point of view, to a better understanding. Let say you are in Iran, and there is in Iran an Embassy for England, Say you were an English Resident with rights of citizenship, they are trying to detain you in Iran and you run to the Embassy, we could say that if you declare yourself as an English citizen, only then has the Embassy legal authority to give let you in.

We are part of a greater system of life, from which we were made in resemblance.

God has provided ways to defeat evil in the end. First we had the Law, the law started with offerings in the trick of the evil, becoming a bond for man, and then being used by the accuser lucifer. also other rituals. Law is difficult to fulfill, so Jesus did it for us, so in his faith we are saved, not just that we believe and declare his name (that's mostly for Angels), but that we must trust in God's love that even if we have not been perfect, and even if we have not fully believed in Jesus because of false of evangelists God will forgive our sins and take us in his kingdom.

For if a man doesn't know what is right and what is wrong to do for his salvation(if this church or that church, if this Jesus or that Jesus), how can he be condemned?.

If so strong is your faith for God that God is love. So if you in the middle of the confusion became close as good as Jesus, it is because the Holy Spirit is already in you, perhaps even from birth, if you see and hate the world's evil, then Jesus is already in you, maybe more than in others who call themselves saved.

Salvation is not just about believing in Jesus, because even the demons believe, and tremble.

Answer 4

couple of people have mentioned the concept of Pascal's wager. (that it's better to believe that God exists and live your life as if he does so that you'll always be able to get into heaven, than it is to be an atheist and risk not getting into heaven.)
this sounds logical, but i think there are some key errors in pascal's way of thinking.

the first is that the chances of you picking the religion which turns out to be true out of all the hundreds, possibly thousands, is so remote that you might as well not bother.

the second is that God will know that, despite your pretences, in your heart of hearts you didn't really believe in him.

the third is that a non-believer would consider it necessary to go to the precaution of becoming religious, just incase something that they were 100% percent certain was false turned out to be true.

the final reason is that one simply cannot convince one's own mind to believe something in which it has no faith.

Answer 5

Being Christian is not about going to church every single Sunday you have to believe in god; it wont matter if you went to church every week people can worship in their own ways in their own homes. And as for everyone doing wrong as long as they believe in god, well if you believe in god then you should do what is right and repent for what you have done wrong because you regret it and know not to do it again and not think you are exempt from hell.

Answer 6

What you are actually saying is that you don't believe in the doctrine of salvation through faith in Jesus. Good and bad deeds have very little to do with this doctrine in actual fact, because the belief that our actions get us into heaven is a belief based on law, not grace. Christianity is the only faith based on grace. All the others are based on law, and this means that those who follow other faiths will never be sure, this side of heaven, whether or not they have done enough in the eyes of their god to be accepted. Christians know they are accepted because Jesus has done the hard work for us. We are 'in' because He paid the price for our sins (death) and took our place. It's not about what we can do for Him, but what He has already done for us.
The view that nothing we do matters is actually the base of an evolutionary view of the world, as our actions would be random and meaningless if this view is true. Christians believe that we can and do change once we have received Jesus, and millions of Christians through history have testified to meeting Jesus and being changed by Him, myself included. We are asked to do good deeds as a witness of our love in Christ, but many Christians haven't got there yet.
Christianity is also not about 'doing church'. The church is the people of Christ, not a building. People can 'go to church' on a Sunday and believe themselves ok on that basis, but they will be among those who find that they are not known by Jesus.
Please remember that Christians don't make God's rules, He does. What we would prefer to be true doesn't come into it. We have met Jesus and have chosen to put our trust in Him.

Answer 7

Hey Lola,
I ask myself the same question quite a lot.
I thought I'd remain open minded (even though I don't really believe) but if Mother Teresa can suffer from the Silence of God, then I don't see how my 'faith' could not waver.
I just try not to think about it anymore. I like to live my life as though I'd never heard of God or religion... I must say, it's working for me.
At the end of the day, I believe that when we die that's it. We're worm food.
I can't force myself to believe, and I can't be bothered to worry about it anymore.
I'm sure many people have wasted away that way... I refuse to be one of them!

Answer 8

God's standard is perfection.

His requirement for us is revealed by the Ten Commandments.

Anything short of this is to fail of the glory of God.

Is it not obvious and what you ought reasonably to expect when you consider God?



Even your gross overstatement of your self righteousness comes nowhere near, not even on the scale of this requirement.

You cannot even approach the first commandment let alone talk of your supposed good deeds, as what you write palpably shows.

Your immense pride utterly deceives you.

Until you become convicted of your sin there is no hope for you whatsoever.

Unless that happens you will go to your judgement utterly blind and stuffed full of ridiculous foolishness.

I am deeply sorry for you. What is there that can wake you up out of your dream?

If you find offence at so little in what you write how will you listen to the truth that is being put to you?

I leave you two Scriptures.

This is what God declares. It is the truth and He cannot lie.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I earnestly hope that somehow you might take this seriously. To listen to man is absurd, you need to open your ears to God.

If you genuinely seek God, then there is hope.

Answer 9

There are some good answers to your question that have already been stated.
I'd just say maybe you should find a warm church instead of a cold one. And they might help you love your family even more. Its not there to replace your family only to help strengthen your family bond. Good luck.

Answer 10

lol. I always tell people that criticise me or argue about the fact i believe in God (though i don't attend church, you can pray anywhere) that if He doesn't exist, what the hell will it matter to anyone? and if He does, I am so in Heaven.
If you don't believe and He doesn't - then again it won't matter. But if you don't believe and He does - well, the consequences are entirely your own fault.
Good luck with that.