Does it make you sad? Do you think it is their own fault for not trying hard enough to believe?
2007-10-05 02:36:07 · 16 answers · asked by Linz ♥ VT 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
auntb93, you described exactly how I have felt. I couldn't agree with you more. It isn't about being defiant. I just simply can't bring myself to believe it.
2007-10-05 02:47:44 · update #1
It is sad, but the problem is they try to do it without God's help.
2007-10-05 02:38:35 · answer #1 · answered by Fish <>< 7 · 2⤊ 4⤋
Man, I spent years in that place. It makes me sad that Christianity seems like a religion where you have to have and accept all the answers before you can talk about the questions.
A person who wants to believe very likely lives more Christ-like than many or most Christians do, I can't see a God of Love saying, "Ah yes, but you did not mentally assent to truth claims x, y, and z and therefore I banish thee." That's a ridiculous God whom I rejected once upon a time - I can't believe in such a God either. My ideas about God had to grow up before I could accept Him as an adult. And for that purpose I can't recommend strongly enough Marcus Borg's book The Heart of Christianity.
God bless.
2007-10-05 09:48:31 · answer #2 · answered by ledbetter 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm a former Christian, but I feel I have to answer this one, too.
My mother was a Methodist Sunday school teacher. I loved my mother. I tried, seriously tried, to develop faith, to believe what she so clearly wanted me to belief. But I just could not do it. When I prayed, I felt like a hypocrite because I could tell I was really just talking to my own head. And it was even worse when the entire congregation stood up and read or recited from memory the creeds we were expected to use, which tend to start every sentence with "I believe . . ." It got so I would lower my voice to a whisper and leave out the term "I believe."
You see, I didn't want to lie, and I wasn't being defiant. But I still had no faith at all. They tell me faith is a gift from God, you can't conjure it up just because you want it. In that case, I cannot worship a god that would be so cruel as to withhold this gift from someone who was trying to do the right thing.
2007-10-05 09:44:54 · answer #3 · answered by auntb93 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes, I think logic can over-rule the mind. It doesn't make me sad, it makes me wonder what they are really thinking when trying to believe. Belief in a higher being is the responsibility of the believer. If they choose not to believe, then this is their choice.
Most will get another chance to believe after death. Hell doesn't exist and heaven is a huge school of rehabilitation. When fully rehabilitated and re-educated in the Truth, we all have the chance to ascend to Paradise.
2007-10-05 09:49:06 · answer #4 · answered by Soul Shaper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I want to believe, but ...
God will not forsake anyone. If they TRULY believe, the Holy Spirit will immediately indwell them. That's God's promise.
A desire to believe is one thing. But it's only the beginning. There must also be a will to believe.
Let's use a different scenario. I want to be wealthy (desire), but if I don't have the will, I will remain a pauper. Makes sense?
2007-10-05 09:49:58 · answer #5 · answered by High Flyer 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
FIRST, DESIRE ENOUGH THEN BELIEF WILL FIND YOU!
...christians and non-christians will find the truth depending on what's appropriate to their level of spirituality!
...god does not roll a dice, all is done accordingly to what one is capable of comprehending!
...there are many choices around but the question is if it's already a possibility on our part!
...if we are a 110volt connecting to a 220volt then chances are dim!
2007-10-05 11:07:22 · answer #6 · answered by kudos 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is indeed very sad. To know there are men and women in the world that will end up suffering for all of eternity is disheartening.
For it is not the will of God that any should perish. Yet, he gave us choice.
So those who do not get saved, born again make the choice to not come to God. Salvation is a matter of choice.
Is it their fault. Certainly. Does that make it any less painful for the saints who know what awaits the unsaved? No.
The problem is simple. Their love for sin is greater than their love for God.
2007-10-05 09:43:00 · answer #7 · answered by heiscomingintheclouds 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Someday every person will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But what sadness to make this confession only when we finally recognized the inescapable fact that Jesus really is Lord- and we have never accepted him as such.
2007-10-05 10:42:08 · answer #8 · answered by josie 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's think like that that have to make you wonder ... can something so unfair really be true? I don't mean that sarcastically. I believe. I just don't always agree. It's just so ... horrible.
2007-10-05 09:39:24 · answer #9 · answered by Eagiusti 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
lukewarm, and it's a bad thing. God would rather have us "hot" (in loving him) because you can't touch what is hot or "cold" (in not loving him), so his love will be revealed to those who just flatly refuse his love. However, being "lukewarm", he says "I spit you out of my mouth for you are neither hot nor cold".
Revelation 3: 15-17
2007-10-05 09:50:07 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No heaven for them except a visit on a tourist visa.
2007-10-05 09:39:43 · answer #11 · answered by brkshandilya 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋