Why can't more people accept Jesus?

Question

How can people be so blind? This makes me sad because I have a family member that has fallen away into atheism. I don't know what to do.

Only by accepting Jesus can your sins be washed away. I heard the analogy before that non-Christians are like people drowning at sea. If someone throws them a floatation device and they REFUSE to take it and drown, they have no one to blame but themselves. Likewise, God does not send non-Christians to Hell, they send themselves.

I don't want my brother to go to Hell for not accepting Jesus. At times this may seem unfair to me as to why God would do this. I realize though that we are ALL sinners and we ALL deserve Hell, yet God loved the world so much that if we accept the sacrifice of Jesus, our sins might be washed clean.

It is not a hard thing to do, yet I sometimes wonder about how fair this all seems. I know it is the truth because I have faith.

I just feel uneasy about it sometimes.

What can I do to get over this feeling?

Answer 1

To get over this feeling, you need to get over youself and need to realize that Christianity may not be the answer.

Liesel.

Answer 2

I used to be a strong Christian who felt the same way. Then, through a slow intellectual process, I came to realize that Christianity is a huge myth. And now I feel the same way you do, but towards people like you! How can you be so blind? How can you read a book full of contradictions and absurdities, and buy into it so fully? Have you ever read anything that doesn't "verify" what you already feel to be true? I know I didn't when I was a Christian - it wasn't allowed. Here's a site for you, if you dare: www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com . That site really opened my eyes.

You believe that prayer works? Then pray for a deserving American soldier who has lost a leg in Iraq. Will it grow back? No! Of course not! And yet the Bible says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, what you pray for will come to be. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. [John 14:14]
Ask, and it will be given you. [Matthew 7:7]
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. [Matthew 21:21]
Nothing will be impossible to you. [Matthew 17:20]
Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. [Mark 11:24]

Ever notice how it's only those coincidental things that get answered? My aunt had her cancer cured because of prayer - that sort of thing. It's all a huge FARCE!!! And it's all based on humankind's fear of death. It's designed to where you HAVE to believe, or something drastic will happen to you.

So I feel for you. You are still blinded by faith, and you spend too much of your time worrying about a non-existant hell and who is going there. You are a helpless part of the meme of Christianity, and until you really start opening your mind, you will continue to be blind and think that others are.

Read that site. Really. And think about it. I myself am angered at how Christianity kept me from really thinking, so I know how difficult it can be to force that brain into gear, but you will be happier for it. I have hope for you - you seem like you have the intellectual capacity to be able to learn to think for yourself. You write well (a trait I don't usually see in rabid Christians), and you have a good heart - it's just a little misguided. Good luck to you.
-Barbara

Answer 3

Jesus said in John 6:44; No one CAN come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jesus said in John 6:64-65; Yet, there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that NO ONE CAN come to me UNLESS the Father has ENABLED him.
Salvation is all of God and He chooses whom He wills. Just because your brother is not saved now does not mean he won't be. Your responsibility is to trust God to do His will and remember you may plant the seed and someone else may water the seed but God gives the increase. Only God can open the spiritually blinded eyes and He will do it in His time not yours. That analogy is nonsense because a dead person cannot do anything and every person before being quickened by the Holy Spirit is spiritually dead. That is why salvation is all of God so we have nothing to boast about.

Answer 4

I understand how you feel, because I used to be a Christian fundamentalist and to worry about my loved ones going to Hell. I know you are sincere. But here are a few things to consider:

How can you get over this feeling? You might try respecting your brother's freedom of choice, and allowing him to believe what he wishes, understanding (and I'm being honest, not sarcastic) that it is really none of your business.

You believe that he has been led astray, and "fallen" into atheism, but I would submit that it is you who have been led astray, being taught to believe that those who don't believe as you do are invariably wrong, and that the God who loves them will torture them for eternity. Have you considered that your brother, or others, might think of you as having "fallen" into Christianity, and led astray into a faith that condemns those who exercise free thought?

Again, I know you are sincere, and that this is what you have been taught. But because you have been taught this does not make it true, and does not make it imperative that everyone believes what you do.

More importantly, you must realize that even if everything you have been taught is indeed true, you cannot and should not want to control your brother's mind or heart any more than you would want him to control yours (doesn't that sound like the golden rule?). Don't burden yourself with his salvation or that of others. If an all-powerful God wants them to be "saved" (according to your definition of salvation) then by definition neither you nor they can prevent that from happening.

Peace...

Answer 5

get over yourself, whats right for you isn't right for others and your just going to piss people off trying.
everyone has a right to beleive in what they want, and just because you beleive in a christian god doesn't mean everyone has to.

Plus Christians have yet to truly prove there is a god, so maybe you should work on that, go dig up the arc or something.
You can't even prove there is an after life so that whole going to hell thing isn't much of a threat. Funny thing is some religions probably beleive you are coming back as a rat or a moth but that doesn't scare you into following their beleifs.

Answer 6

Dear Uneasy,

What you can do to get over your uneasiness is realize that everyone who does not believe in jesus or everyone that is not a christian is not going to hell. There are literally billions of people who believe otherwise much like your brother. Love your brother the best you can and don't believe everything people tell you no matter who they are.

Frank Z.

Answer 7

If you're happy with your beliefs good for you. Don't ask about others because they can be just as curious on the matters you believe and you wouldn't like that. Just think if there is a God why would he be so selfish as to want everyone to pray to him all the time? Wouldn't being good be enough for someone/something so powerful and so forgiving? For example, if your brother is good and does good deeds for others just because he wants to will he really burn in hell? Is that how God really is to you? Just because your brother didn't worship him his whole life but did every other good deed known to man kind he's going to go to hell? Need to think before feeling.

Answer 8

One is not any greater advantageous than the different. the father and son are so heavily related that in case you settle for one you settle for the different. (John 14:9) Jesus reported to him: “Have I been with YOU adult adult males see you later a time, and yet, Philip, you have no longer come to appreciate me? He that has seen me has seen the father [additionally]. How is it you're saying, ‘instruct us the father’? that's to no longer say that they are element of a trinity as some might have us have faith. via fact in this comparable context Jesus is going directly to assert: YOU heard that I reported to YOU, i leave and that i'm coming [returned] to YOU. in case you enjoyed me, you will possibly have a superb time that i am going my thank you to the father, via fact the father is larger than i'm. (John 14:28)

Answer 9

I accept your Jesus as a great teacher and an example of a loving person.
I do not understand how your god can be so harsh and unbending. Would you sentence your child to an eternity of pain and torment for not accepting something you said as truth? If a human would not do something like this, then why does your god--who by your own admission is perfect--be so vendictive as to do so to the children he created?

Answer 10

If your God is all-powerful, and knew who was going to accept him before he ever created the universe, then that necessarily means that he created people, including your family member in such a way that they would NOT accept him. That is the whole concept of predestination.

You can't do anything for your brother. It's up to God. If God wishes your brother to accept Christ, then God will move your brother's heart to do so. If he doesn't, then God has already decided that your brother is one of those who will burn in the lake of fire forever.

Praise Jesus, right?

It's not my religion, and that's one of the reasons right there.

Answer 11

So; God had sex with his mom so that she would give birth to Him. He then, later, sacrificed Himself to Himself so save humanity from Himself.

Do you see why we non-Christians have trouble with this?

Also, how do you know your religion is the correct one? How do you know the religion of the Aztecs isn't the true religion? They certainly thought they had it right. For all we know, there's been a small group of people sacrificing a human every day to make sure the sun still rises; and there you are, so blind to their efforts.

You know how to get over this feeling? Realize that you have as equal a shot as the rest of humanity at some sort of afterlife. For all we know, we're going to Hel (yes, one "l") for not worshipping Odin.