and truly wishes us to enter Heaven instead of burning in the fires of Hell for all eternity, then why doesn't he simply make his existence and the nature of our existence clear to us instead of giving his message in 2000 year old books that must be taken on "faith"? Would he rather hide and let people burn than clarify a few things?
2007-11-24 13:31:51 · 11 answers · asked by robert 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The Bible teaches the doctrine of "election" whereby God has chosen whom He will save from all of the guilty people on this earth (for all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory) and that He will effectually call them into the family of Jesus and give them the gift of faith. It doesn't teach that God loves every human being with a saving love.
John 6:43 Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-- 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
2007-11-24 13:43:01 · answer #1 · answered by Martin S 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Excelent question:
Life has to be hard because if it were easy to learn and live true principles, then we would need no faith.
Part of being worthy to enter into Heaven is being strong - Strong enough to be powerfully tempted and overcome that temptation.
As far as searching for truth and interpreting the bible, I've found that the LDS church makes the bible much easier to understand. I truly feel the teachings of the LDS church really fill me with a great and positive energy.
2007-11-24 15:42:23 · answer #2 · answered by Rich K 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Our Creator, the Sovereign God, Yahwah, IS Love and His message is very clear when a diligent Bible study is undertaken with a loyal servant of His-- one of Jehovah's Witnesses--you will clearly see that God wants you and everyone that wants to, to gain eternal life right here on earth--not to go to heaven--that's a false teaching and no loving God would do that--instead, the prospect of everlasting life on earth, after the resurrection, is held out to all FROM our loving and kind Creator.
The ONLY ones going to heaven are those that will rule in God's kingdom government in heaven and from heaven--NO MORE MAN MADE RULES OR GOVERNMENTS BECAUSE THEY ARE IMPERFECT AND WE WERE NOT MEANT TO BE RULED BY HUMANS--GOD IS OUR MAKER AND OUR RULER. He knows what is best for us.
DO WE?
2007-11-24 13:54:04 · answer #3 · answered by avaddohn-Apollyon 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God is truly loving, YES. BUT he is also completely HOLY and RIGHTEOUS. He MUST judge sin .
He has made a way for EVERY HUMAN to avoid judgment in the lake of fire. If you actually READ his Word you would FIND that the way is QUITE CLEAR.
START WITH JOHN!!!!
2007-11-24 14:10:03 · answer #4 · answered by MBlessed (SOC) 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God gave us the Bible. He gave us Jesus Christ. what else do we need? He's given us tons of proof. reading the Bible will clear a lot of stuff up. it's really hard to explain but He's giving us the choice, either Heaven or Hell, and is expecting us to make the right decision.
i hope that didnt sound too jumbled
2007-11-24 13:39:31 · answer #5 · answered by Jennifer 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It is called "free will". If God just revealed himself and let everyone "see" that He is real, then what would have been the point of Jesus and what would be the point of faith?
Faith is believing in things not seen.....
That is the whole point....without faith you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven.
God loves all, but He wants to see who really loves Him and can endure until the end.
2007-11-24 13:48:13 · answer #6 · answered by Misti M 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
God is truly loving and He wants us to want to know Him. If we want to know Him, we'll study to find out what makes Him tick. Wouldn't you want people to do what you say because they love you? Don't you know that if someone does what you say becuse they love you instead of because you demanded you'll get better results?
2007-11-24 14:49:21 · answer #7 · answered by use 2 b lost 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hell was invented by priests to scare people into following their religion.
2007-11-24 13:36:52 · answer #8 · answered by Benji 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
This is explained here....http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/whynotchristian.html -
2007-11-24 13:36:03 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
He wouldn't.
That's one reason why I'm not Christian (or Jewish or Muslim for that matter).
2007-11-24 13:37:37 · answer #10 · answered by Voodoid 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋