Why does God value belief in his existence *more* than how we treat our fellow humans?

Question

Here's an equation that demonstrates how I understand this:

Belief in God + Doing bad things = Heaven

Nonbelief in God + Being a good person = Hell

Why does such an omnipotent God care so much whether we believe in him or not? With all the "love" that he supposedly preaches, why doesn't he place more value on treating others right?

Those who are saying my equation is wrong, are you saying that since I'm a good person I will go to heaven even though I don't believe in God?

Geek, I was a Catholic for most of my life, and this *is* me reevaluating my belief system.

Answer 1

this is a good question.... not only does it place more value on belief.. and less on being a good person .. it puts no value on the way we treat the world or any other living thing... what kind of god does that ...the bible speaks about god created the world and all living things..... but no where does it talk about what or how to treat these things .... it does talk about rules for treating humans.... but puts most of the priority on believing in him .. it seems to me that if I created something as amazing as this world and all things in it I would want everyone to take care of it.... and be respectful.. if he truly cared about these things.... god's main concern seems to be himself and that we all have to believe in him in order to be rewarded with heaven... another place he created... does he care more about heaven than he does this world.... what will be the rules there...

Answer 2

Just skimming through the pages of the Bible shows God places a LOT of value on how we treat others - so it's not as simple as some want to make it.
Think about this - what we believe ALWAYS affects what we do, or we don't really "believe" it. (There's a lot of "stuff" we've accumulated and assimilated into our noetic system that really only qualifies as "interesting ideas.")
The last ones a little harder, epecially since there's so much to dig through before we can even get close to the core issue. Trying to put it simply - nothing we do really qualifies as good unless we can do it from a totally pure heart/motivation - with a view toward the eternal rather than ONLY the temporal and thats just not possible - there's always something in it for us, no matter how small a factor that might be. Our standard of measurment isn't other people - it's perfection.

Answer 3

Two points…what faith is and isn’t… and the inability to separate out belief and the good things done for others.

He doesn't value belief more. Satan believes in his existence and so do all those people who cry "Lord, Lord" at the last judgment. The belief you speak of is not academic, as the world speaks to everyone (called Natural Religion) and everyone comes up with a ‘god’; what God wants is a non-evil belief. You are not God. There’s one evil belief. Trees, animals, are not God. Man-made idols are not. I know that I open up a difficulty for you, but realize that the children who were murdered at Jesus birth are honored (Dec 28) as the Holy Innocents and anybody who is baptized is acceptable. You are equating faith with conscious, reasoned logic which it isn’t. The Christian understanding of faith is very different from what you are describing. One more note, as Jesus said repeatedly no one comes to Him that has not been given the gift by the Father, but you can pray for the gift, and should. This doesn’t clear up the first part of your question totally but consider the person who knows of the teaching that one should seek and that faith is given in response to prayer, and doesn’t care, doesn’t care at all, spends more time worrying about what car to buy than even the time spent seeking God. I won’t argue, but I can see how if things were as you think, it would be confusing.

Another aspect – I’m sure 2 will either get you looking or thoroughly tick you off – you can’t make the airtight separation of belief and neighborly help that you make. Consider 3 examples.
1) Suppose someone’s misrepresentation of Christianity (caused by culpable ignorance) caused someone who was seeking to forever give up the quest. That connects Faith with welfare .
2) Suppose someone’s prayers could have helped another person in sickness, or a politician in need of light, or someone who needed strength to do a work of mercy. That connects Faith with welfare.
3) Suppose just the simple example of doing what is good versus what is better. Knowing what is better is a matter of wisdom, of divine guidance in many cases.
The Bible rarely repeats itself but one of those cases is the saying, Many are the ways that seem right to a man that lead only to death.

Answer 4

Whether you do good things or bad things, whether you believe in Him or don't, I believe you will have to answer to Him in the end. Nobody is perfect. Everyone has smudges on their soul. But, I believe, if you try to follow the doctrine that you try to do good things for God's sake, and ask Him to forgive you for your shortcomings, you will be forgiven.

Heaven is the place you get to be where you are in God's presence all the time. If you don't believe there is such a place or that God exists, it stands to reason you won't ever get there.

Just what I believe! I respect you even if you disagree.

Good question, though. I don't think Heaven is guaranteed for all Christians or all good people. I think there has to be a combination.

Answer 5

I dont think God's value's of each is more important than the other. Its that if you dont accept Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9), as your personal savior first (God from heaven 1 Cor.15:47) you are not saved. Is 45:45:21. Salvation is according to the purpose of God.2 Tim 1:9. Doing good works doesn't get ya to heaven or saved. Romans 11:6

There is a list of things that God wishes for us and from us after the wonderful moment of salvation. We are to become like Christ. We are to have different priorities in our lives. John 3:3. Be wholly devoted to God. Ps 9:1,119;10. Internalizing the Lord is a believer's best weapon to defend against incroaching sin. Ps 119 is a good one for all to read.

v18'Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law'. v34 'Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law'. If we dont accept God into our lives how will we understand? That has to be first. Then the Holy spirit can be with us. Then how we treat others and many other things that God wants for us and from us after our salvation are to be done. We are to be born again. John 2:5 Honor the aged. Job 32:6,7....ect.... We are to follow the Ten Commandments, they are not Suggestions! Exodus 20. Having faith in God's existence then gives us the desire to follow his will for us. No one can place more importance on any one law or commandment than another.

Good luck in your search for the truth. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim.2:13

Answer 6

Here's another one of those questions based on lack of information...

It's based on the idea that belief in God will make you want to follow his teachings on being a good human being which logically in turn would make you a good person...it's not either or...

Non-believers and Catholics thing you can just be a "good person" and that in itself is all you need...problem is that people regardless of belief don't always do what's good or right...

Since it's obvious you don't believe in a God and haven't bothered to try and comprehend what it means to worship...here's a test for your "good person" theory...answer the following...

Write down everything you think it takes to be a "good person"...if even the basic idea doesn't exist in the Bible then you have nothing to worry about...otherwise you might want to rethink your belief system...

Answer 7

Well I think you misunderstand God. First of all there is not one person in and of themselves that are good. You can not be good without Christ's blood covering your sins.

Second most people that profess to be Christians are really just wolves in sheep's clothing. What I mean is that they do not really do God's will. You have to follow the commandments of God to get into the kingdom and have the right to eat from the tree of life. Jesus says that narrow is the gate and difficult is the way and few find it.

It is very important how we treat others but it is also important to worship God the way He tells us to, not the way we choose to.

Answer 8

Regardless if we claim we are a good person or not no matter what good we do, it can never amount up to pay for the price of sin...God is a merciful and gracious God and gives every individual a chance to repent and accept His free gift of salvation. No one can "earn" their way to heaven, it's "only" by having Faith in what Jesus Christ did for us. Because of sin there has to be a sacrifice (shedding of blood). Jesus was considered the perfect Lamb that was to be sacrificed and slain for the sins of man kind so that whoever believes can accept and receive this free Gift that God offers to us, so that we can have a relationship with Him. That's love, even though none of us deserves it, b/c according to God's standards our righteousness is as filthy rags...No matter what we do it will never mount up to God's standards. And that's why there's Jesus. And those who believe are suppose to treat others right, but we all fall short...As we continue to believe and grow more in the faith of Jesus Christ then we will begin to love those and see people the way God see's them and the outward act of this doesn't happen overnight for most people. God works in the heart of man, then as their heart change then their outward appearance and actions will change, as we continue to seek Him..

Answer 9

You know how they say "we were made in god's image"? Well, god was made in man's image. When whomever wrote that big fiction book called the bible, they made the 'god' character into a ruler of all his peoples, like Emperors and Kings. They all just want to be worshipped too.

Do you think any King would let someone live if they were a very good person if they did not bow down to that King?

(know what I mean?) But it is a good point!

Answer 10

Belief on God is the first thing. Second is the Islamic way of life that God teaches in Quran and Prophet Mohammad teaches explaining Quran in his statements known as Hadith.

You can not undertstand because you never took trouble reading Quran and understanding what God and His religion Islam teaches Islamic way of life to make you the most decent human being. How we treat other humans is small part of his teachings.

Here is some sites for you to learn if you care to learn for your own good. I have no power to convert any one. You convert yourself only when God will guide you. You will probably never hear from me nor will ever see me. I shall never knock your door to convert you- I gaurantee you.
So don't be afraid and just read the articles of these sites:

http://www.islam101.com
http://www.islambasics.com/
http://www.islamreligion.com/