God

[Dale00]

I agree with the power of love 100%. I would want to follow a God and religion that is all about love!!!! I just don't see the love though. I see hate and condemnation. Even in this thread. So many religious folks take my questions as a threat. I asked a question earlier about someone that is married. His wife is the same religion as him. His wife loses faith. Is his wife going to hell? The persons says yes I would believe in a God that would send my wife to hell. That doesn't sound very loving. Would all religious people say that? Would your God force you to make that decision? If so, is heaven really heaven, or is it hell. If the person you love more than anyone is going to hell for eternal torture, and you forsake her? Is that love?

Without having read the post to which you refer...

God is the judge, not a person. God is patient and longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Him. I went through a period where I stopped believing in God. But He never stopped loving me. My favorite parable is the story of the Prodigal Son. It is beautiful.

 

[HMCS(FMF)Ret.]

I feel this way most of the time. Sometimes things happen so perfectly it feels like it has to be more than coincidence. Then you look around at everything else and it appears that even if God exists, he is absent and we are left to our own devices. Then there are scientifically provable things that don't jive with the timeline laid forth in the bible. Namely the age of the earth and existence of dinosaurs come to mind.

It's funny that sooneratc says that science has changed over the years. Science hasn't changed but our understanding of physics, biology, astrology, etc has changed. Those things have always been the same, it's just that we haven't always understood them. Not that we totally understand things now but we learn more every day. The church over history has fought against scientific discoveries that have ultimately proven to be truths time and time again.

Ultimately I don't hold the actions of man against the idea of a creator. Religion has been manipulated and continues to be manipulated to further earthly goals by various groups across the world. Wish I knew the answer but I don't. Just live your life with respect for your fellow man and if there is an afterlife, hope there is a kind, forgiving and loving God. If there is not, it doesn't matter anyways as you won't know the difference.

This^^^^. My biggest problem is that I almost feel like I'm being tested. What will this human believe? Will he just believe anything other humans tell him? What makes me different from those that would pray to rocks or trees? If I think of religion from a factual perspective, it doesn't make any sense. For the bible readers in the crowd: Do you believe everything in the bible or just the parts that you want to believe? I see a lot of that. Why would my God want me to blindly believe something that a priest says? Seems like everyone has a different perspective on the bible. I'm asking questions because I don't understand and I can't just blindly trust anymore. I hear things that religious people say. Some believe this some believe that....and a lot is sugar coated in hate.

 

[HMCS(FMF)Ret.]

I just read that story about the prodigal son. I like it. Made me feel good. There are so many things about the bible and religious people that make me feel the opposite way though. I like hearing about this good God. Then I hear about this bad God that sends people to hell and the one that allows suffering. I couldn't watch people suffer and can't rationalize why a loving God can. A lot of folks will say "I don't know. We just have to believe God has a plan".

 

[Dale00]

This^^^^. My biggest problem is that I almost feel like I'm being tested. What will this human believe? Will he just believe anything other humans tell him? What makes me different from those that would pray to rocks or trees? If I think of religion from a factual perspective, it doesn't make any sense. For the bible readers in the crowd: Do you believe everything in the bible or just the parts that you want to believe? I see a lot of that. Why would my God want me to blindly believe something that a priest says? Seems like everyone has a different perspective on the bible. I'm asking questions because I don't understand and I can't just blindly trust anymore. I hear things that religious people say. Some believe this some believe that....and a lot is sugar coated in hate.

An internet discussion board may not be the place to find answers to your questions.

 

[Dale00]

I just read that story about the prodigal son. I like it. Made me feel good. There are so many things about the bible and religious people that make me feel the opposite way though. I like hearing about this good God. Then I hear about this bad God that sends people to hell and the one that allows suffering. I couldn't watch people suffer and can't rationalize why a loving God can. A lot of folks will say "I don't know. We just have to believe God has a plan".

Hell is not a place of physical torture. It is not a place that God sends people.

The problem of suffering - God created man and gave him free will and this made suffering a possibility. He allows it but his people work to reduce it. They do some amazing things like putting themselves at risk treating people in the middle of an Ebola outbreak. Or hiding Jews from the Nazis and then dying alongside them in a concentration camp.

 

[HMCS(FMF)Ret.]

An internet discussion board may not be the place to find answers to your questions.

Truthfully, I don't think I will find answers regardless. I've been exploring Atheism for the last year or so and what some of these scientists and free thinkers say make complete sense to me. I don't feel the hate that comes with religion.

OK, thanks folks. Appreciate the input.

 

[kinggabby]

God does not send people to hell because he hates or wants it. But him being a loving God he lets us choose where we will end up. If you force someone to go somewhere no matter if it is the most wonderful place ever they will not like it because they did not choose. The ones who go to Heaven are people who truly want to be there. And because of that life is one big test. But this test is an open book test. We have God's word as the open book. You have a few choices on how you take the test. #1 You can open the book and find the answers. #2 You can not open the book and hope you get the answers right. #3 You can crumple up the test and throw it away. Yes God allows people to suffer . But he does it for several reasons. He sometimes does it to strengthen our faith. Sometimes it is to show others or faith. Sometimes it is because we have done something wrong. But he is a forgiving God. There is only one sin that is unforgivable. All others if we ask Him to forgive he will do so. Yes their have been people who have hurt and killed in the Name of religion. But that just shows they did not have a true grasp on that they believed. Yes Christians are to preach God's word. But if are to shake the dust from their feet if they are rejected and are to move on. God wants all to come to Him to be saved but He will not force you.

 

[DavidMcmillan]

For the most part, this is a really good discussion. I must state up front that I am a born again Christian, but I believe that it is a decision that a person has to make for themselves.

Most of the questions that are being asked are the same questions that most believers have asked from one time to another. I sure don't have all the answers and there are many things that I don't understand. I can say the same thing about airplanes, but that didn't stop me from getting on one almost everyday for a great portion of my career. Yes, I know all about lift and thrust, etc., but if you push any scientific or technical question back far enough you get to the level of, "that's just the way electrons act" or a similar statement. It takes far more faith to believe that all of nature acts as it does, just by accident.

I cannot imagine anyone, doctors included, holding a new born baby and not having the thought of some higher power.

I believe that questions such as we have been asking here, could well be that higher power tweeting us with a desire to learn more about Him.

 

[JD8]

Or hiding Jews from the Nazis and then dying alongside them in a concentration camp.

Meanwhile, nations full of protestants and catholics contributed directly to, if not stood by, while those concentration camps committed some of the worst crimes against humanity.

Personally, I think it's hard to believe that a being whom is supposedly more logical than us, would allow such an imperfect message to exist (the bible among others) and so many of it's followers to constantly contradict his teachings and commit atrocities that they do.

 

[coolhandluke]

An internet discussion board may not be the place to find answers to your questions.

I would hope that isn't entirely the case. All it takes is two or more individuals to rationally discuss their beliefs without getting butthurt or condscending. The OP does not appear to be attempting to lead anyone in to a trap or trolling as many have thought.


HMCS(FMF)Ret,

In response to your questions regarding belief in a loving God that could allow the existance of hell. I am no philosopher nor do I proclaim to be nearly as educated in Biblical aspects as a great number of Christians. All I can provide you with what is my personal convictions on this matter. If God is perfect, sinless, and entirely just...anything that is sinful and unholy would not be permissible in His presence. Therefore any man that has not had his sins atoned for, would be considered unholy and cannot be allowed in God's direct presence. The "loving" character of God was shown through Jesus Christ (who I believe was God in the flesh) who bore the penalty for all of mankind's sin. Any man that accepts /professes this would then be made pure and sinless in God's eyes and are permissible in his presence after death. If the creator of all that is in existance did, in-fact, love man enough that he walked on his earth and endured what he did on the cross so that salvation could be freely extended to those who accept...I have a difficult time not considering my God as loving.

As S4F previously mentioned, there is likely nothing that anyone can do or say to convince you of the existance of God. Believers in the God of Christianity (and other religions) have no proof, only their faith. If the examples of Christians (past or present) have led you to form a negative option about the God that we profess, I sincerely apologize. Even looking in the Bible you see a number of examples of hipocracy and hate within the religious sects. All of which Christ himself despised. Just a small amount of reading in the New Testament will show you that Christianity should be a religion that is exactly the opposite. One where believers love their neighbors as themselves, care for the sick, widowed, orphans, those in prison etc.