16th March 2003, 4:06 PM
Quote:Weltall and almost all Christians are raised to believe in God.
That is partially true in the West, but not true in Africa, Asia, and the rest of the world. That is where God is really doing incredible things, because in the west we are rich and bored and all we ever do is argue about things like this instead of living it. I wish I had never made that first post. I only wanted to explain who I am and why I live this why, not argue and fight. Those of you who are defending God, I think it's great that you are willing to take a stand for your beliefs. But you must remember that fighting will only disprove everything you are trying to say. The Bible teaches in many places about sharing Jesus with others, and in every single place it encourages you to do so, but stresses that you have to be kind, respectful, and loving. Not angry, condescending, arrogant, or judgemental. Look up Colossians 4:5-6 and 1 Peter 3:15-16 for more info.
I am not singling any of you out and I really haven't read much of what you've said, but I feel the whole conversation is headed that way. Just be sure your heart is right or you will do more harm than good, okay?
To everybody else
First of all, to answer N-Man:
No you can't prove that Jesus lived. But if this was all a hoax, how did it ever become so powerful and widespread? How did a made-up story about a man who just served and loved with his entire life and was tortured and killed gain such acceptance. If Jesus never lived, who would have ever believed this story? If you wrote a story about God coming to earth, wouldn't you make it about the hero who overthrew all the evil governments and ruled justly and brought peace to earth forever? That's exactly what the Jews thought would happen to, and that's why they are still waiting for the Messiah to come. But the story of Jesus completely defies human logic. It's NOT the Superman story we want to hear, and it could never have been accepted if there was no truth to it. Does that make sense or am I off?
I'll do the best I can to answer some of your questions as best as I can. Why do Christians believe Jesus is the only way to heaven? Why can't we just be good people? Why is there evil and pain in the world if God is good? Why does God punish us if he loves everyone?
The most important part to all of this is that God is, always has been, and always will be perfect and good. That's what God means. That is the basis, and if you disagree with that then the rest of this will have no foundation. Because God is perfect and good, nothing that is not perfect can be with him. He made us to have relationship with him, but none of us are perfect. No matter how good we are for the rest of our lives, we will never be perfect again. You can't undo the past no matter how hard you try. So we can't be good enough to be with God. All of us deserve separation from God because he is perfect and we are not.
But God knew this would happen, and that's why he planned all along that Jesus would come to earth and live with us. He would go through the same life we all experience. Except being God, he was able to live a perfect life. He was killed as a criminal despite never doing anything wrong. When he died he took all the wrong every person had ever done upon himself and paid the price for us. That's why Jesus is the only way to heaven, because only through his forgiveness can you be made perfect in God's sight. All you have to do is believe it and thank him for forgiving you. That's it.
God desperately wants everyone to be with him forever. He made us so he wouldn't be alone, so why would he then condemn us for not being God and punish us and himself by separating us from him. He knew we couldn't match up and that's why he had this plan from the beginning. The most amazing thing is that it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. You have already been forgiven, all you have to do is accept forgiveness. God couldn't have made it any easier.
You ask why there is hell if God loves us? Shouldn't there be a place for the people who have done evil? People like Hitler? If they went to heaven, wouldn't they still do evil there? It wouldn't be heaven any more. If God gives someone the chance to have relationship with him, and they reject it, shouldn't there be a place where they can be seperated from God? It's what they wanted afterall. Hell is that place that is devoid of God's presence, and therefore devoid of all good. Without God, the evil will only increase beyond imagination. God doesn't want anyone to spend eternity in hell, which is why he left heaven and died for us. He did all the hard stuff, all you have to do is believe. And you will be set free. Not just in the afterlife, but in this life as well.
No other religion teaches that we can be made perfect again. They are based on works, on being good enough. If you do good enough, God will have pity on you and save you. Or if you do good enough, you can get a better reincarnation. Or if you torture yourself then you can pay the price for your sins and God will feel that you have been punished enough. But how do you ever know if you've been good enough? Shouldn't there be peace if you are doing the will of God? But the truth is that Muslims and Hindos and the rest all live in fear that they have not done enough to gain God's approval. That's why some Muslims are willing to kill themselves and "God's enemies" because they think that that will gain God's approval.
On the other hand, I have an incredible peace that I didn't have before I gave my life to God. I know some of you will say I'm just making things up in my mind to make myself feel good, but it's not that. I'm not worried about terrorist attacks or war or dying in a car crash. It's not that I want to die- not at all, there is so much that I still want to do and experience. But I know that if life on earth ended today, life would really only be beginning. I am 100% confident in that. Are you 100% confident that if you died tomorrow you would just cease to exist? I don't think you are, or you wouldn't even be reading this. :) Now I'm not patronizing you at all, please don't think that. I think you desperately want to believe in God, but you've seen so much pain that you can't imagine a God who cares. You see Christians who are judgemental and full of hate and who live exactly the same way (or worse) that you, except they tell you that you are going to hell because of it. Those people have forgotten that they too deserve to go to hell, and they never did anything to deserve God's love or forgiveness. The make up rules to glorify theirselves while condemning everyone else. The only rules Jesus ever gave us were "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength", and "Love your neighbor like you love yourself". These "Christians" aren't following either commandment. I'm not going to judge them either, because it's not my place to judge. The moment I think I'm better than they are is the moment I start becoming like that. But it's plain that they are not following their namesake, and it breaks my heart because God's name is being slandered. I just hope they will see what they are doing.
I know you are searching for truth and you know that there is more than what you've seen, or you wouldn't waste your time talking about this. And if I was unsure of this myself I wouldn't waste your time either (or my time, since I just spent 2 hours typing this). I can't even begin to explain the difference in my life since I made Jesus my Lord, and I want you guys to be free too.