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Nilopher — If God loves me why would He send me to hell?
Published: 2012-05-27 02:15:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 8625; Favourites: 130; Downloads: 64
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A question I've seen and heard many times. Often used to justify a sin.People mistakenly seem to think that because Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to clean our sins, we are forever saved regardless of what we do. His sacrifice wasn't meant to take away our sins so we could keep living a sinful life, walk away from His righteous ways and still somehow get to heaven. He sacrificed Himself for us to ensure that even if we sin, we can have the hope of being redeemed, of being forgiven and saved, if we accept our mistakes and ask forgiveness.
"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." ~1 Peter 2:24
Nowadays, people want to be saved, but they don't want to repent. Repentance is: "To change one's mind. A change of heart, that involves turning away from sin" (Ezekiel 14:6)
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ~ 1 John 1:9
God wants us to repent, to change. (Acts 3:19).
We confess because we admit and acknowledge we are sinning, and we repent because we know we have to change our ways. And when we change our hearts and mind about sin, a change in behavior will naturally result.
But the desire to repent is a result of the goodness of God. (Romans 2:4), so without Him, we can't achieve anything (John 15:5). Don't try to change by your own strength, because you will fail and you'll be discouraged and disappointed. Pray and ask God for help and He will change your heart.
I don't need to change, He accepts me as I am.
True.
You come to Jesus just as you are. Unclean, broken, scarred etc. He will accept you, because He loves you. But once you meet Him, you won't be the same anymore. He will renew your heart. You will be born again.
People seem to forget that if they truly accept Jesus, they will let Him work on their lives; they will have a desire of 'walking away from sin' and pursuing a godly life. If you accept Christ, but still want to leave your life unchanged, you're not actually accepting Him into your life and heart. You're just accepting the idea of believing in Him.
Believing in Jesus is not just 'knowing' He exists. Even devils believe (James 2:19) and they won't get to heaven. Believing in Jesus implies something much more than that.
Believing means: to have faith, confidence, and trust. We must believe that He IS (Hebrews 11:6), He is the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty (Revelation 1:8) The great I AM (Exodus 3:14). He is all powerful and He can clean what's unclean, He can fix what's broken, and He can heal any wound.
When you get to know Jesus, you know the wonderful things He can do in your life. And you know He can change your life for the better and you'll want that change.
God wants us to go to Him (Matthew 11:28), because He wants to give us a new spirit and heart.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." ~ Ezekiel 36:26
It's not in my control
Our sinful nature hates everything that has to do with God and His perfect ways. We are in a constant fight. While we're trying to get closer to Him, our nature is trying to go the other way.
"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." ~ Galatians 5:17
We have to be able to control that sinful nature. How? Starving it.
If we don't feed our nature with sinful actions, it won't have the strength to control us.
It's not our fault that we are born with a sinful nature, but we are responsible for the actions we take with it. We have to make a decision: to sin, or not to sin. We have to choose if we want to be saved or not.
So the excuse of: "It's not my fault, why would He send me to hell for something I can't control?" is invalid! (and erroneous)
You are not in control of how, when, where, etc. you're born, but only you have the control of choosing what you want to do with your life. You can take the wheel or let sin drive for you.
"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" ~ Galatians 5:16
We can choose to walk in the Spirit. We can choose to let God change us, giving us a new spirit and a new heart. We can choose to accept His sacrifice and be dead to sin. (Romans 6:5-11). You have the control to make that choice.
God doesn't take away our salvation; we give it up, with our actions.
People that get arrested often get angry and take grudges with the cops that imprisoned them. It's not the cop's fault. They're behind bars because they broke the law. They chose to give up their freedom. Likewise, it's not God's fault, it's ours. He did everything that was on His power so we could be saved (He did what we could not do); now it's our turn to accept that salvation.
The right question should be: why would I choose the lake of fire instead of a loving God?
What do you love more, your sins or God? God loves us and because of that, He will respect our decision. He won't force the gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8) on us.
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Comments: 339
The bible provides much more than just moral values. It has the history of a nation, the relationship of that nation with God, it has prophesies (some of them that passed others that are still to come), promises, advices, a way to recognize our Creator etc. It doesn’t matter how much you or others want to discredit it, the word of God will always stand strong and truthful.
Yes, Jesus existed, and no, he was not a white, blond haired, blue eyed dude.
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So why is he still depicted in such a way? Is church scared to admit yet another mistake?
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I'm christian, I never threatened anyone about going to hell. It's in the bible, and it's truth. I don't believe out of indoctrination, or cause I "need a reason to live" or in a "space daddy why will make it all better". But, i digress. I respect you refuse to believe, but you could respect this person and many other people beliefs. Please, if you're so angry about it, go write a journal, not tear apart people's faiths.
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Sorry, but I highly doubt you know anything about religion, speaking from what you just said. I personally am not very religious but I think people just believe because they need a reason to live and something to keep them going every day despite whatever bad happens. I have never read anything about "threats if you don't believe".. Or whatever.Do more research before speaking your mind about what's important to some people.
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If you don't believe in J.C. and you don't accept to be "saved by him" you will burn in hell for your sins and since every man and woman are sinners...well, you figure it out, Mr. Smartypants.
Did you actually read any of the christian holy books?
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I said religion because I was referring to you, not christianity
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Thank you, this is quite refreshing for a topic that used to confuse me. Clear and simple (:
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Reading the title, I worried this was going to be a whine-fest. I'm glad I was wrong.
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I wasn't expecting to see something like this on dA. I'm pleasantly surprised. You've done something here that many of our brothers and sisters in Christ never learnt to do: clear, Christ-centred, biblical teaching. This has been very encouraging and refreshing. Thankyou.
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Thank you, all glory to God!
God bless you
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That depends on the religion. People seem to think that all Christians have the same beliefs, ignoring the fact that they can be catholic, protestant, orthodox or something else. The protestant, or more generically "reformist", principles state that everything is predestined by God and that all sins are cleansed by faith alone (which means that all protestants go to Heaven).
Catholics, on the other hand, will be doomed to Hell if they sin, unless they cleanse their sins through confession.
Extremely synthetic explanation, someone correct me if I'm wrong. (I consider myself a humanist btw)
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I’m protestant, and I don’t believe everything is predestined by God, nor do I believe all protestants will go to heaven. ^^ So yup, Christians don’t have the same beliefs, but we have the same God. (:
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So do Jews and Muslims, what makes a religion is essentially the doctrine. The problem is, many people are unaware of the principles of their own religion while many others have their own personal beliefs as opposed to their creed's teachings. The Catholic Curch considers that heresy (see Arianism).
I believe people should be aware of their religion's teachings if they choose to follow one, but never limit their belief to some else's teachings. People should choose what they believe by themselves and ALWAYS question the "facts" at least ONCE. A fact is not a fact until it's been doubted.
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I've actually found that many people on this site (actually, more like youth in general) have this unbelievably poor misconception of what Christianity is. They think it's some gay-bashing, race-hating group that tries to shove their beliefs down their throats. That's pretty much what society teaches us.
Go to a church. I dare you. You won't find any of this.
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I wouldn't say go to a church, since some churches are already corrupted by the devil. Some churches are how they should be "a hospital for the broken", but others just bring shame to believers and non-believers alike. It'll be great if they could find a good church, but that is not always the case.
I would say, go to God. He doesn't disappoint.
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AMEN! lol, I fully agree with you on this
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Been there, done that, heard words of hate. Seen priests stealing money from poor and from children, seducing married women and fathering children with them, calling for murder of people of different religion etc. No thanks.
If church is such a good place, why every image depicts J.C. as a skinny white dude? He lived 2000 years ago in a place where vast majority had a darker skin. Lets try to find out how he really looked like, eh? Would you accept that your J.C. was almost (if not completely) black?
Racism, right there in core of your religion.
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For the first part there: Calling for murder of people of different religion? I think you accidently stepped into a mosque there, broski.
(by the way, I'm not particularly religious)
I'll give you that the original semitic peoples of Israel were fairly dark-skinned, around the same skintone as the standard Arab, though keep in mind this was only 2000 years ago. By that time, Israelis were mostly mixed through Greek-European influence. Here is actually a decent reconstruction of what Jesus more than likely looked like:
[link]
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Oh, so now the muslims are the only ones who are militant, eh? I've been a witness to what I say, you just talk about what you see on TV.
Look, I don't particularly like them, but please...christians have a history of blood shed and murder so long, even J.C. can't wash it out. Who helped Nazi's escape after WW2 through Vatican?
And since there's a fairly accurate image of J.C. floating around, why is not pope proclaiming that he should be depicted how he really looked like, not this fairy tale they trey to sell to Rednecks Retarded LTD (C).
Racism, theft, gluttony, greed, sexual assaults/rapes/pedophilia, buse etc. Christianty at it's best, walking in J.C.'s path.
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Here're some nice links for you. (most of these happened within the past few months):
[link] (This actually just happened within the last few days. I would consider reading his blog, by the way. You want to talk about Catholic priests touching up on little boys? That's just plain laughable compared to this. It really opens your mind up to how bad Jewish influence is on America. Yes, yes, I'm an "anti-semite", horray.)
[link] (I love how it says "French" Muslim. What an insult to the French.)
[link]
I can provide so much more, if only my internet wasn't a piece of shit. These stories are a dime a dozen. Just ask me for 20 more, I'll take the time gathering all of them if it would just make you open your damn eyes.
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What I see on TV eh? Sorry if each week I need to read a new article about some Muslim man and his son killing his daughter because she was becoming too "assimilated". Sorry that each week I have to read another story about atrocities committed against the Palestinian people. You clearly only hate Christianity because, just like all other teenagers, it's the "cool" thing to do. Talk about me being brainwashed by the media? You sound like you've been raised by it, bub.
I am the most politically incorrect person you'll ever meet. Spend a day with me and you'll see life, race, politics, religion in a completely new light.
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During the war in my country (war against muslims, just to clarify), Greece used to send help in medicines, food, clothes and money to my people. Not even 10% of that was given to people, priests sold it on black market so they can build more churches. After Greek people found out about it, they used to hide money in food wrappings (in Milka chocolates, for example) hoping that these crooks will at least give that to children.
Well, guess what? People who bought chocolates in stores found out that they got money inside - priests actually sold those chocolates to the stores to get cash, not knowing that money is hidden in them. Nobody was jailed for that, although everybody knew that church did it.
Half of the city where I live is owned by a bishop who is at the same time the biggest criminal in our country.
No, I'm not partial. I hate christians, muslims, jews and all other major religions and most minor ones with same passion. They're all idiots.
And if you want to experience political incorrectness in full and how it can be justified, come work on a cruise ship.
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A pro-Christian piece on the front page?
.....
......
....okay, who the hell divided by 0?
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I, personally, am not a religious person, I'm not against it or anything silly like that, I just prefer believing in science/evolution... I have been raised in a christian house with VERY religious family members, and my Grandpa, who actually is the leader of the Bible study at his church says this: "There is no longer any 'sin'. If you love yourself and are happy in the life you live then that is all that you are to God; alive and happy. Because God sees us already as Jesus is: pure and, for the lack of a better word, 'clean'. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, not just the sins of the past, but for all sins; whether it was back then, in the present, or in the future. We cannot sin in God's eyes, he will love you no matter what you do, or did!" Now obviously there are a few things in that statement that I don't think is fair: What about the murderers? The child molesters/rapers?? How come they get off scott free, and we have to work so hard to be 'good'?! "Don't worry about it," says my grandpa, "Your job isn't to judge them, that's God's job. You just worry about your own life." I don't think God sends people to Hell, I think the Devil tricks them into to going willingly...
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I don’t agree with your grandpa. But it is true that God doesn’t send people to 'hell'. ^^
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That's okay, his theories aren't for every Christian lol He's just basically saying that even if you sin god will still see you exactly like Jesus; no matter WHAT you do... I mean, the pastor at his church is still stuck in the old testament while he's supposed to be preaching the new one haha... But anyways, like I said before, I'm not religious at all, I just listen to it because it's always what they (my grandparents) are talking about heheh I just have to guess by what they are saying that God doesn't send people to hell, they go willingly.
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Heheh, nope I'm not Sheldon >_<
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I do believe in Him ^^
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who sais it would even be a him, maybe its a her or even an it. my statement "i dont beleive in god", doesnt mean "i deny the possibility of the existance of a/multiple god(s)". just like i dont "beleive" in god i dont beleive in "the big bang theory" either. my statement "i dont beleive" simply implies that i dont have absolute prove for anything and accept i just simply dont know, and that i acknowledge its okay to me not to know, i dont need to blindly accept a single truth/possibility to be the absolute truth, cause in my oppinion, beleiving something and thus considdering that as an ultimate truth removes the ability to have multiple truths co-existing alongside eachother as it is impossible to prove what is and what isnt an ultimate truth
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Ok, and I respect that.
But my God is not human to be male or female, God is not limited to that. God is God. He just decided to ‘reveal’ Himself to us in male form.
God tells us to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21), He tells us to grow in knowledge and understanding. Our faith is not blind. We believe because we know (at least I do ^^).
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I do believe in God, but I think he hates me... :'C
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God is love (1 John 4:8), and He loves you, never think otherwise.
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~Romans 8:38-39
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Wow... thats sounds very interesting. Thanks for the information.
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Remember that God created you. He doesn't hate you. ;D
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Haha, yes. Thank you. :-D
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Don't worry, God will never hate you.
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Hm... I hope that. But thanks.
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As a Christian, I think this is wonderful! Fav'd!
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I don't believe I need to justify or beg forgiveness for my sins because I don't believe I do sin. I don't follow the moral code of an ancient book, morality should be a living organism, changing and adapting to each situation and of course constantly improving. Rules that create a black and white view of the world are illogical and constricting, damning people for the mildest of offences.
I believe that if there is a god, it isn't a god we know of here on earth, it isn't a god we comprehend and if it is the loving, parental figure everyone seems to yearn for then it isn't going to send us somewhere evil for an eternity just because we put our figurative hands in the hypothetical cookie jar every now and then.
I believe a being of infinite wisdom and power would reward modesty, intelligent thoughts, independent choices and a life that enriched the lives of those around you, not blind faith, not ignorance and definitely not hatred towards the living beings we share this little rock with.
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You can believe whatever you want, because everyone is entitled to their own opinions ^^
Although in my opinion I prefer the unchanging moral code of my Creator, I believe it is perfect.
For example, people nowadays are looking into animal behaviors to justify as moral and correct their actions. What can be immoral and unhealthy for you can be totally moral for another person, what can be improvement for you can be the opposite for other people.
Our God is a loving God, He sets the rules, corrects us when we’re wrong, guide us to the path we should follow, at the end it is our decision, He will respect us and rewards us accordingly. But no, not even the most evil of people will be receiving a punishment for eternity.
Our God is a God of infinite wisdom and power, and yes, He rewards intelligent thoughts, independent choices and a life that enriches the lives of those around you. His reward will be just and in accord with what we did with what we knew and learned. He encourage us to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21), to grow in knowledge and understanding, so we can “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Our faith is not blind. He doesn’t want ignorant followers that can’t tell right from wrong, truth from lie. If we have the ability to think clearly (having a healthy mind), and we don’t use that ability we will be wasting what God gave us.
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