RE: What are your answers?
August 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm
(This post was last modified: August 25, 2011 at 3:05 pm by LastPoet.)
(August 25, 2011 at 2:46 pm)salty Wrote:
(August 25, 2011 at 12:46 pm)searchingforanswers Wrote: How is the Christian God better than the other religons? He condemns people for lack of faith.
According to the Bible, Jesus was among us, living and teaching, even healing people at one time, and still many did not believe he was the Messiah. Christians believe that the Bible is God's word and his testimony of what happened, what is happening and what will happen in the end. The Bible is our way of following the real Jesus by studying and acting in accordance with the Holy Spirit.
I believe that Christ is better than the god or gods of other religions (including some Christian cults) and extremist views because:
1. God promises to show himself to people who are really seeking him. (Meaning, if someone hasn't found him, it's because they are not seeking with a humble heart, they seek with certain expectations of what God should be to them and God will not submit to human expectations. Just as you would not follow the commands of a toddler.)
2. God promises to never abandon us and he shows his love by the sacrifice that he made to redeem us from sin.
3. God tells us that we have a purpose, that we were created for Jesus and by Jesus, and each person is given gifts and talents to use to bring others to know him so that everyone can be welcomed into paradise. He doesn't demand that we hurt ourselves to glorify him, but he does warn that following him could mean brutal torture (martyrdom) at the hands of his enemy, Lucifer.
4. God does not want to see any perish, but people who reject him are essentially accepting his enemy, Lucifer, as their master, he makes it very clear there are only two sides and he created Hell for Lucifer, therefore anyone who serves Lucifer will have a share in his punishment.
5. Salvation is a free gift, given to us by the sacrifice of Jesus, we do not need to log any service hours, we do not need to say a certain number of hail Mary's, we don't need to go to church every day and speak only certain words or wear certain things, or pray in certain positions, all we need to do is believe that Jesus rose from the dead, that his sacrifice was real and that he is God. We also need to use the Bible as a guide to understand what he plans for our lives and how to respond to evil when it comes our way.
6. Heaven is a place where the Lord promises to wipe away all sorrow and suffering. In heaven I will be able to speak and touch the Lord. I believe that he will reveal to me all the questions I've had, and the reason why people I thought wouldn't be present are present and people I thought would be there are not. Heaven is also a place where I will see all my family members that have chosen Christ, and we will be like the angels, not given in marriage or married. We will have jobs, homes, and a reward for believing without seeing God, but most of all, we will have a personal connection with Christ for eternity. In religions like, Buddhism there's this idea of reincarnation, which means that it's unlikely I will ever see my family members again, I could become a butterfly in the next life, while others become different creatures, and we'll never be reunited, I believe that we were made to interact with other humans and that relationships are what make us thrive, losing that...means losing our humanity.
7. God promises that when he appears, anyone who calls on his name will be saved, which means that when he returns he's not Godzilla just crushing everyone under his strength, he's going to give people who needed to see him the opportunity to choose in that moment as well! Many religions teach that once it's over, it's over, but the Lord shows repeatedly that he gives people time to come to him, like he did when Noah was building the ark!
8. Finally, God promises that when we become eternal we will never be tempted again because he will extinguish all sin and evil, and he will judge everyone fairly, according to the things they have done in their lifetime. The best part of this mystery is that we do not fully understand what will happen to some people, there are people who are covered with the sacrifice of Jesus and they don't even know his name! Therefore during judgment they may be plenty of people that will give an account for their deeds and find they were covered by the grace of Jesus. Judgement belongs to God alone!
Searchingforanswers, I hope you can see that he does not condemn anyone without their permission and if someone wants faith, they can have it, faith is free, it's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It all begins with a reasonable doubt in this life and then you seek the Lord. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Amen.
Do you seriously think that amount of bullshit will move me in the slightest? The majority of your sentences begin with "God says...", What?
And Lucifer? LOL? Are you so naive?
