Another question for Christians

[CoxRox]

So, nothing then. Fine.

Just to be clear, you asked Jesus if he was real and if he would save you, and then your Dad died....and this STRENGTHENED your conviction? Can you explain to me how that works?

I asked Jesus if He was real, way before my dad got ill and then died. I started 'looking' for God when I was about 12. (Cinjin- I've studied other religions, not just Christianity).

When my dad died, I lost my faith and felt empty in side. So, I wasn't clinging to Christianity, in the hope that I would see my dad again. Since April, when he died, I'd hardly spoken to God as I was so hurt. I'd not lost a close relative up to this point, or even seen a dead person, so it was a real shock to my system, to witness dying. (I was with my dad when he passed away- a truly horrific experience).
As the pain of this bereavement has subsided, I've been able to think less emotionally again: we're all going to die and so is this all there is?

Aleialoura - I whole heartedly do not believe that the Bible teaches eternal conscious torment. The Bible teaches that we die and go to sheol (hell) which is the grave. Jesus came to save us from death (no longer existing), not from a torture chamber that lasts for eternity. For those who study the bible and believe it teaches a God who keeps people alive for the sole purpose of inflicting pain on them, or to keep them in pain, then I would be happy to pm them, and show how 'hell' as taught in most churches, is VERY wrong and is an evil teaching.
About two months before my dad died and was still at his home, I was staying with him all the time, so I slept on a camp bed next to him. One night, I could hear him groaning in pain. It was horrible to have to sit through that suffering for the half hour or so that it lasted. It struck me clearly, how evil the idea of eternal conscious torment is. God does not bring humans into existence to then keep them in pain for eternity. Pain is temporary. Death is eternal, unless of course Jesus' claim that He is the resurrection and the life is true.

I have chosen to trust Jesus' claims. I have gained hope that there is a plan and a purpose to life, and that death isn't the end (or doesn't have to be the end). Love is my motivation, not so much fear (we all fear death surely). I want to love and be loved (forever). I want love to overcome evil. I don't need archaeology, or a visitation from God to tell me that the words Jesus speaks are true: 'love your enemies', 'do to others as you would have done to yourself', 'forgive those that sin against you' etc etc.

Here's a question I'd like to put to deists- if you believe in an 'intelligence' or 'creator', do you ever 'ask' It, if It is bothered about what it creates? Do you ever ask: 'God/Creator, what/whoever you are, if you are listening, is this it? Do you care?'