(July 5, 2015 at 12:31 pm)TubbyTubby Wrote: From my favourite christian site. Young lad asks the reasonable question...
" The Bible says that people will only believe the Gospel if God opens up their heart to it. If God has not opened up their heart to the Gospel, how can they be punished for unbelief? It's not a choice. Someone told me that God has opened up everyone's heart, but if that were the case, then more than half of the world, in fact, almost the entire world, would be Christians, because almost the entire world has heard the Gospel. If unbelievers don't believe because their heart is hardened, and their heart is hardened because God didn't open up their heart, how can they be blamed for unbelief? Something doesn't add up."
The pick of the replies...
" Juk, you're falling into the devils trap of always questioning the word of God about "seeming" contradictions. You need to stop otherwise you're just going to reject it all at some point. Have faith in God and ask Him to reveal. If you keep coming to men, you're going to get men's answers. God wrote the word of God on our hearts and everyone knows what's right and wrong - we have the DNA from the that tree. Even 60 Minutes did an episode about babies knowing right and wrong!"
It's the devil my boy, don't question just believe.
Scary shit to see it played out in real time.
http://www.christianforumsite.com/thread...-up.43119/
Sadly, there will always be Christians who give bad answers to good questions, but that does not mean that there are no good answers. A better answer to the question would be the following:
Quote:Consider this saying from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened (Matthew 7.7-8).
By “seeking,” Jesus obviously didn’t mean a merely intellectual inquiry but a genuine search of the soul, a spiritual quest in humility and with a contrite heart. This teaching comports well with the universal salvific will of God (I Timothy 2.3-4; II Peter 3.9).
Of course, God’s providence in each person’s life plays itself out over time. God’s existence may not be evident to someone at certain stages of his life but may become evident when and through what means God chooses. If a person is truly seeking God, he will persist in his search and will eventually find God.
Read more: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/is-gods-e...z3f2IXMpik
