Humbly consider others. Be true in mind and words.

My mom was confused too until she found Islam. She now knows who G-d is. G-d cannot beget or be begotten. Eternal has no birth or death. None but G-d is Perfect above all. All the Prophets Moses, Jesus, and last Muhammad (peace be to them) were mere humans. Confession is to G-d, only. Repentance is to G-d and no one else. We all bear the sins we all earn. My dad became a Muslim too. He found out the Jews placed false words into the bible. Thus, the Qur’an had to be revealed. The Qur’an stays as the last and only holy book kept pure.

Surat ‘Ali `Imran 3:85 – And whoever desires other than Islam as religion -
never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the lost.

The first commandment is most important. Yes? It’s easy for Muslims cause they know who G-d is. For them the Truth is all clear. The blessing that Christians need most is to find out the Truth about the Prophet (peace be). Please humbly search the Truth. Qur’an.com/4/157-158. Qur’an.com/19/1-40

I agree that the message of nature is not necessarily as straight forward as that. But I would suggest that everyone is aware that they have made poor choices and had evil thoughts, and felt powerless to overcome those negative parts of their character. I would also suggest that the world around us points to a Creator to whom we are responsible. I have a friend who lived amongst the people of Zimbabwe for most of his life (it was called Rhodesia when he lived there) and he had opportunity as a young man to talk with the elders of that region who remember the first Christian missionaries who came to share with them the story of Jesus. David asked those elders if they had been aware of God before they had ever heard of Jesus. They told him, “Oh yes, we knew there was a God. We could see evidence of Him in the world around us. But we preferred to worship things that we could control.” You see it is not just the Created Order that points us to God but it is God using that Created Order to reveal Himself. So people know that there is a God and that He is accessible to them. When a person comes to the place of realizing their powerlessness against the evil in their character it is not a stretch for them to look to God for help to do what is right. They would obviously need to have God helping them to understand that but so is everyone who hears the story of Jesus dependent on God to help them understand and accept that for themselves. That is why Paul wrote, “I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given to His people.” (Ephesians 1:16-18) There is much about the way God enlightens people about His Truth that I don’t completely understand but I know that I can trust what He says in the Bible, so I accept that He has given everyone all they need to know about who He is and how they can become an adopted child of His.

Again I would say, this does not mean that His followers need not be involved in telling other people about Jesus. That is clearly something that all Christians are called to join in on because of Jesus’ parting words, “make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19)

As far as our failure to live out the purpose for which we are created, that is the result of our choice to reject that purpose and reject the God who created us for that purpose. What it says about our Creator is that He loves us and has given us the opportunity to love Him which necessitates giving us the choice not to love Him. If we were created without that choice ours would not be love for God but a programmed response. No one–not even God–can force someone to love; it must be something that is chosen. It seems to me that any attempt to accuse God of failure based on the poor choices of humans is nothing but an attempt to shift the blame.

So what is your understanding of God Zach? Do reject the existence of a Supreme Creator or is your understanding of Him different from what I am presenting? What do you base your beliefs on?

1. There is no possible way these people have made an informed choice. They have never heard of the christian faith. It is not evident in nature. Nobody looks at nature and says, “aha, i am an evil person, but a savior died for me, I must accept him into my heart.” If everyone did already have this knowledge, then there would not be a reason for evangelism-priority movements such as campus crusade to exist.

2. If we have failed in our created purpose, then what does that say about our creator? Furthermore, if such a ridiculous plan (murdering innocents) can result in a better outcome for God (more glory) and billion of people (relationship), then it is likely that your first assumption (nearly all people go to hell) is wrong.

3. I agree it is a complicated topic. But saying something doesn’t make it so. You mentioned god’s purpose. If god’s purpose is more glory for himself via humans, then surely 90% of all humans burning in hell for eternity is a major failure of god.

I understand that you are being facetious in your second point but God’s grace has never been reason for His people to stop proclaiming the truth to people. Our hope is not in escaping Hell but rather that we can fulfill our created purpose which is to bring glory to God and enjoy relationship with Him.

Your third point addresses the complex nature of our free will in light of the sovereignty of God’s plan and purposes. Because we are limited in our understanding it is impossible for us to comprehend how those two can both be true at the same time. But somehow, in God’s infinite knowledge and purpose, those two are held in perfect tensioned balance. So by faith, we hold both to be true–nothing is able to thwart God’s sovereign plan and yet every person has the freedom to choose and is responsible for that choice. Neither is diminished by the other.

I am curious to know what your understanding of Hell is. Do you dismiss it altogether or do you feel it is a reality?

1- Billions of people never had the chance to hear the gospel, therefore they never made a choice to reject it.
2- If children automatically go to heaven, and you want people to go to heaven, then the BEST thing you can do is to murder as many children as you can.
3- if God can create people who would never be able to choose him no matter their circumstances, then they are denied free will to choose. Futhermore, for God to know that it is impossible for them to choose him but creates them anyways, then he is no longer a loving god.

The Holy Spirit will give you the answer as it always is my objective to share my faith with whomever I meet as God is using me as his messenger. It is the Holy Spirit who will convict the person you are speaking with and then it is up to them to choose if they wish to accept Christ. God Bless.

But that is not to say that I have not looked at other religious beliefs since or had times of doubt. I have spent time trying to understand different religious systems and compare their positives and negatives. I think one of the most significant reasons for me as an adult to recognize the truth claims of Jesus is that He says humanity is unable to reach God on their own. That is a unique claim from all other religions. Every other belief system says that through ritual, meditation, acts of charity, moral lifestyle, power of the intellect or some other human effort that we can achieve the ideal. Jesus is the only one who has said that only God can save us from the human condition, to put us in right relationship with God. All other religions encourage people to reach up to God where Christianity reveals that God has actually reached down to us. Paul wrote, “For it is by the grace of God that you have been saved–this is not of yourself, but it is the gift of God–not by the good works you have done so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) You will not find any other religion that makes that claim. That in itself is intriguing enough to explore more deeply why Jesus said we can’t make things right on our own and why God would go to the trouble of humbling Himself to rescue us.

That is one of the many aspects of the claims of Jesus that ring true for me. After 39 years (now I am really making it easy for you to guess my age) of seeking to know God and allowing Him to transform me I can say with all confidence: Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can live out their God-given purpose without Him. To hear other people tell their story of coming to faith in Jesus have a look at the “i am second” videos at http://powertochange.com/iamsecond. There are some amazing ways that God has helped people discover new life in Jesus. It is totally worth the time.

And if you wouldn’t mind, may I ask you to share about how you’ve come to accept Jesus and this faith? Of all the religions out there, how come you’ve chosen this one?
I just want to know… Because there are also Christians who transferred into other religions, and I am also investigating about their explanations. It’s alright if you do not like. I’ll try to find other sources.
Again, thank you.