10 Spiritual Questions and Their Answers
Question 1: Why is there evil in the world?
If God exists, why is there evil in the world? You know, this is a difficult stumbling block and question for many people. The simplest way to look at this question is to examine God’s nature and his desire for mankind. Look at the logic. God loves us and wants us to love him back. And how could we love him back unless we have the freedom to not love?
God could have made us like robots who do nothing more than say, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” But we’d be forced to do that and that wouldn’t be real love. Love is a choice. And if you have a choice you have to be able to choose not to love and that in itself is the nature of evil. Evil is choosing not to love. So when God gave us the freedom to choose, he gave us not only our greatest blessing, but he also gave us our greatest curse because we can choose to do right or choose to do wrong.
The reason there’s evil in the world is not because of God, but because God gave us the freedom to choose. Now the potential for love outweighs the existence of evil, because you see, evil is only going to exist for a short time, but love is going to go on forever. And all of the suffering and all of the death that we see in the world today are the result because man has chosen to make wrong choices.
God could have taken our freedom, but He didn’t. I hope you’ll use your freedom to choose God.
Question 2: Is Jesus really God?
Well when you think about it you only have three options as to who Jesus Christ was. You see, Jesus claimed to be God. He said things like, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” He claimed to be God many, many times. Now, that means either:
- He is who he says He was
- He was the biggest liar in history or
- He was crazy, He was a lunatic on the order of the man who calls himself a fried egg.
You see, you can’t just say Jesus was a good man. I’ve had many friends who said, “Oh, I believe Jesus was a good man.” Well He couldn’t have been a good man and said those things He said. For instance, if I said to you, “I’m Rick Warren and I’m a good teacher and a good husband.” You might say, “Okay, I buy that.” But if I said to you, “I’m Rick Warren and I’m God and I’m the only way to heaven.” Well, you would have to make a decision. You couldn’t say I was a good person because a good person wouldn’t say that. You’d either say, “He is who he says he was, or he’s a liar or he’s crazy.”
Now Jesus didn’t just expect us to believe Him and take Him at His word. He said, “I’m going to prove the claim that I am God.” He said, “I’m going to let people kill me on a cross, then let them bury me. I’ll be dead for three days and then I’ll come back to life.” And, of course, that was the event that changed history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every person since then refers to Jesus Christ, whether they believe in Him or not, every time you right a date, A.D. or B.C., what’s the reference point? Jesus Christ. Because it was the event that split history when Jesus proved that He was who He said He was, He is God.
Question 3: Do all religions lead to God?
Well now think about the logic of this. Can I go into a phone booth and dial any phone number and get home? No, there’s only one number that’ll get me home. I could be sincere, but I could be sincerely wrong. The truth is, all roads don’t lead to Rome and all roads and all religions don’t lead to God.
You see, it all depends on which direction you take. Jesus said this, “I am the way and the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I’m betting my life on the fact that He was right because I figured Jesus knows more about it than I did.
The Bible tells us that on the road to heaven, there are only two directions, toward Christ or away from Him. You can accept it or you can reject it, that’s your choice. You can make Jesus the Lord of your life, that means the manager, the ceo, the person in charge of your life, or you can call Him a liar, but that’s what the Bible declares.
You know a lot of people sincerely believe that even though they’ve broken God’s rules that they can earn God’s forgiveness by doing good works, by observing the Five Pillars of Islam or the Buddhist Eightfold Path or the Hindu Doctrine of Karma, for example. But I don’t get it. How will doing some good works that we should have done all our lives, make up for all the countless times we failed? You see, heaven is a perfect place and that means only perfect people get to go there. If not-perfect people were allowed in, it wouldn’t be perfect anymore. Well I don’t know about you, but I stopped being perfect a long time ago. So God came up with plan b. He came to earth in human form, Jesus Christ, and He lived a perfect life and now He offers to let us go to heaven on His ticket. And I pray that you will trust Jesus Christ and stop trying to bat a thousand because you ended up not doing that a long time ago and accept God’s free ticket through Jesus Christ.
Question 4: What’s going to happen to those people in the world who’ve never heard about Jesus Christ?
You may have heard this question put this way: “What about the person living in the jungle somewhere who’s never heard the good news about Jesus Christ? Are you christians saying that a person won’t go to heaven based solely on where he lives?” No, we’re not saying that. The Bible tells us that God doesn’t work that way. We understand that God is perfect in His love and perfect in His holiness and He’s perfectly just and fair. Therefore, it’s against God’s nature to be unfair. It’s against God’s nature to hide the ball on salvation or to condemn somebody who’s ignorant of his truth. In fact the scripture, the bible declares that God is loving and patient and not willing that anybody should perish. But He wants everybody to come to repentance, to come to know Him.
So if God is a perfectly loving and righteous God, then He will figure out ways to help people understand Him. He somehow reveals the simple truth of the gospel to people throughout the world. You know, I’ve talked to people who were missionaries in Africa who’ve told me that Jesus has revealed Himself through nature. When you look at nature you learn that God is organized, that God is creative, that God likes variety. But it’s when we look at Jesus Christ we realize that God is loving.
And as Christians we are called to tell the good news to other people. It’s God’s decision to decide what happens to people who haven’t heard about Him. But it is our decision to take that news to as many people as possible. And the bible says we will be held more responsible because we have heard and we have known that God is love, that God wants a relationship to us and that God will forgive us if we give our lives to Jesus Christ.
So, what do we do about those who haven’t heard? We tell them. First we accept God’s good news and then we tell them and we leave the result in the hands of a fair, loving and just God.
Question 5: What about all the wars that are caused in the name of Christianity?
Well first, let me say that a lot of things have been done in the name of Christianity that Jesus Christ would totally disavow. And just because someone claims to be a Christian doesn’t necessarily make him a follower of Christ, nor does it make him a representative of Jesus. It’s very, very important to distinguish between the bible kind of Christianity and the actions that have been taken throughout history by people who claim to be Christians but really didn’t know.
You see there’s a difference between religion and a relationship with God. Jesus is not interested in the religion of Christianity. He’s interested in you having a relationship to Him. Jesus never said, “I’ve come that you might have religion.” He said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”
Now a lot of people have claimed to be followers of Christ but they’ve lived their lives contrary to His teaching. And we shouldn’t label that group Christian. But let me say this, have you ever seen a counterfeit dollar? Well, maybe you haven’t, but maybe you’ve heard of them. Why are there counterfeit dollars in the world? Well, I’ll tell you why. Because there are real dollars in the world. If there were no real dollars, there would be no counterfeits. And if you find counterfeit Christianity in the world, it must mean that somewhere there must be the real thing. The point is we don’t identify Jesus by claiming that all the things that were done in His name were done by Him. In fact, Jesus proffended His own disciples from defending themselves against the enemies when He said on a personal basis, He said, “I want you to turn the other cheek.”
So a lot of wars have been done in the name of Christianity that Jesus probably would have disavowed. The real issue is do you know Jesus Christ? You see, it doesn’t matter so much what has been done by hypocrites or phonies or false followers of Christ. What matters is do you know the real, true, genuine item? Have you ever turned your life over to Jesus Christ? If you haven’t, I would encourage you to investigate Him today.
Question 6: Is there any real right or wrong?
You know, you might have heard somebody say, “I don’t believe there’s such a thing as right or wrong.” Or maybe you’ve heard a professor say, “There are no absolutes.” Whenever I hear that I want to say, “Are you absolutely sure?” You have to ask yourself, “Is this statement even logical? Is there any right or wrong?” Because when people say, “There is no right or wrong, or it’s wrong for you to impose your morals on me,” think about it, by them telling you that, they are imposing their morals on you.
The fact is we all inheritantly know right from wrong and we just have this weird tendency to disregard it. To disregard morality when it conflicts with our desires for pleasure or personal gain. Now, sure, you might justify having an affair, but certainly you wouldn’t condone your spouse having one. Or you might justify taking something without permission, but if you were the one being robbed you wouldn’t think it was okay. You see the fact is, there isn’t a person alive today who’d come home from work and discover that their entire house had been robbed and say, “Oh, how wonderful that this burglar is able to enjoy all my things without my permission. And who am I to impose my view of right or wrong on this poor burglar?” You see how ridiculous that is? Of course.
Even those who claim there is no right or wrong have their own moral conscious, they’ve just set their own standards. Here’s a good way to determine right from wrong. Turn the situation around on yourself. Jesus said it best. He said, “Treat people the same way you want people to treat you.” You see we all know that murder and rape and lying and stealing and torture and injustice are absolutely wrong. Why? Because we wouldn’t want any of these things to happen to us. The person who would say, “there is no right or wrong,” would not agree that it was okay for them to be raped. No, when you turn it on yourself, you realize that even inside ourselves God has placed a moral conscious and that conscious tells us when we do right and when we do wrong. And when we violate our conscious, we need forgiveness. That’s why the bible said, “God sent Jesus to earth so that we might be forgiven of all of our wrong.”
Question 7: Why do I exist?
That’s the most fundamental question of life. What on earth am I here for?
Well, you need to understand God to answer that question. You see, the bible says, “God is love.” It doesn’t say He has love, it says He is love. It’s part of His nature, His character, it is the essence of His being. God is love. Now, love isn’t very valuable unless you bestow it on something and the bible says, “God made you to love you.” You were created as an object of God’s love. If you want to know why you’re taking breath right now, why your heart is beating, it’s because God made you to love you. It’s the sole reason. You were made to be loved by God and to bring Him pleasure.
Now God wants you to learn to love Him back and that’s the first purpose of your life, to get to know and love Him back. One day Jesus was walking down the street and a man came up and said, “What’s the most important command in the bible?” And Jesus said, “I’m going to summarize the entire bible in one sentence. Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.” That’s called the great commandment. And God wants you to get to know and love Him back. So that means when you get up in the morning, you should sit on the side of your bed and say, “God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I want to know you a little bit better and I want to love you a little bit more.” Because if at the end of the day you know God more and you love Him more, you have just fulfilled one of the purposes of your life.
If, on the other hand, you’ve accomplished all kinds of things and achieved many, many successes in life, but at the end of the day you don’t know God better or love Him more, you have missed the primary purpose of your life. Because God didn’t put you on this earth just to mark things off your to-do list. He put you here to know Him and love Him. That’s why you exist.
Question 8: What is my purpose in life?
Well the truth is, God created you for five purposes. You see, you were made by God and you were made for God. And until you understand that, life isn’t going to make sense. When you come to this question, what is my purpose, you only have three alternatives.
- First is what I call the mystical approach, and that is look within. You find this in a lot of talk shows, a lot of new age books a lot of seminars. They say, “look within to discover your purpose.” The only problem is that doesn’t work. We’ve all looked within and I didn’t like what I saw. It’s quite confusing. In fact, if you could know the purpose of your life by looking within, we’d all know it by now. It doesn’t work.
- The second way you can try to discover your purpose is called the intellectual or philosophical approach. And that’s where you go to a seminary class or university class and you sit there with a pipe and your latte and your coffee and you ask questions like, “Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am I going?” I once read a book by professor John Morehead, the Head of the Department of Philosophy at Northeastern University in Illinois. And he wrote to 250 well-known intellectuals and asked them, “What is the meaning and purpose of life?” These were novelists, scientists, well-known intellectuals, and I read the book, it’s now out of print, it was quite depressing because most of the people said, “I have no idea what the purpose of life is.” Some of them admitted they just made up a purpose. And some of the admitted they guessed. And some of them said, “If you know the purpose, please tell me.”
- You see, there’s a better answer to speculation and that’s revelation. If I were to hold up an invention that you have never seen before, you wouldn’t know its purpose. The only way you’d know its purpose was either talk to the inventor, the creator who made it or read the owner’s manual. The owner’s manual of life is the bible and your Creator is God. And it is only as you get to know God you will discover his five purposes for your life. I hope you’ll begin that journey today.
Question 9: Does my life really matter?
Well, it’s a good question. You know, today we teach our kids that we’re all just one big cosmic accident. We came from the goo through the zoo to you over billions of years. Well, if that is true, in a nutshell it teaches that your life really doesn’t matter, you’re just the freak accident of random chance, you’re complex slime and you were an accident. And if you get accidentally killed, well, of course, that doesn’t matter. And that creates a lot of our sociological problems and a lot of our self-esteem issues.
But the truth is you are not an accident. You were created by a loving God who loves you and designed you with intricate detail in your life and when you understand that God made you to love you and that God made you to be a part of His family and that God made you to last forever, then you’re never going to have a problem with low self-esteem again.
It was Bertram Russell the atheist who once said, “Unless you assume the existence of God, then the purpose and meaning of life is irrelevant.” The truth is, if there is no God your life doesn’t matter. But because there is a God, God had a specific purpose in mind when He created you and you do matter. You matter because God created you. You matter because he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross. If you want to know how much you matter, think of Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched saying, “I love you this much.”
Now, if you had to chose between a loved one and a material thing, even if that thing was priceless, you’d chose your loved one in a heartbeat. And when you’re on your deathbed, you’re not going to surround yourself with material possessions, you’re not going to say, “Bring me my trophies. Bring me my credentials. Bring me my certificates so I can look one more time at my grade point average.” No, you’re going to surround yourself with loved ones and everybody’s going to be crying because they’re going to miss you. You see, that’s how much you matter.
Personal relationships to God and to other people are the most important thing in life. And God wants you to know Him and He wants you to have a relationship with Him because you’re worth so much in God’s eyes that he sent His Son to die for you. I hope you’ll get to know Him very soon.
Question 10: Is there a real hell and why would a loving God send anyone there?
Well, first I believe in hell because Jesus talked about it. In fact, Jesus talked more about hell then He did heaven. He said it is a real place and it is a place of eternal torment. And I believe Jesus knows more about it than either you or I.
But second, I believe in hell because logic and fairness demand it. Think of all the atrocities and evil that have been done throughout history by evildoers in this world. For God to allow those crimes to go unpunished would mean that God is not worthy of our worship and love.
Now why would a loving God send anyone to hell? Well in a nutshell, God doesn’t. God doesn’t send anybody to hell. We choose to go there when we reject the love of God. If I were to say to my right is a door heading to heaven, and to my left is a door heading to hell, if you walk out the door heading to hell, you don’t have anybody to blame but yourself.
In fact, the bible tells us that God does almost everything – well everything possible to keep us out of hell. He cared so much to keep us out of hell that he sent Jesus Christ to come to earth, to die on the cross, to pay for our sins so that we don’t have to pay for them. He wants to set us free. He wants to give us forgiveness. God made us in his image and He gave us the ultimate power to say yes or no.
Now if we chose to reject God here on earth, then we, at the same time, are choosing to spend eternity separated from Him. You see, there are only two people in the world – two kinds of people. Those who say, “Thy will be done here to God on earth” and those to whom God says, “Your will be done,” when we say, “I want to do it my way.” And if we say, “God I don’t want you in my life while I’m here on earth,” then God says, “I don’t want you in my heaven for eternity.”
You don’t have to go to hell. In fact, Jesus Christ has made it possible for you to go to heaven. Open your heart to Him and say, “Jesus Christ, I need you, I want you, I trust you and I ask you to forgive me.” And He’ll come in and save you.
You can begin your journey today! Learn more about how you can discover purpose in your life.
If you have a question that wasn’t asked in this list,
People who call themselves agnostic when asked about god are idiots agnostic means without knowledge or lack of knowledge basically ignorant, atheist means without god or disbelief (or denial) in god(s), It was a bad comparison unless you know for a fact it was god of course which I’m not doubting or supporting, emotions aren’t that good either we know chemicals in the brain cause them if you don’t consider hate an emotion then we also have a drug/medicine that dies that down so I think that’s caused by a chemical in the brain to, atheist and “agnostics” don’t because we can’t see god it’s because lack of evidence
People are sent to hell for rejecting God and claiming to be a false prophet. God will not send you to hell for sin as no one who ever walked on earth, except Jesus, is perfect and we all sin.
By the way, in case you were wondering, Job does not turn his back on God. Instead, in the face of great sorrow, he makes the famous statement, “Even if God slay me, yet will I praise Him!” Job was a man who loved God because of who God is, not because of the good gifts that He gives. He knew the character and nature of God and knew that there is no one in this world or in the heavenly realms who is remotely as wonderful in truth and love as the Almighty God and knew that it was only Him that he would worship.
God 1 Satan 0
What about you? Are you going to fall for Satan’s foolishness or acknowledge that God alone is worthy?!
Person, I don’t think you have proved that an all-knowing all-loving God is a paradox. As I pointed out, an all-knowing God would not only know what a person will choose but also all the potential choices that could be made. An all-loving God would not force a person to make a particular choice because true love must have the potential to be refused if it is true love. God’s love for humanity was so great that even though He knew the ones who would reject His love still He created them and allowed them to make that choice. Beyond that, He also allowed His Son to be killed in order to pay the penalty of sin for those who would refuse the gift of forgiveness. While we were still in the middle of our rejection and rebellion against God, Jesus died for us. That is a love that goes beyond my understanding.
To answer your question about Hell: the Bible informs us that Hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels who had rebelled against God. It is both a place of punishment and the fulfillment of the choice to be independent of God. It will be a place of punishment because it will be a place of unending sorrow and suffering. But it is also the result of the choice of wanting to have nothing to do with God. If God is the giver of all good things, then to be separated from God is to be separated from all good things. People want to be independent of God and that means being removed from all good things. So Hell is what people have chosen if they want to be removed from God.
God, in His mercy, has allowed the completion of that choice to be suspended until we die. That means we have this life to recognize the wonderful nature of God and choose to follow Him and be blessed with life in His presence. Many have and will accept that gift that comes through Jesus but others will reject and rebel. The end of that choice is the reality of separation from God forever in Hell.
You also asked why God tests people who have the most faith. I don’t know that is necessarily accurate. I don’t know if anyone has tried to quantify the amount of testing that people undergo in relation to the quality of their faith. I guess one answer that I would give is from the story of Job in the Bible. The opening of Job gives us a view into the spiritual realm that could only come from the revelation of God. Here we see the angels come to present themselves before God and in the midst of that Satan also approaches God and makes an accusation. He says that Job only worships God because God has given him wealth and happiness, putting up protection so that those things cannot be touched. Satan proposes that if those protections were removed and he was able to take away Job’s wealth, family, health and happiness that Job would curse God instead of worship Him. But God knows Job better than Satan does and so He agrees to allow Satan to take away everything Job has; only limiting him from taking Job’s life. From there the story switches back to Earth and we see the results of Satan’s attack on Job. So if your premise is true then perhaps part of the answer is that Satan wants to attack those whose faith is so strong to prove that people only love God when things are going well. If he is able to prove that people don’t love God for who He is then he is justified in His claim that God is not worthy of worship which leaves each individual free to worship themself rather than God.
Another part of the answer to your question is found in another part of the Bible where we read that God disciplines those He loves. Out of His love for us He wants the best for us and the very best from us. So rather than allowing us to follow a path that leads to destruction He disciplines us to stop us and help us to turn back to the path that leads to life. If He didn’t love us He would just let us go down the path to destruction and not waste His time and energy and the life of His Son Jesus to bring us back into relationship with Him. That is a love that He shows to all people.
Does that make sense and/or answer your questions?
Thanks Jaimie! I sometimes have difficulties controling my temper. The one tool I have that God has given me to my disposal is to remember to ask the Holy Spirit to speak when I should speak and be silent when I should be silent. I do forget to utter this prayer to God’s Spirit sometimes and leads me in some trouble at times.
Person…In all honesty, everyone experiences loss and trials. Christian or not. For me, If I hadn’t been through the tragety of loosing my cousin to murder or loosing my father at a young age I would not be able to comfort those who suffer the loss of ones they love. Meaning, I know what it’s like to be abused or in physical pain where others may not. God allows these things to happen so we can comfort and help those who are struggling with the same tribulations. My saying is, “God turns our ashes into victories!” But everyone struggles and everyone suffers. Maybe some more than others, but it is a part of growth. It strengthens our characters and helps to empathize with others. Makes us better human beings.
You know what I really wish? I wish when we grew up into adulthood that our faith like a child never changed. We can learn so much from children. They forgive easily without holding a grudge and their faith is so pure and simple. When we grow into adulthood we become more skeptical and hurting others can sometimes become second nature without uttering an “I’m sorry” and moving forward. Lord help us all!
angels, you are right: I am horribly inadequate to know the intention of God in the work of the world. That is why I limited my points to something that was positive–that actually came out of the holocaust (the creation of the nation of Israel which is part of the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy do some degree)– and something which God Himself has spoken which was the principle of blessing following obedience and discipline following disobedience. I also tried to capture the many different powers at work: the negative feeling of so many against the Jewish nation, the spiritual antagonism against the Jewish nation as God’s chosen people, the results of the Jewish nation’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah. There are of course many other forces that contributed to the holocaust some of which you have identified. But because of the context of the question I narrowed my answer to what I thought was important to identify in regards to God’s sovereignty and the destructive choices of humans that leads to pain and suffering in the world around us. But I do appreciate your calm words bringing some perspective to the discussion.
Person…I can also feel the presence of God. So the anology was not that horrible. Many people feel things that we cannot see. Like love…hate…compassion. The arguement is that among many agnostics or atheists that we cannot see God. If you choose to be an agnostic or atheist, be it at your will, there is nothing anyone can do or say to make you change your beliefs. I believe in God because of the hope that I have in Him. He helps me to endure suffering and pain and loss and abuse. I also have a greater hope to be in a place where I will never suffer again. This hope I have is a hope you have not.
Forgot to say why does god test people who have the most faith?
@Jamie god could make you know what the outcome of that lesson would be in the best way possible for each individual, I already proved all knowing and all powerful is a paradox so that’s already not a question, I have another question Is hell supposed to be eternal punishment after you die for committing sins or “rejecting” god? @angel oxygen is a horrible comparison you can feel oxygen
With all due respect to you Jaimie..How can you speak the reason for why God actually allowed the holocaust to happen? You don’t know what God thinks. The Jews are God’s chosen people. The holocaust happened because of a power hungry narcissist and the jews have been persecuted for centuries. Many things happen to people, horrible things, that we just don’t have answers for. They do test our faith and sometimes shake it to it’s very core. With God, He makes things possible for us to endure them.
Person, I do think you’re questions are very logical ones. You can’t receive answers to them unless you ask. I enjoy the program Creation Magazine. It deals with Science, evolution and the Bible. I don’t know if you can actually watch the program. I also think they have a website as well. Some of your questions I can’t actually answer. Faith in God is a mystery to those who aren’t Christian. It’s believing in a God we cannot see. But there are many things I believe that I actually can’t see. I can’t see oxygen, but I do know it exists. I hope you can find the answers you are looking for.
I would say that someone who is all-knowing not only knows what someone will do but also knows the infinite number of possibilities of what a person would do. That to me would be all-knowing. It is kind of big thing for me to consider but then again, I am not all-knowing.
Again, I have to point out that you are stating some expectation of what you think an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God would do. But you are none of those things, so how can you instruct someone who is infinitely more knowledgeable, powerful and loving than you? How do you know that the most loving thing is to make sure that everyone is safe? We know that often the best lessons learned come from failures. Is it loving to rob people of those lessons? You also say that an all-loving God wouldn’t care if anyone rejected His love. Yet to reject His love is to desire to be separated from Him. If God did not care that people rejected Him and instead forced them to remain in His presence would that be loving? No, that’s tyranny. Yet to be separated from Him is to remove all that is good and beautiful in life, or in other words, Hell. If God didn’t care about people rejecting His love and allowed them to just be removed from His presence He would be banishing them to an eternity in Hell. That is not love. So God, in His perfect love, allows people to choose to be separated from Him but gives them every opportunity possible here on Earth to discover how much better life is with Him than without Him.
Your question about the holocaust is one that I cannot completely answer because I don’t know all of the things that were accomplished in people’s lives through the holocaust. But I do know that part of the reason that the Jews have been targeted by many governments and people groups is because they are a nation that has a unique relationship with God. They have been chosen by God to be the source of His salvation for the world (Jesus was a Jew) and His instrument to complete that salvation. The Jews as a nation rejected Jesus as the one sent by God to save the whole world but God tells us that at the end of the world, when everything will be set right, the Jews as a nation will accept Jesus as the Messiah. At first there have been attempts by nations to wipe out the Jews so that there could be no Messiah because there would be no Jews. God protected His people through all of that until Jesus was born and completed the work He was sent to Earth to do. Since then, there have been attempts to wipe out the Jews because if there are no Jews there will be no nation wide acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and the plan of God will have been thwarted. God continues to protect His people so that His plan will be accomplished.
Part of the reason that God allowed the holocaust to happen was because the Jewish people have turned their backs on Him. God had told them long ago that when they were obedient they would receive blessing but if they turned from Him they would be cursed. The holocaust fits the picture of what God had warned them about.
That is a hard reason behind the holocaust but not all the reasons are negative. It is because of the holocaust that the Jews now have a nation. It is true that the Zionist movement had existed long before the holocaust and the Pogroms of the Soviets but never was there such an international support of the nation of Israel being remade until the horrors of those evil events occurred. The existence of the nation of Israel is in many ways the result of the holocaust.
I know that these reasons I give are not completely satisfying. That’s because you are asking me, an extremely not all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving being and so my answers are incomplete. I am certain that if God were to give you His reasons for not stopping the holocaust they would be incontrovertible.
The point of us being here on Earth is because wants us to be in relationship with Him. He has created humanity to interact with Him like no other creature in existence. You see we have been given a special gift that no one, not even the angels in Heaven have. That gift is that we bear the image of God. Our lives reflect the amazing nature of God which gives us a unique relationship with God that no one else is able to have. Now because we have rejected God that image has been distorted; it’s as if the mirror is cracked and no longer gives an accurate reflection. But the promise of Jesus Christ is that if we trust in Him, He will make us into a new creation. All that is broken about us will be made new and we will once again clearly reflect the image of God. That is why we are here on Earth.
I am not sure why you accuse God for the pain and suffering in this world. On what do you base that accusation?
1.What I said was not presumptuous an all loving god would love everyone completely equal and sense their all loving they would do anything in their power to help the people in need lets throw in all knowing and powerful now they have the power to make sure everyone is safe and ok, also they wouldn’t care if anyone rejected their love 2.if god has a plan we follow it or they made it for completely no reason and would know that it would fail 3.Why didn’t god stop the holocaust from happening? 4.What’s the point of us being on earth and living? 5.”We also have to acknowledge that the existence of pain and suffering in this world is directly tied to our rejection of God.” I’ll fix it don’t worry, We also have to acknowledge that the existence of pain and suffering in this world is directly tied to God.
It’s not presumption it’s a fact if you created the universe and knew everything that was going to happen then that would happen you wouldn’t be able to change anything because you would know every event that would happen and if any of the events were to change that would mean they don’t know everything
With all due respect Person, don’t you think it is somewhat presumptuous for you–very much NOT an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving being–to tell God what He should or should not have allowed to happen? Remember you are limited by your finite perspective and so your judgement calls are based on your knowledge, your experience and your understanding. God sees things on an infinitely grander scale than you or I will ever see and so when He does something that doesn’t make sense to us we have to be careful not to accuse Him of not being loving or knowledgeable or powerful.
We also have to acknowledge that the existence of pain and suffering in this world is directly tied to our rejection of God. The choices that we make to ignore God’s direction and to try and create our own destiny that is at odds with the purpose for which God created us have resulted in a world full of pain and sorrow. It seems rather foolish to make poor choices and then blame God because He didn’t stop us from making those choices.
And if we were created to only make right choices would we really be making choices? If there is no way that a person could choose to do the wrong thing then their choice to do the right thing is much less significant. Part of the beauty of human love for God is that we can choose not to love Him (a choice that many people do make) and so when someone does respond to the invitation of God to follow His path, that is something of value.
I grant you, it is difficult to wrap my mind around the concept that God is sovereign and has a plan for this world but that all of humanity has the freedom to choose their own path and are held responsible for that path they choose. But the reason I cannot see how those both are true is because I am limited in my intellect and perception. God is infinite and is able to hold both of those truths in tension without compromising either.
So Cathie, God has a plan for your life and He wants you to follow in it. He does not force you into that path because He wants you to choose it yourself. At the same time, He knows what it is that you will choose; so you can know that His plan incorporates those choices that you make. But that does not at all absolve you of the responsibility for making good choices. It does get the mind spinning but you can be sure that God knows exactly how to keep all of that in balance. Your job is to focus your attention on knowing Him better and following Him as He leads you. There is nothing to be afraid of because His plan for you is perfect. He created you so He is the best one to determine what your perfect purpose in life is. You can absolutely trust Him because His power and knowledge is perfectly balanced with His love.
Person, you asked about the age of the Earth according to the Bible. There is no place in the Bible that it says “The Earth was created on January 1 4004 BC” The way that scholars have calculated the age of the Earth is by looking at the genealogical lists in the Bible and counting backwards from known dates. Usually the counting starts from Abraham who lived around 2000 BC. Following the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 the estimate is that the Earth was created around 4004 BC. There are some differences depending on sources used, and which starting point you use. There are also some people who read the Creation account in the Bible as an allegory rather than a literal historical account. These people then say that the Earth could be millions or billions of years old but that humanity was created in around 4004 BC. It is my perspective that since God loves to reveal truth about Himself and His works I don’t have any problems accepting that Creation occurred as He presents it in the Bible.
Now if He did create the way that the Bible describes you have to acknowledge that the universe was a fully functioning habitat at the end of the six days. So trees would likely have rings showing years of existence even though they had just been created. There would have been stars at all different stages including main sequence stars all the way through to black holes. Most creatures would have been adult including Adam and Eve. I would even speculate that Adam and Eve had belly buttons even though they had not gone through birth like all the rest of us did. This is my own speculation. I can’t point you to a place in the Bible that states this but it makes the most sense to me. So if the universe was created with age our ability to deduce that age is seriously limited. If we could find a tree that was created on day 3 of Creation and cut it down we would see more than just 6016 rings and so we would not be able to assess the age of the Earth from that. Similarly, we can’t look at the stars and the geological formations on the Earth and be able to get an accurate age of the Earth. This is not a deception on God’s part; it is just the reality of creating a universe that is fully functioning habitat for humanity.
That’s the way I understand it anyway…
Acknowledging Christ is not good enough, Satan and his demons acknowledge Christ as the Lord and Savior, so if that’s all you do, what makes you so different from Satan himself? You have to live out of faith, kindness, and love. You have to live as Jesus lived, and I’m not sayin you have to be perfect, I’m saying that you have to be able to see Christ in every person that you meet and treat them like Christ even if they are not a believer. There is one question that you need to ask yourself that ROCKED me spiritually. It delivered a near fatal blow. Could you be happy in a heaven that does not have God in it. You know the answer deep down, and you can’t avoid it. If your answer is yes, then you need to ask Jesus into your heart and allow him to rid you of sin.
I am just now beginning to understand God. I used to ask myself all these questions and I’m just now getting the answers. Within this past month I decided to sell out for Jesus, and I have had moment of extreme delight and have felt miserable too. Here’s an example: I met a girl in church and when I first saw her, I felt a nudge. I had no idea where it came from (was not sold out for Christ at this time), but I knew deep down that she was going to serve a purpose in my life. So, I attended a church function and she was there. I avoided conversation and was very awkward around her. A few days later, I saw her at Bible study on Wednesday night and I could feel something inside of me growing. At the end of the night, she gave me her number and told me to call her if I ever wanted to hang out or just talk. I decided that it wouldn’t be fair to her if I didn’t call her, So we set up plans to hang out the following Sunday after church. That night, I gave my life to Christ and He gave me the most awesome feeling in the world. To shorten the story, we never really hung out alone, and we only hung out about 3 times. I felt deeply in love with her, but didn’t know if she felt the same way. She was only visiting for the summer as she attends college in New York, which I knew since we met. So this past Saturday, I told her how I felt, and I didn’t get the answer I wanted to hear, but I held my composure and we went out with a couple of friends. The rest of the evening was awkward for me, but she seemed to be just fine. After I got home, I was ready to break down and start degradeing myself, but before I did, God spoke to me. A sudden, very clear thought popped into my head and it was amazing. He made me realize that He wanted me to feel that way about a woman so that He could help me change myself. He helped me to realize that I never really had any female friends, and that I was unknowingly keeping myself from loving them. I always viewed women as people that you get close to when you’re ready to start a relationship with them, and He taught me a lesson. I have not told her about God’s hand in our relationship as friends, but I will when I feel that God permits me to do so. Anyway, she gets on a plane early tomorrow morning to head back to New York and I’m still getting the spiritual healing that I desperately need. So you have to understand that God is loving, He really does care, and that sometimes He has to put us through pain to save our lives from evil, Just as He sacrificed His only son. He allows us to be put in horrible situations so that we may be humble and willingly accept him into our lives. I challenge you to let go of the person you are today and for 6 months, live the way that you know Christ would want you to, and if you do not notice a difference, turn away from Him forever because He will not allow you to be alone.
I wonder about what person said, I too have the questions. I have heard or been told that God gives us free will, and that is the general answer. Children born in to poverty, people who believe and bring the faith to others are killed. Yes, all knowing He knows what is the outcome so what is the purpose, my free will cannot change the outcome because it is His will not ours. I am seeking answers trying to find God Jesus in my life. So did God know I would be at this cross roads and does He have the answer what if it is I loss if it is His will I can not change it. I am so afraid
Yes that would prove god is very powerful I dont know about all powerful maybe but I’m not sure. The reason why something can’t be all powerful knowing and loving is because theres people starving or have cancer and more, if he was all 3 he wouldn’t have let it happen, and if anybody who gets sent to hell it would be gods fault he would have already known what they were going to do and that he was already going to send them to hell another reason is because he’d have a plan for everyone which they’d have to follow because he’d know everything you were going to do before he even made earth and the universe, and if he is all 3 then you can’t believe in the devil god would have already known what the devil would become or could just make him disappear, also it’s a parradox for all powerful and knowing he wouldn’t be able to change his mind because he would have already known what the final decision would be. I also wanted to bring up something does the bible actually say or imply that the earth is only 6,000 years old?
My explanation for the trinity is simple. For example in a family unit there is a father, a mother and a child. They all work together as one unit and they are all individuals. They have different personalities with different tasks and roles.
If God sent someone to hell, it would be the fault of that person, not God’s fault. For example, the person who is getting away with murdering my cousin last fall, I wouldn’t want that person to be rewarded with a happy afterlife. As for the suicide arguement, I tried to commit suicide 8 times. I suffer from a psychiatric disorder. Killing myself would destroy my whole family and my friends. I have watched a few individuals my small community suffer horrible grief after their loved ones killed themselves because they often blame themselves. Killing yourself is a self murder. My body is not my own. It belongs to the creator who made me. That is one fact that prevents me from further attempts of suicide. My faith strengthens me. I am provided hope for the suffering I have endured.
I am sorry Person, but I am a little confused by your first question. Maybe you can clarify why you think that God cannot be all powerful, all knowing and loving. I don’t see those characteristics as mutually exclusive.
If you look at the claims God makes in the Bible you see evidence of all three characteristics. One clear proof of His power is Creation. If He did indeed create the universe as He has said He did then you have to admit that is a power greater than any other. His knowledge is seen time and time again through fulfilled prophecy. One of the most stunning is how He inspired Isaiah to name the Persian king Cyrus as the one who would release the people of Israel from their Babylonian exile 150 years before Cyrus was even born, before the people of Israel had even been taken into captivity. Another is the description of the events surrounding the different empires that conquered Israel in Daniel’s prophecies. The details given about the fall of the Persians, the rise of the Greeks, the ultimate demise of the Greeks and the coming to power of the Roman Empire are incredibly accurate. It is almost like reading a history book but his prophecies came while the Babylonians were still in firm control of their empire. I could go on and on about the perfection of God’s prophecies and evidence of His perfect knowledge.
As for the love of God, that too is clearly evidenced. I could point to Creation and describe the detail that God paid attention to as He created a place for humanity to thrive surrounded by beauty and diversity. I could point to the generosity that God showed in revealing Himself to humans. I could describe His patience and grace in dealing with the people of Israel as they again and again turned their backs on Him. But there is no better picture of God’s love than in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. That He would leave His rightful place in Heaven and become just like one of us so that we could actually see and know God. He told His disciple Phillip, “If you have seen me you have seen God.” But it wasn’t enough for Him to humble Himself to become one of us; He went the ultimate expression of love by dying to pay for the consequences of our rebellion and rejection of God. He died for you Person, even though He knew that you did not believe in Him, He died so that you would have the opportunity to be released from the consequences of that choice. You are not destined to live like there is no God and to be separated from Him in this life and in eternity. You can receive new life! Not because you deserve it but because God loves you and wants you to live with Him forever. That is an amazing love, don’t you think?!
As we look at the world around us with all of its beauty and wonder we can see evidences of God’s power, knowledge and love all around us. But we also have to admit that there are some terrible things that happen; a lot of pain and suffering. God has a clear answer for that as well. It is an answer that we don’t like to acknowledge because it points back to us. You see humans are the problem; because we have turned our back on God and sought to live life on our own terms we have corrupted ourselves and corrupted God’s beautiful Creation that He made for us to thrive in. Our broken relationship with God has caused us to have broken relationships with nature, with other people and with ourselves. Our only hope is to allow God to heal our broken relationship with Him so that we can have proper relationships with our world, our neighbours and ourselves. Until that happens we will continue to see pain and suffering.
I know there are people who have pointed to the pain and suffering in the world and blamed God for it, or they have said that it proves there is no God. I see those as feeble attempts at trying to hide from the responsibility that each of us has in contributing to the darkness of this world. That is a natural reaction but it is a deadly path. As any recovering alcoholic will tell you, the first step to freedom is admitting that you have a problem that you are powerless to resolve.
Well I’m an agnostic atheist so I don’t believe in god. Would mind answering my 1st question u don’t hav to if u don’t want to but please tell me u dont wanna if u don’t.
Hi Person, the question about Hell is a difficult one because both answers are true. Yes God is the ultimate Judge and He does sentence people to Hell. But those people end up there because of the choices they have made about how they will respond to God. God created humanity for a specific purpose which is to be in relationship with Him. Because love needs to be something that is freely chosen He gave all humanity the choice of loving Him or rejecting Him. If someone chooses to reject Him they are choosing to be separated from His light, His love, His life. What they are choosing is darkness, hate, and death. That is Hell and that is what they have chosen. I heard someone once speculate that the gates of Hell are locked but they are locked from the inside–the people who are there have locked the door to keep God out.
So what about you? What is your choice? Do you want God’s love, light and life? He has made it clear how you can receive that gift from Him. If you don’t want that though, the option is to remove yourself from God and all His light, love and life. Which will you choose?
1st.Is god all powerful knowing or loving how the world is they can’t be all 3 so which 2 or 1? 2nd.”there is no one who can claim to have never heard about God.” this is somewhat correct a person who would be able to claim that would not no what they were talking about when they said god and would basically be saying a random word, it’s like a person saying I’ve never heard about penguins or bananas because you say you havn’t heard about something the moment someone mentions it you would have heard about it 3rd.”Now why would a loving God send anyone to hell?” real question is why make 1 “Well in a nutshell, God doesn’t. God doesn’t send anybody to hell.” god has the ultimate decision to send someone “We choose to go there when we reject the love of God.” with this logic then this means you committed suicide when you didn’t give the money to the guy with the gun
Hi Joseph, I am glad you found this article useful. Be sure to recommend it to others (you will notice the FB “Like” button, the email “Share” and the Twitter link at the bottom of the article)
I am not going to say i loved these question ok i loved them it is kind of sick to just read of other peoples thoughts talking about GOD Jesus and anything that relates does help out others it sure just helped me to push stay on my track not to fall through any crack God Bless who ever wrote this
Hi Tasha;
I’m not saying your b/f is a liar, but, I find it a little hard to accept that a Christian Church would not allow him into one of their services. No matter what the circumstances are.
If there is a suggestion of demon possession, no matter where you stand on demonology, I would suggest that he speak to Catholic priest first about this issue. I’m not Catholic personally, but, I do appreciate their approach to demon possession, whereas they do not do exorcisms on just anyone who believe they are possessed. They do a complete investigation to insure there is no absolute sign of mental illness or fraud. Even after that has been exhausted, they reinvestigate the issue! They MUST have permission from a bishop before even doing a exorcism.
right im desperate to no the an answer for this, so i wonder if u can help me…. my boyfriend is a good person to me but then he can b a bad person towards other people who does or says the wrong thing towards him, he says he has a bad soul and religious people wont let him in churches or any religious person as they say he gives them a bad vibe and something wrong all ways happen to them. but this is detail about him around people now this is my question….. when he touches certain glass it cracks when his hands are placed on them and he said he didnt see a reflection on a glass when he was with his friend all he saw was a dark shadow of himself or someone and same thing happens he had a family picture done he said there was a shadow behind him and there wasn’t other peoples shadows there and there was no light to create that effect, he said all this was starting to happen wen he visited the gate way of hell, he seen and experienced ghosts. does he have a bad spirit inside him trying to get out? i am very serious about this i really need answers for this, thank you for your time reading.
Hi Yoiy;
I wonder if you were led here for a reason, or you are searching for the truth. If I may say, if you start reading the Gospels, which is a very good place to start, you will receive alot of answers. Also, archeoligists have found proof of many things mentioned in the Bible and they do know that Jesus exists.
I have been on the other side of the coin so-to-speak, following religions that would not be acceptable to God. It brought me utter chaos and I had no idea who I was as a person, because in this New Age jargin and those who don’t believe in God, everything is about yourself. Being a Christian, I understand who I am and who I serve and belong to. I am a child of God. God loves me unconditionally no matter what. He loved me so much that He sent His one and only Son to die on this earth for my sins, a punishment I should have suffered.
Having a relationship with Jesus is very personal and He is the Best Friend you will ever have. Jesus has always been there for me, through the good times and the bad times. He would never walk away from me. I am so blessed to have a friend such as that.
There are many things that we don’t understand now. That’s ok. I don’t think I want to understand everything. I know that when my journey has ended on this earth, I will be with Jesus and that is such a comfort for me. There will be no more sorrow, tears or pain. No more death.
I know I can’t believe in evolution because evolution makes no sense to me. If we stop and just ponder, when a baker is making a cake, he has all of the ingredients outside the mixing bowl he needs. Like flour, milk, sugar etc. He has to physically put those ingredients in that bowl and mix the ingredients and place it in the oven to create that confection. The ingredients don’t just jump in the bowl itself and go in the oven itself and make itself. You need the creator of that creation to make that cake. God is the same thing. God created the world. He spoke the world into existance. That was one of the greatest miracles that God ever performed. Do you have miracles happen in your life? A close call in life with yourself or a family member? Something that happened that it was impossible that you or your loved one is still here? Those are called miracles. Nothing happens by chance!
Please think about what I said. I will be thinking and keeping you in my prayers. God is calling you! Why not respond today!
p.s…sorry this post was so long and I pray that it made sense!
First of all Shaun, there is no one who can claim to have never heard about God. David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Palm 19:1-4) Paul wrote “For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:19-20) So everyone has an awareness of God and His character.
We also know, based on John 3:16, that God’s love for the whole world is what motivated Jesus to come into the world. We also know, as Rick pointed out in the article, that God does not want to see anyone die in their sin (2Peter 3:9). So we can be sure that out of His love for all people, God is revealing Himself to people throughout the world. Most times that is through the testimony of His followers but there are also examples of God using other means to communicate His truth. One of the ways that has been happening recently is through dreams. My friend was in the church foyer on Sunday during a worship service. Two Iranian sisters came into the church, one who had immigrated to Canada and could speak English, and the other who was visiting her but was returning home to Iran later that week. The lady from Iran said that in her sleep Jesus, son of Mary, had come to her. He had told her that she needed to come to this church today so that someone could tell her more about Him. She began asking questions and hearing about who Jesus is and how He had died for her. She than asked if they had a picture of Jesus and they took her to a room in the church where a young artist had recently completed a mural of Jesus hanging on the cross. As soon as she saw the picture she said, “That is the man that came to visit me in my dreams last night. I am no longer a daughter of Mohammed. I am now a follower of Jesus. I am going to go home and tell all my family about Jesus.” There are a growing collection of such stories of people (many of them Islamic) who are having dreams about Jesus and becoming His followers (if you go to http://dreamsaboutjesus.com you can see videos of other people’s stories as well.)
This is not to say that Peter’s declaration, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) is false. No matter what means God uses to proclaim forgiveness of sins it will ultimately point to Jesus (even if His name is unknown), will be based on faith in His work not anything done by human effort, and will result in a transformed life. And when those individuals are introduced to the name of Jesus, they will respond positively.
Now that does not excuse us as followers of Jesus from the call that Jesus gave to make disciples (Matthew 28:19) but we can have confidence that it is less about our words and more about the Holy Spirit working through us that people are convinced to believe in Jesus.
Ultimately, the answer to your question Shaun, is what Rick wrote in this article, “its God’s decision to decide what happens to people who haven’t heard about Him. But it is our decision to take that news to as many people as possible.” We can trust that God knows each person’s heart and will make the right decision. Our concern is to be obedient and tell everyone we can that Jesus loves them.
Sorry for the double post, I thought it would be at the bottom.
Question #4 was not answered. If your born/live/die never
Hearing of Jesus/God, can you get into heaven?
You never answered #4, if your born/live/and die never even hearing of Jesus/God
What becomes of them?
You are not alone FreeWilly in struggling to understand the tension between the sovereign will of God and the responsibility of humanity’s free will. Theologians have wrestled with how those two can be true at the same time. I think it is crucial in important issues like this to focus our attention on what God has said to us in the Bible, after all, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true” (2Timothy 3:16) so God must have given us all we need to understand this as best as we can.
So to start off God says, “For I am God– I alone! I am God, and there is no one else like me. Only I can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens. Everything I plan will come to pass,” (Isaiah 45:9-10) So to answer your questions; yes, God does know everything before it happens, and yes, He does have a plan and the power to carry out that plan perfectly. Now if He was a cruel god that could be a very scary thing but as Moses testifies, “He is the Rock; his work is perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!” (Deuteronomy 31:30) That gives me great confidence because I know that His plan for my life is going to play out just as He intends it to and I know that His plan is perfect.
But God doesn’t just leave it there, because as you point out, why not just throw your hands up in fatalistic defeat because God is going to do what He is going to do so I should just sit back and wait for it to play out. God is clear in His gift of free choice to humanity. The Bible is full of stories of people choosing to either follow God or follow their own way and God holds them all responsible for their choices. Right from the beginning His instructions to our father Adam was “And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)Moses makes that clear to the descendants of Israel when he encourages them, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) We see men and women choosing well and being blessed by God, while others choose unwisely and are held responsible for their choices.
So somehow, God is able to exercise His sovereign plan without impinging on humanity’s freedom to choose. Some have tried to explain this by suggesting that God in His foreknowledge knew how people would choose so He set His plan accordingly. I think that might diminish the perfection of God’s plan so I am not altogether comfortable with that. Others have demised God’s knowledge of the future to say that God knows the infinite possibilities of our choices but doesn’t know exactly what we are going to choose; as we choose He then reacts with a perfect plan. That is in contradiction to how God speaks about His omniscience (perfect knowledge of past, present and future) so we must reject that explanation as well. I don’t think our finite minds can explain the tension between these two truths because God is so much greater than we can comprehend. Therefore, if we want to remain faithful to what is true we need to accept the God-inspired words in the Bible and acknowledge that God is sovereign and has a perfect plan that allows for us humans to choose freely and be held responsible for those choices.
How do you feel about that FreeWilly? Does that fit what you have been thinking?
@Freewilly: i think you have answered your question without even knowing. Yes God is all powerful, all knowing and he gives us the ability to choose. An example is God desires that we all be saved thats why he sent his son but yet we are not all saved because he wants us to make the decision for ourselves. Secondly like you said Jesus foresaw that Peter would deny him and he told it to Peter. He did not force Peter to deny him peter did out of fear. Its like a football match where i come and predict that chelsea will win man u now will chelsea win because i said they will or because they played well. God knows the end from the beginning but he can only tell you, what you now do with what he tells you is your choice. He cannot force himself on you because if he could we all would be saved. I pray this helps you.
My big problem here stems from the idea that God gave people free will. Didn’t Jesus predict that Peter (Frankly, I don’t know if that is the right name and don’t really care) would deny him three times before a rooster cawed and was right? If Jesus can see what people will do shouldn’t God be able to? Next, if God is all powerful, wouldn’t he have the power to see the future? From my perspective, if God doesn’t know what we are going to do, then God isn’t all powerful. Also, what about that age-old saying, “it’s God’s Plan”, if God has a plan for everyone, then are we able to alter from the plan. If we can’t, then what free will do we have? Not trying to start an internet fight, just really curious about the whole idea of free-will and what not. Thanks! :)
Hi Philip, I am so sorry for all of your losses. They become all the more difficult to respond to when they get stacked like that.
I want you to know that God does love you. I know that can be hard to believe given all that has happened to you but I can say it with confidence because I know Him. He never lies, He never misleads and He never recants. When Jesus says, “God so loved the world” you can know that it is true and it includes you.
I also want you to know that God has created you for a purpose. He has a plan for you that is far greater than you could ever imagine. A great reminder for me is, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10) That verse is talking about you!
My encouragement to you is to look to God. He will explain to you why you exist. He will direct you towards that good works that He has prepared in advance for you to do. He will show His love to you. Let me invite you to talk to one of our online mentors and they can help you discover God speaking in your life. If you fill out the Mentor Request Form at http://powertochange.com/discover/talk-to-a-mentor one of our mentors will send you an email.
Lord God I pray for Philip right now and ask that You would help him to see how You love him. Open his eyes so that he can recognize the way that You are leading him to accomplish the plan that You have for his life. I pray that You would comfort him as he grieves so many losses in life. Bring people around him who will show You love to him. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
I was very glad I found this website!I am a 39 year old male about to turn 40 in 4 days and I am totally questioning my existence in life?First off I use to be a strong willed person that really never showed the emotion of sadness,Except of course at a funeral of a loved one.But June of 2011 my Mom was diagnosed with a terminal illness and passed away 6 weeks after being diagnosed.So while dealing with my Moms death I also had to deal with clearing out all of her belongings from the house I grew up in cause we lost the house because of financial reasons.So then I had to find a place to live and while I am going through all these things the love of my life decides to dump me,For reasons only known by her.So now I am without my Mom and still mourning losing her, living somewhere that does not feel like a home and having that lonely feeling every night I get home from work and every morning I wake!I really do need some solid answers as to why do even want to exist when all I feel is emptiness and no purpose in life for me????
All sins can be forgiven, except one, rejecting forgiveness. If you accept the forgiveness of Christ you will be saved for the Kingdom. It’s that simple. He made it this way to save as many of his children as possible, but there will still be multitudes who will not be saved as when the Holy Spirit offers his forgiveness they spat in his face and call themselves perfect. Don’t be one of them. Be humble and you will be with us for everlasting life.
good article and good comments too thank you for posting it
Jesus Christ Is Lord! Always was And Always will be! Jesus will never let You down ever.
my brothers and sisters in Christ, Never give up on Him.
He never gives up on you. God Is Good!!! And He Loves each and everyone of you
keep on spreading God’s Holy Word!!! Come on all You nations let’s be one Nation Under God!!!
Yoly I would challenge you to actually research some of the statements that you have made here. I think you would be very surprised by the answers. Check out this article, Are You a Truth Seeker.
Take the time to check out this series of articles which are also very powerful, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
Where do I start…… the Jesus question:
He is who he says He was
He was the biggest liar in history or
He was crazy, He was a lunatic on the order of the man who calls himself a fried egg.
If you think these are the only options, you really need to get out more, as in read, put down your bible and expand your mind and awareness….
Let me give you a few other possibilities:
4. He was a peace loving radical (ala Ghandi) who was misunderstood and the authors who recorded his teachings etc got a lot of what he meant wrong. Remember, we have NO first hand accounts of his teachings or speeches. The earliest gospel we have was written about 100 years after he died. Lots of time for getting his ideas wrong. Those who recorded Jesus words were very superstitious and unsophisticated folks (99% illiterate). Maybe Jesus was trying to get people to simply practice peaceful resistance toward the Roman Empire (again like Ghandi) but the bias of the times and the superstitious nature of the “listeners” caused a great amount of mistakes in understanding etc.
5. Perhaps Jesus was purposefully misinterpreted by individuals attempting to gain some power or project their agenda….?
6. Perhaps Jesus really never lived? There is only one other reference to Jesus in any other Historical writing of the time (Josephus – mentions a teacher or prophet…..) But remember, there were many profits and there was a vibrant mythology and narrative regarding a Messiah and thus the people were biased and prepped for this sort of fairy tale fulfillment.
7. He was an alien? You claim he walked on water – why is this so much crazier since an alien visiting earth would not necessarily violate physics as your messiah must.
Bottom line, we have no idea if the man even existed and lost of reasons to believe that the whole story is a bit of a fabrication (read some history and check your brain washing!!)
Well Jude that is a very straight forward question but I am guessing that there is a lot more in your mind and heart that is unspoken. So I want to be careful in my answer and ask that you read through to the end of it.
God is clear in the Bible that the act of homosexuality goes against God’s plan for humanity. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament homosexual acts are condemned as sinful (i.e. not O.K. in the eyes of God). In Genesis 19:7 the intention of the men of Sodom to have sex with what they thought were two male visitors in Lot’s house was called a wicked thing. In a couple of places in Leviticus homosexuality is condemned as a detestable thing (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). In Judges 19:23 men having sex with men is called wicked. In the books of the Kings there are a number of references to the removal of wicked practices in the land of Israel and one of those was the removal of male prostitutes (1Kings 14:24, 15:12, 2Kings 23:7). In Romans both male and female homosexual acts are described as the result of people’s rejection of God (Romans 1:26-27). In 1Corinthians 6:9-11 homosexuality is included in a list of things that separate people from the Kingdom of God. In 1Timothy 1:8-10 Paul writes that the law was given to people living apart from God including homosexuals. Those are the verses that refer directly to the act of homosexuality as a perversion from what God originally intended.
But the act of homosexuality is no worse than any other act of attitude that is contrary to God. In 1Corinthians 6:9-11 the list of those who are far from God includes greedy people, and drunks, and liars. Whether people were born with those traits (who ever has to teach a child to want something that someone else has or to tell a lie) or they chose to follow in the footsteps of someone else, they still are all separated from God and are destined to condemnation if they refuse to receive forgiveness from Jesus Christ.
You see, Jesus is the one who saves us from all the sins that are in our lives that separate us from God. And that includes homosexuals. “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2Corinthians 5:17)
So Jesus (and His followers as well) don’t treat homosexuals any different from anyone else. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) That includes us all, even homosexuals. God loves gay people so much that He sent Jesus to save them from their sin.
Does that answer your question Jude? Are you asking because you are gay or is there another reason?
Hi. My main question at this point is simply: is it O.K in the eyes of God to be ‘gay’?
Kersi I am so sorry for your loss. I have a friend whose 15 year old son was killed by a car and so I have a small idea of some of the pain that your family is going through. I don’t know you or your son but I do know God so let me pass on the hope that God gives to families that are grieving. First of all God is love. In a number of places in the Bible God is described as abounding in love and is forgives our sin and rebellion. God’s love has gone to the extreme lengths of allowing His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be killed so that His perfection can replace our imperfections. It is God’s desire that we all become His children and offers His forgiveness for all who accept it. For those who believe and receive the gift of Jesus’ perfection into their lives, God has adopted them into His family which means they will live through all eternity with Him in heaven. That is a promise that you can absolutely count on. And you can have confidence that God has given your son every opportunity to know Jesus and to receive His perfection into his life, even at such a young age. It may have been through a friend, a TV show, a word written in a book or even an angel that came and shared the Good News of Jesus with him. God has always known your son and has focused His unlimited attention on him right from day 1.
You too have the opportunity to become a child of God and receive the promise of living with God forever in heaven. That will be the place where you would be reunited with your son. Together you would be able to thank God for His wonderful love and celebrate with all the rest of God’s children.
As I said, I don’t know your son and whether he accepted Jesus gift of love into his life, but you can know for sure if you have. God promises in the Bible that all of that has been written so that you can know for sure that you have received life through Jesus. You don’t have to have a question at all in your mind if it is real.
I know that while the message of life in heaven is a tremendous hope there is still sadness today at the absence of your son. I know that my grandpa and grandma are in heaven with Jesus but I still miss them here on Earth. I look forward to the day when I will join them there but it doesn’t take away the loss of having them in my life now. But when I get together with my family we still remember together the ways that they loved us. I often think about the way that they invested themselves into my life and those memories help me to appreciate them. I am sure that your memories are even more powerful as a parent and the grief you feel deeper than mine. Let me encourage you to talk with your family about their memories. Even though those memories come with pain, they also have a healing effect as you remember the blessings of your son. Talk to God about your memories and your pain. He is a great comfort and can handle hearing your anger as well.
I have been involved in a couple of GriefShare groups, grief support groups that help those of us going through loss to better understand our grief. I highly recommend that you see if one is in your area and get involved. They have a group locator on their webpage http://www.griefshare.org. The groups combine some excellent video teaching on grief with time for people to support one another in the pain of loss.
You can also connect with one of our online mentors who will listen to your hurt and help you find ways of coping with your loss. You will find a Mentor Request Form at http://powertochange.com/discover/talk-to-a-mentor.
Let me pray for you: Heavenly Father I pray for Kersi and her family who are mourning the tragic loss of her son. I pray Lord that You would bring comfort into their lives through the discovery of Your love for them. Help them to find people who can help them to move through their grief and find their strength in You. I pray that while he was alive that her son had responded to Your invitation to receive Your forgiveness and that he now dwells with you in heaven, forever secure and at peace. I pray for a day when the whole family will be reunited in heaven and together they sing out a song of thanksgiving to You for Your great love. in Jesus’ name, amen.
Can the dead return in our lives again? My 11yr son who has died recently in a tragic road accident has left us in immense sorrow and pain. Can I hope to see him reborn in the family?
That is a really hard place to be isn’t it Shanice?! It is like your life is completely out of your control because you are at the mercy of circumstances and the choices of other people. I think that is a common theme for many people: they want their lives to mean something and to progress toward something better but they feel powerless to make that happen.
So what would you say would make your life meaningful? You want to leave your hometown; why? What are you ambitions?
I thank you so much for putting this up here. Iam so confused with things in my life, and 2011 was not a good year for me at all. I cant keep a job without someone trying to get me fired, ive tried my own businesses, ive always wanted to leave my hometown but so many things has come in the way, i am so stressed trying to figure what am i supposed to be doing and what is my purpose in life, I am 23 a single mother, i am very ambitious, but some days i cry and feel like giving up. i went to school and accomplished many things, but the only word i can describe my life as right now is STUCK!!.
Ahmed, it is good that you can recognize how you lose control of your anger. It will make it much easier to make changes. There a study on one of our sites that can help you look more closely at your anger to better understand what causes it. You will also have the chance of connecting with a mentor who can help listen to your struggles and suggest some possible next steps. The site is http://powertochange.com/studies/angry-outbursts.
There are parts of my life that I don’t like either. They can get in the way of healthy relationships and make me feel pretty bad about myself. I try to hide this dark side of me but I know that other people see it and it impacts the way they look at me. The only thing that has made a difference in my battle with this dark side is Jesus Christ. He takes my life and transforms it into something brand new. “What this means is that those who become followers of Jesus become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (a quote from the Bible at 2Corinthians 5:17) I know that Jesus can help you as well with your anger. He will set you free from the way it controls you and put His love in your heart so that you will no longer feel that anger towards people. To find out more about how you can become a follower of Jesus have a look at this website http://powertochange.com/discover/faith/discoverpurpose.
why i find my self have dark side of anger and nice side of peace when i get anger i be like beast i cant foucse about who my enemy and who my friend and people take this weakly point on me to make me frustred what should i do i feel all my proplems behind it 1 person what should i do and i know too have love make your dark side gone