I don't understand God's love.

35 posts / 0 new

Fri, 02/20/2015 - 16:57

#32

Ncgipe16

Hi Ethan, I'm also a Christian looking for answers!
I want to point out that the Christian faith is a vast subject, and that we can never completely understand everything, but we should constantly be trying to learn as much as we can, so kudos to you for making the effort. I obviously don't have all the answers, but I think I do have some! I'm a Catholic, so I'll be answering from the Catholic perspective.
So you say that the way you understand the bible tells us that very few people will get into heaven. It is true that many sects of Christianity believe this. Catholics do not really say whether or not the majority of people will go to heaven or hell. However, the Catholic Church does name saints, who we are sure are in heaven. There are hundreds of saints, and the Chirch says every single one is in heaven right now! The Church does not say that anyone is definitively in Hell. So while I can't say "Sure, plenty of people will get into heaven!" I can say it's not for sure that very few people will. And we have plenty of saints who serve as role models to help all of us get there.
You referenced a bible verse to that seems to say that many people will end up in hell. There is a verse in Revelation that some people interpret to mean that only 140,000 people will get into heaven. In the Catholic Church, the Pope interprets the important parts of the bible, so we know when the bible is being figurative and when it's being literal. The Church doesn't put any limit on the number of people who can get into heaven, and nor does it say that most people will go to hell, despite what it seems the bible is saying. Those verses are important (I'm not saying we should discredit any part of the bible) and are included for a reason, but they aren't supposed to be interpreted literally. Some of them are figurative, some are meant to draw contrast between two different ideas, etc. The bible is a complicated document hat people spend their whole lives studying. I don't know why verses like that are included or what they mean (I'm not a bible expert) but maybe you could ask a Catholic priest or an Apologetic to find out, if you wanted to. Basically, my point is you can take a lot of things in the bible out of context and make them say a lot of different things. Not everything in the bible is meant to be taken for face value, and the interpertation of the Pope (and thus the Church) can help us better understand it.
I don't have really good answers (not that the previous ones were that good either) for the other things you talked about in your post, but I'll try to address them the best I can.
God is all-knowing, so it makes sense that he knows where our souls will end up. I don't know why he would make someone who he knew would ultimately end up in Hell, that's an answer I'm still looking for. However, I can say this: I would rather be given a chance to live in this beautiful world and do my best to please God for a chance at everlasting happiness than not have existed at all, even if there is a chance that I will end up in eternal suffering. I think that my life can be a positive force and that I can be happy and serve others, so I think I can get to heaven. I know I will win and make mistakes, and that's where I'm counting on God's mercy and forgiveness. I know that's not rally an answer, but maybe it will give you a new perspective on everything.
You say that even if we make it to heaven, we will have to live with the fact that there are people who are suffering in hell (if there are people in hell- there is no guarantee that anyone is there). From what I understand of the Church's teachings on heaven, it's completely separated from hell- so far removed that in heaven you never even think about it. Everyone will be happy in heaven because we will be with God.
I hope that you have found my thoughts worthwhile. Remember that doubting is a part of faith, and just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's wrong or stupid. I struggled with this for awhile, and I came to the conclusion that faith is the belief that the Catholic Church is right, and that throughout my life God will reveal to me why as long as I keep searching for the answers. Hope this helps!

Fri, 02/20/2015 - 17:52

#33

anatheist

God doesn't exist; and

God doesn't exist; and therefore nor does his love. He didn't create us, because he doesn't exist. Once you get that understood the cognitive dissonance will disappear with the questions.

Fri, 02/20/2015 - 21:41

#34

Aaron

I am not familiar with

I am not familiar with Christianity but lately I attracted with it as I hear some magic words from friends and I personally found that it gives me something good but even I am not understand about God and it's love but this threads gives me some good valuable information.

Sun, 02/22/2015 - 05:32

#35

shawnivie

I've questioned religion

I've questioned religion since I was a kid. I used to pray and try to believe, but it never felt right. The more research I did, the more that the concept of region did not make sense. I always questioned, WHY would God send a good person to Hell simply because they didn't believe a certain way? This includes others who were raised being taught a different religion. This includes children. It simply makes no sense.

Then I started reading more about what the Bible says. Again, more fables and fairy tails and some of it is downright evil. People killing relatives and friends, God showing favoritism for certain individuals, sacrifice, punishment for stuff that was down right silly, husbands giving their wives for sex (like second rate citizens), the Earth being created in 7 days, Eve being created from Adam's rib.... and the list goes on and on....

The bible was written by many different men over a long period of time. Some of the stories were written LONG after the supposed event happened. You know what happens when a story is passed down from person to person.... It gets changed and often embellished. It's as bad as a good gossip being spread around a small town.... It gets twisted and wrong, in the end. It happens in my small town all of the time.

Anyway, I used to believe and after years of research and soul-searching (I guess you could say), I have decided that Religion is man-made and used to control the masses. It's there to install fear into peoples hearts so that they will do what others with power want them to do.

Is there a god or gods? I will simply say the "I don't know". It's ok to NOT KNOW. However, I am not going to worship something that is just as relevant as believing in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny.....

If you have your faith and it gives you power and it makes you do good... that's great. However, I personally cannot follow something that doesn't feel right, good and real.

However, I have good solid values and I have taught my loving children those values... and it had nothing to do with god or religion. We help those that need help, we treat people with respect, we love people and have compassion, we try to do what is right and treat others as I would like to be treated, we don't steal and we stand up for what is right.

Anyway.... that's just my feelings on the matter.

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