Life after death, interesting read

[mperry]

I am a Christian and a believer, and I struggled with some of the same questions that I have read on here. Several things happened in my life that made me understand that I don't have the answers and in fact will never get them. I decided to have faith in what I am being taught and reading as truth and moved on from there. I really do think I have felt God in my life during some terrible times of need.

Believing in God doesn't mean you will not encounter troubles or hardships. It also doesn't mean that all your prayers will be answered to your liking either. Being a Christian also doesn't mean your perfect.... in fact it means you agree you are not perfect and are seeking help.

Also, I don't believe we could be who we are without God. I don't believe we were a little piece of life millions of years ago that has evolved into what we are today. I don't believe we have evolved from monkeys either.

Other Gods out there? Sure people believe that but maybe many of us are actually seeing the same God but just a different culture and their/our interpretation is lost in translation.

To me in the end if you have chosen to not believe and are wrong...well that would be a terrible mistake. JMO

I mean no offense by this but in your last sentence it sounds more like you are hoping you are correct than having faith. You are not the only person that I have heard put it like that either. I guess the way that I think is I am going to live my life the same as I have and God will decide what he wants done with me. My free will is always going to have doubt and I don't think anything anyone says will change that. I personally don't think anyone fully understands the Bible or the meaning of the words. Again if it is Gods words it was still written by man who has probably screwed it up somehow along the line. Also I still don't understand why God would not want us to know that He exists. I know people that will say they know for a fact that God exists. I'm sorry and mean no disrespect to anyone that feels this way but no one knows for a fact. There is only way to know this. People have faith that their is a God which I have no doubt but to hear some say they are 100% certain to me is false.

[DJD]

I mean no offense by this but in your last sentence it sounds more like you are hoping you are correct than having faith. You are not the only person that I have heard put it like that either. I guess the way that I think is I am going to live my life the same as I have and God will decide what he wants done with me. My free will is always going to have doubt and I don't think anything anyone says will change that. I personally don't think anyone fully understands the Bible or the meaning of the words. Again if it is Gods words it was still written by man who has probably screwed it up somehow along the line. Also I still don't understand why God would not want us to know that He exists. I know people that will say they know for a fact that God exists. I'm sorry and mean no disrespect to anyone that feels this way but no one knows for a fact. There is only way to know this. People have faith that their is a God which I have no doubt but to hear some say they are 100% certain to me is false.

No offense taken.....im just telling it like i see it, becoming a christian is a personal choice and when your ready you will find it was a good choice. Funny thing is you sound like me many years ago. Looking for reasons not to believe and trying your best to understand something this difficult. It's cool and we all go through it. There are many things to gain by going to a good church that has small groups or men's groups. You get to ask the kind of questions your asking and hopefully talk to some folks who have dedicated their lives to teaching and preaching the word of God.
It really is helpful to talk to a Good Pastor or leader of a church who understands where your coming from. They can answer these questions and concerns much better than me and I'm not so well versed in the bible as to have many of the answers. I will say this....not all folks who are in positions of leadership at churches are great teachers. It's like any other profession, job or leader....some are better than others.

[mperry]

No offense taken.....im just telling it like i see it, becoming a christian is a personal choice and when your ready you will find it was a good choice. Funny thing is you sound like me many years ago. Looking for reasons not to believe and trying your best to understand something this difficult. It's cool and we all go through it. There are many things to gain by going to a good church that has small groups or men's groups. You get to ask the kind of questions your asking and hopefully talk to some folks who have dedicated their lives to teaching and preaching the word of God.
It really is helpful to talk to a Good Pastor or leader of a church who understands where your coming from. They can answer these questions and concerns much better than me and I'm not so well versed in the bible as to have many of the answers. I will say this....not all folks who are in positions of leadership at churches are great teachers. It's like any other profession, job or leader....some are better than others.

I dont think I'm looking for a reason not to beleive. I think I'm looking for a reason to beleive. And I agree with what you say that it is very difficult. I would say that is the reason I have doubts. I also am not versed in the Bible so I don't even try to understand it. I will say this. My Grandfather who died long before I was born could not read or write but according to my Mother he could quote the Bible. Was he able to do so just because of things he heard or was there something else. I have no reason to doubt my Mother and I see no reason for her to lie about it. Knowing this is what still has me at least partly beleiving that there is something else out there but I still have doubt. I have another question and maybe it is addressed in the Bible. Who created God? Did he just magically appear? If He created the Heavens and the earth where did he come before?

[jcb]

IWho created God? Did he just magically appear? If He created the Heavens and the earth where did he come before?

Totally laying aside any faith issues, and being totally rational, here's my view: The only rational explanation for the existence of the Universe is that there has to be something that is not bound by space or even time.

We have a bunch of stuff in the universe. It hasn't always been there. So either it was created by something that is not bound by space or time, or the laws of physics allow for all this something to be created out of nothing.

What theoretical physicists are trying to do today I find laughable. Trying to explain how "nothing" is not really nothing, but "something" that just looks like nothing. When the only observable "nothing" we have to deal with is the "nothing" we know after creation.

To me, it takes tons more faith to believe in that than it does to believe in God, who by definition is not bound by space and time.

[MLTSPCS]

Do me a favor next time you go fishing and just stop, look around, and listen. I personally just can't see how you could do this and not believe in something much bigger than mankind. And the part you guys are talking about being scared into believing by the can't-afford-to-be-wrong clause is being misinterpreted. What people are saying is that if I choose to live as a believer and strive to be more Christ-like and have higher morals/standards I hold myself to, what is the harm if I was wrong? However, if I choose not to believe and I am wrong, the consequences are eternal. And just looking at us humans, what it takes for us to live, breathe, learn, and so on, how could it all have just come together by an explosion? And where are the evolutionary in-betweeners if we got here from an amoeba or other simple life form? Adaptations happen. Show me one thing to prove evolution. I know I bounced around a ton, but I have so many thoughts on this subject it's hard to keep them all together. There are so many things I see, hear, and just experience every single day that make me believe in my Creator. When i get home from work today and my daughter looks up, smiles, says "Hi Daddy", and throws her arms around me, waiting to be picked up, well that right there is enough for me to know it didn't just explode into all this on its own. Just my $.01 Not my $.02 because I have tons more I believe and would like to say but I will leave it there for now.

[jcb]

I personally don't think anyone fully understands the Bible or the meaning of the words. Again if it is Gods words it was still written by man who has probably screwed it up somehow along the line.

The Bible has been poked, prodded, and examined under a microscope for centuries. Yes, there are some differences of opinion about a section here or there, or about interpretation, but if you take the earliest manuscripts we have of Scripture, today's Bible lines up to them remarkably well.

A lot of people say they "don't take the Bible literally." Well, no one should. To take something literally means you ignore metaphors, symbolism, exaggeration for effect and the like. Did Jesus really mean someone could swallow a camel? No. That was a metaphor.

The way the Bible should be interpreted is the same way any work of literature should be interpreted. It its entirety, and with the intent of discovering the author's meaning.

[waterdog101]

a little something for those that think we came from a big bang, isn't it crazy to think a bang made everything around you. I could type all day putting names to every thing we see around us, like rocks, trees, water, the air we breath, all the different kind of animals, and the million's of different kind of insects. and man and woman. and every one made with both male and female able to reproduce. now that is something that blows my mind. for someone to think a big bang could make all that. if you want to have more faith in God, pray to him every day and night. when you are by yourself fishing, going somewhere in the car. just talk to God about what bothers you. the more you talk to him, the more you will want to. this life is over almost before we know it, it goes so fast. and we will live forever somewhere, I do believe this with all my heart. so don't let the Devil cheat you out of Heaven my friend. Prayer is the Key. we all will pray to God some day, so start today, right now as you read this, just say help me Jesus, < Romans 14-11 > For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God

[jcb]

I'm Christian, and I believe 100% in the so-called "Big Bang". I think it's proof positive that God spoke the universe into existence.

[Hlleonard]

a little something for those that think we came from a big bang, isn't it crazy to think a bang made everything around you. I could type all day putting names to every thing we see around us, like rocks, trees, water, the air we breath, all the different kind of animals, and the million's of different kind of insects. and man and woman. and every one made with both male and female able to reproduce. now that is something that blows my mind. for someone to think a big bang could make all that. if you want to have more faith in God, pray to him every day and night. when you are by yourself fishing, going somewhere in the car. just talk to God about what bothers you. the more you talk to him, the more you will want to. this life is over almost before we know it, it goes so fast. and we will live forever somewhere, I do believe this with all my heart. so don't let the Devil cheat you out of Heaven my friend. Prayer is the Key. we all will pray to God some day, so start today, right now as you read this, just say help me Jesus, < Romans 14-11 > For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God

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The scientific explanation of how it all came to be does seem far fetched as in everything coming from nothing in a gigantic expansion of some kind is as hard to accept as it all coming from a supernatural source of some kind but it takes more faith for me to believe it all came from some supernatural entity than I can muster... It just seems odd that folks can believe some being we can't see or hear did all this on a whim for seemingly no rhyme or reason except to have someone warship him.... How can folks be so skeptical of the mystical world and then accept the concept that is taught in the bible as truth without a shred of evidence to support that belief and simply pointing to the way life and the world in general works and saying "see...that is proof that god had to be responsible for it all" is simply not proof of anything.... It is the same as the folks who dwell on the ufo concept, not knowing the explanation of something doesn't mean there isn't one and doesn't mean it has to be of extraterrestrial origin simply because we don't know all the facts.

[jcb]

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The scientific explanation of how it all came to be does seem far fetched as in everything coming from nothing in a gigantic expansion of some kind is as hard to accept as it all coming from a supernatural source of some kind but it takes more faith for me to believe it all came from some supernatural entity than I can muster

So it's easier for you to believe something coming from nothing in a gigantic, spontaneous expansion? Not deriding, just asking.

[Hlleonard]

So it's easier for you to believe something coming from nothing in a gigantic, spontaneous expansion? Not deriding, just asking.

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As I said, both of those scenarios are equally far fetched to me but the scientific community is continually re-analyzing and changing theories about how they might think it all came to be and I do believe the true answer is on that side of the equasion someplace instead of in the realm of the supernatural... I just can't accept there was a creator of some kind that for reasons of his own decided that there needed to be one creature amonst the millions of others living now and in the past that qualified as a receptor of eternal life as long as he followed the rules that were set down by this said creator... I do believe a persons faith adds a great deal to his life if he happens to have a belief in that sort of thing... The more preachers I see in glass churches preying on folks who have faith in their god, the more I think it is all a scam to bolster his/her own bank book.