I recently read an e-mail and have previously seen message board posts online that accuse Christianity of being a cruel religion. They argue that God is forcing us into worshipping him by threatening us with hell otherwise. They claim that we really don't have free will since either we worship God, or we go to hell.
We, in society, are punished with fines and jail time for breaking the law. But, nobody would say that we are forced to obey the law. In fact, many people choose to break the law even when they know there is a very good chance they will be caught. So, the existence of punishment for wrongdoing doesn't mean that anybody is forced to obey. This is exactly the case with God. Our choice is between doing good and following God, or disobeying God and doing evil. There is a reward for following God, and a punishment for rejecting Him. Remember that people seek immediate pleasure, knowing there will be consequences later. People go out on Sunday night knowing they'll miss studying for their test on Monday, people drink knowing they'll have a hangover the next morning, people watching their weight eat delicious foods, knowing they're fattening. There is a common theme here: Self-pleasure now but grief later, or self-discipline and reward later. This is the decision, of our own free will, we are all faced with.
I think we should pray for anybody that is calling God or Christianity cruel. They have a terrible misunderstanding of what God is all about: love.
"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." - 1 John 4:8
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2 comments:
Good job of keeping this topic on a simple level... We often don't think about this, but if you think about it, God created hell... Why, we ask in confusion wondering how a "God of love" could "send" people to such a place... God has done everything He possibly could to keep us from hell WITHOUT TARNISHING OUR FREE WILL... He has completely paid our hell-bound debt with the sacrifice of His Son... Before one says that God "sends" people to hell, they must first get the correct view and realize that God "sent" His Son to endure physical, emotional, and spiritual pain at the ultimate degree so that none of us would have to go to hell... Put that in perspective and realize that anyone who goes to hell must first go through Jesus... I get a picture in my mind of this in action... Its almost like Jesus is on the cross, wailing in agony and cringing in pain and He finally screams "It is done, your debt has been paid" and behind Him is a door that leads to hell. The unregenerate individual walks casually by the suffereing Christ towards the door and Jesus asks the individual in pure wonder, "What are you doing? I am dying so that you dont have to go there" and the person continues on his way to the door... When the person finally gets inside he is met with the worst pain ever and after suffering with the darkness and the feeling of seperation from God and any form of love he looks at the door that he came through and frantically trys to get out of this place, but then he soon realizes that the door is locked, but it is locked from the INSIDE... Because HE PUT HIMSELF THERE... God does not "send" people to hell, people "send" themselves to hell... "For God so loved the world that he gave His Only Son, that who should ever believe in Him, will not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)
True.. Very insightful.
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