Heaven

This topic is a difficult one and is one that hurts me also.My family aren't Christians, my mother beleves in Jesus and my aunt is born again but the rest of them (including my brothers who I love dearly) don't beleve. My husband family are all devout Christians and have been all their lives.This is a very sad situation for me because I want my family to go to heaven too but what it comes down to is that it tells you clearly in the bible what you have to do and it's up to the indavidual to beleve.All I can do is pray for them and try to help them.As for being happy in heaven, we will not only get a new body but God will fill us with peace, no person can understand this because it's beyond our understanding but heaven is described a beautiful place with streets of gold and will be a wonderful place to be where we will spend eternity with God.[This message has been edited by shyangel, 03-29-2004]

quote: Shyangel, all I can tell you is that while you may not share the same beliefs with your family doesn't mean it should interfere with your relationships. My wife is a devout christian while I am an athiest. While we disagree on matters of faith, it doesn't hurt the relationship and love we share. I know it can be difficult to have beliefs different from loved ones, I do. Most of my family are also christians. I will tell you that while it is fine to discuss your beliefs and theirs, it is important that both sides respect each others viewpoints. You can share your views, but don't try and change them. We all have free will, and matters of personal belief can't be forced.My beliefs in no way affect my relationships with my family I love them dearly and never think any less of them because they aren't Christians. I also know they have free will and I respect that but this is my family and when it comes to the matter of how they will spend eternity it concerns me a great deal, I never force my belief on them, rather I let them know how I feel and try to help them if I can I also pray for them because that is the best thing I can do.

quote : Dear ShyAngel
All I can do is pray for them and try to help them.It's not a critic. You're very generous, but why do you think they need help? I mean the help provided by your faith.Objectively, the perspective to spend eternity with other people is not really cool.Firstly, they need help because they havn't been saved and to any Christian that's a bad thing because if you aren't saved you are dead in your sin which means if you havn't asked Jesus to forgive you then you can't be forgiven and have eternal life with God.Heaven is about spending eternity with God and I think that's pretty cool

there is only one God and I refuse to get into this discussion because I know what I beleave in my heart and I know God is there.The bible is God's word and that isn't wrong.

*sigh*I don't expect you to take my word for it, I am only stating what I beleive to be true and it is because of my faith in the Lord that I beleive this.weather you choose to beleive or not is up to you.

John 14 1-31"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[1] ; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

Yes nobody's born with sin.Everybody sins and good deeds or being a good person will not save you, you can only be saved through Jesus and by accepting that He died for your sins.

Firstly, my beleif is based on my faith in the Lord, I don't come here to debate my religion because I know in my heart it is the truth, I will however point out a few things to you.Quote: Did you know that along time ago the Catholic church was in a little pickle because some considered all sin as punishiable by going to hell. This affected church attendance and the donations were suffering. Well the church decided to let there be venial sin and mortal sin.If you read the bible you would find that all sin is punishable by going to hell and the only way for forgivness is to accept Jesus died for your sins and to ask for forgivness. If people leave church because they don't like the fact that all sin is punishable buy hell there is no way the church should change the truth just to please these people because it doesn't change the facts in the bible.Quote: And also decided to invent a place called purgertory for the venial sinner to be prayed into heaven.Exactly...Invent, nowhere in the bible does it say there is purgatory..there is heaven and hell and that's it, people may not like it but inventing new things aren't going to change the truth. It also doesn't matter if the church is reaceaving heaps of donations, if the information they are receaving is incorrect then they are just wasting their time.Quote: So my point is this what if Hell was invented to keep the faithful inline. And suppose Heaven was invented to reward the faithful.No, it wasn't invented, it does clearly state in the bible that there is a heaven and hell, and what you have to do to get to these places.Quote: If the only way to be saved is through Jesus then what about the multitudes of people born before he? are they in hell? And what about the billions who know nothing of him?Before Jesus things were different, read the old testament. As for the people who havn't heard of Jesus, well...God is loving, kind and just and if someone hadn't heard the word I'm sure He would understand and take that into account, It's like if a baby dies in a miscarriage, he/she doesn't go to hell.Quote: what if you where born in Iraq? You would be muslim. What if you were born to a Jewish family? So by your belief would be going to hell. Do you not see the arrogance in that sort of thinking? Your "salvation" dependant on CHANCE that you were born in the right place. I do not think God is a racist. And I feel like Christians tend to condemn anyone who does not accept Christ to hell and personally find this "Im right and you are all wrong mentality ridculous and arrogant Then again I just crazy like that.There are Christians in every country and even people in Iraq know about Jesus, they just choose to ignor Him. Christians don't condemn anyone, they try to help people find Jesus so they can be saved. As for the right and wron attitude, well it states all I beleave in the bible, teachings that people risked their lives for. So yes, I know what I feel to be right, by things God has done to help me, how He gives me peace when I'm troubled and many other things and I know by His word in the bible.

Quote: I just don't believe that he died for our sinsWell, I don't know where you get your information but it staes pretty clearly in the bible that Jesus did infact die for our sins, If you don't beleive that then you will have to deal with it when Jesus returns, nothing I can say will change your mind.

Quote: Which Bible would that be? Book of Mormon, King James Version, Catholic Bible, The Koran, The Torah? Which bible contains the keys to all of mankind not burning for all eternity.
Which Bible is the only one that is correct and without error?There is only one true bible and if you can't work that out then I can't really help you, I will however find some answers for your question from someone more knowlagable than me, I will get back to you when I have the information.Quote: Because there are Billions who need to know our very eternal existance depends on YOU giving all of US the right information.Um no, you eternal existance and salvation depends on you, not me. I can answer questions you may have and try to help but in the end it is up to you. Sorry, but that's the truth.

http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/b_proof.shtml

I'm not arguing with anyone, I have no need to defend my faith, the proof does that for me.As for my link, if you cannot understand it then thats your problem, sorry but I don't wish to discuss this further with someone who is only looking for an argument and not looking for the truth.God bless

Quote:This is only my opinion, but it seems to me that those who are afraid to debate there belief must be very unsure of it. Is it that they might hear something that would lead them away from their belief?I'm not afraid to debate but because there are many things I am not completely sure of I cannot answer until I have spoken to someone who has more Knowlage ie: My husband or the pastor.My link had a lot of useful and very helpful information on it, it isn't my fault that you didn't find it any good.I have no problem with debate but when I clearly post the answer to someones question and the continue to go on and on with questions they could easily get from the bible or a website on Christianity then yes it's wasting my time.