Why do you want to go to heaven?

To see the face of God

How awesome it will be to see the face of God. To walk and talk with Jesus, Moses, Elijah, and family members that were saved. The alternative is eternal separation from God which is unimaginable. As much as Heaven is mentioned in the bible, Hell is mentioned many, many more times, and it's not somewhere you would want to spent a second, let alone eternity. You won't get to Heaven by being a good person, there is only one way to the Father, and that is through the Son, Jesus Christ. Believe in Him and accept him as Lord and Saviour of your life, and salvation is yours! So easy, a caveman could do it.

 

It's simple, but it's definitely not easy.

 

I feel sorry for the poor Hindus and Buddhists who were simply born into their tradition. Why would God play such a cruel trick on them? They never got to hear about Jesus. And speaking of Jesus, how did Moses and Elijah accept him when he wasn't even born? Are they in Hell? And all the other people who lived before 2000 years ago, even the good ones?

I suppose your right about one thing...it takes faith. Unfortunately, many have grown wary of trusting the religious, especially the loud preachy ones. Contrary evidence to both what they are saying and how they are living tends to do that. Evidence seems to be quite the enemy of faith.

 

"""Satan is the enemy of faith and he uses countless ways to accomplish his goal."""

Isaiah 45:7 (King James Version):
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

 

Exactly, the Lord created EVERYTHING, including Satan.

 

That can be arranged earlier rather than waiting a while.

 

What evidence do you have that some supernatural entity created everything? And how do you know he is fair? Because your preacher told you? Where did this preacher derive this information? A book written by men?

Who wrote the Bible again? What of the poor, illiterate Hindus?

So Evidence = Satan? Is that why you call the apple tree in Eden the Tree of Knowledge? I am looking all around me with a calm and joyful heart, and I see no evidence of supernatural creatures. I do see wondrous clockwork that, over time, can lead to unimaginable complexity. I see real natural creatures, both contended and fearful, with no inkling or need for supernatural creatures to protect them and elaborate stories as support structures.

The Chrisitian faith has evolved quite a bit over the last 2000 years. It is quite well documented by the church itself. Would that natural evolution be a result of natural processes or errors by man? How can you convince me that you are not in error now? Will you close this discussion by calling me a minion of Satan?

Do you want to know what Satan really is? Satan is the desire in your heart to know answers overwhelming your ability to see. That is Satan. Control your fears and open your eyes and you will see the false prophet. There is nothing wrong with hope. But willful blindness is the root cause of all the world's political misery.

 

A very wise man once said:

You don't need no friends
get back your faith again
you have the power to believe
another dissident
take back your evidence
it has no power to deceive

I'll believe it when I see it, for myself

I don't need no one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter, and I believe.
I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sunset and I perceive

I sit with them all night
everything they say is right
but in the morning they were wrong
I'll be right by your side
come hell or water high
down any road you choose to roam

I'll believe it when I see it for myself

I don't need no one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter, and I believe.
I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sunset and I perceive, yeah

darling, I believe, Oh Lord
sometimes it's hard to breathe, Lord
at the bottom of the sea, yeah yeah

I'll believe it when I see it for myself

I don't need no one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter, and I believe.
I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sunset and I perceive

I don't need no one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter, and I believe.
I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sunset
I can see the sunset
I can see the sunset
I don't need no one
Ohhhh
I don't need no one
I don't need no one
I don't need no one
To tell me about heaven
I believe
I believe it, yeah

 

I guess what ultimately confuses me is what I perceive as weakness in the sense that, seemingly rational people, who would NEVER consider the idea of irrational beliefs, do so in this case solely for emotional support. The bottom line is that it makes you feel good and secure to have these beliefs.

Why is the idea that there is no God so fearful to you? My world is filled with wonder and beauty. I am lucky and grateful to be alive. I study many evidentiary writings and I learn. I learn things that are repeatable and reproduceable on a daily basis, which further reinforces my methodology. I feel completely at home in this world. I am fulfilled and actualized. Why make up a supernatural creature to fit into this puzzle?

The idea that "God works in mysterious ways" and science inability to answer some questions, fulfill the same role of emotionally addressing the mysterious. But scientists are not fearful of their inability to formulate a Grand Unified Theory of the universe. They simply aren't smart enough yet. Only that. Why can't it simply be that?

Don't you see that doing good work in this life simply so you can be rewarded later is fundamentally selfish?