I have a question

You have to first believe what the bible says to believe any of that....

 

Well said

 

Sure--humans can be absolutely awful to each other. But I really, sincerely don't think that it is the norm. I truly believe that people want to be loved, accepted, wanted. When they are not, they build walls around their hearts so as not to hurt, and that translates to finding something to take the place of the good stuff. Love of power, money, control, drugs, booze, sex--I think most of these takes the place of something deeper that is missing from a person's life.

I also believe that people want and need boundaries. People tend to behave like they are expected to behave. Look at situations where someone has gone into say, an inner city school that has been overrun with violence. The kids there have the attitude that no one cares about them, at home or at school, they aren't worth anything, so they do whatever they can to get attention, even it's bad, and the teachers are so beaten down they just give up. When someone shows up with the kahoonas to be tough and show the kids they ARE worth something and sets up some expectations and incentives, it can be wildly successful. People just need hope and to know that someone believes in them. Of course, there'll always be people that are inherently bad, but I think it's rare.

Crap--I'm starting to sound like a liberal! Believe me, I'm not. I think people (if they are mentally and physically able) have to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. But, I also think people should lift each other up and encourage each other, which can be really hard! Knowing what God did for me makes it a little less hard. (most of the time)

 

We're all capable of the worst. It's buried deep inside of everyone. We all have a pleasure principle, some just do a better job controlling their urges than others. Some of it has to do with upbringing, but I personally believe that it's just our individual nature.

 

I know we're capable of really bad stuff, but I don't think that's what we want to do.

 

Would you like to buy me a drink sometime?

 

Sure! How about now?

 

Nobody will be judged based on their deeds alone. The only way to the Father is through the Son. Anything short of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of your life, is misplaced hope. Like Ig. said, "you have to first believe what the bible says to believe any of that....". So you either believe in God (and what the Bible says) or you don't. Free will gives you the choice. So it's not a mean, evil God who denies Heaven to you. He is merely honoring YOUR choice of rejecting Him, when you spend eternity separated from Him.

 

Each human makes choices for themselves that are deemed the best they can do at the time. If a human doubts the existence of the Christian God, then it is simple logic not to follow the orders of the Christian church or its holy book. (Perhaps the bottom line is that Christian evangelicals have not yet made a convincing enough case.)

If every human makes the best choice they can make at a particular time with a particular set of information, then where is the variability that allows for freewill? Given the information set along with a person's mood, the "choices" are entirely mechanical and predictable; not free.

 

Well said.