The whole event is shrouded in mystery.  Some people (often the more intelligent ones) are naturally more sceptical than others.  Wouldn't it be much more fair and reasonable to give people eternal life based on their general behaviour to others i.e. punish the evil-doers rather than the sceptics.  Am I really going to go to Hell just because I did a Philosophy degree?
204785
To answer your question, only God knows.\nThere's nothing wrong with being skeptical and all.\nLastly, no one actually knows how God judges us. God did not specifically say that he will punish those who do not believe in resurrection. It is just a teaching of the church. The Church says that if you do believe in Jesus Christ, you believe in everything the Bible says. It's in an all-or-nothing basis. The Bible said that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, therefore, we should believe so.
634983
What a sorry way to live life.  If god is so forgiving, he would applaud my free thinking attitude.  My actions in life define myself more than believing is something as ridiculous as a god that kills his own people and then says "thou shall not kill".  There's no reason not to have good morals, regardless of religious faith.  In fact, it seems that religion is inspiring more and more hatred and greed every day!  Those aren't Atheists strapping bombs around their waists and running into a crowd of people.
546943
Hmmm, well; I don't know the details but still I can not fathom why someone would be denied that if they were ready and willing to die for the benefit of their Country. Yes it is appalling, and I'm not Christian so perhaps I'm more open to this than a Christian would be; yet I've found many Christians to be quite reasonable so I find this somewhat baffling. I think I shall look into this a little more.
5858
The problem with most people is that they have to see the facts right in front of their face before they will believe anything. Skeptics of course will tell you that no, there is no God. A lot of Religious groups will tell you that you are going to Hell if you don't believe in God. I don't agree with either. I don't waste my time defending what I believe to Skeptics. Let them think what they want. There is no Hell and so many gung ho religious groups want you to believe. The only Hell people will have to go through is their own concsious. I believe that there is a God, but we were sent here to find our own path and then make our way back home. God absolutely does exist, but can be called Light, The Divine, etc. It is up to every individual to find God for themselves.
509304
you're not suppose to worry. everything is happening as it should. There's nothinig you can do about. so really, there is no "evil" because it's being done according to a divine destiny. "good" and "evil" are illusions, and heaven and hell in the after life are illusions too. the bible says god is the alpha and omega, the first and the last, so we are born from God and we go back to God, regardless of what others and we may think. FACT. do the resaerch and you will learn that hell was put into the bible by constantine and the church to control the masses. Live every moment as if it's your last.
292795
I agree with the multiple lives scheme.  It makes more sense and even Christianity could fit into this scheme if people opened their minds.  According to the Bible from what I know the Devil was cast out of heaven and given dominion on Earth, making Earth Hell.  If you die without meeting the requirements of going to Heaven, you go to Hell or Earth, living life again.  It makes sense to me.
96160
hm, it's kind of hard question.  They say that u will go to hell or heaven, but somebody beleives in it and others don't.  I don't know what to think.
211446
That is an extremely subjective ansewr.  There are some out there that can turn that question around and ask thusly:\n\nWhy do people believe in heaven and hell, but do not believe in science?\n\nThe answer is quite complex and really has to do with how the person percieves the world around them.  For some, being immersed within the religion is what they seek.  And anything that would 'threaten' or try and 'disprove' aspects of their religion is a threat, therefore they are inclinded 'not' to agree with such aspects.  \n\nConversly, the same is true for science.  For many that are hard core into science, physics and such, they know what exists, they have tried, through experimentation, through understanding and reasoning, and through logic to understand how this world works.  And, anything, as disjointed as religion can be, that says otherwise becomes a threat, and therefore, is not deemed 'plausable' or 'acceptable' within the scientific realms.\n\nBut, still for some, they are able to accept both the scientific and religious realms as truth.  I, personally, do not know how anyone can do that.  I mean, given the scientific fact of life and how it came to be, and how the disperate examples of given species exist within this world, i find it hard to believe that there was ONE creator who simply said BAM let it be, and it was.  I know that life simply had to grow, had to change, and adapt, as we all do, to a varying level of severities and situations.  So to me, at least, that level of understanding and reasoning is truth.  Whereas conversly, the level of spritualism for the christian religion to me, is mote, and disjointed at best.\n\nReligion, at least on the social front, has always been a problem.  WITHIN the society, religion has always played a pivotal role,  being from the moral guidance of the people to the salvation of the soul.  But on the JUDICIARY or GOVERNMENTAL role, we have wanted religion out.  We do not need this type of disjointed hatred and illogical fallacies dictating what people DO ACT AND SAY within a society.  What we do need from such situations is control, protection and peace.  All of which religion CAN NOT provide.  Only power can provide such things.\n\nWHy do people belive as you have described?  Perhaps they are confused? Stuck in their own illogical fallacy? Or perhaps they are too pressured to believe in one aspect, that seeing another is an impossiblity for them.
236742
Some Christians actually believe that burning in hell is God's idea. They have accepted a perversion of the scriptures without ever wondering if the translations have been mis-translated.I have been a Christian 32 years and this year I actually researched the horrible untruth "Hell." The Holy Spirit will bring us into more and more truth and expose lies and false doctrines.As with lots of Christian stuff we forget parts of the Bible whilst emphasising others. This gospel is good news! I believe all die. All rise from the grave when Jesus returns and everyones life is opened up and bare before God.. Those who have a relationship with God are resurrected and receive new bodies that will never die. And those who have decided to ignore salvation and deliberately continue to do wrong things are forever lost. Unbelievers simply pass from existence. They perish. The dead know nothing. Jesus and God would never punish forever with unquenchable fire and torment. That's a pagan, heathan, wicked perversion. However upon saying that it is very hard to change your beliefs. Especially when people go years believing a doctrine and millions of others disagree and threaten curses etc.upon those who declare hell is a false doctrine. Little by little people will come to know the truth and be set free. Seek the truth and you will find it.
96900
I find it amusing that Christians give out "Get out hell cards" whenever confronted with issues like this.\n\nFor example, the following get an automatic berth into heaven.\n\n1.  Fetuses\n2.  Babies\n3.  Children (though no one can say at what age it changes)\n4.  Mentally challenged folks\n5.  People who never heard of Jesus\n6.  People who lived before Jesus\n7.  Hermaphrodites\n8.  Crazy people\n9.  Etc, etc, etc\n\nBeing a sane, adult fully male person who lives in the year 2006 is the worst possible outcome, because if any of those descriptors were different, I'd automatically go to heaven for eternity.\n\nIf God is perfectly fair, then he has to supply the same test to everyone.  Giving out free "Heaven" cards for eternity, while applying a vigorous "faith" and life test to me is patently unfair for a perfectly fair deity.\n\nThe other two options are even worse:\n\n1.  All of the above go to hell.  Nobody thinks that is fair (yet sending them all to heaven somehow is)\n\n2.  God simply judges their "heart".  If that is true, than the "faith" and life tests are moot and pointless.  God will check me out in heaven and let me in if my "heart" deserves it.  It makes this whole life and earth useless.\n\nYet another of the silly contradictions of Christian faith.
33963
Thank You, asking me that question...finally someone who begins to think. -\n\nwhat would such a God do with all that criminals and Idiots millions of ill and sic people, after a short life of only 70 - 80 years in so called Heaven? - And nobody will get a second Chance, to repair what he has done on Earth ? That must be a complete Idiot of a God, people probably Christians are believing in. And on the latest day all the cadavers are coming out of the earth to sit on the right side of god...what a scenario from a Horror movie...\n\nThank God it is different.\nWe are living to learn and to grow in our consciousness. Millions of lives, in different Cultures, different sex, different skin coulours, different religions, we are coming again and a agin till we are perfect.
219178
Mr. King is absolutely correct on this one. This is a way of thinking that many people embrace wholeheartedly. Sadly, thinking like this removes much of the concept of "personal responsibility" from the equation of the human condition.\n\nOnce one starts thinking like this, all good can be attributed to god, and all evil blamed on the devil. It's very convenient and allows the person who thinks like this to sit back on their laurels and wait for Judgment Day. \n\nOnce you resign yourself to the idea that suffering cannot be alleviated (except by such things as the sacrifice of Christ [which does little to ease day-to-day suffering]), it's far to easy to not attempt to solve problems in the world.\n\nThis is certainly not to say that there are not many Christians who go out of their way to do what they can. In fact, most of them are pretty bent on doing their share. \n\nHowever, in my opinion, this type of thinking does diminish personal efforts to right greater wrongs.
378264
Everyone has a choice, God does not "make" Muslims, etc. He may know someone will make choices that turns them into a Muslim, but God values our choices. Look, if God wanted to just let everyone into heaven that loved him, and cast away the rest into hell, he can do so WITHOUT putting us on earth first. But why would he let us be on earth when he knows we wont serve him anyway? Well imagine if you were created straight in hell... You could easily argue, "God I never had a choice to follow you!", but since you were on earth you DID have choices, and so you get to understand why you go to heaven or hell. Remember though, no one goes to hell if they doesn't deserve to be there according to God's judgement. So why didn't God create just Christians? Well, firstly that would be a form of force since we'd all be destined to go to heaven. Secondly, God might use the life of a non-believer to somehow affect another person into believing. If no one was criticising the Bible, for instance, you probably wouln't have historians and archeologists who back up the Biblical claims with as much evidence as possible. If you didn't have those scholars defending the Bible from skeptics, you might not have as many people who believe in the Bible. At the last, remember that God's knowledge and foresight exceeds are own, and what we may not think is "woth it" he does. Plus think about it, do you think us mere humans are worth the sufferings Jesus undertook? I don't want anyone suffering for me, but it just goes to show how sometimes God might do something we think is wrong, but to him it is extreme mercy and love.
615594
No, it doesn't make sense. It's another (of many) reasons people have non-belief. Why would anyone want to believe in a higher power that would punish them, even if they were good people and led very positive lives, just because they didn't acknowledge the existence of or worship that higher power? Not appealing to think the common example of a god is thinking "I don't care how wonderful you are, since you won't bow to me I'm gonna punish you". *shakes head*
148373
There is no such thing as Hell. Not as the ascribed place anyway. Hey, its great to have a religion or spirituality to make you feel good and have importance in life, but the Idea of Hell was used to just terrify people into submission in the old ages. Its just carried over through the centuries. People used to believe in Zues and Medusa and all the Greek mythology too! Well, that should give you some indication...\n\nI'm not attempting to change your belief system, because I believe everyone should have thier own, however, I would suggest doing some research and introspective thought regarding Theocracy. Ask around. Talk to people and get other views. It may open your mind and free you of the anxiety of Hell or whatever.
288985
People fear what they do not understand. also, half of these people go to someone who may interpret the bible as such. If a priest/bishop, whatever tells you that only Xtians are going to heaven, are you're one then you believe it. If they also say everyone else is going to burn in hell, then you feel better about yourself, and believe it, while putting the uknown factors down. Pagans are awesome, and don't worry if hell actually exists (which he out so much enphasis on, yet don't even know if its there) you're probably not going to go there anyway.
220405
I find it very depressing.  Without a God, there is no absolute moral standard.  The only morals are what people and society "feel" is right or wrong, which change with every generation.  Also, if there were no God, and after we die there is nothing...then what is the point of life?  Why not just run out and murder and rape and do whatever you feel like?  Very good question.  I'm glad I am assured that I have eternal life thanks to my Savior Jesus Christ, and that I have an absolute moral standard to live by...the Bible.