I know God wouldn't appreciate any thought process which includes non belief in Him, since I'm familiar with the first & all ten of His commandments: 1) “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.” This commandment insists on monotheism
, the belief in one God.
But that's good you've lived an honest life, I obviously have no evidence to the contrary. Unfortunately, you need faith as well.
Correct, you're taking a huge risk no religious person is willing to take. Not sure how you could believe so strongly your Atheist belief is 100% right, when the % numbers & evidence are clearly not in your favor.
Not sure what you didn't understand about my prior explanation. If a murderer repents & accepts God, his soul will be saved.
Many people make the mistake of believing that God forgives “little” sins such as lying, anger, and impure thoughts, but does not forgive “big” sins such as murder and adultery. This is not true. There is no sin too big that God cannot forgive it. When Jesus died on the cross, He died to pay the penalty for all of the sins of the entire world (
1 John 2:2). When a person places his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, all of his sins are forgiven. That includes past, present, and future, big or small. Jesus died to pay the penalty for all of our sins, and once they are forgiven, they are all forgiven (
Colossians 1:14;
Acts 10:43).
We are all guilty of sin (
Romans 3:23) and deserve eternal punishment (
Romans 6:23). Jesus died for us, to pay our penalty (
Romans 5:8). Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ for salvation is forgiven, no matter what sins he has committed (
Romans 6:23;
John 3:16). Now, a murderer or adulterer will likely still face serious consequences (legal, relational, etc.) for his evil actions – more so than someone who was “just” a liar. But a murderer’s or adulterer’s sins are completely and permanently forgiven the moment he believes and places his faith in Christ.
It is not the size of the sin that is the determining factor here; it is the size of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. If the shed blood of the sinless Lamb of God is sufficient to cover all the sins of all the millions of people who would ever believe in Him, then there can be no limit to the size or types of sins covered. When He said, “It is finished,” sin was made an end of, full atonement and satisfaction for it were given, complete pardon was obtained, peace was made, and redemption from all sin was achieved. It was sure and certain and complete; nothing needs to be, or could be, added to it. Further, it was done entirely without the help of man, and cannot be undone.
You make it sound like God is somehow to blame for people being in Hell. People in Hell chose not to believe in God, they chose not to repent their sins. How exactly is this God's problem?
Satan is NOT
God's evil twin;
Satan is angel, one of a class of intelligent created beings,
just as humans are. Part of allowing angels and humans to exist as autonomous beings is allowing them to embrace or reject
God's ways.
God can't allow this if he simply
destroys any created intelligent being who rejects Him.
In both the Old and New Testaments, the words translated “test” mean “to prove by trial.” Therefore, when God tests His children, His purpose is to prove that our faith is real. Not that God needs to prove it to Himself since He knows all things, but He is proving to us that our faith is real, that we are truly His children, and that no trial will overcome our faith.
The question should be "why do
we exist?", because God is self sustaining. There is no
reason that God exists, because God
created the very concept of
reason!
God is who He chooses to Be, and among other things, He chose to be our creator.
Correct, the analogy does sound stupid.
Unlike the Bible, atheists don't "promote" God. Likewise, Atheists are dumb enough to burn in Hell for all eternity.
Do I find it strange that there's a McDonald's located near a Mississippi church?
No, not at all.
No problem...Understood, we can agree to disagree on the subject. If you don't find God, my hope is someone else reading this thread will.