Is it right to Question my faith?

[Benoni]

It was not Jehovah God who planned a garden; it was Elohim.

 

[epistemaniac]

Those who have adone a lot of research into the original languages of the bible, especially words denoting temporality, people have come to the conclusion that eternal hell is a biblical doctrine and is truly scriptural. For some examples of the research I have personally done, and more importantly, the research that godly scholars have done regarding the eternality of hell, and specific interaction with persons who deny the eternaluty of hell based on their interpretation of words like aion etc, seeRobert Peterson's "Hell on Trial"Robert Peterson debates Edward Fudge on the subject in "Two Views Of Hell; A Biblical and Theological Dialogue"and Robert Morey's "Death and the Afterlife"blessings,ken

 

[Benoni]

There are two sides of every coin and there as well are Godly men/scholars who have also done “a lot of research into the original languages of the bible”h and know for a fact based on the following there is NO SUCH place as hell and God deals with men by ages not eternals. In the Bible there are far too many inconsistencies when it comes to the Teutonic pagan word “hell” which is used in a multiple of pagan religious beliefs from Rome and Babylon at the time of the early church. This word hell is not even in the original language of the Bible (how did they miss this important point in their research?Only in religion and politics are men so bias and closed minded where they dare not look at the opposite opinion so they have half a puzzle. Even thought the Bible declares we should "seek", "ask", and "knock"? I know in my spirit God has no need or use to create such a place of torture for the lost that have no power to believe on their own freewill or choice.There are far too many verses declaring the salvation of all people.There are far too many Bible verses using the Greek “aion, aionias” and the Hebrew “olan” interpreted as eternal, everlasting and forever where the content of the verse cannot mean but a limited duration.God’s Word is deep and is full of hidden mysteries, the letter killeth. Prov 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

 

[bigdummy]

epistemaniac;72336as far as Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross goes, it did not pay the debt for all the people who ever lived, but only for those for whom Christ died, those who believe...Joh 3:16-18 ESV "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Is it your understanding that unbelief is a sin?, than it would seem if it is that Christ did not die for sinners but only for believers, That being the case where did unbelievers obtain the ability to believe if not from God Himself, as I have read that "we are saved by Grace through Faith, and this not of ourselves, it is the Gift if God" (Eph.2:8

 

[bigdummy]

[/FONT] I have been praying for understanding and discussing my questions with my pastor and friends. However, i still feel lost and confused. Therefore, i decided to try several forums in hopes of finding some answers or perhaps gaining a better understanding. i believe god perhaps is testing my faith and maybe this journey will strengthen my faith in the end. So with that said, id like to discuss some questions with you all: My main questions revolve around why god sends nonbelievers to hell. why? Well there are countless of faiths other then Christianity around the world which accounts for about 40% of the world. Also allot of them are good peaceful people who have been raised to be Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim etc.....why do they deserve to go to hell? How is it there fault they were raised and conditioned under a religion outside of Christianity? Also what about the native Americans that lived in the Americas.... at least 100 million or more indigenous people may have lived in the Americas when the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus began along with the European invasion and introduction of Christianity into the Americas. The Native Americans knew nothing of Jesus Christ and have been dying for centuries with out knowledge of his existence until the pilgrims from Europe finally came and began to spread christianity. Which means every native Americans prior 1492 went to hell.Even today there are many who will die and never hear of Jesus, such as the many isolated idian tribes that exist through out deep in south American amazons. Why do they deserve to go to hell?................. So with that said, i decided to further think about why god sends people to hell . I began to think about the original sin that lead to the fall of man. Which lead me to ask my self, why did god place the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden anyway? Some have told me it was because he wants mankind to have free will... But still you'd have to ask, couldn't he have gone about it in a less harsh way? Why allow your children that you love face the possibility of eternity in hell just so that they can have free will? Now lets suppose this is true, If mankind kind gained freewill to choose evil or good after eve committed the first sin, then who was guiding Eves will before she took the fruit? some say it was the devil...but then again who allowed the devil into the garden in the first place? [FONT=&quot]Then comes the punishment..... [/FONT]

I feel safe in saying that you are far from the first to ask the questions you have as I have many times, and feel no guilt for having done so for if I'm not mistaken (and I may be, just ask my wife) somewhere in the bible Christians are encouraged to do so. For instance God being all knowing [knowing the begining from the end] had to know that when He picked up that handful of dirt to create Adam that Adam would be influnced by the woman He gave him to do what she said [haven't we all done the same thing where our wifes are concerned?] I have also wondered about the tree of good and evil as when Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden for conduct unbecoming Gods human creation we hear no more about it, but someone must have told my ancestors about good and evil because I have to deal with it every day, It's true that I have the bible to instruct me but what about the folks who messed up prior to God giving Moses the word to pass on to the people? Also I have always been told that God is a God of second chances, do you really think that Adam never once told God he was sorry and would never again do anything that he knew was against His will [So Help Me God] but God said SORRY! Then the question of poeple who never heard of or believe in Jesus, I don't know about that one either, People who refer to themselves as Christians seem to have almost as big a problem with believing the word as those who never have heard it, There must be well over a thousand different denominations and most of them act as though their particular interpition is the right one. Try convincing a Roman Catholic that the bible dosn't speak of a place called Pergatory, or that there is more than one religious leader that is qualified to interpit Gods word, or a Baptist, if your not immersed in water you have never been baptised, and on and on. So really is it any wonder people question all the interpitations people have of the same book we claim to bet our erernity on? We don't have to get involved with the thinking of the Buddists Etc. we have a big enough problem within ourselves....God Bless...Ray

 

[geordie72]

Jesus said, “whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22). Yet, he himself did so repeatedly, as Matthew 27:19, Luke 11:40 & 12:20 show. Shouldn’t he be in danger of hell too? Jesus also told us to “Love your enemies; bless them that curse you," but ignored his own advice by repeatedly denouncing his opposition. Matthew 12:34 (“0 generation of vipers”), and Matthew 23 :27 (“... hypocrites... ye are like unto whited sepulchres.“