Would You Still...

[Nancy]

...Love God even if there were no eternal life/heaven? I think of that often and would like to think I would still follow His precepts and His law to Agape others. After all-we are still blessed by him-most in the "free world" always have food, shelter and so on.
Would this ever change your Love for God? For myself, I can talk tough and say stuff like "Though He Slay me, I will trust Him" But...I do not think I even know my own heart enough to make such a decision like that. As of today? I would say yes, I would still love God. But would I really? How do you stop loving? Or, if you knew you were going to "hell", -- same question.
thanks and Bless you,
-nancy

 

[Triumph1300]

After all-we are still blessed by him-most in the "free world" always have food, shelter and so on.

Many miracles are happening in the "non free" nations.
More than in the west I believe.
At least I hear more about that than in the west.
But I could be wrong.

 

[Nancy]

Many miracles are happening in the "non free" nations.
More than in the west I believe.
At least I hear more about that than in the west.
But I could be wrong.

Yes Triumph, I believe that very much as they are hungry for God, many of them are so very grateful for the littlest of things and we, the Western world seem to take so much for granted. Some are blessed blind! Lol...they still grumble because this or that isn't just so. I am thinking the faith of some of the poorest people in the world, well overshadows the faith of some of the richest. Just my thoughts..

 

[Dcopymope]

If I were an unbeliever, I would think whats in it for me if I were to convert. What do I gain from your God if I were to convert other than avoiding hell? What would you say to someone filthy rich, who can afford to buy an entire city or island if given the chance? In fact, never mind the obscene material gain he himself promised for his saints on the new earth. Am I promised a roof over my head, clothes and shoes to wear, and food to eat? Can your God promise the basic essentials to survive in the world he created and WILL create in the future?

And in this promised land, can a man put in the work, and it actually pay off like it would in a true free market system, without any descrimination, ethnic or otherwise, that his prophet Isaiah proposed in chapter 65 ( I recall)? Right now, no such system exists except in the minds of the delusional. Screw all that touchy feely crap about "love". The ideal world proposed by Jesus is not the real world we live in, thats just fact.

 

[Willie T]

If being honest, I would have to say, "No." Because, like so many people raised in mainstream churches, I was first baptized through the typical avenue of the fear-factor, fire insurance conversion most churches promoted in those days... and that many still do.

 

[Hidden In Him]

...Love God even if there were no eternal life/heaven? I think of that often and would like to think I would still follow His precepts and His law to Agape others. After all-we are still blessed by him-most in the "free world" always have food, shelter and so on.
Would this ever change your Love for God? For myself, I can talk tough and say stuff like "Though He Slay me, I will trust Him" But...I do not think I even know my own heart enough to make such a decision like that. As of today? I would say yes, I would still love God. But would I really? How do you stop loving? Or, if you knew you were going to "hell", -- same question.
thanks and Bless you,
-nancy

Actually Nancy, my faith in eternal life, Heaven, and the coming kingdom of God is so closely interlocked with everything else that it would sort of dismantle my whole faith system in some respects, LoL.

I would still believe in the God of Love, but it would raise questions in my mind as to His power to create a world of love and a kingdom of love when all is said and done, so it throws me off a bit.

Just throwing my two cents in, since I may not be the only one.

 

[Nancy]

Actually Nancy, my faith in eternal life, Heaven, and the coming kingdom of God is so closely interlocked with everything else that it would sort of dismantle my whole faith system in some respects, LoL.

I would still believe in the God of Love, but it would raise questions in my mind as to His power to create a world of love and a kingdom of love when all is said and done, so it throws me off a bit.

Just throwing my two cents in, since I may not be the only one.

Thanks HIH, Yes, a good thought. I too would still believe in Him as well. If we knew nothing of eternal life and this was it? I would have hoped to be VERY young when becoming saved, lol.

 

[Helen]

@Nancy

Off the top of my head, without thinking it through ( So I may change my mind later) For me the answer would probably be NO.
For without ending up with God Himself what would be the reason for life or any point in anything?

Unless there was some communication with The Father...we would have no faith...because faith comes by hearing.
What would The Promise be, if there is no ending up in His Presence?

I would have a purposeless life.
What would I have to say to anyone?
What would replace the Gospel of the Kingdom?

Very good and interesting thread Nancy.

 

[Helen]

...but I suppose that is how people are who believe that after death there is nothing...and this life is a good as it gets!!

 

[Nancy]

@Nancy

Off the top of my head, without thinking it through ( So I may change my mind later) For me the answer would probably be NO.
For without ending up with God Himself what would be the reason for life or any point in anything?

Unless there was some communication with The Father...we would have no faith...because faith comes by hearing.
What would The Promise be, if there is no ending up in His Presence?

I would have a purposeless life.
What would I have to say to anyone?
What would replace the Gospel of the Kingdom?

Very good and interesting thread Nancy.

"( So I may change my mind later)" <---is that our prerogative?? hahaha
Thanks Helen, glad you find this interesting...me too.
It is hard to even imagine going back to THAT life...so, if not for God...what's the purpose
♥

 

[Nancy]

...but I suppose that is how people are who believe that after death there is nothing...and this life is a good as it gets!!

Ewww- if this horrible, horrible world was all there is, think I woulda offed myself a long time ago! HAhaha....my mother used to say (with 7 little ones always tugging at her skirts ♥) " Ooooh, stop the world and let me get off!!" Of course, she always said and did EVERYTHING with love. She was the kindest and most gentle spirited person I ever knew this side of heaven ♥

 

[Helen]

with 7 little ones always tugging at her skirts ♥) " Ooooh, stop the world and let me get off!!" Of course, she always said and did EVERYTHING with love. She was the kindest and most gentle spirited person I ever knew this side of heaven ♥

See right there (where I made bold.)
Another reason , we would have no hope of a heavenly community with God...if there was no heaven. You couldn't have any comforting thoughts that our loved ones are still "alive in Him".

 

[Nancy]

See right there (where I made bold.)
Another reason , we would have no hope of a heavenly community with God...if there was no heaven. You couldn't have any comforting thoughts that our loved ones are still "alive in Him".

Did not think of that!!! That is a huge hope for us! Oh what a dark world this would be without the promises of our maker! It has been 28 years since both my parents have been gone...I am happy that they do not have to live through the horrid happenings in this world, and so very happy that my mom led (through Gods Spirit) my dad to Christ...took decades, he became a believer only about a year or two before he passed. Sooooo-I know where they are ♥

 

[Nancy]

See right there (where I made bold.)
Another reason , we would have no hope of a heavenly community with God...if there was no heaven. You couldn't have any comforting thoughts that our loved ones are still "alive in Him".

Just thought of something, (Uh-oh, lol) just pretend that there was never a heaven or hell...but, just this life and what we make of it. God is still God, with all of His attributes, He provides all of our needs, blesses us as we trust in Him...I wonder how we would choose to live if that were the case (which it certainly is NOT-Thank God!) Now remember, in this scenario, we have never ever heard of the concept of heaven or hell, but since God is love, and He would communicate that to us -in this scenario-...I know this is all silly thoughts on my part, but...still have nothing BUT time on my bum, ha! (Which, BTW-hurts like the dickens! Lol)...He would comfort us and wipe away our tears when we lose a loved one...we trust Him for everything and He blesses us in every way.
Okay Helen, now I think MY brain is fried!!! LOL.....silly thoughts. I just wondered if we would still love Him. "Though He slay me..." ♥

 

[brakelite]

1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

 

[Nancy]

1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Lol, yes Brakelight...this I do know...my post is just a "What If" kinda thing...I have way too much time on my hands at this point, that will change (I hope!) next week Wednesday. Yeah, lot's of time to dream up dumb stuff, haha...good scripture though!
In Him,
-nancy

 

[brakelite]

I must confess, that when I first asked Jesus, in 1976, to take control of my life and make of it something He would approve of, I had no thought whatever of heaven or hell. I just knew my life was already hell, not just to me, but to Him. I wanted...needed...something different. And I knew only Jesus could deliver.

 

[Nancy]

I must confess, that when I first asked Jesus, in 1976, to take control of my life and make of it something He would approve of, I had no thought whatever of heaven or hell. I just knew my life was already hell, not just to me, but to Him. I wanted...needed...something different. And I knew only Jesus could deliver.

Yes, we would be completely lost without our wonderful Jesus. What was it that finally seek him like that? (other than the Holy Spirit leading you, of course)
Isn't it amazing how He changes us? It is supernatural. My life was very not pleasing to Him...lived in drunkenness, debauchery, all kinds of that stuff...I miss it not at all! Praise Him!

 

[brakelite]

What was it that finally seek him like that? (other than the Holy Spirit leading you, of course)

Conviction that nothing I could do could really make me happy. Yet I had everything I thought I needed. No ties, responsibilities, impediments. https://brakelite.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/from-blindness-to-freedom-to-hope/

 

[Nancy]

Conviction that nothing I could do could really make me happy. Yet I had everything I thought I needed. No ties, responsibilities, impediments. https://brakelite.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/from-blindness-to-freedom-to-hope/

Oh yeah, you had the Spirit tugging at your conscience! I only wish it wasn't so late in life that I finally submitted and received Him ♥