Would You Still...

[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/

I guess we just know, hate that we (some) need to be brought to our knees before allowing the Truth to take hold...but He will stop at nothing to bring us into His family ♥

 

[Mayflower]

This is an awesome question!!!!! I never thought of this before!!!!! I guess I would, because Christ would still be the only Hope in a dark world. I never understood like Satanism where they worship Lucifer and believe he'll is a big party where they will be leaders down there. I honestly wouldn't want to believe or follow a god like that. He would be like a sperm donor father to me.

And all throughout God's Word, He promises,

Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalms 37:4 KJV

I think Heaven is something desirable. To see family again is desirable. Without Heaven it would make God a liar in a way. A false hope. Live for a short while and then what? No justice and no reward. So what would be the point of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross?

 

[Helen]

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..." ♥

Okay. <Scratching chin while thinking >

Yours is an IF, so mine will be an IF.

We know human nature is " all about me". So I don't believe that many would do your 'IF'..not without some 'pay off' at the end, why would they?

For me personally. If we still had the bible with no heaven or hell in it.
( gosh what am I talking about, I already don't believe in 'hell' as taught in the pulpits!! )

Then IF God spoke to us just as He does now...then having His companionship, and His peace in my heart ..compared to what I had before I knew Him....then, yes it would be worth it ,to walk my years on this earth..in fellowship with Him.

But, I did say in my first post...that I may change my mind.

 

[Nancy]

Okay. <Scratching chin while thinking >

Yours is an IF, so mine will be an IF.

We know human nature is " all about me". So I don't believe that many would do your 'IF'..not without some 'pay off' at the end, why would they?

For me personally. If we still had the bible with no heaven or hell in it.
( gosh what am I talking about, I already don't believe in 'hell' as taught in the pulpits!! )

Then IF God spoke to us just as He does now...then having His companionship, and His peace in my heart ..compared to what I had before I knew Him....then, yes it would be worth it ,to walk my years on this earth..in fellowship with Him.

But, I did say in my first post...that I may change my mind.

<---- Lol!
"Then IF God spoke to us just as He does now...then having His companionship, and His peace in my heart ..compared to what I had before I knew Him....then, yes it would be worth it ,to walk my years on this earth..in fellowship with Him. "

Yay! This is what I have been waiting to hear ♥ YOU WIN!!!!!

 

[Mayflower]

<---- Lol!
"Then IF God spoke to us just as He does now...then having His companionship, and His peace in my heart ..compared to what I had before I knew Him....then, yes it would be worth it ,to walk my years on this earth..in fellowship with Him. "

Yay! This is what I have been waiting to hear ♥ YOU WIN!!!!!

Can I still have candy too Nancy?

 

[Nancy]

Can I still have candy too Nancy?

But, of course!

 

[Helen]

Can I still have candy too Nancy?

No you can't... 1) It is bad for you.
2) You don't like it anyway!!

 

[Mayflower]

No you can't... 1) It is bad for you.
2) You don't like it anyway!!

Hey now! I didn't ask you. And I do like gum and sweettart/pixie sticks. I guess I should have said not much of a sweet tooth. No chocolate or cake or Ice cream or anything. Not too bad for me. Got to live a LITTLE! Lol. But awww how sweet, you remembered. Lol

 

[APAK]

...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

Nancy, your answered your own question because the answer is already embedded in the words.

"...Love God even if there were no eternal life/heaven?"

Loving God means that God first loved us. And if he first loved us, he had a purpose. Since he is in heaven, has eternal life and of pure love his purpose is to love us and to share these attributes with him. God cannot deny himself or work against his own purpose. He wants us in the heavenly realm, in immortality, in love.

So the question does not really make sense if you don't question why we love God in the first place.

I hope all this came out clear....

Bless you,

APAK

 

[Nancy]

Nancy, your answered your own question because the answer is already embedded in the words.

"...Love God even if there were no eternal life/heaven?"

Loving God means that God first loved us. And if he first loved us, he had a purpose. Since he is in heaven, has eternal life and of pure love his purpose is to love us and to share these attributes with him. God cannot deny himself or work against his own purpose. He wants us in the heavenly realm, in immortality, in love.

So the question does not really make sense if you don't question why we love God in the first place.

I hope all this came out clear....

Bless you,
Oh yes @APAK - I do understand all of the above...this is just a what if kind of question and I was just waiting to hear somebody answer that last question with something like-I would say, (not that all of His roles aren't super important) that the "most" important role of the Holy Spirit would be convicting the unsaved of sin and hopefully that person will come to Christ...all of the other roles He has cannot be worked through a believer until that first step....♥ And, if we had a perfect world where God still blesses and LOVES us but, we have only this life....I would like to think that yes, I would still love Him.
-nancy

APAK

 

[bbyrd009]

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

a dialectic interp here yields quite a diff understanding than a logical one fwiw. Not sure how to reveal this, other than maybe picture "believers" all more or less living in a miracle right now, who nonetheless can't wait to be whisked off somewhere else they deem "heaven." As revealed in the discourse on "absent from the body," wherein Paul is almost universally misquoted as saying "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." Iow another way to put that might be "if we put our hope/faith in Christ right now, in this life, we would be the least miserable on the planet; but we are mostly the biggest whiners instead."

 

[bbyrd009]

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!)

hmm, i wouldn't be too sure wadr, i say it (certainly) is

There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand

 

[bbyrd009]

He wants us in the heavenly realm, in immortality, in love.

return to Me and I will return to you
the kingdom is within you
Understand I AM

...Who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has
seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
so, um...ya

 

[Truth]

...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

After reading through this thread, I would have to say NO, ByGrace said it best, without God where is the purpose,without God I have no purpose!! So bring out the Booze and have a ball

 

[Jane_Doe22]

...Love God even if there were no eternal life/heaven?

Honestly I don't love God right now because of a future in Heaven -- I mean it's there and it's important and I'm grateful. But I feel God's love of me TODAY. I love Him for everything He does for me TODAY, and even besides that everything He's done for me in the past. All the future stuff in more great things to come are great and I'll celebrate when that icing on the cake* when it comes.

*Icing on the cake = This is possibly the greatest understatement of all time

 

[Nancy]

Honestly I don't love God right now because of a future in Heaven -- I mean it's there and it's important and I'm grateful. But I feel God's love of me TODAY. I love Him for everything He does for me TODAY, and even besides that everything He's done for me in the past. All the future stuff in more great things to come are great and I'll celebrate when that icing on the cake* when it comes.

*Icing on the cake = This is possibly the greatest understatement of all time

:)

 

[brakelite]

a dialectic interp here yields quite a diff understanding than a logical one fwiw. Not sure how to reveal this, other than maybe picture "believers" all more or less living in a miracle right now, who nonetheless can't wait to be whisked off somewhere else they deem "heaven." As revealed in the discourse on "absent from the body," wherein Paul is almost universally misquoted as saying "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." Iow another way to put that might be "if we put our hope/faith in Christ right now, in this life, we would be the least miserable on the planet; but we are mostly the biggest whiners instead."

I would prefer to believe what Paul ws saying was that if we in this life suffer the persecutions and abuses of the true believer, taking up our cross daily and forsaking the things of this world for Christ's sake, (that is being genuine Christians not just wannabees) yet have no hope in eternity, then we of all people are the most foolish.
And just for another perspective. Christians should never attempt to take away the pleasures of the unsaved, so long as they don't impede others rights. If they never come to Christ, removing pleasure in this life will be removing their only pleasure forever. This does not of course meaning tolerating sin or refusing to call sin by its right name, but simply to not condemn the lost for their desire to live happy and fulfilled lives outside of Christ.

 

[Helen]

I would prefer to believe what Paul ws saying was that if we in this life suffer the persecutions and abuses of the true believer, taking up our cross daily and forsaking the things of this world for Christ's sake, (that is being genuine Christians not just wannabees) yet have no hope in eternity, then we of all people are the most foolish.
And just for another perspective. Christians should never attempt to take away the pleasures of the unsaved, so long as they don't impede others rights. If they never come to Christ, removing pleasure in this life will be removing their only pleasure forever. This does not of course meaning tolerating sin or refusing to call sin by its right name, but simply to not condemn the lost for their desire to live happy and fulfilled lives outside of Christ.

Amen yes I like that.
I agree, Paul was talking of a future deeper hope that he had , of a finally face to face with the Lord.
If not, knowing the He is there...but never being able to be in the fullness of His Presence , would make us sad.
I believe that one of the tests of this life is God asking - " How much do you really want to be close to me in Glory?"

For I am a believer that we will each be as close to God in Eternity as we showed Him down here...our choices here...will reflect how close we dwell with Him there.
I always have believed that.
...the 'wannabees' I believe, are as the foolish Virgins...they wanted Him...but their passion died while living this life.

 

[bbyrd009]

I would prefer to believe what Paul ws saying was that if we in this life suffer the persecutions and abuses of the true believer, taking up our cross daily and forsaking the things of this world for Christ's sake, (that is being genuine Christians not just wannabees) yet have no hope in eternity, then we of all people are the most foolish.

and i'm not saying you are wrong either, ok, but that the authors wrote with an understanding of what we "prefer to believe."
Iow you are reading a "stay here for the present" statement from your pov rather than theirs, possibly. "eternal" is not the same as "immortal," which is what we really seek, right

 

[bbyrd009]

I agree, Paul was talking of a future deeper hope that he had , of a finally face to face with the Lord.

Paul was fully aware that he was not headed for immortality though, Helen, as he knew full well that there is only One Immortal, and no one ever ascends to heaven except He Who came down from it.

If not, knowing the He is there...but never being able to be in the fullness of His Presence , would make us sad.

knowledge brings sorrow, and if you are not in the fullness of His Presence right now that is only bc "return to Me and I will return to you."

"this is the maximum level of being with me."
BBRodriguez