Posted on 01/03/2002 11:19:13 AM PST by ArGee
A very rich man decided that he wanted to show kindness to the people of the fair city where he lived. Since he was very rich indeed, he decided to throw a banquet for the entire city. He rented the largest sports arena in the city and began his plans. He planned for huge amounts of the best food possible, making allowances for every religious and medical diet. He advertised the banquet in every possible manner - television, radio, billboard, door-to-door canvassing. Considering that there might be some who could not travel, he arranged for free bus transportation to and from the event, and some special-needs vehicles for all who could not ride busses. He even scheduled the banquet to run for 24 hours a day for several days so that everyone could be sure of being served.
He planned long and hard and finally the big day came. The rich man ate quickly and then went about wishing all his guests well and personally making sure that all had every need met. After a while he went outside to tour the grounds and talk with those who had not yet gone in, and those who had already left. Everyone was happy. Many were profusely thankful. It was a glorious occasion.
At one point the rich man noticed a group of people sitting outside a locked door with most unpleasant looks on their faces. Sensing they were not happy, he went over to them. He did not introduce himself but simply asked them if he could be of service.
"We want to go in through this door," one of them replied.
The rich man explained to them that the hall was arranged to feed a large number of people as quickly and effortlessly as possible. This required order inside, and the entrances and exits had been carefully planned to be as efficient as possible. He then offered to go call one of the golf carts that were avaialbe to help people who could not walk far to take them to the entrance. But the man replied, "We do not want to go in the entrance. We want to go in this door. We don't understand why we can't go in any door we wish. We think the man who set this banquet up is mean and hateful for insisting we go in through the entrance. He has tried to bill himself as a very kind man by offering this banquet, but he is not kind at all if he will not indulge us and let us go through this door.
The rich man was distressed at these words, but still attempted to please these people. He tried once more to explain to them what was behind this particular door, and how if they went in this door they would disrupt the meal service being offered inside. He offered to drive them himself, not only to the door, but inside the hall to their tables if they would only go through the entrance to enjoy the meal. Again the man said, "No, but only a hateful man would keep us from going through the door of our choosing. And we will sit here and tell anyone who will listen to us what an awful man he is until he lets us in."
At that the rich man was enraged and he shouted, "Enough." Then he called a police officer to have them thrown off of the property and ordered that they not be allowed to return until the banquet was over and all the scraps had been hauled away. Then, mourning for their loss, he turned to visit with other guests.
As long as hell exists, it IS an arranged marriage with a great number of people adhering at the point of a pitchfork. If your God really wanted to give people free will, there would be no hell. He wouldn't have to "allow sin into heaven," he could simply stipulate that those who don't go into heaven cease to exist completely. That way, the only incentive to worship would be love, and fear and coercion would play no part.
May I jump back in?
Let me postulate something. It is completely extra-Biblical so it is my own and I take full responsibility for it. G-d knows the ending from the beginning, so G-d knows what Hell will be before He creates it.
If you go to Genesis 1 you will see that G-d created light before he created any objects that currently cast light. I.e. sun, stars, moon. That means that the light spoken of first isn't the stuff that triggers the photoreceptors in our eyes, it's something else. Sages believe it is the Glory of G-d. The next thing G-d did was separate the light from the darkness. Now, notice He did not create the darkness, He simply created a place where the light did not go. If the light is, indeed, the Glory of G-d, then that place is the place where the Glory of G-d does not go. In other words, that place is hell.
At that time, it is not a place of torment or fire, it's just a place of darkness or, more accurately, G-d's absence. It's not intended as a place of eternal torment, just a place where people who don't want to hang around G-d can go to hang around.
In Christian theology, without G-d, man cannot be good. If you have read "Lord of the Flies" you will recognize the Christian theme. We need to be taught to be good and we needed G-d as the teacher as the first place. Before I get to my point, consider that this creation does not last very long as compared to eternity (which, I think, is your concern).
OK, here's the scene. You finally die and go to heaven. Maybe you've heard the Gospel, and maybe you haven't. If you haven't, Jesus introduces Himself. If you have, He can skip that step. Then he says, "Here are two doors. Through the door on the right is the place where I will be forever. If you go there, you will have me hanging around forever. I'm the king in there, so you will have to submit to my rule.
The door on the left is the place I created for people who don't like me. If you don't want to be with me forever I respect that choice. Over there, you people will rule yourselves. You can do whatever you like. I won't bother you, nobody will preach at you, nobody will try to convert you. You can run it yourselves just the way many on earth said they wanted it.
Which door do you want to go through?
At that point, those who have no interest in Jesus will choose the door on the left and be left to themselves to create an ordered society and live their lives as they please.
And, being human, it will become an eternal torment. Yet, being human, they will never admit that it could have been beter if they had gone through the other door and served Jesus. Never! Even if given an eternity to change their minds.
Does that make sense?
Shalom.
Let's say I think the Moon is God. I pray 'Oh God I worship you'.
Who's the prayer going to?
It depends on why you are praying to the "wrong" G-d.
If it's just because you never knew any better (say you have an IQ of 30 and really, really can't figure out that G-d isn't the statue of Joseph in your Church) then I don't think G-d will have a problem with that.
But there are other reasons to get it wrong.
I believe G-d is reasonable. I believe that people who are ernestly trying to get it right can count on G-d to save them, regardless of the mistakes they make. But I don't think G-d is interested in pride or sloth. And those are the primary reasons, IMO, most people don't believe in the "right" G-d.
Shalom.
Hypocrite. Another word you might want to look up. *g*
I do not include the Lord in this, I hesitate to call Him a creature....
Ok, here it is.......
You and this lady are stranded on this island (or remote world) with NO chance of rescue. You had a relationship in the old world with a lady and all you can do is agonize over how much you miss her, need her, can't live without her. Logically, you KNOW that you can NEVER get back to her, she may even be dead.
Now the lady stranded with you has loved you since you were a child. She's lived in your neighborhood, passed by your house daily going to school, has had classes with you, ached in her heart as you poured out your affections to others, and yet, steadfastly, she has loved you. The little things she did to express her feeling toward you were ignored or mis-interpreted.
Oh, you tried not to hurt her feelings over the years, but you really couldn't care less about her. Even when she was voted Most Friendly and Miss Congeniality and Queen at the school prom; and when lots of your friends simply adored her, you could not see what they saw in her.
And now, here you are, stuck with her on this isle. She hopes that NOW, as she manages to find food, prepare a shelter and extends friendship to you, that, FINALLY, you two can get together and live in love and peace.
But, all you do is pine for someone else.
In one's mind.
Shalom.
There is no way to give them freedom and then guarantee anything.
Shalom.
Do you think it is possible for these supernatural creatures to have intelligence?
If you answer no, then stop reading.
If you answer yes...You believe these creatures have intelligence. Is it too hard to imagine that they also have purpose?
Is it possible that one or more of these supernatural creatures would masquerade as some type of diety or even The True God Himself?
Is it possible a human could be duped into worshiping this creature that is masquerading as something it isn't?
Is intent enough? I believe the knowledge of God is hardwired into us. When I came to believe in God it wasn't as if I was given some new information, it was as if a light had been turned on. I believe that I always knew He existed, but the knowledge was buried or put away somewhere where I didn't see it.
So if you're worshiping some creature who claims to be God, is that really worshiping The One True God? Is intent enough?
I don't think so.
Well, we don't give children freedom because they don't truly understand the nature of the world and its dangers. Merely telling them fairy tales is not enough to make them really understand the evil that strangers can do, or the many things that can hurt them. The Bible refers to us all as children of God, and a mere book with a few references to hell can hardly be enough to make people capable of understanding the nature of what might await them. Even adults in our world have more than one safety net and the welfare of our loved ones is usually not limited by our deliberate restraint in honor of their "freedom" but by our lack of capability to intervene on their behalf. However, you and I obviously see things very differently, so we might as well give it up. We aren't going to come to an agreement, that's obvious.
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