A Person Who Does Not Know What They Believe Part 1

A Person Who Doesn't Know What They Believe Part 1
I kept the spelling errors to make it more realistic, and to add to its authenticity.

Someone posted something on my xanga that involved harsh, bad language. I responded:

"I do not know who you are, or what happened to you to make you think the way you do, but I am sorry if I offended you or are offending you now. What reason do you possible have to go around saying those things to random people. I feel sorry for you. You must feel pretty purposeless in life to talk the way you do and treat people the way you do. Did you comment like that just because I am a Christian. I really do not care. As irritated as I am, I am not mad at all. You did not p*** me off because I am better than that. I hope things get better in your life. I would love to know what you believe. I am always open to hearing new things. I do not put myself in a box like so many other Christians do. How do you see the world? How do you see a human being? How do you see life after death? How do you determine right from wrong? I am sorry if I sound pushy or rude or offensive, I have no intention of being that way. I will pray for you."

Then he answered:

"God hates you, you are going to hell"

So I replied:

"You do not need to make comments like these. I know you are just trying to make me mad and p*** me off, but it won't work, because I know what I believe, and perhaps you don't know what you believe. Or maybe you do, but won't tell me. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. No matter what you say, I know that as long as I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior, I will be saved from the fiery pit of hell. You may say that God hates me and that I am going to hell, but I know that that is not true because I know that God loves everyone and hates no one. He does not want us to go to hell, but if we do not accept Him, we will. Do not get me wrong, I refuse to condemn any person to hell, that would just be plain wrong. But I do know what I believe, and because of that, because "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17) Because of that, I know that I am going to heaven, not hell, and I know that you can't intimidate me. I know that I firmly believe that God created the world in 7 days. I believe that the purpose of a human being is to live their life for God, not themselves. God sent Jesus, his one and only son, to the earth. Jesus was sinless, yet was crucified on the cross to death. He died on the cross for everyone's sins, and rose again three days later. He is my priest, my savior, my covenant. My life without him is meaningless. I am empty without Him. It may seem like a life full of rules with Him, but it truly is a life full of truth and knowing that you are not empty, that you always will be full. That He will always be there for me even in the toughest times so that I can learn from my mistakes. I believe that when you die you either have eternal life without God or eternal life with God through Jesus! I base my right and wrong on the Bible, which is the only absolute truth. I know what I believe. Do you?"

He then answered, “If god is real why would he let my mother father and two sisters die in a car accident????”

I replied,

“No one can know or understand your grief but you. Still, I do feel sorry for you and can express that I too have gone through some tough times, although none as tough as yours.

I have always believed that as hard as times get, they can always get better. When you reach the bottom, there is no place to go but up. When I am in the deepest situations that make me want to explode with questions, asking God why he would let something happen, I make an effort to think about how God is still there for me. Yes, it may seem like He does not really exist because of what has happened, or like he is an evil God, but that does not make it true.

There is evil present in the world whether we like it or not. It has been present ever since Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. God does not like that evil. You have to remember that He created the world to be perfect and without sin, but gave man freedom of choice, which led to sin when Satan tempted Eve. Sure, sin and evil exist. That does not make God evil. He wants to comfort you in your times of trouble. He grieves when you go through hard times.

You may say, “What about prayer. I would never have asked God to let this happen to my family. How could He let it happen?” God’s will is a perfect and good will; it is not our will and we can’t change it. His character is constant and unchanging. He will always be loving. But because man sinned, evil is present in the world and there is nothing we can do but resist it. It may come, but we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. It may take loved ones away, but good can come from bad, and even though you may hate God for letting it happen, it happened. There is nothing wrong with grieving over it. There is such a thing as fate, but not the same as you may think.

I know I am sort of off track and babbling on and on, but I do have something to say. God loves you! He does exist! You can deny Him all you want, but that won’t make your claims true. God wants to comfort you. He wants to be your guide and shield.

When you made your comment, I looked up some verses to help you. You are not the only one bad things have happened to. Job, in the Bible, lost all his loved ones and everything he had, but he still served God.

Lamentations 3:25,32 says, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” Jeremiah saw hope in the future despite the terrible circumstances. He knew that God is unchanging; there is always hope in Him no matter what.

John 16: 21 says, “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” Joy can come in the end to those who are in pain.

Psalm 10:14-18 says, “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.” God defends the fatherless and the oppressed so that man may “terrify no more.”

In James it talks about going through trials. That is always a good book to read when you feel depressed, grieved, disappointed, angry, or lonely.

James 1:4 says, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

Verses 16-18 say, “Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

In answer to some of the questions you might have thought of, James 1:13 says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”

Psalm 119:50, 76 says, “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.… May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.” God has made a promise. He keeps all His promises. Take time to realize that He preserved your life. You live.

Matthew 5:4 says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Revelation 21:3-4 says, ‘And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."’

He wants to be your comfort!

If you doubt God’s character, His existence, or the validity of the Bible, then I would suggest you read books by Lee Strobel. He is a reporter journalist. He was an atheist, but became a Christian after researching the Bible, and what Christians believe. Afterwards, he wrote books about his investigations. I would recommend reading, “The Case for Christ” or “The Case for a Creator.”

I asked my dad what he would say if he asked how God could let loved ones die. This was his answer. It may be a little more clear than what I have said.

I've experienced loss, too, but nothing like yours. I won't pretend to understand the pain and anger you must feel. No words of mine could relieve your pain, but maybe I can give you some things to think about that will help how you handle your pain.

Wouldn't you agree that evil exists? You've experienced it. But if evil exists, how can any of us go on if some force of good doesn't also exist to contain the evil? If my belief in God is a crutch, so what? It strengthens me, it gives me purpose, and when I hurt, it speeds my healing. Crutches are for wounded people, and that means me and you.

I'm glad you said that God let the evil happen to your loved ones. A lot of people would say He caused it. Although God didn't create evil, He lets evil happen; but I believe that even so, He works in the background to set boundaries for it, to turn it into good, and ultimately to reconcile the world to Himself.

Yes, God allows evil, but we are blind to most of the picture. Life is like space: Most of the stuff of the universe is "dark matter" and "dark energy" that we can't sense -- and yet we see the effects of its gravity. For that matter, when it comes to time and distance, we barely see past our noses. Yet, through the witness of others, we can see a short way into the past; and through sciences such as geology and archaeology, we can see, fuzzily, a bit farther. So with life, we get only the tiniest fraction of the picture. I've seen nothing of the realm of angels and demons and souls, let alone the consequences in that realm of events in the physical universe. We can't begin to imagine the possible outcomes of all the times that good or evil forces have intervened in history. On the scale of the universe and of its God, I am less than an ameba and have neither the authority nor the comprehension needed to judge history. No, there are just too many possibilities to say that the presence of evil disproves the existence of God.

Let me put this on a more personal level. About 80 years ago, a man beat his children until they bled from all parts of their bodies. 75 years ago, a boy named Grover, age 15, was orphaned and had to live in the woods of Northern Idaho. A couple of years later, he was wounded in the attack on Pearl Harbor, had to live off snails in the jungles of New Guinea, was struck by lightning, and was stung by a poisonous scorpion. Discharged from the Army for a disability, Grover married, but his wife could never bear him a son. She spent him into debt and into leaving the work he loved. That brings us up to 50 years ago, when a husband was unfaithful to his wife, Elisabeth. Having been taken in by a cult-like church, Elisabeth divorced her husband. Already severely depressed, she was raped by a man named Johnny Garrett. She conceived. Within two years, Elizabeth was committed to an asylum for paranoid schizophrenia. She never saw her son again.

Now let me fill in some details. The child-beater was Grover's father. Grover, his brothers, and his sisters escaped a relationship that could easily have turned deadly. The skills Grover learned in the woods saved his life during WW-II and enabled him to perform heroic deeds. The lessons he learned as a child drove him to become a highly effective police officer who influenced many kids lives for the better. The economic pressure from his wife drove him into rocket engineering where he contributed to America's defense during the Cold War. Their childless condition caused them to foster-adopt the child of Elisabeth's rape. That child of rape served as a normal volunteer for medical experiments at the National Institutes of Mental Health, has saved lives by giving over eleven gallons of blood, and walks in Grover's footsteps in the defense industry.

Evil exists; it hurts, it destroys. But good exists, too, and God occupies Himself with bringing good out of the destruction. Ultimately, He will assert His sovereignty over all things, ending all evil and correcting all wrong. Here's the catch: What if God had done so yesterday? Suppose God commences to punish all sin before you receive His forgiveness? How many others might have the same sword hanging over their heads? God does not desire that any should go to Hell, so where and when do we draw the line? Perhaps God is delaying Judgment Day just for your sake!

God will end evil when the time is right. The question is, when will we open our hearts to submit to His judgment, to receive His redemption, and to receive Him?

P.S.: You never told me what you believe. You do not have to if you don’t want to, but I am curious. Did you believe anything before this happened? How can you believe in a hell without believing in a god?”

So then he replies, “srry about the comments me and my friend were clownin i would like to talk to u on aim my sn is x1derboy peace.”

I replied, “had a feeling you might be lieing. But why do you make these comments if they are all lies? What makes it worth playing around with someones mind? I have answered you to the straight full, did you even read my last comment or did you see how long it was and apologize? Even if you were only joking, you have to have some reason to use such foul language. And you have said those things to others too. For all I know you could be lieing now to get me off your back. Why do you bother? It must get tiring after a while. And you never did answer my questions about what you believe. What do you believe?”