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Let's say you found yourself trying to win an unbeliever to Christ, an unbeliever who had been brought up in hardcore fundamentalist Christianity and therefore has become an agnostic. If he or she were to ask you the following questions, how would you answer him or her? I realize that I have more than one question posed under some of the numbers I have listed below, but I nevertheless put them under numbers in the hope of organizing and categorizing the issues to the best of my ability. Thanks for your patience!And now for the questions...
1) You and your Christian friends keep telling me that God's love is "unconditional" while also telling me that He plans to trash and burn most people forever (or burn them into oblivion) because they fail to meet certain conditions in this lifetime. How is this logical? Is love merely syrupy sentimentality--or is it unfailing action that helps the object of its affection? (I don't want to hear bible verses since I'm an unbeliever anyhow. I want to hear LOGIC. Thanks!)
2) Are you CERTAIN that you are meeting all the conditions of faith and obedience toward God right now and that you will die in a state of meeting all the conditions?
3) Doesn't the bible say that even those who covet to disobey God will not enter the kingdom--which means "go to heaven" according to your teaching?
4) Or is SOME coveting allowed? If so, how much coveting is allowed and how much is too much? In other words, how many good works are necessary to assure that one has valid saving faith? Or is it possible to have faith without works after all, despite the bible's declaration that faith without works is dead? How can I be expected to trust in Christ and not be given a clear answer to this question?
5) Do all professing Christians who die in unbelief/disobedience go to heaven? If not, can you be sure that you will be in heaven if you happen to die in disobedience/unbelief? How can I be sure that I would die in obedience and faith--even if I were to accept Jesus today?
6) Can anyone say with 100% certainty that he or she will die in a state of faith/obedience?
7) If God is not committed to guarding my unforseen screw-ups in the future, how can I be expected to trust him today?
8) How am I supposed to trust and love and worship a god that is burning alive my deceased nonchristian friends and loved ones "forever" (or has wiped them out eternally)--and at the same time--love my neighbor as I love myself?
9) Please tell me how you perform this feat and how it is a "light yoke" and an "easy burden" for you, okay?
10) And while you're at it, please explain how choosing your ETERNAL DESTINY is a light yoke and an easy burden to you. Is it because:
a. You do not actually believe you are having to choose your eternal destiny in this lifetime and that you merely accept that concept as a "doctrine" to be given mental assent to--while not LITERALLY believing it?
b. You have the feeling that you'll probably be able to manage that grand feat since your own sins are not as serious as those of most people?
11) Or do you live in dread that you will wind up in hell forever, and therefore your eternal destiny is NOT an easy yoke and light burden for you?
12) If this is the case, why should I want to embrace a "Christ" that spouts off empty nonsense about easy yokes and light burdens when he doesn't really mean what he says?
13) Do I have to accept your doctrine of hell (or annihilation) in order to become a Christian? (KEY QUESTION HERE--THANKS FOR NOT GLOSSING OVER IT.
)
14) Why should I get enthused about a "chance" to go to heaven since I'm a terrible gambler and have blown almost every chance I've been given?
15) How am I supposed to love a god with all my heart and *MIND* that is only giving me "chances"--a god that perhaps ALREADY KNOWS that I may TRY to serve him all my life and STILL wind up in hell due to a screw-up that causes me to die in sin?
16) Since everything in life is a crap shoot--and our existence is all about chances anyhow--why am I not better off to party all I can in the hopes that I can get things squared up with God on my deathbed before I die? Yes, that too is a risk, I realize that. But if that deathbed "chance" doesn't pan out and I do go to hell, I can at least remember having FELT good for AWHILE in my earthly life. If you screw up and wind up in hell, will you have as many memories of feeling good on earth that many others of us agnostics will have?
17) Why try to serve God when it may all come to nothing in the end anyhow and all the memories you have in hell will be only of TRYING to serve him and FAILING?
18) How seriously do you want me to take the idea of hell after I become a Christian? Am I to live joyfully as a Christian and not ever think about it unless some preacher brings it up? Or am I to live joyfully--and at the same time with the nagging horror--that I or/and my loved ones will wind up in hell?
19) Will you please explain and demonstrate for me HOW you worship and praise God for saving YOU--and ALSO thank Him--for his supposed justice for consigning some of your loved ones to hell forever? Or exterminating them forever?
20) Or would you recommend that we not think of these things--and yet at the same time recommend--that I take your hell doctrine "seriously"?
21) As a Calvinist, how can you have the guts to dare announce to the world that God loves you (and a few others) and hates most everyone else? Do you REALLY think that YOU are that special to God and that everyone else is eternal garbage to be burned and "getting what they deserve!" while you're getting "grace"? How do you imagine that this promotes admiration for Jesus in this world of despairing and shattered people?
22) As an Arminian, how can you have the gaul to suppose that you found God by following your conscience and that most everyone else is "without excuse" and will burn forever in "hell"--and simply because they have not been as wise and diligent as you are? How do you imagine that this concept you're promoting causes despairing and hurting people in this world to be attracted to the "Jesus" you are advertising?
23) Jesus said that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord " will enter the kingdom (even MANY of those who prophesy and do many wonderful works in HIS name)--but ONLY those who do the will of the Father. Are you SURE that YOU are doing the will of the Father?
24) If you are CERTAIN that you are doing the Father's will, upon what, therefore, do you base your certainty? That you have said "Lord, Lord" to Jesus Christ? Or that YOU are showing the GENUINE fruit of the Spirit whereas other professing Christians are not?
25) Why should I want to embrace, love and worship wholeheartedly the "Jesus" you are talking about that demands that I be certain of His love for me--and at the same time--NOT be certain of His commitment to my eternal well being, or that of my loved ones and friends?
26) Do all professing Christians who believe in "once saved always saved" have a valid conversion experience--and--will all of them who die in unbelief/disobedience wind up in heaven? If not, on what basis do you assume that you will wind up in heaven? Or have you never spent a season of being a "backslider" and assume that you never will--and assume that if you DO die in that state that YOU will be saved nevertheless? I've met many such pharisees, so I was just wondering if you adopt the same position of false security about "self" as they do?
Closing out...
I've received emails from people who have visited our web page who were ONCE Christians and are now agnostics, and it is these very issues that have destroyed their faith. I'm writing this post therefore on their behalf--not as an attempt to "debate" with the proclaimers of the "good news" of ET and Annihilationism.
If you are a Christian who subscribes to either of the above dogmas, thanks for understanding this. Also please post back AN ANSWER TO ALL THE ABOVE QUESTIONS in such a way as to help woo people back to joyful trust in Jesus Christ as you understand Him to be, okay?
Many thanks, and God bless you!
Charlie
P.S. In the event that you are a silent reader that cannot find hope or logic in any of the explanations that may be forthcoming, you can visit--
Don't abandon all hope, my friend! There is a CURE for every addiction, bondage and heartache--and his name is JESUS--and He is NOT the small-hearted, double-talking "jesus" that mainstream religiosity portrays Him to be! I've found that out by experience. He loves you far more than you think!
Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff