I'm simply trying to understand the irony of God's mentality.
As in His decision as to who gets to go heaven and who goes to hell.
You're going to hate me for thinking the way I do. If I were to write about this topic--or any topic relating the big G topic--about a year ago, I would have definitely thought differently, or at least keep my mouth shut and wait for an appropriate neutral answer for the issue.
But I believe now that I'm thinking clearer than ever.
It seems so redundant for Christianity, or any religion for that matter, to divide people to be destined to go to either heaven or hell.
I mean, in a believer's perspective, typically, it's whether you believe in God or not that decides your destination for life after death. Right?
But the Bible says that God is all knowing and powerful too. Which means that God ultimately decides your destination for life after death before your life even begins.
How does that work?
How can someone create something in which contradicts the laws of good and bad that they themselves created too?
That's not fair.
How does the world look like to you? I'm a hetero myself. But I've met a lot of good people. Some of whom are homosexual.
And to be frank, those who are homosexual seem to be more level headed than the heteros. The ones I have met seem to be more honest, reasonable, funner than those who are straight. Ultimately, they're good people.
But just because of their sexual preference, they're condensed to the belief that they're sinful.
Aren't we all sinful, anyway?
But according to the Bible, homosexuality is a ticket to hell for that person.
How is that fair?
Explanation, please? And if this is the way that God has designed them, why is that they should go to hell?
This is a riddle that has no end.
It aggravates me to think that people should feel guilty because they don't fit in the norm of society just because they're different.
Different is a good thing!
Doing something that harms another person for your own selfish sake is not a good thing.
2 comments:
Hey Kathy,
You ask interesting questions. I have asked myself the same questions in the past and I totally understand what it feels like when you don't have answers. Now, I am not quite sure what Christianity has to say about your questions... but since I am Muslim, I'll answer your questions from an Islamic perspective; to the best of my knowledge that is.
Who's going to hell and who's going to Heaven? The quick answer is; we don't know, we can't know and we are not the ones to judge. Here's an analogy. You kill someone and you are brought in front of a judge. The law says that murder is to be punished by death. The judge looks at your case and realizes that you suffer from some neurological disease. He therefore decides to send you to a rehab centre or some other punishment but does not put you to death. Now, based on the law you should have been put to death but since the judge's job is to do justice he made an exception for you.
It kind of works the same way for God. There's a criteria laid out for those going to heaven and hell; but the ultimate decision is up to God and since God is all-just...no injustice can be done. People who say that 'X person is destined for Hell' are just being ignorant. The person saying that himself does not know if he'll go to hell/heaven so how can he point fingers to others. Based on what I have heard, in Islam the idea is that if you die a believer you might go to hell; but you will eventually go to heaven after you have been punished for what you did wrong.
I was a recently conversing with a knowledgeable gentleman about the idea of God being all-powerful. He explained to me, that atleast in an Islamic context, that is a mis-interpreatation of scripture. Saying that God is all-powerful means God can do anything. But God can't do everything. God can't create a being more powerful than himself, God can't have children, God can't die, God can't do injustice etc etc. The correct interpretation is that God has power over everything rather than God being all powerful. God does decide your destination in the afterlife but he makes that decision based on what you do in this life. He doesn't do things at random and he can't do injustice; therfore what ever decision he arrives at will be fair.
People bring up the idea of homosexuals a lot. As you say "Why is it that a person should feel guilty for feeling the way they do that feels natural to them?
And if this is the way that God has designed them, why is that they should go to hell?". I myself have asked this question before. What I came to realize is that most poeple including myself never really consider the following as well. God gave us the desire to fornicate but said fornication is a sin. God gave us the desire to commit adultery and prostitution but prohbited those two as well. God created alcohol and other drugs but prohibited us from deriving pleasure from them. God gave us the desire to watch pornography but prohibited that as well. This is who we really are and the way we really feel. Really I am a person who would love to fornicate, watch pornography, get drunk, commit adultery etc. That is who I really am, since I have all these desires. So is it okay for me to do all these things since I am naturally inclined to do them?
Life is about rising above these natural desires rather than falling for them. God put these in us so that he may test us and determine those who are pious and those who are not; and God does not burden people with things they cannot bear.
Anyhow.. sorry for the extremely long comment. I don't know if I have answered any questions but I do know that I have given rise to several new ones in your mind. At the end, in my opinion it is not worth our time to debate who is going to Hell and Heaven. All we can do is do righteous deeds and hope for the best. I am no scholar so I wouldn't be surprised if I have made errors above and I certainly can't answer all your questions. If you are interested in looking into the Islamic view of things, I strongly recommend you read the Quran; that is the best source. I can get you one if you don't have one. Anyhow take care.
Waleed
those are good points waleed and I'm glad you gave in your 2 cents about this topic.
I understand that things like murder may not be as simple as it appears on the surface. And indulgence of oneself in alcoholism, adultery etc. is a natural desire for most people.
But on the note of homosexuality, it seems to me that some people would feel like it's just faking to be another person if they were to turn their feelings away from being homosexual.
That was what I meant by 'natural'.
I admit, I could be wrong about my rant too, but this is just something I've given thought about with unresolved answers.
Very good questions you brought tho. Props!
P.s.
I checked your blog out and I am very pleased.
Could I add your link on my blog??
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