it's really sad

[m4dskillz]

This isn't a specific problem with a specific person, but more of a collective concern I've had. I've just been thinking of all the people I know - great people - who aren't Christian. Unless something changes, they're not getting into heaven. I'm usually a bright, cheerful guy, but just contemplating this is enough to drive someone nuts!

Many of my friends are awesome people, fun to be with, and understand me well, and they're on a straight trip to hell unless they make a complete 180 with their life =( Anyone else ever think about this?

 

[trust_faith]

yes. I have been thinking about it too.. so many of my best best friends are not christians... I am very sad for them. They dun even wan to know more bout christ in the first place. I am thinking is it whether they are not the ones being choosen by God to enter to Heaven?
Our job in the world is to pass the gospel to people and let them coming to know God. Hope that more ppl will come forward to know more about God... It is rather sad to know many ppl are not christians yet.. hai...

 

[Endearing lil Influenza]

I know... and I in the past tried to convert some of them... and suffered severely for it... I could no longer try to convert my friends for the pain was too much ... I now have many close friends who are non-christians... I want to introduce christianity to them but I am scared of what happened in the past... where some very close friends turned around to hurt me... it's painful enough to lose a close friend... but it hurts even more when they turn around and treat you badly... I know it is God's will for me to make them children of God but I just can't do it again!

 

[trust_faith]

yeah. I try to ask them to church too.. But they will give me all sorts of reasons.. It is very sad...

 

[goliwog]

I pray for my friends as much as I can and indeed it is sad but it is very true that a prophet is less succesful in thier home town ... I know that we are more likely to bring strangers to christ then our own friends and sometimes thats what will bring them to christ not us but outsiders ... perhaps we may even have to ask for them.


I also feel that we should pray to God that they can ask us questions about life this is a really cool chance for us to testify ... Lord keep our friends asking or at least challenging its the only chance

 

[jess_loves_JESUS]

All you can do for them is pray.If they are truely seeking God with all their hearts,then they will know him.And if God sees they have good hearts then he will deal with them in some way.Just pray for them.Hope this helps.

God Bless

 

[Anti Existance]

That's because you don't automatically goto hell if you don't believe in God. Which i have been given evidence from God himself. One time there was a guy who absolutely didn't believe in God, but he loved nature and God = Nature. Therefore he could still enter a state of heaven. Also i know an athiest who had a near-death experience , ended up in hell, was rescued by Angels after he asked Jesus to save him. After he came back out of his near-death experience he became a pastor . So don't worry, there is still hope , Jesus came to the heathens(not the believers) to save them. And i think we should follow Jesus example.

 

[m4dskillz]

Do you anything to back up your statement that you can get to heaven without believing in Jesus?

 

[Anti Existance]

Yes , i can back that up. Jewish people who in the centuries have been pursecuted by 'so called' Christians and have been killed in the name of God and Jesus. Are unlikely to believe in Jesus due to the hunt that was setup by mankind after them. God knows this and why the Jews truelly have a valid reason not to believe in Jesus because of that, and therefore it is usually not condemned on these people (although each case differs)

 

[Verv]

I tis true that many people are going to miss out, but I can say that my grandfather was not a believer in Christ until his final two weeks of life -- he came around very late, but I think when it was time to go and he was laying on his hospital bed he had a lot of time to think, and with the whole of the family praying for his life & salvation, it had a very positive effect on him and he was taken home.

And so in that sense I think there is still a lot of time for others, and that our continued hard work and prayer cna work out for the better.

Me and you are both young -- so we have a lot of time, and so do our peers, to come around and improve ourselves; through time and experience our perspective cool down and become less rebelliosu to the ways of God, and His puzzle plan to make more sense to us all.

(I am currently trying to lead one friend in specific to God, and it is having some good success as of now)

 

[ertsky]

EDIT: answer was far to glib and it appeared i was answering for the sake of answering

yes i do think about it

heres a couple of verses that i think may be related

Rom 2:10-16
Rom 10:6 on through

but yeah i want to really abide in him so that i can bear much fruit.

it's definately an area that fascinates me "what about the unsaved crew"
"the ones that don't seem nasty"

maybe some enlightened christian will come to our aid here!

 

[ertsky]

where exactly in the bible does it say that God is going to torture all non born-again christians for ever and ever and ever.

i think this is an unscriptural doctrine!

/me ducks and covers

 

[ladyerica]

where exactly in the bible does it say that God is going to torture all non born-again christians for ever and ever and ever.

i think this is an unscriptural doctrine!

* ertsky ducks and covers

John 3:16
John 14:6
Romans 6:23

 

[ladyerica]

yes I think about it a lot. Most of my extended family is not saved and I worry about it all the time. I want so much for them to find Jesus and I pray about it and I pray for an opportunity to witness to them and I pray that God will open the hearts and minds to His truth and that's all you can do. I know God wants everyone to come to a saving knowledge of Him and I think He will provide a way.


In Christ's Love,
~Erica~

 

[ertsky]

John 3:16 says "so they would not perish" NOT "so they woud not be tortured for an eternity"

John 14:6 says "no man comes to the Father but by Me" NOT "no man avoids eternal torture but by Me"

Romans 6:23 says "the wages of sin is death" NOT "the wages of sin is eternal torture"

have a read of this

http://bible-truths.com/aeonion.htm

/me ducks and covers

 

[NJA]

Being sad won't help your friends convert, it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. God will call his sheep, none of them shall be lost, you just make sure that you are trusting in The Lord, giuving him all burdens so that you can see and stick to the truth. Then you will have a confidence and contentment that doesn't go when circumstances changed, you show that your life is on The Rock, and when they go through a rough patch, you will be a lighthouse to them. In the meantime, don't chase people that don't want to change, find the "highway and byway" people, the dispossessed, disadvantaged, depressed and disturbed.

 

[Manyquestions]

I give as much love to my non beleiver friends as possible. I try to explain to them that that is what life is about--loving one another. And that love comes from a higer source...there is no other way of explaining love. So there must be a God if there is love.

 

[thepianist]

Here are some scriptures for you: Revelation 20:15 "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Revelation 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death."

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

I John 5:12 & 13 "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

 

[NJA]

I give as much love to my non beleiver friends as possible. I try to explain to them that that is what life is about--loving one another. And that love comes from a higer source...there is no other way of explaining love. So there must be a God if there is love.

Many - you offer your best, that's human love, there is another love:-

" the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Romans 5v5) You are not born with that and you cannot generate it, you need to receive the Holy Spirit to have it, along with the mind of Christ and his authority, then you can *really* help people!

That's what Jesus asked for in John 21v15-17 - Peter could only offer human love, not agape (God's love) - because he hadn't received the Spirit of God yet.

You know when you receive - see Acts 2v4, 33, 39; Jude 19-21.

 

[janny108]

Pray for these friends and invite them to events in your church. Sometimes people will be more likely to come to a BBQ or softball game than to church. I knew someone like that once. He'd never come to church but he was there for the fun! Cultivate your Christian friendships too. Maybe they can offer insight on your other relationships.

Jan