In the bible, it says that the moment you believe in Christ as your savior, you're saved. I was also told that salvation won't be taken away like how a college might revoke my acceptance for getting into trouble. In my human (limited) perception, this doesn't make sense whatsoever. Because it would mean that a good nonchristian would go to hell, whereas a bad christian would go to heaven.
This would assume that there are any good nonChristians. Relatively good, perhaps, but I suppose pretty much everyone is good relative to Hitler or Stalin or any other of those mass-murderers out there that have set the new moral-relative standard of goodness in the nonChristian's mind (as they always like to call God unfair for judging them when they relate their moral character to that of Hitler's). But we aren't talking about subjective morals (which are really no morals at all) but objective morals, an objective standard by which we are to live that only God can set, because only a personal transcendent being (whom is God) can be the source of an objective moral authority. You say you are a Christian so I don't imagine there would be any need for me to elaborate on that any further.
Truthfully, there are no good Christians or nonChristians, the only difference between a Christian and a nonChristian is Jesus. But it is a very important difference because Jesus is the only sufficient payment for our sins, as no amount of goodness can ever earn us salvation on our own, it would be like tossing a cup of tap water into the sea and calling it fresh water, it just isn't enough. And there are two commandments that a nonChristian breaks from the moment they wake til the moment they go down to sleep, which is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength," (Deuteronomy 6:5) and the very first commandment that ""You shall have no other gods before me." So a nonChristian is sinning for as long as they remain a nonChristian. And if they were to live for 80 years, and even if there were to commit no other sin other than these two throughout there whole life, and each one was counted as one sin a day, that would be 58400 sins alone. You can hardly call that an objectively good person, unless you are refering to the standard of the world, which is pretty low.
Again the only (and most significant) difference between a Christian and a nonChristian is Jesus. Jesus is the only one who can pay our penalty because He is the only lamb without spot or blemish, and "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags," (Isaiah 64:6) and on the day of judgement filthy rags just isn't enough.
My question is about a "relationship" with god. I don't understand how one can have so much faith that he could be in a relationship with god. Personally, I can't wrap my mind around how I can be in a relationship with someone whom I never met, but only read about in a really long book - the Bible.
This is actually a tough question to answer because it is quite hard to describe what exactly a relationship with God is like to someone who has never experienced it fully. Our relationship with God is closer than any other relationship we could ever have in this life or the life to come, because He is the one who created us and knows us from inside out, every detail of our lives, every thought of our hearts and minds, every motive behind those thoughts and everything in-between, He even knew us long before He made the world and the men and women who came before us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He lives within our hearts, so that everything about us is made known to Him, and if we seek Him diligently with all our hearts we will find Him, for He promises that "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13) And then His thoughts and His heart will be made known to us through His Word that through the Holy Spirit we can come to fully understand Him and begin to think His thoughts after Him and desire as He desires.
I don't imagine this is quite a satisfactory answer, and as I said before I don't think there is any way to articulate what that relationship is like, it is something you have to experience for yourself. I can tell you how we can come to be in a relationship with God, but I am sure you already know that by now, and your question seems to be more of the nature of how it is possible for one to come to know God in the context of our sensual perception of God if we have only read about Him rather than how God says we can come to know Him. Sensually speaking, we can perceive God through His creation, the fine-tuning of the universe, miracles, and simply everything He has made, " For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) But this type of knowledge, though certainly valuable, alone is worthless, it is only head knowledge and does not bring about a change in the heart. It is plain that God exists and He is knowable, and has made Himself knowable, through Jesus Christ, a saving faith and knowledge that is of the heart, that brings about a true change of ones nature and allows them to begin a personal relationship with God.
The way I see it, only happy people are true Christians. I, on the other hand, don't feel like god can hear me when I pray. I don't want to get into details, but in a nutshell, I always seem to get the short end of life. People always say that it's all part of god's masterful plan... so what about the people living in slums of third world countries fall in? What about the other religions? What about those 99% of the world population that's doomed for eternity because of the lack of devotion to Christ?
This is untrue, as the previous Christian posters have already shown you. Happiness in the type of goal that if you go for it you actually miss it. In the Christian life happiness is not the goal, holiness is the goal, happiness is the consequence. The reason that Christians have the liberty in Christ to be happy in every circumstance is that we know in the end "all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) We know that no matter what happens, because of what Christ did for us on the cross, that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) We have an eternal place in heaven with our LORD that no finite thing could ever take from us, so why be sorrowful for the finite troubles that come our way? Now of course sometimes we become weak in faith and forget God's promise and even sometimes become bitter towards God by our troubles, but when this happens it shows that we need to get back into God's Word, pray for wisdom, and believe in God and the promises He made to us that are "yes" in Christ, for "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" (Numbers 23:19)
For me, some things just don't make sense in Christianity. And it's tempting to just stop trying to do the research and participate in the arguments and instead to use the time I have left on this earth to just enjoy life and pursue my goals.
This is why Christian fellowship is so vital, among other things. When you are a lone Christian, and one who claims to believe only to escape hellfire, and you are constantly in a community of nonChristians, it is easy for your faith to be weakened and your lack of knowledge of scripture makes you susceptible to demonic influence (not possesion, influence) because you have no foundation for your faith due to your ignorance (lack of knowledge) of God's promises. You must "take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16)
It is hard to be a Christian in those circumstances, and if you are only seeking God with your head and not your heart you will never have a substantial relationship with Him and you are bound to fail. Find a Christian community to hang around and get them to help you grow in the LORD and find the answers you are looking for. Do not give up to serve the flesh. "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." Fight the good fight, God has already won and if you are at His side when the time comes, you will stand in victory with Him.
