my sixth cents worth...
Before I respond to the op's comments, I'd like to address a comment from drich
drich said:
Because Love is not His defining characteristic, Righteousness is. That is why His Son Had to be sacrificed for sin.
Fantastic comment! I literally cheered. Thank you for such an encouraging insight.
She wants me to try to convert for her
Definitely do not try this. Jesus talked about laying our lives down for his sake. That takes a deep personal conviction. Generally speaking, if someone can talk you into something, then it's only a matter of time before someone talks you out of it.
But a conviction to die for what we believe in; no one can talk us of that, not even a loved one or an executioner (whichever comes first! haha).
but I have too many questions about her beliefs for me to make any kind of commitment to a religion.
A key bit of information here is, have you asked her these questions yourself and, what did she say? It's not us you'll have to live with for the rest of your life...
Why does god need love and worship?
Why do you want a wife? Why does your wife want you? If you have children, would you really be impressed if the first words they could speak were used to question why you want them to love you?
Is the answer really so hard?
It just seems to me that an all powerful entity would be above the need for these things.
He's all powerful, all knowing, all etc, etc, etc ad infinitum...
but cut him some slack will ya? Even God wants to be loved.
Furthermore, if an individual is never exposed to christianity due to the time of their birth or geography are they doomed to hell?
There are heaps of references in the Bible which deal with this. The basic concept is sincerity. One says "anyone who loves is born of God". Another says, "if you do what I say, then you show that you love me". If someone shows love to another, then that person shows they love God, even if that person is not aware of it. Because there is no other source of love than God, then anyone who shows love MUST be showing appreciation for the values of the Kingdom of Heaven (from a Christian point of view).
God is not limited to petty theological or religious rules about salvation. He is able to look into the sincere, loving heart of the individual and make his own assessment of that persons' spirit. There are no rules which can bind God's judgment, no matter how holy (or exclusive) we think those rules are supposed to be.
Why does he punish if he loves us all?
God has standards. It's just a fact of life. The sooner you accept that the easier it will be for you to be rational about what it means to really love others. Imagine trying to raise a child with no rules or expectations at all, on the basis that such rules and expectations would equate to a lack of love. It makes no sense.
Children (or people in general) need guidance. A rule is only necessary until the point when the person being exercised by the rule understands the reason behind the rule. At that point, the rule, as a rule in itself, ceases to have any meaning, because the person will practice the values behind the rule voluntarily.
Take teeth brushing, for example. Children don't naturally do it, and even when we impose rules on them they don't like to do it. They don't understand cavities, tooth decay, doctors appointments, pain, etc...
They eventually learn these things through experience, but if we don't force them to brush their teeth (at least in the beginning) via rules and punishments for breaking those rules then they end up with a lot of problems without realizing what kind of problems they cause for themselves, not because they are naturally bad, but because they are naturally ignorant.
When they get older and learn the reasons for teeth brushing, there is no longer any need to force them into it with rules, because they understand the reasons behind teeth brushing.
In other words, true Christianity is pure anarchy, where each person judges him/herself and is accountable to God directly based on a sincere desire to understand the reasons behind why God acts the way he does. Rules cease to have any meaning because we will judge (i.e. correct) ourselves without any need for others to correct us. That is what we aim for in Christianity.
Is that something you can accept? If so, you may not be as far from being a Christian as you think.
Why is being a good person apart from religion not enough?
Who said it's not enough to be good?
