Why?

Caligirl, you are at an amazing point in your life right now. You have the choice to make a great decision, or to continue waiting for that hole to be filled. God does not look at religion to find His people. Religion is a way to create a unified front with local believers AFTER you have fully 100% accepted Christ and FOLLOW Him. God looks at the heart of those as a compass to see where they are pointing.

What I have really learned is that you have to get past the wondering and just trust - flat out trust. Stop worrying about the other people, worry about yourself first. It is only logical to think of yourself in Christ before worrying about others - he gave you control over YOUR decisions. It goes back to taking the log out of your eye before removing the stick of others.

You need to take the top three reasons keeping your from Christ, and do them in Christ. If you can't stop thinking about others and their religions and the fairness of going to hell or not - instead tell yourself you don't care, let Christ wash over you, then start to care. Without Christ, your nothing.

Also, don't think of heaven and hell as physical realms and places. I can't quote the author, but it was quite an interesting perspective and I am continually debating if the origin is Christ, but I am praying and leaning towards a great insight: How you act towards God now is how you will act towards him for eternity. We will ALL be in front of God in eternity. The people that not just accept, but follow Him now will continue to do so in eternity, but those who choose not to now will continue to run in eternity - never finding rest. Hell is NOT physical fire - the Bible is full of spiritual parables. The brimstone the Bible speaks of is that dreadful eternal unproper fear of the Lord. Remember, He owns the keys to hell. What this means is that no matter what you do in life - you will be in front of Him. Choose to be in front of Him in his liking by accepting His Grace, it's free. Remember, God IS self-righteous and His love is love for Himself. So he will do whatever it takes to bring those unto Himself. He will NEVER compromise His standards for "reaching the unchurched." He gives us a way and we must follow it. Also remember that it is totally beyond our understanding to accept that. It is why we must use the mind of Christ to gain any understanding of his ways. Things never make sense until they make sense =)

If you pray hard enough, and examine in a Christ-like manner, life is pretty linear. There are SOOOO many things you could worry about, but none of those things has a conclusion that gives real life. Come to Jesus and live!

In Christ,
Erik Fritsch

Why do bad things happen to good people? I suppose a better question would be why do bad things happen to anyone? It all started in the beginning. At first bad things didn't happen to anyone. When God first made the world no one ever got sick or died. It was a perfect paradise. But, then man sinned. See God is perfect in every way. His love is perfect, but his justice is also perfect. Perfect justice demands that sin must have a penalty. But, because of his perfect love he had to provide a way so we could avoid the penalty. He does not desire us to have to pay it. In order to provide a way out he had to allow death and suffering to exist in the world. Why? Because without it Jesus could not suffer and die on the cross to take the penalty for sins in our place. Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross God's perfect just nature was satisfied because the penalty was payed, and his perfect love was satisfied because he now had provided a way out to anyone who asks. God made you just so he could love you. Don't ever forget that. That's why we are here, for God to love. And just as God is perfect his heaven is perfect. God can not let sin into his perfect heaven. If he did it would have the same effect as it did in the beginning on earth when earth was perfect. Only the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was enough to seperate the sin from the man. Nothing man can "do" can make it happen. Think of heaven as God's house. And in God's house there is a perfect white carpet. Sin causes our feet to be muddy. Now Jesus will freely wash your feet if you ask him, he is the only one who can. But if you step on his white carpet with your muddy feet its no longer perfectly white anymore. Just a little analogy. Remember also that there was none better than Jesus. He was the best "good people" there is. And all the bad things that ever happened were layed on him at the cross.

CaliGirl341,

Why do bad things happen to "good" people? It could be because they are out to do some "good" things. And since we're in a spiritual battle and war everyday of our lives, we need to understand that it's not us, but Christ that lives within us (for those who are born again).

Have you ever thought that "good" things also happen to "bad" people. If they got up to start the day then, that is a good thing. If they have their health, this is a good thing, and if they are able to provide for their families, then this too is a good thing, and so on, and so forth.

The last thing I would like to address is the fact that the reason we have all these doctrines today is to confuse man to choose anything other than the One True and Living God. Example after example we find in the Holy Boble that when men worshipped any other God than the True God, then judgement ultimately befell them. The example that comes to mind and heart is found in I Kings 18, when the Baal (so called) prophets failed in the test when the man of God challenged them on which God would HEAR their prayer. Of course, the Baal prophets failed, because thier god did not hear, speak or perform any act, because he was DEAD.

We who name the name of Christ as our Lord and Saviour take God at His Word, and leave it at that...FAITH + NOTHING for salvation!! FAITH + WORKS for enduement for service!!

Windmill said:

Well, first of all, no one is going to hell for eternity. Show me one bible verse where it says that! sinners will cease to exist. Thats it. They will not be tortured forever, so do not worry about that

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Windmill...

The words of Jesus, from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 16:

19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.


22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[c] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' 31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

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The man did not simply cease to exist as you suggested and he was in torment and agony from being seperated from God.

Mathew 13:36-50

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

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Bad things happen to everyone.
Being good doesn't have anything to do with it.

CaliGirl341,

Have you read the book of Job? You should. It will tell you why things happen to good people. Just because you say you're good doesn't mean that life will treat you better. Let Yahushua (Jesus) live through you, by abiding by His commands.