One of my biggest problems with the church.

[Dragon*of*Heaven]

Hello every one its been a while well I have finaly remembered one of my biggest problem with the Catholic Church. Well I have it now. Why would an all loveing God dictate an entire eternity based upon a very small very short life span on earth.

[necroshine]

I have said the same thing to a few christens. They just say that life is a test. I would want to know to what end? To get to live in heaven or hell? seems a little shallow. What abut the lives that get cut short? When you die at 20 or 10 the people still go to hell or heaven but they have no world experience about themselves so what is the test?

I have a problem with people that call him all loving. When he is punishing everyone on earth right now because two innocent people who didn’t know right from wrong did something against his will. (adam and eve) That is just a bit over the top don’t you think?

If you look at two different stories in the bible they are both about the same but with different outcomes. The adam and eve story and the story of Abraham. where god asked him to kill his son but an angle told him to stop and everything is ok.

If you look at the two stories where god tells someone to do something and an angle tells the people something different you have two different outcomes. The first time its bad the 2nd time its ok. Wtf? I know in the first story it’s the devil but as humans you can not know this. The devil can appear as anything even an angle so how could you know?

Lucky for us the bible is just stories in a book not unlike mother goose.

[dan]

First, it must be pointed out that while the God of the Bible is indeed a loving God, he is also a God of justice, and he will not fail to punish a wrongdoer. A human judge might be loving, but that doesn't mean he will let a lawbreaker get away with his actions.

The length of time to commit a crime does not determine the seriousness of the crime. For instance, someone could murder 100 people in the span of one hour, but just because it was done in such a short time doesn't mean that it wasn't that bad!

My point is that it doesn't matter how long a person's lifespan is, it matters what a person does in his/her lifetime. When we sin, we are committing an offense against God himself, the Creator of the universe. That is serious stuff. We may not feel like sin deserves eternal punishment, but you have to remember that we ourselves are sinners! God is completely holy, and he has perfectly sound judgment and is thus the one who has the correct idea of how serious sin is.

Another reason why the punishment is eternal is possibly because it is by default, since those who reject God will never get a chance to repent after they die. Suppose there was a bridge connecting an island to the mainland, and someone from the island tears down the bridge. Could you imagine the person saying, "Why am I stuck on this island forever? I only spent one week destroying this bridge! This consquence doesn't fit the crime!" The same applies to hell - those who die after rejecting God will remain in that state for eternity by default, since they have "separated" themselves from God.

[dan]

necroshine said:

When he is punishing everyone on earth right now because two innocent people who didn’t know right from wrong did something against his will. (adam and eve)

They clearly did know right from wrong - at least Adam did, and Eve should have. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, `Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die' " (Genesis 2:16-17). "And the woman said to the serpent, `We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it...' " (Genesis 3:2-3).

Also, I wouldn't say that everyone is being "punished" on earth right now according to the Bible, because final justice and complete fairness will be given to all on Judgment Day - ultimately, everyone will get what they deserve, whether good or bad. It is true that everyone is suffering as a result of Adam's sin, but suffering can be used for good, and all will be made right in the end for each person.