Questions About Christianity

[Sedition]: I've got a question ive never received a good awnser for:If god loves everyone,and he knows all and is all powerful:why does he send people to hell?why does he cuase suffering while we live?saying satan cuases bad isent valid becuase god is all powerfull and could stop him.if he knows all and is all powerfull and created everything,then he sets you up for suffering and willingy watches you go through it.what is the point to that?surely you cant call that love

[Child of God]: From my understand of it, God doesn't send people to hell, people send themselves there. He doesn't cause suffereing, we cause it ourselves. Let me explain that a bit better. Everything goes back to when the world was first created. (Even if you don't believe in it, entertain the idea for the sake of conversation). I'm sure you know the story of the Fall right? (Adam, Eve, the fruit and yadayada). Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit because God gave them free will, the ability to choose right and wrong. The reason God didn't want Adam and Eve to eat the fruit was because He didn't want His children to know evil, to know wrong, only to know happiness and goodness. So long as they don't eat the fruit, there is no sin in the world, so there is no evil in any form. Once sin entered the world, it corrupted not only humans but the world itself: you see the Ice Age happening, desertification, extreme tropical conditions, some plants and animals become poisonous, you see the emergence of the food chain and survival of the fitest emerge and microevolution begin (I don't believe in macroevolution but I do believe in microevolution), death enters the world in the form of disease, old age, etc. Don't forget that some diseases, such as AIDS, were actually contracted from monkeys, in one of two ways; native females in early rituals would commit beastiality, or when monkeys would bite humans, though the first was more common. (If you really want, I can look up the early peoples who did that). Cancer is larger caused due to the chemicals and polution in the world, which reaks havoc on the cells in the body. (It wasn't until after the Industrial Revolution and Industrialization began that cancer emerged. Whether it was present before that or not is unknown but evidence points to the no side of the argument). There is a theory right now that is under testing that mental handicaps result due to the inbreeding which took place earlier in history. Inbreeding would have created the gene, but as in many cases with genetics, may take generations to become active. Many of the problems we experience these days result from past wrongs. Now you can say, "Why doesn't God intervene and stop it then if He loves us." The best way to approach that is to look at parents. Your parents tell you not to play with matches because you may get burned. You as the child have the ability to make a choice, either to listen to your parents, who know you will be hurt, or to find out for yourself. You play with the matches and you get burned. Your parents are upset you didn't listen to them, but mostly because they knew how much pain it would cause you. They put aloe on the burn to help ease the pain, but it's still there and you will carry the scarr with you for the rest of your life. Sometimes, as burns do, it resurfaces years later and beings to hurt again. Now, what is the best way to teach children not to play with matches? You can tell them, but they usually won't listen, or allowing the child to experience what happens when they don't listen? They have the free will to decided to do so or not. The choice is up to them. It's a fact that people more readily believe and accept something when they have either directly or indirectly experienced it. When you are a teenager and your parents give you a curfew if you go out, but lend you the car to go out, is it then their fault if you stay out later? You made the choice, but your parents gave you the opportunity for that choice. Which shows they love you more; denying you the car and making you stay home every time just to ensure you don't make the wrong choice and stay past curfew, or trusting you and allowing you to make the choice whether to listen to your parents or not. If you make the wrong choice, your parents still love you but you have to face the concequences of that choice. It's the same with God. Like a good parent, He gave us the choice, though He knew what our choice would most likely be. Would it show more love to have made us like mindless servants who couldn't chose, or to give us the opportunity to make that choice? God had to make us with the capacity for free will because He created us out of love. God doesn't created illness and suffering either, we created it. From everything we've done in history, causes the ailments we face now. We, as a human race, made those choices now we have to face the concequences of those actions. Like a parent, God has said "Ok, I'll let you go do your own thing. It'll be the only way you learn, since you won't listen to me but you have to face the concequences of those actions. You are responsible for them. But, if you need any help and you are willing to listen to what I have to say, just ask and I'll help." 

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[VCNightGoddess]: Well, my uncle is a bible professor... We often get into many conversations about the bible. What he came up with about the trinity is an interesting topic. Whether or not people chose to agree with him is a different story, but what he said is this. There is the Father, or God, the Son, or Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, which my uncle believes to be the angel of truth. All of which are in fact, as said, entities of the same essence. Another thing is with homosexuality. The Bible doesn't say it is wrong. In fact, there are many verses in the bible that suggests there was some homosexuallity. Such as when it talks about the Rapture. It says that there will be two women in the field, one taken, the other left. Two MEN in a BED, one taken, one left. It said that there was one deciple whom Jesus LOVED. The Bible was talking strictly of one man, who is often refered to as the deciple whom Jesus loved. Nothing goes to say that he didn't love ALL his deciples, but only one was refered to as loved...

[Child of God]: The Bible does say the homosexuality is wrong, throughout both the Old and New Testement. For example, Mark 7 is a lesson on Inner Purity. Verses 21-22 discusses what defiles a person's heart towards God.
"For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexualy immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deciet, eargerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride and foolishness."

Romans 1:26-27:
Even their women echanged natural relations for unnatural ones, In the same way the men also abeandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, adn received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do no tbe deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers not male prostitutes nor homosecual offenders no thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindelers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Homosexuality falls under sexual immorality, since Jesus stated that:

"at the beginning the Creator (God) made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and motehr and so they are no longer two, but one." (Matthew 19:4-6)

He therefore states plainly that man and women were created for each other, to join with each other. What about before marriage? That falls under sexual immorality. And swingers and poligamy?

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)

This statement could also be used as a woman looking at another woman and a man at another man. One man and one woman joined. Not one man and seven wives, not one man and seven husbands, not one man and seven concubines. One man and one woman.

Now as for the Old Testement:

Leviticus 19:22-23:
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."

"Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion." (AN: This is becomming more popular these days as well)

Leviticus 20:13
"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them has done what is detestable."

Homosexuality is listed as one of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 18:16- Genesis 19)Throughout the Old Testement in many stories, homosexuality is listed as a sin before God.

As to Jesus loving his disciples, this is our current definition of love, as can be found in www.dictionary.com;
A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying onenes
In Jesus' day, they did not call sex 'love'. They did not use the word love when implying sexual relations. Classical people, unlike us today, knew how important the meaning of that word was, especially the Jews because they believed in and worshipped a God that was, amoung other things, loving. We today don't understand what true love is anymore. To us, there is no difference between lust and love. The Bible tells us exactly what love is:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corintians 13:4-8)

I'm not saying this becomes I'm homophobic or anything. As I stated, I know many people who are homosexual and have family members who have chosen that lifestyle. I've struggled with homosexuality, but when it comes down to it, the Bible says it's wrong. Do I judge them? Not at all. It's not my place to judge. Christians are not called to judge but rather to love and leave the judgement to God. How will God judge them? That is not my place to say. I'm not even going to pretend to attempt an answer to that. That is for God and God alone to know.

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