4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

This brings up a thought. Many people think that God should show himself to prove he exists. yes, it would be a lot easier to have everyone believe but that takes away the important reasonings behind free will, faith and fear.

It makes sense that God wants us to believe by faith and not fear of hell, which would have us show love for him and not looking at him as a warden in a prison, the prison being earth. Fear of doing anything wrong and going to hell. Instead of looking at him as some have referred, as our father in heaven. A child isn't supposed to fear his parents but respect their authority. Those who control by beatings instill fear, and end up doing it to their own children as that's all they know.

Showing your children love, all the while showing them you are the boss and should be respected and followed is a better choice than having them fear you because you're bigger and stronger.

The same with God.

Wanting to follow him because he has shown us what he's capable of in the great things the earth has, and not the bad that are there as teaching and learning aids, with many showing care for others, developing medicines, therapy and other cares to help other humans and animals.

Many that believe look at diseases as a curse from God but they also can be looked at as those tools to help others. Those that say a God wouldn't allow such evil to occur, not realizing we aren't supposed to live forever but die and then live forever in heaven, a much better place than earth.

He gave us free will to choose our path. We aren't supposed to be controlled puppets but free thinking humans. I'm going to heaven. With all the things on earth that are great, there are bad, and heaven might have all the good without the bad, and much more.

Makes more sense to show himself. Tell people he is real and if you are bad you go to hell. Then humans would start acting better. Less murders. Less arguments. Society would be great.

He does not exist so he will never show himself.

31 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

I don't know what you're talking about.

In the spirit of the OP and your post, there is either a bonus or a punishment at the end. Do you believe?

The concept of hell as a place of conscious, eternal fiery punishment began to emerge in Christian theology around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, well after Jesus.

The original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible used words like Sheol and Hades (referring simply to the grave or the place of the dead) or Gehenna (a physical valley outside Jerusalem). Over subsequent centuries, these terms were increasingly translated and interpreted through a Latin theological lens as an eternal chamber of punishment. In other words, there is no hell in the original Bible.

26 minutes ago, Hummin said:

In the spirit of the OP and your post, there is either a bonus or a punishment at the end. Do you believe?

There is no end.

There are bonuses & punishments forever and ever.

That's why some people become billionaire CEOs and other people get hit by buses.

1. There is an episode of the old Twilight Zone tv series hosted by the great Rod Serling where a bank robber dies and he thinks he is in Heaven. He gets everything he desires(women, food, drinks and never loses at gambling). He gets frustrated and asks the host "can I go to the other place". The host replied "you are at the other place"

2. I have hard some atheists call eternal life in heaven as their definition of hell. I have heard "how can something never end".

So some would call my version of hell as heaven and vice versa. I have some doubts about what exactly an afterlife is. I have seen 3 people die while on the job and all died in pain and suffered as they took their last breath. Maybe they are in a better place? Maybe they are in a worse place?

12 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

There is no end.

There are bonuses & punishments forever and ever.

That's why some people become billionaire CEOs and other people get hit by buses.

That only works if wealth is proof of virtue and suffering is proof of guilt. History suggests neither. Sometimes a billionaire is simply rewarded by a system, and sometimes a bus is just a bus, although you might have avoided it by paying attention.

<deleted> happens and always will, but some of it can be avoided if we are willing to learn and adapt. Life can still be unfair, and certainly feel unfair, which we sometimes simply have to accept.

The biblical idea that the sins of a family can echo through generations also contains a real truth. Trauma, behaviour, poverty, privilege and consequences can all be inherited, even if guilt itself cannot.

28 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

There is no end.

There are bonuses & punishments forever and ever.

That's why some people become billionaire CEOs and other people get hit by buses.

Many very rich become that way by manipulation, taking advantage of others and bypassing laws through corruption. Many had ancestors who scammed or killed their neighbors to acquire land rich in resources. Some do get very rich by benefiting the poor.

People get killed daily because of bad timing a few seconds early or later. Like Hummin said, sh*t happens. You can leave the house 5 seconds earlier or later and you'll either be safe or hurt by a number of things.

Edited 34 minutes ago34 min by fredwiggy