Danno's Religious Questions

[narco1]

Danno,

These are great questions and scanning this post it appears all have remained civil. I guess I'm a simple man by relying on that we walk by faith and that God and his works, to include Heaven, are beyond our human understanding.

[Johnny44]

Remember the mockers seek wisdom but find none.

[rolylane6]

Great thread Danno. I'm happy you're seeking answers and I pray you find them. For God, every man's soul, yours included, is so very precious to Him. A few years after I accepted Christ, I was sitting alone, thinking and meditating on my relationship with God and how it came about and when it began. I was thinking about how glorious it would be the day I get to see the face of Jesus. In that moment God came to me and said
"It will be as glorious as the day I saw yours for the first time!" I broke down and began sobbing like a child. To think my God loves me so much that He cherished the first time He saw me, was so overwhelming. I'm crying again now as I think about it. I can hardly type. He told me in that moment that even though he created me in the womb and set me in place in his Kingdom, he had never actually seen my face until the moment I accepted Christ and Jesus brought me to Him to behold. His creation, that He had never seen because of the sin that separated us! He assured me that He had longed to see me much more than I could ever have long for Him. How much does God love me? I now know. And to this day it was the single most loving moment I have ever experienced, and I grew up in very loving family.

Let me begin by saying that I do not have any ill intent or desire to disrespect anybody here or their personal beliefs. I have questions and just looking for answers or at least a better understanding of what is written in the Bible. My questions might seem blunt or distasteful, but it may be that I just don't know how to word the question correctly. So again I mean no disrespect. So let's begin:



1. Why is there even a belief in the afterlife? Let me expand on this. I read where Jesus speaks about "things in heaven as they are here on earth". It seems to me that he was a man that had a vision of a better world. One without pain, suffering, greed, war, etc... It sounds like he understood the difficulty of changing man's sinful ways so he came up with this concept of heaven. If man believes he will have eternal life, then maybe that will sway him to live his life through God's will. Why wait for the afterlife? Why not just live this way now and make Earth like this place called heaven? I know this would take the entire human race to embrace this way of life, which seems impossible, but why just assume their is a heaven in our afterlife when we can have it here in our lifetime?

I'll break your first question down with my beliefs and personal experience.

1.Why is there even a belief in the afterlife?
This is a personal choice for each individual but where it will all begins or ends with your choice. For me, I believe there is an afterlife and it is the one described in the bible. Thats where faith begins.

2. I read where Jesus speaks about "things in heaven as they are here on earth". It seems to me that he was a man that had a vision of a better world. One without pain, suffering, greed, war, etc... It sounds like he understood the difficulty of changing man's sinful ways so he came up with this concept of heaven. If man believes he will have eternal life, then maybe that will sway him to live his life through God's will

Jesus was a man (and God) and his vision (truth) was given to Him by God. Heaven is not a concept but a real place just as you described and yes, if we believe in the eternal life he promises us (heaven or hell) he knows it will change our life on earth. But its more than that. God gives us instructions to follow on how to live a better life on earth, a life that benefits us and others around us. If believing in Him doesn't change our life here, on earth, one would have to question their belief and faith in Him. Before I came to accept God was real, I used to think I needed to "know" that he was real in order to believe He was. I struggled with that for many years. I wanted to believe, but thought I had to "know" first. My life was in the toilet and I cried out to God one day and said "I need you and I need you to take over because I just keep making it worse! When will you show yourself to me so I can believe in you and have the better life you promised"? Something stirred in me that day (I didn't realize at the time that God was doing this) and I thought, maybe I should start putting his principles in action and see what happens. Looking back now I realize He HAS shown himself to us, in the bible, through His Word, and our proof of Him comes from putting that word into action in our life as it manifests itself. I started offering forgiveness to people whom I didn't think I should forgive. Those people began to change. My relationships got better. I started consciously being generous to people who I didn't feel deserved it. My outlook on them changed and I started seeing goodness in people where I didn't see it before. Countless more things I could go on and on about but here's the deal. The proof of God is there when you start with putting faith in His word and following it with action. It will reveal itself to you. But it has to start with faith.
Jesus said to Thomas when Thomas saw the nail holes in Jesus hands,
"You believe because you have seen, blessed are those who have not seen, yet still believe".
Don't put GODS Word to the test. Put YOUR faith in God's word to the test. We all think we live "good" lives but by our standards, not by Gods. Try doing those things the bible says you should do, even when you don't think you should. Like I said, I had to offer forgiveness to people whom I didn't think deserved it. And they didn't. Just like I don't deserve Gods but He offers it just them same. I don't have to accept Gods forgiveness and they don't have to accept mine, but it should be offered if we want to experience the fullness of Gods promises and see change in our lives and relationships. You can't have a relationship with God at all without His forgiveness so what should that say about forgiveness in our earthly ones? ...Hello

3. Why wait for the afterlife? Why not just live this way now and make Earth like this place called heaven? I know this would take the entire human race to embrace this way of life, which seems impossible, but why just assume their is a heaven in our afterlife when we can have it here in our lifetime?
We shouldn't wait. We should live like that now and have everything God promises. Jesus lived that way as our example. If everyone of us were to live as Jesus did, the earth would look much different. That day will come when all men will bend a knee and confess that Jesus is Lord and that God is real. Those who are called to heaven for confessing it by faith will see the "new earth" just as you've described it. Those who rejected it and only believed because God had to, in the end, come and "prove" or "show" himself will not get to join but will be sent away to be apart from the God they refused. They will see the opposite of what you described. Our life now contains both good and bad so we can have a small "taste" of what our choice will be.
Imagine all the very worst things man has done in this world without any of the good. There's a glimpse of your hell.
Now imagine only all the very best things men have done in this world. There's a glimpse your heaven.
Now choose.
I'll continue to pray for you Danno. I can only hope you have an experience of God's love the way I have. It is life changing. I can't wait to have that experience eternally and pray you have it too.
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[Danno]

Hey Danno,
One other thing occurred to me that I think might help you in your search and study. A couple years ago, our church did a program of Bible study using a chronological Bible and it was a year long program of reading through the Bible, but the Bible we used was a chronological bible... As you probably have figured out, the Bible as some refer to it is a series of "short stories" that is not on a time line outline... Genesis, being the first book in the Bible is the beginning, but from there on, the various "Books" of the bible bounce around all over the place with respect to the time period in which the events written about actually occurred. A chronological Bible takes every verse in the Bible and arranges them in as best as can be determined (some Books/events are unclear as to the "when" that the occurred) in the order in which they occurred. I participated in the program and indeed did read through the Bible chronologically and it did more for my understanding of the Story of God (which is what the Bible is) than any single thing I've ever done.


I'd love for you to have a copy of a chronological Bible to read. If you will PM me an email or cell phone number, I will gift you one off Amazon.



This is the one I use and it is a modern translation that reads easy. It is the New King James Version and every verse that is in the 66 canonized Books of the Bible are in this Bible.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Year-Chronological-Bible-NKJV-ebook/dp/B007V698PY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626962365&sr=8-3

If you'd rather have a hard copy, PM me an address and I'll mail it to you.

Thank you kindly for the offer. I was actually going to come here and ask the best "help guide" to allow me to understand some of the verses better. It seems they could be easily interpreted differently by two different people. I will get this chronological Bible and also buy a copy for my Father. I'm not sure he knows it exist and him being a student of the Bible I think he would really value it.

[curtintex]

This thread gives me great hope. Not only for Danno, but for Christianity as a whole. Christians have a habit of running people off with holier-than-thou attitudes and crappy comments, rather than helping them find the Way in. This thread has none of that! Well done, men!

Danno, for me, it’s just Faith. I’m too dense to understand it all, so I have faith that Gods word is true and I stand on his promises. I know there are times in my life I’d have never survived without those promises.


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[Death from Above]

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[Danno]

Gents,

I can't begin to express my humble gratitude to you all for really setting aside your opinions of me to try to reach out and help me understand better. Some have PM'd me and others have offered their personal time and property. I'm truly not deserving of your hospitality. I think this could be how God works through others to reach the lost. I never thought I was lost. I mean I have a great career, family, credit score lol, but I believe I'm lost. Thank you from every fiber of my being for taking time out of your lives to put thought and reason in your responses. I have so much info to go research and I'm really looking forward to the journey, where ever it takes me.

Now I have a couple of more questions:

1. When man goes to heaven, what form will he take? Will he be in his form at death, when he was young, or will he be able to choose? Will we recognize family as our family or will we just know them as a fellow soul in heaven? Seems like if we love some more than others there will be an unbalance of sorts.

2. I have read some of you speak about the ones that died before Jesus came or those that did not have the ability to hear his message. That they are given the message in death. Was this a one time thing to cover everyone before Jesus, or since then are all the dead given the message upon their death if they were not given it during life?

[Hogmauler]

Those questions are all answered in the Bible brother. Go to the concordance on the back and look for key words. It’s all there. And please don’t forget about buying a couple sets of commentaries. Those are crucial in you study. And it appears that you “chose life”! Well done young man!

[MadHatter]

Those questions are all answered in the Bible brother. Go to the concordance on the back and look for key words. It’s all there. And please don’t forget about buying a couple sets of commentaries. Those are crucial in you study. And it appears that you “chose life”! Well done young man!

I would recommend Isaac Clark or Mathew Henry.
I've read a bunch of em, but I prefer these 2.
When ya'll talk about a message after death, exactly what are you referring to?
"it's appointed unto men once to die, and after this judgement".
I don't see how there is any allowance for salvation once you die.
Obviously you don't go straight to heaven when you die, even if you're saved imo.
"the dead in Christ shall rise first".
Do ya'll believe in purgatory or something similar?

[CentralTXHunter]

Man Danno, those are some deep questions. Here’s my perspective and understanding.

Our form in Heaven isn’t clearly defined in scripture. My understanding is we will be given a new body. That body will not grow old or tired or ever experience pain or suffering or death. When Jesus was resurrected and transformed into His Heavenly glory, the disciples say “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). The disciples recognized him, but he was not the earthly Jesus they had walked with and studied under. So yes, I think we will recognize those in Heaven, but they’ll be a little different. True or not, I like to think we’ll see others as our fondest memory of them. Not my father in law when he was gaunt and riddled with cancer before he died, but when he was full of life building something or making sausage with the family.

As for your second question, there are two schools of thought in Christianity. Depending on your interpretation of the Bible, you may prefer one or the other.

One is inclusivism. There’s several scriptures used to back this up, but not as many as you’d like. To summarize, it’s basically that God is love and He’d never condemn someone who didn’t even have a chance to be saved.

The other is exclusivism. This is the predominant position throughout church history and it is believed that redemption is possible only through faith in the gospel. Several texts to support this as well.

There’s several arguments. Most notably is the “man on an island” discussion.

Scripture is clear that not all will be saved. It is not our place to put God in a box on our notions of “fairness”. Also, as has been discussed before, cultures for as long as man have walked the earth have recognized a “creator”, so the man on the island should have also recognized this even though he wasn’t exposed to Jesus. What many call our conscience, our barometer for right and wrong, I feel is the Holy Spirit tugging us to do right and chiding us when we do wrong.

Romans is great book to study on this among many other topics.


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[Shane]

Gents,

I can't begin to express my humble gratitude to you all for really setting aside your opinions of me to try to reach out and help me understand better. Some have PM'd me and others have offered their personal time and property. I'm truly not deserving of your hospitality. I think this could be how God works through others to reach the lost. I never thought I was lost. I mean I have a great career, family, credit score lol, but I believe I'm lost. Thank you from every fiber of my being for taking time out of your lives to put thought and reason in your responses. I have so much info to go research and I'm really looking forward to the journey, where ever it takes me.

Now I have a couple of more questions:

1. When man goes to heaven, what form will he take? Will he be in his form at death, when he was young, or will he be able to choose? Will we recognize family as our family or will we just know them as a fellow soul in heaven? Seems like if we love some more than others there will be an unbalance of sorts.

2. I have read some of you speak about the ones that died before Jesus came or those that did not have the ability to hear his message. That they are given the message in death. Was this a one time thing to cover everyone before Jesus, or since then are all the dead given the message upon their death if they were not given it during life?

Here's my understanding so far, as of today. It's subject to change if/when I learn more.....

1. I don't know what form we'll have in Heaven. I'm 100% confident that I will be perfectly happy with whatever it is though, and it will be infinitely better than the alternative. I believe we'll know and recognize our family, but we'll also know and recognize everyone else as our spiritual family. Whatever relationships we have in Heaven are gonna be awesome. The Lord has it prepared for us. It's gonna be better than anything we could dream up for ourselves, so I'm not worried about it - at all.

2. I don't share that belief. But I'm also 100% OK with God allowing whoever He wants to into Heaven for whatever reason(s) He has to do so. But my understanding is that my own salvation is up to me to work out for myself. I'm pretty sure there's gonna be a LOT of folks in Heaven who disagreed with many of my beliefs, and vice versa. As long as I'm there with all of my loved ones, I'll be tickled to death for everybody else that's there, regardless of whatever differences in beliefs we had during our mortal lives. I'm also 100% sure that my beliefs are not 100% spot on. I just wish I knew where my errors are so I could fix 'em. But praise God for his mercy and grace that covers my shortcomings!

[Hogmauler]

Your soul does Hatter. And Romans is the greatest book in the Bible. I do not believe in Purgatory simply because you have been cleansed by the shed blood of Christ. If you had to go to purgatory the Crucifiction was for naught. Now please, not trying to offend. That’s the Evangelical belief. Everybody’s belief is between them and God.

[rolylane6]

Gents,

I can't begin to express my humble gratitude to you all for really setting aside your opinions of me to try to reach out and help me understand better. Some have PM'd me and others have offered their personal time and property. I'm truly not deserving of your hospitality. I think this could be how God works through others to reach the lost. I never thought I was lost. I mean I have a great career, family, credit score lol, but I believe I'm lost. Thank you from every fiber of my being for taking time out of your lives to put thought and reason in your responses. I have so much info to go research and I'm really looking forward to the journey, where ever it takes me.

Now I have a couple of more questions:

1. When man goes to heaven, what form will he take? Will he be in his form at death, when he was young, or will he be able to choose? Will we recognize family as our family or will we just know them as a fellow soul in heaven? Seems like if we love some more than others there will be an unbalance of sorts.

2. I have read some of you speak about the ones that died before Jesus came or those that did not have the ability to hear his message. That they are given the message in death. Was this a one time thing to cover everyone before Jesus, or since then are all the dead given the message upon their death if they were not given it during life?

Danno, it's exactly how God reaches those who are lost. Through the spreading of the Gospel, not of our opinions of someone. And the fact that God has revealed to you that you may be lost fills my heart with joy.
Joy may not express enough for how I feel you right now brother! And it has nothing do with me but everything to do with you and what you are on the path to gain.
Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:


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[c3products20]

Danno, it's exactly how God reaches those who are lost. Through the spreading of the Gospel, not of our opinions of someone. And the fact that God has revealed to you that you may be lost fills my heart with joy.
Joy may not express enough for how I feel you right now brother! And it has nothing do with me but everything to do with you and what you are on the path to gain.
Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:


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When God has His sights set on you, you can only run so far before he gets you!!!!!!!

[MadHatter]

Your soul does Hatter. And Romans is the greatest book in the Bible. I do not believe in Purgatory simply because you have been cleansed by the shed blood of Christ. If you had to go to purgatory the Crucifiction was for naught. Now please, not trying to offend. That’s the Evangelical belief. Everybody’s belief is between them and God.

So if we shed this earthly body when we go to heaven, because only the soul goes to heaven, then why will soulless bodies rise up first during the rapture?
You're not offending me don't worry.
I've been up and down this path for nearly 40 yrs, with every type of mind/person combination there is.
Whole church used to meet every night of the week to pray around me at the alter when I was kid and these questions started.
I'm way past the offended part