Questions questions. @o@

[Bap]

Editeeed: Um, well, I hope people don't mind if I recycle this thread.. xD; But, I have another question. u_u;

So like, Jesus said that you had to have like. A heart of a child or something to get into heaven, right? What if someone had received Jesus, but had trouble with this all their life, and even when they died on Earth, would they still not get into heaven? u_u;;a

I dunno, it just confuses me sometimes when the Bible says stuff like that. xD; I mean, 'cause people say that when you receive Jesus and etc, you get into heaven, but then I read some stuff like the above and it's all, "Buh? @~@;;"

Soyeah. xD;;

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Hokayhokay, so hopefully I'm putting this in the right place. xD;

hokaysolike, our God's a jealous god, right? :o? But isn't jealousy a bad thing? @o@

And like, reading teh Old Testament, they were all if you worshipped idols and etc, then they were all, "KILL 'EM. D:" But wouldn't killing 'em be a bad thing? Dx Because then you wouldn't be able to lead 'em back to God. u_u

Andandand. Reading.. s'more of teh OT [xD;] it feels sorta like God is.. all.. angry and punsh-y. u-u; And it sorta makes me feel like if I do even a little somefin' wrong I'll get smited or something, roffle. >_>;;

Another fin' I was wondering.. @o@ Well, my heart's rather uncooperative in the whole 'feelings' department. u_u Like.. love and etc. D: And like, feeling bad for meh sins, sorta? @o@ I mean, I think it's 'cause.. I'm still a little unsure on what exactly a sin is / I can't quite remember what exactly I do? xD; Butanyway, even if I'm lacking the whole feeling things, but still know I sin ['cause everyone does, amirite? xD] would that still count? u__u;

I've only started to really delve into all this like.. three months ago, so I'm still nub, but I always hear stories about how people who've never heard about God before just hear about what he's done, and all of a sudden they're all.. FIRED UP. xD; Like.. a sudden reaction thing. D: While.. I... do not. xD; Is that weird? >__>;;

Er.. yeah. xD; It'd be osm if you could help answer meh questions / solve meh problems / etc, and sorry for teh bad flow of meh post. D:

[Puritan]

Well, let's see what I can do. Firstly, God is a jealous God, but his jealousy is not like ours. Ours involves wanting what isn't ours and desiring things we don't have, which is bad. God's jealousy is desiring that what is rightfully His (everything) do what it rightfully should, that His people (indeed, all of mankind) follow him and do his will. Our not doing that makes him jealous and angry, as you noticed, but that jealousy and anger is righteous as it is based on God's desire for good and hatred of evil, which is a good and right part of who God is.

As for God's anger, yes, He does get angry, and there is much for Him to be angry about. There is much evil in this world, and that evil rightfully angers Him (see Romans 1:18 for a New Testament statement of this). However, God is also merciful, and rather than destroying us like we justly deserve, He has kept us alive and blesses us with riches beyond our comprehension if we have faith and believe in Him. He has killed people, and He is not to be trifled with, but realize that God is also merciful and puts up with the failings of His children because He loves us despite our sins, and even in the midst of them. God generally smites people for sins that are above and beyond the norm (i.e. Herod's acceptance of praise that should have been God's in Acts 12:20-23 or the attempt by Ananias and Sapphira to lie for glory in front of God and the Church in Acts 5:1-11), and remember that He does this to make a point, not simply because He is angry (or people would probably die from being struck by God on a reglar basis).

As for emotions, Christians go through emotional cycles like everyone else, and we don't always love God or others like we should. Sometimes we don't feel sorry for our sins, and sometimes we don't feel remorse when we know we should. That happens to everyone, and the real important thing is to be reading the Bible and praying for forgiveness of your sins and for repentance (turing from your sins and recognizing them as sin). Don't be too discouraged for not feeling right, that happens from time to time. Prayer and trust in God helps us through those times, and concern about your sins is a good indicator that you are going in the right direction. Also, please don't worry about not remembering every sin you have done, it is generally considered appropriate to ask for forgiveness of all your sins and conviction of those you don't know as sin or don't remember. Simply confess those you do remember and pray that God bring you closer to Him, that He guide you from sin and reveal sins in your life you didn't recognize.

I hope that helps, and I would be happy to try to help more if you wish.

[ChristianKitsune]

To add to Puritan's statement. Jesus died for ALL our sins. He died for the sins we did in the past, the sins we do today and the sins we will do tomorrow.

The awesome thing about that is if you mess up, you don't need to beat yourself over the head with a brick.

Christians will sin sometimes. We are only human. Of course, that doesn't give us the freedom to do whatever we want. (anyone who tells you that is silly).

As Christians we will WANT to stay away from sinning. Because we are called to live differently.

[Bap]

Okay, thank you both, your posts helped muchly. n_n

[Phantom_Sorano]

God isn't like other gods who will punish you in terrible ways for your sins...that's what attracted me to Christianity in the first place was that God is loving. The Bible says we should fear God...that doesn't mean go about and hope He doesn't strike you down...it means that we need to realize He is in control, and He does everything out of love...including the trials we go through...I hope that helps some.

[Bap]

Yes, it does, thank you. n_n

[termyt]

I would add that there is no such thing as a "bad emotion." God is good. Indeed, by definition, He is the only thing that is truly good. However, God displays all emotions. How can this be? All emotions have positive and negative sides to them. God shows us what emotions look like when they are encouraged positively.

Jealousy: God wants what is rightfully His. He is jealous when another gets the worship He is due. It’s OK to be jealous when someone else gets what you deserve. The problem we commonly come into as humans is thinking we deserve too much. Fact of the matter is we probably deserve less than what we want. For example, say you and a friend of yours both agree to weed a neighbor’s garden for $5.00 each. You work hard all day long while your friend putters around and does half as much work. At the end of the day, the neighbor comes out and is pleased with the work you have done. She pays you each $5.00. She then goes on to praise your friend (and not you) for the hard work she did and gives her an extra $5. You naturally start to feel a little jealousy, but is it right to? The simple answer is no. You got what you deserved – the agreed upon price of $5.00. The fact that your friend got more than she deserved should be a cause of rejoicing for your friend’s good fortune, not jealousy because your fortune was not so good.

Hate: God does hate. He hates evil and commands us to do the same. Hating evil is easy. Defining it is not. Hating what God hates is important in the development of your faith. You need to hate the things that keep you from God. By hating them, you will naturally shun them, and move closer to God. For example, many years ago, my father made a decision to walk with God in the path He had laid out for him. He was already a believer, but he finally decided to be more than that (as we all should). In order to do that, he had to distance himself from his old ways and he began to hate the things that once made him happy. For example, his hatred for those old things caused him to destroy his record collection. Do you need to hate Led Zeppelin or the Loving Spoonful to be a Christian? My dad did, for a time, because they were keeping him from God. (On a side note, he no longer hates the Loving Spoonful. I’m not sure about Led Zeppelin ^_^).

Love: Love is probably the most twisted emotion out there. What we consider to be love is so far removed from how God defines it, it should probably be considered more dangerous than any of the seven deadly sins. Love is an emotion that takes a lifetime to cultivate. Love at first sight does not exist and you certainly can not make it with a physical act. Love grows from attraction and desire into more of a state of being. I believe our divorce rate is so high because we want the initial attraction/desire “romantic loveâ€

[Bap]

n_n Thank you for your post, it helped as well. x33

[SP1]

Not everyone has a life changing, vision filled salvation experience. Well, I suppose there are all life changing, but an "awesome" conversion experience is not required, nor is it necessarily typical. We discuss this in my Sunday School class occassionally. It's all about belief and repentence. For some people, acceptance of Jesus as Savior (etc.) is, well, normal. They might have been hearing about it all their lives. Also, at the time of their salvation they might not have exactly been in the depths of sorrow, so there's a little less uplifting going on.

Other people are REALLY off the track, so when they turn to God, it's a BIG TURN and they show it in their emotions.

So don't worry about it if your salvation experience is not one for the front page. God knows your heart, that's what matters.

[Ratrace]

Quick question, all your questions are to do with things in the Old Testament, have you read the New Testament yet?

[Bap]

Ah, yar, I've read some of the New Testament. 8D I'm actually reading it right now. Just finished Matthew today. n_n

[Bap]

Um, edited the first post with another question. u_u; Hope it doesn't matter if I recycled the thread. xD;

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I noticed sumone posted mentioning sumthing about fear of God. The other day, my friend (non-christian friend) and I were talking and she asked about why we haveta "fear" God, I was able to give her an answer but I dun think it came out quite right or just couldnt explain it very well. I forgot exactly what I told her (it was several days ago and kinda late at night) sumthing like, we are are afraid of God b/c we know he is all powerful and CAN do anything good or bad, so we try not to anger him, but yet we also know that he is a God of forgiveness and grace and compassion so that if we ask for forgiveness he will forgive us.

Yeh so just wanted to see what u all think (hope this landed in the right thread) Yeh 2 of my friends lately have been really becoming more interested in God, and lately I've been finding our conversations sumhow ending up in religious discussions and they're cumin up with some good questions that even I cant answer! (lotta which I've just kinda accepted as being true but never really thought of "why" so cant always answer them) But its really awesome tho b/c not only am I able to share with them but I'm learning more myself ^-^

I think people have a misconception that we actually have to be afraid of God. That's not really true. Biblically, to "Fear God" simply means to revere him. To recognize that he is sovereign and lord of us. We don't have to be scared of him. =D

[termyt]

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You shouldn't have to ponder too long to find a reason or two to fear God. He is awesome and terrifying. He has ordered the complete and utter destruction of entire populations of people who opposed Him. You are nothing when compared to Him. For your sins, you deserve the worst punishments imaginable. Fear Him? You bet I do. Anyone who doesn’t is a fool. The fact that He loves us and wants what is best for us is a wonderful mystery. I fear God simply because of who He is and what I deserve. I love Him because He loves me.

[quote="Bap"]Editeeed: Um, well, I hope people don't mind if I recycle this thread.. xD]
I believe you are speaking of this passage in Mark 10:13-15:

[INDENT] “And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.’"[/INDENT]

Or perhaps this passage in Matthew 18:1-4:

[INDENT]"At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, ‘Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’â€

[Ratrace]

Theres another scripture on fear of the Lord. I dont remember it exactly or where it is, but here gos:
Do not fear man who can destroy the body but then do nothing more, but fear God who after destroying the body can also throw your soul into hell.
If that doesn't scare you I dont know what will.
And as for "Fear" meaning "respect" how many times when people in the bible hear/see God/an angle/a talking bush that should be sinders by now is the person told "fear not"? Its somewhere around 95% for first time meetings.