I’d like to share my thoughts and ideas; although, I don’t mean to sound extremely knowledgeable or experienced. I am not. I just like to respond with what I think and have read. So here goes…
From what I understand of what I’ve read in the Bible, God is always reaching out to us (on an individual basis and to every single person). But we are often too self-absorbed or worldly to recognize His imprint on our minds and His stirring in our hearts. Never the less, at some point in anyone’s life, it says in the Bible that God's influence *will* be felt in their life.
Until the time when a person first chooses to believe, they will never have sufficient understanding of God. Our understanding of God—His wisdom, His discernment, His character—will be vastly limited simply because we won’t believe in the first place. Once a person chooses to believe, their understanding of God & of spiritual things grows and grows. If we follow the course of ‘1st believing’ to its logical conclusion, then it seems reasonable that: we won’t learn until we *want* to learn, whole-heartedly. We *want* to learn and, in turn, begin to learn and grow in our understanding of God because we love and desire Him—a love and desire to know God necessitates that we believe He exists.
For example, ever since the time that I came to the conclusion and started to believe that God did exist, I wanted to know Him more and more. There was a yearning, a sense of urgency, a deep inclination to learn about His character, His very nature…to seek answers. Then, eventually I grew in my understanding of God. Those same questions I had before,—about: Why does good and/or bad stuff happen to people?
Who is this Christ guy? Why should I believe He is God incarnate? What’s His purpose?
What’s the Holy Spirit? Why should I believe and what’s His purpose?
Why are people punished and sent to hell?
The dynamics of free will and responsibility; about love & compassion and forgiveness; about justice, omniscience and omnipotence—they no longer appeal to any sense of doubt in me and now I am not utterly confused because I’ve learned and moved on.
I don’t mean to sound snobbishly enlightened, but rather only wish to convey that understanding does/will grow from whatever anyone wishes to believe (you can believe in astrology and you will probably grow more in the understanding of it). Of course, I don’t claim to have all my questions answered about God and spiritual issues. And I believe that I probably won’t have my questions fully answered ever in this lifetime or the next. The point is, I am still yearning and still have a sense of urgency, that deep inclination to learn about His character, His very nature…to seek answers.
In the meantime, I love talking to nonbelievers because it offers a chance to stimulate my reason and logic, to challenge and explore my belief and seek understanding (Bible all withstanding, of course).
Continuing on in my initial thought…A ‘growth in understanding’ because of a ‘belief in God’ is part of the spiritual design of “conversion.” Belief is a ‘first step’ so to speak. But even so, to believe in God is not enough to live eternally in His realm. Satan and his angelic followers (demons) *believe* in God. (Even to this day, they have access to God’s realm. But that is an entirely different subject) What is needed is faith (again, not the belief-in-truth kind of faith); specifically trust. The kind of faith that requires loyalty, a kind of allegiance, an acceptance of God’s will for mankind, a trust in God’s leadership in our life, a dependence on God for wisdom & guidance.
What is more, if we took this belief to its logical conclusion (again), then it seems reasonable that in the end, if there is a God and you choose not to believe nor trust nor love Him, then you cannot be in eternal fellowship with Him (heaven) but rather you choose to be in eternal separation (hell).
The Great Divorce is a great, relevant book on this; short and easy reading. More about it here. C.S. Lewis metaphorically explores the question: What if, after death, we did get a second chance to choose for God or not? Although, from what I understand, he doesn’t really believe that is ever a possibility.
About forgiveness. I believe we all have the innate potential to forgive to some extent. But that potential won’t/cannot be fully realized to the fullest extent without God’s compassionate heart, His likeness in us. One will never be able to forgive the gravest of sins against them without God’s help. It may be hard and painful, but with God it is possible. It’s just a thought I came up with. What do you think?
One last thought of mine to leave you with. I believe that God doesn’t seek out and destroy or punish people any more than I would intentionally seek and destroy my children for their disobedience. Rather, there are consequences—2 kinds: There are the consequences for sin entering into the world and there are consequences for our choice (of faith/trust in God). We *can’t* change the fact that sin is here; the world is tainted with imperfection. We have to somehow learn to bear those consequences. But, we *can* affect our own choice of allegiance. If we follow down the path of aligning our life to God’s purpose for us, He is faithful to
1) protect us from Satan (but not always the effects of sin in the world; although, miracles do happen) and/or 2) to give us strength to endure, to persevere.
If we choose to do something else, God says, “My way is better—for otherwise our relationship is strained—In the meantime, here’s your life…you’re not fully equipped to handle life…the world (Satan’s realm) may be enticing, but the world is harsh without the benefits of My fellowship… remember, though, you can choose to change your mind at anytime until the end…I’m always here…ready to sign you up for a Godly/holy purpose…If you would give in now, I (God) can accomplish great and mighty, enduring things for My kingdom! There are rewards in heaven for the work you have allowed Me to do through you. You’ll have eternal fellowship with Me! Today would be a great day to start.”
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