Would God forgive me for not believing in him?

Not sure about this. But He created you the way He wanted you to be. He wrote your story long before you got to live it. Regardless of what you believe or don't believe, you're the way He wanted you to be. Unless He isn't very good at taking responsibility for His own actions, He should be fine with you not believing in Him.

See all these long responses. Ima keep it short and simple.

If God exists, God would understand, just be a good person. I shouldn't have to explain how to do all that. You can not believe, and still follow the path of being a good man, woman, or whatever you identify as.

If God doesn't exist, then it doesn't really matter does it? I mean, you should still be a good and decent person. But that's something everyone should do.

God lets children die of cancer. He doesn’t care because he isn’t real.

If u don’t believe in him don’t worry , when you die you will and then it’s too late. Simple as that. You going to heaven is similar to you a stranger coming to my house after years of ignoring me and not even knowing me and expecting to live there rent free.

Better question, if he wouldn’t does that make him a good worth worshipping or is he then bad

I was brought up in church too and had many doubts. I still do. But one thing that I remember my pastor saying was that if you go to hell, the devils the type that would show you ( like a flashback) all the times in your life that you had the opportunity to accept Jesus as your lord and savior but you didn't. And so the devil would laugh at you and call you names just before throwing you into the lake of fire for all eternity. Now if you don't believe in God and ended up passing away then you have no chance to ask forgiveness. But if you were once a non believer and then you became a believer and are saved, then yes God does forgive you.

Yes he’d forgive you. Refer to the parable of the prodigal son Luke 15 11:22. Not only would he forgive welcome you back but there would be a great celebration in heaven because of it. Pursue God and you find him.

As far as your disbelief please refer to Roman’s 1 as validation for believing and a warning to those who don’t believe:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.1.16-17.ESV

”For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.“ ‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.1.20.ESV

If they were the kind of god that was super petty and picky about whether you believed in them rather than if you were a good person…then that probably isn’t the kind of god you want to worship anyway. For what it’s worth, I was worried about this sort of stuff too when I was younger. Now I’m nearly 40 and I’m a card carrying Satanist with The Satanic Temple and I find that saying “hail Satan” is incredibly liberating. I no longer believe in a god and all of my guilt about gods / goddesses melted away years ago. Think about how you might judge people if you were god. Would you be angry that they didn’t believe in you? Or would you just want them to be kind? If god is less kind than you, then he probably isn’t worth worshiping anyway.

Not according to the bible

If you believe in God, you’re retarded

He is your imaginary friend, so that is up to you

honey there is no god. get over it. brainwashing sorry

If God is real,, being a good person is enough.

idk if he exists he prob

No, the Christian god forgives no one. Jesus will only forgive those who profess belief and accept him as the messiah and your savior.

The God of the Bible? No. A loving creator god? Probably.

From a realistic standpoint, god doesn't exist.
From a Deist standpoint, god doesn't care if you believe.
From a religious standpoint, it depends on which bibles they're reading, some versions of God are very forgiving, other versions turn people into salt for GLANCING at a sinful city.

God gave us free will. The Bible teaches us that God loves everyone, even those that don't believe. When we take our last breath, God's love is so great that He will not force anyone to spend an eternity with Him in Heaven. So in short, God will still love you if you don't believe in Him, but without accepting that love through Jesus, you will not see His kingdom. You seem to be facing some sort of conviction in this post. I'll pray for you.

Thanks for your interesting question.

Unless you’ve seen him, touched him, spoken to him or seen his face on video, I would assume he is a construct.

Your problem is not in devoting insufficient attention to him. You’re erring on the side of giving him too much attention. Basically you’re living in a patriarchy.

So me and the family are camping for a week in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We are woken up to some noises in our camp and the nastiest stench ever. Out west you never camp without protection ever. We unzipped the bottom window to peak out, and thier it is bigger than life a huge Saaquatch. We waited forever it felt but it finally left. We drove down the mountain range into town and went back up with the ranger and showed them our photos and video and they laughed at us saying it's just a bear. Which we new it wasn't. We packed up and left with the rangers waiting and drove into town to eat before heading home. Everyone it seemed at the diner already new who we were the crazy campers who reported a big foot. 30 minutes or so a old couple sat behind us and leaned into our table and said would you like to see it? My wife and I are like see what exactly. Big foot he replied. We seen him too, they all call us names here in town too and keep thier distance mostly but it's been awhile since anyone else has run into him. We finished our breakfast and agreed to follow them. We arrived at their cabin pretty deep in the woods and after some conversation they brought out photos of the beast and their it was. They were shamed into being told it was a bear too. The town folk laugh at them and call them names. But you can't unsee what's been seen no matter how many people tell you that it's not real. But I'm sure 50% of the people will say your nuts it doesn't exist and others will say wow he does exist. When you have been inducted into that private club that very very few people are in without choice, is the time you know that the world your in holds greater secrets than the people around you will persecute you for. Is Jesus real? Yes he is, every atheist in the world who tried to prove otherwise was taught that he did walk this planet. Did he perform miracles? The records show that too many people witnessed and accounted for this and is believed true based on the the record keeping of the time which is much more reliable than today. Faith is a deep in your soul belief that you have or don't have to know that something is real. Stop trying to listen from non believers that don't know if he exists and listen to the believers that know he exists. You have only one shot at this and it's over. He will forgive anyone for anything except one sin so don't do it out of spite to prove that you are a non believer. Put a lighter to your hand and see how long you can stand the heat, now imagine eternity in a flame begging for a death that never comes. It's everyone's choice, choose wisely...

If there were a god, and it was merciful and loving, then you would have no worries. But, there are no gods, werewolves, angels, devils, vampires, fairies, unicorns, etc., so you still have no worries.

I asked him. He said no. Rough luck mate.

I think you have to ask yourself, who is the God you are supposed to believe in. Lots of people think of God as a sort of giant Gandalf in the sky, with a very powerful staff and if you don't believe in him, he'll smite you. That is a cartoon understanding of faith. The idea of God is in the realm of morality so the real question is what does God have to do with morality and how should that affect your faith.

So I'm Catholic and there are two (more than two, but at least two!) ideas that are helpful. First, that faith and works are linked. Anyone can say, "I believe!" but if they don't act on it, then what's the point? Likewise, someone might say, "I'm not sure..." but their behavior might show faith. So that idea boils down to, faith and acts are two sides of the same coin. If you have one, you basically have the other. If you don't have one, you won't really have the other.

The second idea is that, in terms of morality (moral acts), we can know what to do because each of us has an internal moral compass. This is called Natural Law. Our compass is always a bit wobbly because of self-interest and just being human, but we naturally know the basic ideas of morality, even without formal religion to tell us. Don't lie, cheat, steal, kill, etcetera. Do show love to your fellow human, help the poor, comfort those who have suffered, etcetera (these are called the Works of Mercy). Most of us do some of these some of the time, some of us do all of these most of the time, none of us do all of them all of the time. A failure to do any of the things demanded by natural law is sin. i.e. we're all sinners.

So what does any particular religion add on top of this? For Christians, forgiveness and redemption. Christ's giving up his life on the cross led to the forgiveness of our sins. That's how we're redeemed. It's the faith in that, that gives us the hope that somewhere "up" there, there's a heaven, and that we might go there one day.

Why would He? Not being harsh… why would you want to go to heaven if you don’t want to be with God? Sounds like being forced to go to a church service you don’t enjoy.

I think any God that could show love would have a good walk and a chuckle with you over how they are represented by humanity.

I feel forgiveness is part of that love based on confusion and can be redeemed if you have simultaneously lived a good life.

But, I'm closer to Satan than God, soooo....

If you repent at the last minute, you will be fine. It worked for Ted Bundy and Wesley Alan Dodd.

He sounds a vindictive god

Apparently If you don't bow and worship him your off to hell

The only unforgivable sin in the Bible is having knowledge of God & denying Him. He loves us regardless, but He only forgives sins when we repent/ask Him to & requires us to accept the sacrifice He made in sending Jesus as our savior. You have to believe in Jesus to be saved by Him (John 3:16)

So if you dont believe in God why would you believe theres a hell?? Pray to God to show you! What do you have to lose??

I think if there is a God he wouldn't care if you believed in him or not because he is not revealed to us in this life, but perhaps after we die. So how would we be able to know?

Idk I thunk an all knowing all powerful being would not gaf if people believed in him or not bc he knows how he made us skeptical creatures.

Any entity that is said to love everyone and wants them to be excellent to each other isn't worth respecting if it's so petty as to cast a person who spent their life trying to be a decent human being into eternal suffering because they didn't spend their life worshipping and serving it.

People ascribe to God human behaviors that to me make no sense for a supreme being. Any God I could believe in would not be holding grudges for things I did or didn't do.

I can't believe that any God would create a place like hell in the first place. And even if he did, I can't imagine that he would condemn people there just for not believing in some convoluted story. And if he would do that, there's no telling what rationale he would have to sending people to hell. So you might as well just live your life without worrying about it.

Short answer: yes. Long answer: remove all fear that someone is constantly watching you and choose to live well and kindly. It's the only way to truly live an ethical life. A loving God will see a person who wasn't looking for reward, or fearing reprisal, and chose to do what was right, BECAUSE it was right. The major religions are a business. They want you to pay them to tell you how to get to a place, that if they were honest, we are all going to anyways. If you are questioning a decision you should be able to ask someone else "hey, is this cool or am I being a jerk" without all the ritual and ceremony and the 10% of your income that goes to the leaders 15th sports car. I hope that some day I can believe without fear. I want to speculate on the meaning of existence with a being that sits next to me and points out all the cool vagaries of the universe. I want to delve into the why's and how's of reality without wondering what's going to happen to me if I don't follow some vague rule that can't ever really be fully satisfied. I want to be loved because I exist. Not because I jumped through all the right hoops. I want to spend my time geeking out over the cosmos, with a being who's so excited to show me how and why they made things the way they are. How they work, and why their blue. How long it took them to get it "just right"

If God wanted me to believe in him he should have made me that way and don't give me that Free Will crap. The real question is why does he need me to believe in him if he's omnipotent in all-powerful what the hell does he need me for go do something God go make a son or make some people that'll bow down to you without you having to play all these funny little games. Go talk to Lucifer God maybe he can give you some advice maybe he can teach you how to make a new form of cancer or how to look the other way when children are dying of horrible diseases that make dying on the cross pale by comparison.

“For God so loved the world, that whoever would believe on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It doesn’t say ‘believe in God first, then He will love you. Here’s another one: “Love covers over a multitude of sins.” Don’t focus on the belief, focus on the love. God can handle the rest.

1. everyone’s walk w God it’s different & speaking from personal experience it isn’t always pretty or nice but knowing God IS worth it . i’ve been going through a rough patch w my faith for a long time but that doesn’t mean he loves me any less . i know a God who is loving & caring & merciful . he accepts all his children even if they don’t accept him . he will never turn his back on his children there’s no bounds to his love . all that is to say if you want a relationship w him he’s waiting .
2. if you don’t believe in God that’s perfectly fine ! don’t let anyone else force you into something that you aren’t . not everyone fits one size . you can explore other religions! find what fits most w you . i don’t claim i am christian but i believe in God . & if you aren’t religious you can find solace in something else . you aren’t condemned to hell . no one knows their fate till they talk to the Lord himself . you have all the time to figure it out !!

I'll start by saying I don't believe either. At least not in any of the ones people have tried to sell to me. There most definitely is a "creator" though. You can see that through the various aspects of the universe and the laws they follow. And if the universe had none and just exploded into creation, that would mean the universe itself is a creator of sorts with a blueprint to make us, which observe it.

I don't think religions such as Christianity are put in place to make sure you go to heaven or hell, but to teach you a form of morality that shapes you. Even though many religions have been revised and rewritten over time to benefit certain people and agendas, they all have taught one similar thing: to look within and learn to love/discover yourself.

It's not bad that you don't believe, whether people like to admit it or not, religion is humanities greatest 'tool'. Without it, there would be many who would fall to depravity on a hopeless path to destruction. It's a guide to your own soul, but it is entirely up to you to discover it.

The bible says that the only unforgiveable sin is not believing in God. Watch some real paranormal shows if you don't believe there's an afterlife. You'll see in a hurry that there are dead people on earth. You have to watch the real shows though, Discovery+ has a lot of them.

The god of the New Testament? Yes. The god of the Old? No.

Using the Bible as the authority on this which is the only real authority for answers about God, no He wouldn’t forgive you for not believing in Him. The thing that allows you to be forgiven is belief in Him, so if you don’t believe that He is real and can save you, enough to repent and live for Him, then He won’t forgive you because that wouldn’t be justice.

I'm a spiritual believer. I believe in a higher power, but won't give it a specific name.

God? Allah? Buddha? Zeus? Rah? They all amount to the same thing imo.

That said I know there is a higher power, I've felt it's presence in my life at various times. An all encompassing feeling, thrilling, terrifying, calming all at the same time. But mostly humbling... a power so vast we are but a speck of it.. a grain of sand against the sun.

I've almost died a couple times in my life... very close to the edge and I can remember the feeling, being pulled away from my body along a beam of golden light. Parts of my body falling away as I no longer needed them, my legs and arms, then chest as I no longer needed to breath, and finally my head fell away leaving me rushing faster and faster... but both times before I could pick up enough speed I was stopped and pulled back twice as fast.

My thoughts on Organized religion is that they separate people and demonize those not in the group. I feel most religions ignore fundamental truths and tenants of life and love.

But these are all just my opinions, thoughts, and experiences.

I have a hard time with Christianity for many reasons… the biggest one for me is that an all powerful, all knowing, loving God would punish a good person simply because they struggled to find belief in a world like this. I am 32 and I have studied many religions over the years. I love philosophy, I love to learn and to wonder. I can’t find myself buying into one religion specifically as there are so many systems of belief out there. What brings me comfort is the knowledge we will never know and absolute truth as it stands now. All I can do is be the best person I can be. Buddhism has taught me a lot in terms of how to understand the finite reality of my life, the lives of those around me and my circumstances. I do not deny the existence of something bigger than myself but I also cannot chose which I think is “right” to put all my faith in. I am okay living in ignorance and strive only for kindness. That’s the best I can do as a human being.

Something that doesn’t exist doesn’t need to forgive you.

I was raised in Christianity and never connected to God, ever. Then I learned about Neville Goddard and how he views God! I like my life now! And all those supposed Christian family members are no longer in my life! Bye.

Now I feel a connection with God, my way, my terms. Christian fam members always made me feel shame/guilt. Never feel that anymore! But this is my story, hope you find your path

If you don't believe in Him, you're not likely to ask for forgiveness for those actions which drive you apart from him (which is the definition for sin). As a human, you've got a natural proclivity to sin.

You weren't born into an area or time period where you had no chance to know about Him so you're out of luck there. As a member of a Christian household, you've been told. You can't plead complete ignorance.

For you, going to Heaven would be like having the answers to an exam that you don't bother to study for. Why would you? You don't believe there's a teacher (or some kind of school administrators).

Will you pass?

Depends on the exam, but it's not likely unless the class is a complete cakewalk. Do you think anything about this world is a complete cakewalk?

While Purgatory isn't mentioned in the Bible, it's a logical place for someone to end up who wasn't quite bad enough to be tortured for all eternity.

My guess is Purgatory or Hell.

If he doesn’t exist…no. This is obvious.

If he does exist…if not an a-hole then yes. If an a-hole then no. An all powerful all knowing being has to understand that faith alone won’t create automatic belief. So it really comes down to personality.

Just FYI I am agnostic, however there is a theory that when Jesus died on the cross he died for everyone to enter thru him meaning that sinners and saints, as well as current and future generations are going to the heavenly afterlife.

Do you know why you're having trouble grasping the concept of God? I'll tell you why. It's because, you have common sense and apparently you're smart enough to know bullshit when you hear it. The only reason you still worry about hell is because you have been fed that bullshit your entire life. Your family brainwashed you into being afraid of a fairytale. Congratulations on waking up and not being gullible. Religion and God are the biggest load of horseshit anyone has ever been dumb enough to believe.

Nah. Its kinda the point

Personally, I came to the conclusion that if god would reject me for choosing not to worship him, then he is far too self-important for me to enjoy his heaven. The way I see it, if god does exist and put me on this planet, then the most honest way to honor that action, for me, is to indulge my curiosity and explore what he made for me (us). I would never be fulfilled in a one-sided conversation/relationship with him, and the whole worship thing seems like a massive ego-stroking exercise to me. Again, if that's his game, I'm not interested in playing.

Ultimately, his existence and my belief in him isn't really going to change how I spend this life, so I'm content to wait and find out what kind of god, if any, I'm working with when that time comes.

You can do what ever the hell you want to in life, as long as you ask for forgiveness before you sure. LOL

Do you really want to believe in a God that promises eternal torment to all who do not swear fealty to him

The only reason people believe in God is because it was indoctrinated into them from childhood. If everyone on the planet stopped telling children about their various God's then the belief would die out as it's a learned belief.

Everyone is welcome to their own beliefs though and I have friends from multiple different religions as well as going to a catholic school. As long as people don't try to push their beliefs on others I don't have any issue.

Absolutely, my dude. Just be a decent human.

No. Of course not but people believe that 'God' would because it makes them feel good and superior, just like the rest of the bits of their religion that they actually adhere to.

if you believe any of the christian bullshit, it's based on a jewish god who kills his own jewish son just to show you who's boss. think about that. all the other religions have similar gods except apathism, the place you go when you stop caring about getting into heaven. if you are nice to people but keep some boundaries for common sense, it would not matter if you pray once a day, five times, or no times. then, all you need is some good luck in life. good luck. you will never find a directory of apathist churches or synagogues, just look around for happy people and dont' talk religion or politics to them. you will probably find some apathists here or there. good luck

Does a tree hold it against you if you don’t acknowledge it?

Yup, he gave you free will if thats the case, and you used it.

Look at the critical thinking skills he handed every human, and so many refuse to even acknowledge they have it, let alone use it.

No you’re going straight to hell

I grew up in a Catholic house and rejected religion when I was a teenager. I found some kind of non-christian belief when I was around 30. God is the judge, not any of us humans but, I somehow think that if you live an honest and hardworking life, God would judge any person worthy of paradise.

It's fun watching people growing up, making logical conclusions. Also look up 'there is no hell in the Bible' to get a grip on the fact that... Well, that. lol

According to the infallible word of God, you will be in Hell. I'll say hi and we can talk about it. Nevermind people here saying "Well, I feel this or that...and he wouldn't do that to a good person" No. Belief in his sacrifice is necessary to reach the kingdom.

These are the questions that they do not want you to ask. When I started asking them and saying the god I know wouldn't do that it made me a disbeliever in the church, ultimately leaving the religion entirely. There is a major difference in what the Bible teaches, what the church preaches and what has been taken out and/ or changed. For a long time I thought I could seperate god from the church, the people but I couldn't because they do it in his name. Atrocities across thousands of years and specifically to this day.

When I lost my faith I loved god, at the time I started studying in school and found out a bunch of stuff that is untrue. Pastors and preachers also LEARN IN SCHOOL but are continuing and contributing to the false preaching. The nail on my coffin for my faith was reading the Bible for myself. When referring go god most people just call him god but when you write in reference to him you use his name and not a single person in my church including my mother knew he has a name. That I'd when I started questioning everything.

If you are asking these questions I think that in the end you'll also end up where I am. I don't deny he could exist I just refuse to believe a god who claims to love us so much he would sacrifice his ONLY son just to condemn us for not believing in him.

If he wouldn't it would mean that he is a vindictive bastard and he wouldn't be deserving of your worship anyway.

Tell God all of this and ask him to help you. He does love you. You can even ask him to help your unbelief. If you ask him to forgive your unbelief, he will do that too, because he promises to do so.

I live in the bible belt. I can't 'shake off' talking as if I believe there is a god. I don't. It's just difficult when so many people relate to casual christian sayings. Having to restate them, or use different colloquial sayings just prolongs the contact without any benefit to the exchange.

That said, I have had several christian people tell me that I'm going to heaven even if I don't believe in it, because that is where good people go.

Have had a LOT of conversations with people about their beliefs and mostly it's whatever makes them feel better about themselves within the framework of their religion. So, they don't strictly adhere to the letter of the beliefs, but more the ideals they feel comfortable with.

Whatever keeps them from murdering people and working within our societal agreement.

Lost souls follow the masses or faith. The faithless find something to look up to typically. Be a leader not a sheep 🐑. god is conjured up by human kind. No evidence suggests he or she exists. All books were written by humans too. It’s up to you how you want to believe and what you wake up every day to live for.

If when I die, I’m met at some metaphysical location by anyone referring to themselves as a god in any way, they will have to answer to me for my soul. If God is real, He’s fucked up. He owes US fealty, at this point.

Personally I’m sure this won’t happen. I think when we die we are just returned to the universe as the elements we were made from and our brief magical time on the planet and the memories and marks we leave behind will be the only things that remain. God had better hope he’s out to lunch when my time comes, but I’ll wait in the lobby for an eternity for Him to explain himself.

I have the same thinking as you and was also raised religiously but consider myself agnostic now. I think if god is a good as they say then all he really cares about is if you’re a good person

I don’t think you dont believe in god I think you dont believe in the things he can do.. The world wouldnt have been created without a god but, does he save people? Does he really “touch” people? No… Miracles arent god saving anyone.. if theres a 90% chance of somebody dying due to an illness and they survive and didnt believe in god but other people died and did believe in god what does that mean? This is my belief I could be wrong but I really do believe we need to stop thinking that god is “blessing us” and start thinking god created life for us to live in it and do what must be done so we can get to where we want to get.. god made sticks and rocks we made fire.. god made water and glass sand and fire and we made a glass of water.. im willing to debate this is anybody wants to because for someone to believe that god is BLESSING that ONE person out of all the people that pray every single day and live righteously is literally selfish..

If there were a god, would you want to worship one that's so vain they instantly cast you aside when you don't believe they exist, when the only reason there might be to believe they exist is a several millennium long game of telephone?

That game couldn't even accurately get around a room of 20 people in 2 minutes

Why are you worried if you are a non believer? I was raised Catholic, you can be a complete piece of shit, a murdering piece of garbage, and if you repent for your sins God will love you. It’s ridiculous bullshit. There’s something out there, a power, but I don’t think it’s anything like resembling human or any other form , and definitely not a bearded man in the sky.

Although I believe in God, I do consider myself a practical atheist, which is someone who doesn't live for God, even if they believe in him. However, I do not believe in Hell, because unless you're Hitler, I can't imagine anyone deserving punishment for all eternity. The most important thing in life is to be a good person, regardless of religious background or socioeconomic status.

Yes. So long as you acknowledge that you have regret for not believing in him, but have turned a new leaf when he showed himself to be real, then he would forgive you. Or, at the very least, Christ would forgive and vouch for your spareing in any sort of judgment day scenario.

Mm. God forgives everything, But that doesn't mean he won't punish sin. If we don't apply for the grace of God, he will still love us, but it limits what he can do to help us with our sin related issues.

What we need to do to obtain grace isn't onerous and he lays it out for us pretty neatly. At a certain point if we want salvation we do have to step out of our comfort zones and at least do the bare minimum.

I am okay with there not being an afterlife, but I fear going to hell or experiencing the rest of eternity poorly.

I'm confused by this. Are you coming from a place where you don't think there's an afterlife, or from one where you do?

I'd think that if there's really a hell to go to, and there'd be a possibility of you winding up there, that would constitute an afterlife.

Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you : )

Well, belief is not something you can simply choose. You either believe something or you don't. I can't choose to believe that the sky is green, when it's clearly blue, and I know it to be blue. Belief isn't really a choice. However, I do believe in this prayer that's helped me. It's from scripture. "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."

I am a pastor. I truly believe in God. I believe in heaven, and I believe in hell. I believe that there are those who are so apart from God, they choose hell for themselves. I also believe when Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one gets to the Father, but through him. Having said that, I also can't pretend to know what God knows. I don't see what God sees. At the end of the day, your fate is in your own hands, but God knows your heart.

Having said all that, if I can make any unsolicited recommendation, it would be to practice the means of grace: pray, fast, search the scriptures, give to the needy, serve others, and allow yourself to love your neighbor as yourself. These are ways we communicate with God, and through these means of grace, God communicates back to you. I have no doubt that if you invest yourself in things like this, you'll discover your belief.

The god in the Bible, no. I’m not very religious but I do like to believe that Jesus is our savior and god is my god. The only way to “get to heaven” according to the Bible is to believe in him and live by him. He will turn away so many people who otherwise think they will enter heaven

Just want to throw this out there..... believing in God doesn't necessarily mean you believe in the Christian god.

No. The Bible says the way to be saved is to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead. Without belief, there is no salvation, without salvation, there is no forgiveness.

Religion is bullshit. Educate yourself on the origins of religion and Christianity. Educate yourself on the real scientific and historical evidence that debunks all the major biblical stories that are a foundation for the religion. Educate yourself on the immorality of the Bible that was written by bronze age barbic civilizations. Learn how the Bible was put together and read the Bible. It's the best way to deconstruct from the lies of indoctrination. Religion requires faith. There's nothing that can not be believed on faith. Faith is useless. Take yourself where the evidence leads and stop believing in fairytales.

Absolutely not. If you are not baptized before you die and accept Jesus Christ as your savior, you are going to burn in hell for all of eternity.

I'm not Christian but two of my parents are ministers so I was raised in it. The core pillar of that religion is that by Jesus sacrificing himself, all human sins are forgiven (eta: I'm not saying disbelief is a sin, but my point is anything would be forgiven). So yes, on the most basic level. Some sects might believe that you have to directly ask for the forgiveness so that couldn't hurt I'm sure but it's also not universally regarded as necessary.

I mean God let's 4 year Olds die suffering from brain cancer every day, so it doesn't really matter

God is absolutely real. There’s no proof he doesn’t.

Perhaps the God you fail to believe in is the one you were told about and not one you found in scripture yourself. Makes a huge difference.

Hell, even I don’t believe in the type of God Catholics and many Christians claim to know.

God from the Bible is important but only if you want to be included in what God is there for. No one has to be. Your choice.

Good news is understanding what God wants from you is easy. It’s only hard when I put a personal spin on it or if I’m trying to find a workaround.

What God wants is also very clear. God says it once, says it simply and tells us that if we want to show love to him, there’s a list of things you can do to show it.

The only thing God says to do that he goes into any significant detail is the 4th commandment - keeping the Sabbath - because he knew people were going to screw it up while trying to get around it. But more detail helps keeping that one for sure.

Keep in mind that just like with Noah and the flood, the instruction to get on the boat - whether or not you believe in rain - is available to everyone. NOT getting on the boat is a one shot. You wait too long or aren’t prepared or don’t believe and the door shuts that’s it. There’s no second chance to get your shit together.

So you decide what you want to be a part of. Learn more about what God really is directly from the Bible and ignore anyone trying to convince you it doesn’t matter. Which is something the Bible says people will try to do and the closer you get to the truth the harder people will try to dissuade you.

Read it for yourself then decide if you want to get on the boat. If not, I’ll miss the chance to get to know you. If so, I’ll see you there. Besides, I can’t swim. Lol 🤗

if one of your SIMs characters didn't believe in you and maybe actively even hated you would you be mad? No. Because that's a SIMs character and who cares.

A lot of hubris, imo, for anyone to think if a God is omnipotent has made everything, seen everything, controls everything, that God would care enough about any individual enough to send them to Hell for it.

Also, God supposedly made you the way you were so why are you an Athiest if it wasn't so chosen by the Lord? Christianity is a catch-22.

I don't know if God exists or not, I can't give you evidence to prove a negative. However, based on the lack of evidence on the other side of the table, I don't have any reason to believe that a supernatural deity exists, and based on that, I call myself an Atheist.

If you come to the realization that there is no justifiable evidence for an afterlife, I do not understand why you are then afraid of an afterlife. If God doesn't exist, neither does Satan.

If you believe in free will, but you also believe that God knows everything you're going to do, then I don't see how that is free will in the first place. That tells me that your life is on a predetermined path. If God knows you were going to end up in hell, that must mean he put you here just to see you go to hell.

I think you questioning your religion is a good thing. However, I think you're trying too hard to justify the negative of something that you can't explain.

Go to YouTube and look up shows such as Atheist Experience and Talk Heathen. Might be a good resource, and you might even want to call in.

Recovering from Religion is also a good resource if you want someone to talk to.

However, if you're under 18 and you feel as if your parents will disown you for even questioning Atheistism then you might have to just keep pretending to believe in something that you don't.

I wish you luck, I really do. Ask me anything if you want to.

That depends heavily on what sect of Christianity. Most modern Christians believe that as long as you accept Jesus into your heart believe he died for your sins that's your pass in. Catholics, you have to live by a certain set of rules and basically if you repent on your death bed you're golden. Others just believe you have to be a good person and live by the bibles way of living a Christian life.

TLDR; Depends which version of the bible you believe/want to believe.

If god can’t forgive you for not knowing which of the thousand religions in existence is the right one, and didn’t care enough to provide proof of existence but wants to punish you for it anyway, is that really a god you are interested in serving?

Was raised catholic. The nuns beat the belief that I was going to hell into me by the time I was 8. Haven’t practiced in forty years but the number one fear in my life is still that I’m going to hell. Catholic s do long term damage to its followers.

I think if God is the all knowing presense as they say. He couldnt possibly punish anyone for believing the wrong thing as there is no concrete way for any of us to know what exactly is correct. I was raised Christian & Catholic. I know they like to preach otherwise but I just dont believe it.

What if your imagination was the only thing creating your afterlife. If you imagine it’s nothingness then nothingness is what you get.

The Biblical answer to this is yes, He will ALWAYS love you no matter what. The other answer, is unless you CHOOSE Christ, you will not go to heaven. We can debate if there’s actually a hell, but if you are asking a Christian for this answer, that’s the one you will get.

Look, it's a very scary thought, trust me I know.

All you need to remember is this: if God is real, and if they love you, then they would never punish you for being honest with your beliefs.

If God is real and would punish you for just trying to honestly understand reality, we live in a terrible reality, but there's nothing that can be done.

In either case, it's almost definitely just man made nonsense. Crafted to BOTH give hope for after death, and instill fear into people so they're controllable. You're just caught in the middle of the two big reasons religion exists.

Vanity, jealousy, anger vengefulness, pettiness these are all human thoughts and emotions. If an all powerful omniscient being exists that created us...he will not have these human thoughts and emotions. If there is some master plan for us to return to "heaven" we wont be penalized for not playing by the rules of a game there was no way of knowing. What kind of weird cruel and petty GOD would do such a thing. All of that shit was made up by man to control you. Just do your best to be what you believe is a good person try to care about others and learn how to love unconditionally. whatever happens after. you will be given the opportunity to learn...

Be a good person and you have nothing to be fearful of. It seems a bit much if God is real and keeps you out just because you didn’t worship him but you were a good person.

Yes he absolutely would!! It wouldn’t even be an issue, I know the Bible says very specific things about beliefs but I’ve always thought it’s inserted by humans.

Just be a decent person, try to do good in the world and minimize the harm you do and you’ll be fine!! I’m pretty sure god likes good people who don’t believe more than bad people who are fanatical believers.

What you don’t believe in is someone else’s dogma. There’s a good chance you’ve never looked for God so don’t sweat it. Someday you will, and God will be there.

Fear of hell is how they scare you into staying in the religion. It's psychological entrapment. That's why they created hell. "What's the worse thing you can possibly imagine?...an eternity of torture. Um, yeah, that's what's going to happen if you don't follow our religion." Not that it's super relevant, but the Bible doesn't even really talk about hell.

That's all a moot point, because the whole thing is made up anyway and there is no afterlife. How can you know this? Because there is no reason to believe that there is. You can pick any random bullshit and say, "Well technically it's possible. You can't prove that x doesn't exist." There could be a flying spaghetti monster controlling everything, and that is just as valid and has just as much chance of being true as any religion. The chance of there being a god or Christianity being correct is mathematically zero (or a limit approaching zero).

In general, you should not live your life believing anything without a reason. Sometimes the answer to something is that we don't know. How was the Universe created? We don't know. We can trace it back to a big bang, and that's it. The answer is we don't and never will (in our lifetime) know what happened before that. If you don't know something, making up an answer does not have any more chance of being correct than the literally infinite amount of other possibilities it could be. 1 divided by infinity (ie. one possibility out of infinite possibilities) is zero.

Also, just because some people wrote something in a book a few thousand years ago does not make that a good reason to believe in that thing. Ancient people made up whatever bullshit they could to explain stuff. There have been thousands of different religions throughout human history. Some are even older than Christianity. They all have different ways of explaining how our world works. The ancient Greeks thought that Apollo pulled the sun across the sky in a chariot. As we learn more about our world, we can discount these theories. Christians thought the world was 5,000 years old (and some weirdos still do) because that's when their book was written. Then, we learned that Earth was much older than that, so the religion started to pivot. "Oh the Bible was more of a parable, except for these things that were meant to be taken literally, but these other things that we used to say were literal were really just a metaphor the whole time." You can't just keep moving the goalpost to try to make this fit reality. It doesn't.

I went through a similar conflict when I first started questioning my upbringing. Eventually, I landed on this: I refuse to love or worship someone out of fear. I strive to be a good person and make the right decisions because I owe that to myself and others as a human being. Ultimately, forgiveness is not for the person being forgiven but for the person doing the forgiving. If God does exist, is he really so fragile that he would punish those who do not worship him? If so, is he really worthy of our love and worship in the first place? The only thing I really kept from Christianity was the emphasis on kindness, love and compassion towards others. Ultimately our spirituality is a personal choice. It doesn't really matter who is right or wrong. I choose to believe that there is no afterlife in the traditional sense. I believe that we create heaven and hell in this life based on how we choose to live and the way we treat others. Don't put yourself in hell over it. Very few people are deserving of eternal damnation. If God is everything the Christian faith promises, then he forgives everyone. If he isn't, I say that's all the more reason to be skeptical of the faith.

Depends on who you ask

No, the fake magic sky guy doesn't exist, therefore he doesn't care if you believe or not.

If you choose not to be with God because you refuse to try to know Him, then He won't force you to be with Him. If God exists and you're Catholic, then a belief that God has revealed the method to get into Heaven seems like a gift. It's up to you to use it.

I'm athiest. And if God is worth anything and I'm wrong, then God will teach me after I die whatever he finds so important. Till then, I'm not putting any ounce of weight into fearing anyone especially someone who'd condemn me for not believing in their superiority.

Yes, unless god is a cunt and from what my life has taught me, he's a big ol cunt.

Him and baby Jesus can go fuck themselves. We'll sort it out if we ever meet in person.

Believe in me.

Don’t worry about something you don’t believe

I really don't think that if an omnipotent god existed it would care to be "believed in" or worshipped. The lack of clear instructions on what and how to worship should be evidence that either no gods exist or the gods that do exist don't care what you believe. (And no, I don't think putting instructions in books in foreign languages thousands of years ago counts as instruction, and as for clarity, if it were clear there would only be one religion with no denominations).

If there were a god.... An actual "god" would require nothing nor would it be possible to separate anything from itself (e.g. you or your perceived soul going to hell) as it is everything and nothing by definition at the same time so just let that BS go.

Most godly attributes assigned by its believers are reflections of their relationships with their own parents.

Congrats, you might be the only one in your family who can think outside of box and actually ask questions

Yes I do. I won’t pretend to understand how life after death works, but what I do believe is that if you try your best and are a good person, you’ll be a okay :)

You HAVE to believe in Christ/God to go to heaven. We are all in dire need of a savior and you must trust in him to be in heaven when you die. I'm sorry but that's the unshakable truth. Read John 3:16, and John 3:14-15 side by side with Numbers 21:7-9. Like, you don't have to have the best belief ever--- just LOOK to Him and youre saved. Read Ephesians 1:13-14. You're sealed with the holy Spirit the moment you first believed. It's not by effort or works but by belief in Christ alone that you are saved. Read Romans, and Galatians, and read 1 John 5:10-13. It's that easy- believe and be saved. I wish you the best and I hope you feel comforted by the scripture.

If God exists, s/he owes us some f- ing answers.

Have you prayed to him?

What about Pascal’s wager?

That is actually a really good question and ties into a conundrum I had when I was first learning about the Christian faith. I was told you have to profess (or confess) belief. I asked what happens if I don't. I saw the fallacy in lying and my elders agreed that I shouldn't lie. I do believe in a higher power. I don't believe that any of us knows very much about that higher power. So when people get in my face about whether or not I believe in the right way or am doing the right thing, I give myself permission to dismiss them and connect with that higher power in my own way. It's the only way I can authentically develop my spiritual self. There are multiple sects of Christianity out there, some of which are working with the set of beliefs that we have a direct connection with God and others believe the exact opposite, that we need an intermediary. So, back to believing or not believing, I can see why there would be the sense that god does not exist, because none of these groups have been able to describe a scenario that can be connected to, but also that nagging feeling of self that there is more to life than is being presented. On the continuum of not believing vs believing, my personal opinion is that we are all somewhere on that continuum..

God is good. He loves even those that don't believe that's how much he loves us but we all have our own walk with God whether you actively engaging in it and trying to maintain a relationship with him. No matter how far you get from him just like the parable of the lost sheep he will find you. In the darkness there's always light so no matter if you struggle now he will always be their when you're ready. There is only one true God. All the other ones don't have the same mercy as him he will correct you and sometimes allow you to fall a couple times but as way to learn and gain understanding not in a forsaken way that many may think because even before you were born even up until now including your future he's got it covered. He knows ALL. He's the Beginning and the End. I do hope you the best tho as well and May he guide you and clear your mind of any anxieties, fears or even attacks of the enemy. And help guide your way and keep you safe and protected. No matter what. God bless you as well anyone who happens too see this and Nay the Lord work wonders and miracles throughout your life too and keep you safe and protected including your loved ones in Jesus Mighty Name. 🙏👑

God calls those based om HIS time, not yours. Only God knows the end from the beginning

if got existed and he was truly just and truly loving, he'd forgive you. if not, he wouldn't be worth worshipping.

Read the Bible. God is real and He loves you very much. My advice to you is ask God to reveal Himself to you. I will pray for you and ask The Lord to do what only he can do for you in your life. I grew up in church thought I knew God but I wasn't born again. That's where things change if you read Romans 10 verses 9 and 10 it says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you will be saved. When you ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life that's where the miracle happens because he enters into your spirit man and recreates your human spirit thus the term born again. I would encourage you to find a church where the Bible is preached because the truths in the Bible are Eternal they don't change like our culture changes.

If there's a God, I believe he would be fair, for someone to live an honest good life, and for him to cast you out because you didn't believe he existed, would be kinda dumb

In AA we find a higher power “of our own understanding”. I believe that something bigger than me exists and I call it God but just for me, I don’t tie religions into it. Maybe something like that could help you sort your thoughts out. Try to figure out what works FOR YOU. I do enjoy some scripture and the Lord’s Prayer is one of my favorites, I’ve never heard God more or prayed so much in my life since finding a God of my own understanding. And isn’t that what matters? IMO Religion is supposed to help you connect to God, if you don’t need it, don’t use it. Or find one that works for you.
And to answer your question, God can forgive anything because he is big enough to do that. God teaches US how to forgive.

If you don't, why worry if there is no such thing. Dumb.

It’s either you believe he exists or you don’t. It doesn’t make sense for you to mostly believe but not at the same time……in ur case, you’re essentially saying you DO believe in God by the very mere fact that you’re questioning if he’ll punish u if you don’t believe; that’s acknowledging his existence. If you didn’t believe in god, you’d know there is no need to be scared at all bc he doesn’t exist for u to be scared of supposed punishment.Think about it.

God already forgiven you. That's why now you started thinking about it and asking. God will soon give you other hints that will start you believe in God. Remember God speaks through actions.

The Bible says the sin of disbelief, also known as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, will not be forgiven. The Christian God is jealous, petty and immoral to the highest degree.

God will always love his creation including you. However that doesn't ensure you make it to heaven. Jesus said it clearly you must be born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whether you believe that or not doesn't change the reality or truth of this statement that Jesus spoke.

Yes, I believe so

God doesn't care what you belive in, only where your heart is. If it's in the right place, God or no God, you'll be fine.

The bible says that the only sin that God will not forgive is the sin of denying his existence.

Matthew 12, 31: And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

I think it is perfectly normal to feel as you do now OP, especially at a younger age and in a home where religion was forced upon you. I was not raised in a religious household, I accepted Christ into my life later in my life.

My advice to you OP is to read the word of God yourself, and build your relationship (or wall) with God yourself...

Psalms 37: 3-7

If he wouldn't, is he worth worshipping?

The whole lot of you seem to be very tough about this issue. The thing about it, is I've seen the toughest non believe, believe when he found out his time was on a very short clock. And I'm almost positive .. 99% of you talking about "sky daddy's and spaghetti monster" will eventually come around. Most always do.

Religion is made up bro take a chill pill and relax. God can still be real just not how some old guys made it up thousands of years ago. You can he spiritual without the extra bullshit.

Your religious or spiritual beliefs and philosophies are your own. In the course of defining what those are, it is normal and healthy to question those things until you have more concrete answers for why you believe what you believe.

Now, this is my personal observation, but many churches operate on mob or gang mentality - you are taught what to believe and what rules to follow and are actively discouraged from asking questions or looking at other resources and philosophies, or even sympathizing with people of other beliefs. The congregation is the gang that enforces the accepted behaviors.

There is a lot of emotional and mental manipulation that comes in forms like backbiting disguised as “prayer chains”, gaslighting disguised as “service to the Lord”, and extortion disguised as “being faithful to God”. You are taught to fear death, fear hell, fear being socially isolated or else you will get cast out of church, your family, or thrown into hell…if you don’t follow the gang - oops I mean church - rules.

BUT the church is not God. And that is for you to decide for yourself, if church depicts the God it’s supposed to represent. Your church might depict him as wrathful and unforgiving, but your own interpretation of the Bible might show you a different picture that you take as your own. If you view God as a regular person albeit holy, do regular people get upset for not being believed in?

I decided to stick with the question you posted. No. I wish I could say yes but it's a no. If you look into what the Catholics and Christians truly believe and are taught then the answer would be no, God would not forgive you. I was taught in school, church, and home that you can only be forgiven if you've asked for forgiveness with a priest, complete your repentance, and accept God as true as a Catholic along with receiving the sacraments. I denounced Catholicism long ago and mingled with Christians for a while who also told me God would only forgive me if I prayed and accepted Jesus as my Lord in my heart. So the answer is no unless you do those things according to those religions, then yes. Other religions, I'm not sure...the answer could be yes in other religions

Read the Quran and then decide for yourself.

My uncle was a Jesuit priest, he worked at the Curia in Rome and committed his life to the practice and study of Catholicism. His perspective that he shared with me late in his life was that ultimately god forgives everything - that is what it means to unconditionally love us. Hope that gives you some peace.

Respond to them with this:

A Rabbi is teaching his student the Talmud, and explains that God created everything in this world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson.

The clever student asks "What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did God create them?"

The Rabbi responds "God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all -- the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone who is in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. and look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right."

"This means" the Rabbi continued "that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say 'I pray that God will help you.' instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no God who can help, and say 'I will help you".

Note: I'm an atheist. Personally, I don't worry about what a god I don't believe in thinks of my non-belief in it.

There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God. There is also a difference between following the faith of your family and your faith. I have a friend who discovered his faith at 28, he was raised in a very Baptist family for the first 18yrs of his life. When he moved out on his own he left the church for 10yrs.

This I think a fairly easy one. If you still don't still believe before you die , then you aren't saved. God will still forgive you because he loves us so much he let's us hate him. But like a parent he will hold us responsible for our actions.

Whether people don't like this answer or not. It's a hard pill to swallow and dig deep on how you wanna live your life and what's after.

Of course He would. We as humans cannot grasp who and what he is, only that he's perfect, and a perfect person is understanding about what we as humans go through. He loves you no matter what

You might benefit from an organization called recovering from religion.

Their website is really easy, just recoveringfromreligion.org

They help people who have a fear of hell, or other religious trauma. What you are describing, this fear that if you are wrong you'll be punished for eternity, that's one of the biggest things they help you deal with.

The best business people I ever met said there’s to much at stake to not believe. Loose nothing and gain everything by putting life first.

Read books of Padres pio and other great saints. That’s supernatural and after life stuff. Read the Eucharist miracles again miracles.

It’s real.

Pray, ask forgiveness and love and your back in. And you’re blessed.

I grew up in a very Catholic family. And I believed. As I got older, my prayers became more conversations with God. I realized, thru these talks, that I never had a reason to believe in God, I was just doing what my mom and grandmothers did. I copied their faith without actually “feeling” it for myself. So one day, in my 30’s, I had a final conversation with God where I explained that I leaned too much on a concept where I was not truly connected. And that I would no longer talk to him. I’d figure things out on my own. From that moment on, for 4 years, I was living as an atheist. And I learned to be grateful for my own mind, my own experience and wisdom, my own moral compass. Four years in, I no longer worried if there was a God. I figured he believed in me enough to let me wander around for as long as it took to feel my way through life’s challenges and to have a healthy respect for all of the blessings in my life. Do I believe in God now? I honestly don’t know. But I’m not worried if he loves me, forgives me, wants to punish me. I trust that any God worth worshipping is, would also be big enough, amazing enough to accept me for being human. Live your life.

I'll piggy back on what other people are saying about. Being Catholic since I grew up that way. well, I never questioned anything b c it's like they don't want u to question it. Then I got to be an actual adult and started asking- Why things were this way or why they were that way, no one wants to give a straight answer. So needless to say a I'm agnostic now. There's no proof for me either way. I figure why waste my time worrying about what others are going to think? Am I gonna regret this when I'm on my death bed? That's what I always think about.

Yes, but has no need to. All is all.

If you don’t believe in him, then your problem is solved. Move on.

Not the Christian one in some traditions. “No come comes to the Father except through me” -Jesus. Believe it or not, Straight to Hell if you don’t accept Jesus into your heart. A murdering and molesting believer can be forgiven. They just gotta ask. A non-believer who spends their entire life doing charity work? Yeah they’re gonna burn.

Yes, I realize that Christianity is a huge umbrella and not everyone thinks this way.

Totally aside from the question of whether or not there is a God, or THE God...if you are talking about the Christian God the answer is no, you won't be forgiven at the time of judgement. There are few 'rules' in Christianity that are clearer. Maybe none. Jesus unambiguously said you can only get to God through him.

It's easy for non believers to rationalize all kinds of reasons to not believe in the Christian God. But the idea faith, blind faith maybe, and believe in spite of what your eyes and rationalizations may tell you, is the core foundation of Christianity.

Now, if you're correct in your conclusions that there is no reason to believe, then no problem, right?

A) coming to reddit for this question is like coming yo an antivaxxer convention and asking if Pfizer or Moderna is better

B) its possible. As in all things, do the best you can with what knowledge you have. Sometimes that leads people away from theism, which I and, I submit, God mourn. God wants us to try our best, and God wants to reach out to you, but remains hidden for a number of reasons...not the least of which is that we're not really super free if he threateningly peeks out of the clouds every 5 mins

C) if I were troubled by the same question I'd go to a priest or someone quite dialed into God and appreciative of the mercy about which you inquire. For my money, a God that's all about mercy is certainly capable of being understanding, but it is serious to go from faith to giving up on it. Pray on it.

Yes, it's in the bible. No one said you had to believe in Him before you die. If the logic is sound, and life after death exists, there will be plenty of time to accept Him into your heart and be granted eternity in Heaven.

Or that god or any other gods may not be real and it might not matter at all.

But either way.

Yes, christianity's god would be okay with that.

I’m an omnist and my thoughts are as long as you aren’t a terrible person you’ll be forgiven.

So you're an agnostic? There are a lot of us.

We're here to learn and grow. You're doing a better job of that than people who never question dogma. The creator is virtually incomprehensible to us in earthly life, and even in the interlife can't be fully grasped. But it's a process. It takes awhile for a seedling to become a redwood. We can keep putting one foot in front of the other even if the final destination is shrouded in mystery, and that seems to be what you're doing.

If you choose to live separately from God then you will be in eternity separated from Him. Hell is described as nothing. No light, no warmth. I have no idea what Hell would be like, but maybe it's just death, and then nothing for eternity. Not fire and brimstone. But idk. All I know is off you wanna spend your life separated from Him, he won't force you to spend eternity with Him Edit: grammar

I'm not particularly religious but feel there could be some sort of grander order to the universe that we are too small to understand. Assuming that's true, though, I can't imagine why a creator would care in the slightest what insignificant human beings have rattling around in their heads. It's like me worrying about the mind of ant: it just doesn't matter at all.

Seriously, Why don't you believe that God exists? Is there a particular reason, or is it because you just don't feel like it?

One of the big questions about Christianity is what happens to the people who live good and godly lives yet either never knew of him or rejected him. The answer varies depending on a variety of factors but generally boils down to several notions.

1) Part of the reason some people believe in Purgatory is because they believe that it is a place where the 'good unbeliever' goes. Once there they either spend time atoning/being clensed/etc until they can enter heaven, will remain there for eternity which, while not heaven, is still better than hell, or get sent back to Earth in a weird reincarnation. As I am not part of a sect that believes in Purgatory I can't give a better answer than that.

2) Some subscribe to the belief that it doesn't actually matter if you believe in Jesus 'by name' as it were. If you do good in the world he will be revealed to you in your heart. So even if you reject Jesus by name, but still help those in need and stuff, then you will still enter into heaven. This is the view I personally subscribe to and, I feel, makes the most sense.

3) The third, and by far most draconian, is the belief that by rejecting him, no matter *how* much good you do in the world or anything else, you are condemned to Hell. I personally heavily reject this notion, especially since it means anyone who had the misfortune to be born before Jesus or never had a chance to know him for one of a variety of reasons (too young, never got a chance to meet a missionary, etc.) would 'fail' automatically.

As I am a subscriber to belief 2, the most important thing is that Jesus has been revealed to you in your heart. From there, the good deeds you do are effectively an outward sign of an inside change, as it were. So if that inside change has actually happened then you don't need to worry.

People have 2 choices imo: admit you don’t know if such a thing as a god exists, or lie to yourself and everyone you’ll ever know for your entire life. It’s good that you admitted ignorance.

Look to the Bible for your answer.

As someone raised in a Christian household who went through this exact thought process, here’s a few things that helped me give myself permission to consider alternatives:

Where would the physical location of hell be?

Do you really want to be stuck in heaven for eternity with people you don’t agree with?

If God is an omnipotent all-knowing, all-being force, don’t you think “he” would be above petty emotions such as spite and jealousy? And if not, who wants to worship a god like that? Also side note, realistically, how could God have a gender?

Additionally, the Bible is an ancient text put together through thousands of different translations, interpretations, and edits made by humans. Many times things were altered, edited, or removed to suit certain agendas. Even today, different versions of the Bible say different things and also mirror many other ancient and religious texts. It’s not an accurate depiction of God original word, if that even exists.

Christian guilt and fear is real, and I feel for you. You’re allowed to believe what you want to believe, a real God will love and protect you no matter what.