If there is a God am I going more likely to go to heaven than believers?

@alnilam (969)
United States
November 27, 2011 10:09am CST
This is only a theoretical example... I don't believe there is a God. Now theoretically if there is a God my greatest sin would be ignorance and technically if the first commandment; Thou shall not have other gods before me would technically be true for me since I had no other gods in my life :=P, so I ain't really braking that many... As I read the 10 commandments I would have to say that I do more or less live by them regardless of religion or lack of it. Now to the point... I look at this guy, he is rather religious and I see him commit many "sins" which he then confesses (probably) in the church and they are forgiven and he can do them again... I have seen him break quite a few commandments lol. Now this leads me to my belief that if there is a God and me and my this guy are in-front of gates of heaven my "only" sin would be ignorance and a mistakes that I have made in my life were the result of my "stupidity" to not notice there is a being such as God and unaware of that I might have unwaveringly broken a commandment or two (the one with the lies was quite hard not to break in high school when there were bad grades hehe) when on the other side we have this guy that knew there is a God and still broke his rules... Isn't braking the rules when you know you break them more "evil" than if you do not know you break them? Lets not turn this to persuasion on existence of God and non existence of God, it is a theoretical discussion.
2 people like this
10 responses
@barehugs (8973)
• Canada
27 Nov 11
Have you read the Biblical Parables of the Good Shepherd, and his sheep? In these parables the Good Shepherd loves his sheep, especially the little lambs, so much so, that he would give his life to save one of them. If a sheep runs away and gets into trouble, the Shepherd rescues the sheep, and brings it back to the flock, without condemning it in any way. No matter what these sheep do, they are loved and cared for, by the good shepherd. God is the good shepherd, and we are his flock. Would God, (the good shepherd) threaten us with Hell and Brimstone just because we left the flock and got into trouble? I don't think so!
1 person likes this
@alnilam (969)
• United States
27 Nov 11
But wouldn't this suggest that everyone goes to heaven?
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@alnilam (969)
• United States
27 Nov 11
I like your way of thinking.
• United States
28 Nov 11
Except that reincarnation is unsustainable and anti-biblical. Reincarnation reverts back to infinite regression and the Bible tells us that, "... it is to man appointed once to die and then the judgment."
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
27 Nov 11
From what I have read and understand, it seems that you can break any of the rules so long as you ask for forgiveness and accept him as your master, but regardless of how good you are, if you don't believe, you are screwed until you do and beg him to forgive you. This is why, even if he is real, I would refuse to worship such a prideful being. Remember, he breaks all his own rules himself.
1 person likes this
@alnilam (969)
• United States
27 Nov 11
I think you misunderstood, or well I can write things to be really confusing. If he breaks the rules as a believer I think that in the eyes of "God" he should be worse than someone who does not believe in the God. So technically all unbelievers (that live a normal life naturally) should have priority to go to heaven because they have less sins ;)
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
27 Nov 11
I think that if God exists, then he should let everyone in heaven, regardless of their religion, or lack thereof, since he is the one who created us, placed us in the situations we are in, and allowed us to have mental illness and logical fallacy, which led us to commit "sin" in the first place. Not to mention the fact that he has broken every commandment that he has made. Seems a little harsh to make someone suffer for all eternity for breaking rules that he can't even follow.
1 person likes this
@mantis36 (4219)
• Philippines
28 Nov 11
very correct @_sketch_ because God see's a man who have a stronger faith in Buddhism therefore God must 100 percent allow that man to enter in Heaven... since that man interpret God as a Buddhism, the more the man have more faith in Buddha which means the more he has faith in God of Abraham... example: the more you love your enemy or the more you love your neighbor is the same as that the more you love God... no matter what religion you are you should have faith extremely strong so that God will permit to go to heaven.... if you are into Taoism and your faith is low then you are a candidate to enter hell... since you identify Tao as a God of Abraham, you should have more faith in the Tao... i strongly believe that Taoism, Buddhism, Christian God, Muslim God, they are all the same ONE GOD but different in interpretation because we have a different forms of mind, ideas, and concept and interpretation...
1 person likes this
@lampar (7584)
• United States
30 Nov 11
Of course you have equal chance of going to heaven like believers of God if you don't break his law. But you may have little chance of going to heaven if you are not a follower or member of a religion establishment, without the consent of the religion leader, he can block your application and prevent your ascend to whatever paradise that is preached within the institution.
• United States
9 Dec 11
Sorry, ABSOLUTELY wrong. No man Can alter the agreement between themselves and God, and no man need sanctify that agreement either. You might be interested in reading more about true faith, see my profile for the link.
@averygirl72 (37544)
• Philippines
28 Nov 11
As from what I learned, everyone has a fair chance to go to heaven.Even if you are a believer it does not mean that you are surely saved especially if you keep on sinning. Also, I believe ignorance is not an excuse before God. I admit I am not sure of this. Only God knows who is better and who deserves to go to heaven.
• Philippines
15 Dec 11
The Bible says that Christ is the Way to the Father. Jesus himself said in john 14:6 that: "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me". This is the claim of Jesus Christ and believers of Jesus Christ believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father. This is Christian doctrine. The assurance of going to heaven is not based on feelings or human effort or human intelligence, not even religion but based on the what is written in the Bible. Christian believes that believing and receiving Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior gives them assurance of going to heaven because Jesus himself promised in the Bible. Assurance of going or entering to heaven, for Christians, is based on the promises of Jesus Christ. If others will not believe, they are not forced to believe.
• United States
28 Nov 11
If you don't believe in God, (a whole other discussion for some other thread),then you don't believe that the Bible has any relevance but according to your premise - that this is a theoretical discussion - then as a basis in theory, we'll assume it to be true. Therefore... God is perfect. His standard is perfection and so it does not matter how many, nor which ones of the laws were broken IN REGARD TO SALVATION. Yes there are degrees of reward and punishment but the root question has to be, Heaven or He*l? We cannot earn our way to Heaven, (into God's favor), because we are all sinners who have sinned and therefore fall short of the glory of God. It doesn't matter if it was one lie or mass murder, when it comes to meeting the perfect standard, we all fail. Part of the problem we have is in our tendency to compare ourselves with others, that's incorrect... we must only compare ourselves, (AGAIN, THIS IS IN REGARD TO SALVATION ONLY), with the life of Jesus Christ. Your thought that you can escape condemnation through ignorance is also flawed. Paul makes it clear that we are without excuse for the glory of God is ever-present around us, that we knew the truth of God and chose to set it aside to follow our own deceitful hearts. By raising this idea in the first place, you admit that you know that what you are doing is wrong and so you merely close your eyes in the face of overwhelming evidence and pretend that God will let you slide because you didn't know any better. Don't be such a fool. How did you know to close your eyes? You present a correct thesis when you ask, "Isn't breaking the rules when you know you break them more evil than if if you do not know you break them." The Bible teaches that from those who know much, much will be expected. That does not mean that someone who comes to faith and then slips back into sin will get away with it. If it is habitual and there is no consciousness to accuse themselves of the sin they commit then one would have to wonder whether or not that individual was ever truly saved but all of the Christian faithful sin form time to time. God sent a payment to cover the sins of the world and it was a check that got cashed at Calvary when they nailed Christ to the cross. This is God's plan for our redemption and we can receive His mercy ONLY by His method which is to accept that Jesus' sacrifice was for us. Only by faith in the acts of Christ, done on our behalf, can we be saved... and we all need to be saved Theoretically that is
@iuliuxd (4453)
• Romania
10 Dec 11
You are 100% right on theory but you miss a little thing.In the end who`s going in heaven and who won`t it`s God business.( I still hope for the right opportunity like the criminal on the cross next to Jesus :D )
@iuliuxd (4453)
• Romania
29 Nov 11
You will probably not go to heaven because you don`t think there is a God who can give you this gift.So in the end it is you the one who refuse to go to heaven. The christian will also not go to heaven even if he says he believes in God.Only a small part of the christians will go to heaven.If you "confess " a sin it is assumed that you realized your mistake and never do that thing again.Let`s say if you are a nice person and he is a bad christian ( like i am :D ) then he will be more punished than you.But in the end it`s up to God to decide what to do with each of you.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
27 Nov 11
What I would ask is if this man who is breaking these four or five commandments is doing this because he assumes that God will forgive him regardless or whether he really does not want to break those commandments. It appears that he really does not want to do them but is really struggling. If he were doing them deliberately, he woud not be in church, but would increase his actions more and more. The thing is that we do not know the heart of the man. We do know that if he increases the time periods between the sins, God is working in his heart, but if he decreases the time periods between sins, it is Satan who is winning and just because you do ont do the horrible things that he did, does not mean that you are right and will go to heaven. The only way that you will go is if you believe in God, and Jesus Christ is His son and then you will get the grace to resist sin and tempations.
• India
2 Jun 12
Everybody one day wil go heaven.
@bird123 (10632)
• United States
27 Nov 11
So I see you are tap dancing your way into heaven. Are the relgious people getting to you. Getting a bit SCARED??? Relax, God and religion are two different things. Mankind's rules are not reality. Regardless of beliefs, our actions will return in time to show us exactly what they mean. Learning all there is to know can never be done in one single lifetime. Relax, Everyone will know God's Unconditional Love that heals all hurt. That is an important part for everyone. Finally, I see you are following those commandments without religion. How could you ever learn without them?? Hmmm??? You must be one of God's better students. You do a service by asking all those questions. You are getting people to THINK. That is what it's all about. My answer:: Be who you must! It's a part of the plan!
@cecil04 (409)
• South Africa
28 Nov 11
We humans pretty much break the 10 commandment everyday and sometimes we don't even notice breaking them. Even if you don't believe in God I'm sure when you die all the good thing that you did will count in your favor. Maybe if you don't believe in the devil you won't go to hell, you could be stuck in limbo for all I know.