I know how you feel – I was an atheist for years before I decided (for some reason) to find if there was a meaning to life. Many years of comparative religion, philosophy and questioning later I have settled on the belief that I hold now (although I am still open minded – I take the position of an apologetic).

David has mentioned the view held by theists on this forum that hell is some place of nothingness. I believe that the real us, the eternal us is spirit, indestructible spirit, and as such will be living eternally so therefore will have to live either in the presence of God or not in the presence of God. However, maybe as God can do anything perhaps the spirit can be destroyed and perhaps the melting heat of hell so often mentioned is the spirit being destroyed. I confess I don’t know, but would not existing be worse than existing in terrible conditions? I seem to recall some survey where people said that they would rather exist in hell than not exist at all. Also, this view of hell of nothingness is where reincarnation could be applied as a get out of hell clause and this is believed by many however, this is not certain and the only guarantee is to choose in this lifetime.

The other thing I hinted at earlier is the experiential belief. What I mean by this is that there comes a point when the debating and philosophising come to and end and actually experiencing and living in faith takes over and this is wonderful and I hope some of you attain this.

I wish you all well and encourage you all to continue your seeking.

iamunLUCKY - you have a wonderful testimony. I encourage you to read about the life of Smith Wigglesworth and now that you have experienced a miracle encourage you to pray for others.

My position is that God's will makes right. Everyone is free to decide their own definition. I choose what brings life (according to the terms God has established) rather than death (in "hell" i.e. the graveyard or similar) after the span of my natural existence. Those are the only two options I can find in the actual Bible, traditional doctrines notwithstanding.

There's plenty of people that actually have schizophrenia that already were or have become Christians, and they still have schizophrenia.

Additionally, dissociative or hallucinatory symptoms of mental illnesses can be intermittent, even on the scale of years. People can have them, stop having them for years, and all of the sudden they return and wind up harming themselves or others.

I would highly recommend you seek psychiatric evaluation if you've ever had any symptoms of severe mental illness. You need not give up your faith. You could always surmise that God gave you this opportunity to seek help before you wind up in an institution.

What makes God's will right?

I've been healed by the grace of God and I trust Him that those sicknesses will never come back.

Ty Don. I just read his wiki page and found it very interesting. I'm def going read more about him.

God Bless brother

1.So you prayed to God to heal you. After you were healed, you made the jump from God to Jesus Christ? What if it was Allah, the God who healed you? or Krishna, the God?

2.Unless you're 7 now, you were saved from that 18 wheeler accident BEFORE you started believing in Christ? How come he saved you without REALLY believing him but chose to let 300,000, many of them Christians, die in the Asian tsunami?

I prayed to Jesus Christ

I went to church with my family before the incident with the truck and my church always sang this song called "hosanna". I liked the song and would always sing it...went something like "sing hosanna, sing hosanna, sing hallelujah". I didnt even know what i was singing at the time, i just liked the song. The definition of hosanna is a cry for salvation; while at the same time is a declaration of praise, towards the messiah. It also can mean "save now!". So looking back I could have very well been saved at that time.

Everyone dies, including christians so idk why you brought up christians dying in a tsunami.

you serious bro? thousands of kids died in that tsunami. the same guy who listened to your not so serious hosana song didn't listen to their real prayers.

funny how you didn't use "everyone dies. why didn't he let me die by falling under the 18 wheeler and take me to heaven" logic for yourself but use it for other christians

I guess it wasnt my time. I dont fully know how God works and why He does certain things.

If it does come back, will you dismiss God? Or will you still believe in him but hate him, or will you still believe in him and love him and think it's a test?

Is there something that could happen that would force you to disbelieve entirely?

One with a cursory understanding of the world around them would hardly fear the concept of "hell".

No your misunderstanding me im not looking for the meaning of life. Whether its meaningless or has meaning has always been kind of meh to me. Plus i think i already have meaning and even if its blissful ignorance to think so as a weak atheist, im good with that.

The reason i asked how does someone go about loving the biblical God is because a lot of believers say all one needs to do to be accepted by God is to love God. I just like to ask how because for me love is not a choice, it just is. Which makes the statement, just choose to love God, odd.

If by terrible conditions you just mean the absence of the biblical God i would choose existence because hes absent from me right now and its not so bad. If you mean some kind of eternal torment then i would definitely choose extermination. Im a wuss. But hey maybe universalism will win out and spoil the private party of both views.

Like i said above i dont believe its really a choice to love someone or something.

I know you mean well so thanks, but im not seeking the biblical God. It was just a question.

Before commenting on this, I want to say that I'm glad you survived two pretty scary events. I'm not going to take anything away from you and whatever you did or felt you did to get past it is great. Also, I respect your beliefs as an ex-Christian. It can be a beautiful religion.

But....
I think there can be rational explanations for things that happen (like your incidents) that don't involve God at all. In fact, the second example doesn't really make sense in terms of God saving you. It is natural for a 7 year old crossing a busy street or street with moving cars to freeze. It's instinct and a body response. There are Christian kids who have to go through leukemia, terrible diseases, or freak accident. Does that mean that God doesn't love them?

no

Just because someone is sick doesnt mean God dislikes them. We all go through tribulations so if someone thinks this, they must think that God dislikes all of mankind.

Im interested in the dealbreaker for you that made you go from a christian to a non-believer?

Pretty much everyone has close calls when it comes to death and accidents or whatever throughout life so I don't see why you would think that God had any part in that.

This depends on who you ask, since God has given each of us a choice. In fact, many people will disagree with the premise of your question since they do not choose a sense of "right" that corresponds with God's.

To me, its quite obvious that those experiences were related to God. You didnt experience them so idk how you could tell me what they are.

You already told people what their experiences are itt so that might not be a good stance to take.

It is my understanding that there is more than one type of love. Eros and Philos, it can be argued we have no control over. One is emotional the other situational. However, Agape is unconditional and this we can choose to both accept and give.

Not sure what you mean but i know i cant choose to love the biblical God as i know him from his book.

The biblical God, as I know Him, from His book (including the New Testament of course) is a Creator, who loves unconditionally all Creation - you and me included. A Creator who has done all that can be done to give us the freewill to choose to love Him. For sure, universalism would be wonderful. But, as God knows past, present and future. He must also know that there are some that would never choose to love Him, even given eternal life – hence the need for hell.

Hell isn't the only problem with me not loving the biblical God. You could make Yahweh a universalist and have him be good in every way (according to my view of good) and i still couldn't love him.