Of course any parent wants the best for their child, and I believe that the best thing is to have a relationship with Jesus. However I also have the utmost respect for anyones free will - especially my own children. I would bring them up in a way that educates them of my beliefs, and let them decide for themselves. In short, I believe that a faith is not a faith if it is forced upon you. and i wouldnt do that to my own child.

Of course it would bother me that they wouldnt end up in heaven, but again, this is matter of free will. God doesnt impose his will on us, and he wants all of us in heaven- so what right do i have to take my childs free will because I want them in heaven? None! If God doesnt do it, I am not right to do it.

A few follow-up questions...

Will you also objectively teach your kids about other religions, beliefs, or lack thereof?

As a Christian, is it a sin to teach others about religions other than Christianity?

At what age should a child learn about religion?

What emotions do you imagine you'd feel if, by some superhuman effort of will, you forced yourself to blaspheme Jesus?

I dont really think its a paradox. Omnipotent all knowing god=no free will or at best the illusion of free will with multiple timelines choices ext.... But good enough.

Interesting verses from the Bible about free will.

Ephesians 1:4 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight"

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

I remember Ann Coulter making the comment that Jews can get into heaven by following the laws of the OT, but Christians don't have to because they can get in by accepting Jesus as the Christ

I was going to ask a question based on a comment Splendour made that might pertain to this. Don't quote me on this but I remember Splendour saying something along the lines of, ~"when a couple gets married, if one is a Christian, then the blessings of God will allow the other to be saved." In a way, I have thought this same thing but never heard anyone else comment on it. And I wondered if it applied to children.

I have a very deep relationship with God and I have a three year old daughter that I pray for more than anything else. The one thing I pray is that she will be lead down a path that brings her to God. And for some reason, I feel that I will not be let down by this because I actually pray with the belief that it will happen. So my point is that maybe with the example of Splendours, the blessings of God can pour onto your loved ones. Not in the sense that He just makes them saved, but that the eyes will be opened to what they need to be...?

Are you mentioning this as part of your case AGAINST that argument?

I'm sure they did end up truly believing with all their heart. But the point is that they converted after having pascals wager preached to them and the more intelligent people did not convert after hearing the same argument. So are you saying that God will reward the less intelligent, for basically getting lucky and happening to be right?

Its obvious that not all get an equal chance to become Christian, its not just coincidence that 90%+ of the population in Saudi Arabia are Muslim, 80% of the Indian population are Hindu and 70%+ of the American population is Christian. Where you are born has a huge influence on what religion you end up following. Even if this is not true for you, their is no denying that it is, generally true. So, why do you think God does not give all an equal chance to become Christian? And how does this fit with the fact that God is supposedly all loving and just?

I would aim to give my children all my knowledge as best I can, including that about other religions. I cant say that I wont be biased, that would be lying, but it is important firstly that they make their own decision (otherwise their faith is not really their faith), and secondly that they understand other beliefs. I strongly believe that ignorance of others is one of the biggest causes of conflict in the world today.

I would not say that teaching others about other religions is a sin at all. However I would say that it would be a sin for me to preach other religions, when i myself believe them to be wrong (obviously!)

Religion is an integral part of society, but this mindset is diminishing constantly in the Western world. I intend to bring up my children praying for them and teaching them about Jesus. I dont think there is an age where it is not appropriate to teach your children about religion in one way or another.

Hope that answers your questions!!

God bless

Complete and utter shame. But then in a strange way, joyfulness when I immediately ask God to forgive me and he does!!

I asked my Vicar once not too long ago - "what happened to all the people who lived before Jesus - they never had the chance to hear that Jesus was the Son of God and they never asked him to take their sins onto the cross. Did they go to heaven or hell?" He replied that it is his view that those before Jesus are judged by their following of the laws of the OT, laid down by Moses (i.e. the 10 commandments etc)

But in everything after Jesus' ministry, I stick to my view that unless you ask God for forgiveness you have sin and you cannot go to heaven.

Thats my view anyway!!

Now you're making me broody!! I love children to bit and you just talking about yours makes me wish I had my own already!! Its so awesome that you pray for your daughter with such passion.

I do believe God pours out his blessings on us all the time! The best thing you can do is pray with all your soul, and be obedient to the will of God. His way is best, no matter what!

the concept of hell really interests people i think so i'll ask another question for clarification...do you believe that this immortal life w/o god is eternal suffering/torment? or more of a purgatory/neutral situation? and i assume that once you are sent to either of them its a one way ticket so no amount of hell would ever be good enough to get you into heaven later, is this true?

Your question seems to hinge on the idea that less intelligent people are more likely to buy into Christianity than more intelligent people, and I apologise but I personally dont think that is true. Perhaps I have misunderstood - please feel free to repost and explain more - sorry for being a dunce!

God did give us all an equal chance, until man, thinking he knew better, decided to do his own thing. It was man who chose not to teach their children in the beginning about God, and it is man who is to blame for how many people never hear to Good News as he separated himself from God in some cases. I would emphasis again however that God is just, and he will not hold the fact you may have never been told about Jesus against you.

Hope that helps!!

Yes I'd agree with the one-way-ticket thing. And when it comes to the concept of hell, I'm not an expert I'm afraid! However I would say that God brings all the good stuff in life, and in his absence there would be nothing left but suffering and torment, like you say. That is what hell means to me.

but he will send you to hell

I don't see how this isn't an issue for people that believe...you said above that god is just and loving (w/ mercy)...how is that at all congruent with a god that would sentence anyone to eternal suffering for any reason? this just blows my mind...

thanks for that free will god, im glad there is now a chance (however small or large) that any person will be suffering eternal agony because of it...

does this bother you at all? or do you just say "it is what it is"...

(sorry if this post makes me come off like an ******* and i don't mean to attack you personally, but it angers me)

thirddan, now you're not being fair. Try, I mean really try to understand without just reading and hearing what you want, and then maybe you won't have to post comments like this.

I like Greg Boyds line of reasoning that when it comes to the Bible, "If your heart and your mind don't match up, might you be missing something?" We've all heard that God is just. So what sense would it make for a just God to send people to hell for something they have no control over? Might you be missing something?

First of all God doesn't "send" anyone to hell. That would make it Gods decision whether or not you make it there. NotReady explained salvation in a thread once and I've always remembered it. He said that being saved is like a check that God gives you. It's your money now, but in order to benefit from it you still have to sign it and take it to the bank. God doesn't send you somewhere, you send yourself there.

And understand what it means to go to hell. To go to hell you must "Reject Gods Word." Nobody can say for sure what this means because since we are all individuals (unique) each of us will be judged based on different principles. Rejecting Gods Word might not mean just reading the Bible once and not believing. We don't know. We don't know because God says that every Man alive is given sufficient enough knowledge to be held accountable. I don't know what knowledge you're given and you don't know what knowledge I'm given. And more importantly, you don't even know if your knowledge has come to you yet to even reject it.

I am thirty years old, was raised Catholic, went to church throughout my entire youth, and wasn't saved until I was twenty seven. Most of you on this forum are young and don't even know what life changes are going to come in your future. I had to go through what I went through in order for me to see the Truth. The OP said he was ~ thirteen when he knew. So see, it's not the same for everyone.

And for those who have never heard of Jesus, they will most likely be judged on what knowledge they do have of the moral law that is written in their heart. We all know what this means. We all know whether or not what we are doing in this world is morally just. How do we know? Because our conscience tells us, that's how.

see, this is kind of what i was referring to when i said that other christians with different beliefs would get this mixed up...

but since you took the time...saying that "god doesn't send you to hell, you do it" that is such crap...god set the ground rules and made the playing field that damn near guarantees that over a long enough period somebody will get sent to hell...this is not the action of a just/merciful/all powerful god...i really don't see how anyone can disagree and not be kidding themselves...in my opinion there is no possible crime that a human can commit to deserve an eternity of suffering and torment (this may not align with your belief in hell, but it does with magicmans)...hitler (probably the most evil person i can think of) does not deserve eternal suffering and damnation imo...the idea of this kind of hell is just so beyond anything we can comprehend that to associate it with a loving god at all is just insanity in my eyes...

these are magicmans words and since its his thread i would like to use them as the basis for my response...

i am a 25 year old person with a good group of friends, a nice family, a solid job, i don't do charity work, i am an atheist (after much discussion/research) and openly mock religion and make religious jokes, but overall i think most would consider me a decent person...probably not a great person, but definitely not a bad/evil person...if i get hit by a bus tomorrow and die, according to magicman and some others here your merciful, all loving and just god is putting me on a one way to trip to ETERNAL suffering and torment...all made possible by the gift of free will that your oh so kind god has bestowed upon me...do you seriously not see how ****ed up that is? i dont see how you can say im misrepresenting magicmans beliefs either, but perhaps he will comment tomorrow...

i don't really understand the NR saving/check analogy as you described it very briefly so im not sure how to respond to it...

Basically I know of a Christian preacher on another forum who has converted people to Christianity after he told them of pascals wager. He preached about it quite a lot. I once said that Christians push pascals wager like drug dealers pushed drugs and he replied, "with just as much success". So basically, he preached pascals wager and the not so intelligent people were fooled by it, BUT I'm sure they became "true" believers. So in this case, are you saying that God would favour the less intelligent person?

I understand what you think about those who have never heard of Jesus. But I'm talking about those who have, but who don't have an equal chance to follow - how is that fair? A child born in the US has a MUCH better chance of going to heaven than a child born in India. If he sends people to heaven and hell based on whether or not they're Christian, but some get a MUCH better chance than others, how is this just and loving?

I dont believe he will. Like I said in an earlier post, I know that God, being perfect, is a perfect judge. Therefore when babies or people who live in areas where the God News has never reached die, I dont believe that God would send them to hell.

Thanks for making my point but in a better, more easy-to-understand way!

But surely you agree that some get God News only barely,only in a fuzzy way, and in an envronment where everyone around them they love and trust is telling them it is innacurate. In fact they may be getting told that God would be displeased if they believed the Christian version. So they disbelieve because their goal is to please God. That person suffers the same fate as the atheist who claims not only that God doesn't exist, but that he is not worthy of worship if he did?

Magicman, thanks for answering my question, it’s always nice a fellow Brit on here and it’s even better to increase the presence of theists. I’d like to ask a few more questions if I may,

1)Could you assign your rough percentages you assign to the following?

a)The chances a God exists
b)The chances your God exists

I actually agree with everything Erf said, and he probably said what Ive been trying to say better too lol.

You make an extremely valid point but as always my argument stays the same -

1. God cannot be with sin.
2. If your sins are forgiven because you asked Jesus to take them onto himself when he died on the cross, you are effectively sinless and can therefore go to be with God in heaven.
3. If you are not forgiven, you cannot be with God, so you go to hell, the place without God.

So in answer to your question, yes if you got hit by a bus tomorrow I believe you would not go to heaven. But then I must ask (and forgive the bluntness) - why is that an issue for you? Having said that youve decided for yourself that God doesnt exist, then you dont believe in heaven and hell and you have nothing to worry about. Its only if you think that there might be a God that you need to worry.

Just on a sidenote Id like to point out too that not everyone has the same view of heaven and hell - its open to interpretation to an extent.

So I guess my question is - are you scared by the idea of going to hell? Or are you convinced that God doesnt exist and therefore you dont need to worry about it? Either way Id like to set you a challenge if you fancy one???

I hope that kinda answers what you said and I didnt skip around it too much - I know its a sensetive area - noone likes being told that theyre going to hell! I know that Christianity often has answers that you dont want to hear.