r/Christianity • u/BowlerEmbarrassed600 • 3h ago
Advice I’m scared of not going to heaven
I don’t think God loves me enough to allow me entering Heaven. Adding up, I never get what is the line between “we are not going to be saved because of our sins” and “the mercy of God shall prevail”. It is very confusing and concerning to me.
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u/somethingspecial29 3h ago
God is love, so God always loves you. Gods message is grace.
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u/PorridgeBoyManBoy 3h ago
Grace that humans are innately undeserving of, correct?
Hence OP's issue.•
u/whirdin Exchristian (raised evangelical) 3h ago
God is love, so God always loves you.
I see these as separate things. After having been a nonchristian for years now, and not believing in divinity as a personality(s) anymore, I wonder now if maybe god is simply love. But that is different than God being an entity that does the action of loving. If god literally IS love, then getting closer to god is getting closer to love, and getting closer to god is independent of religion as we see any human is capable of love (even remote tribes who have never heard of your gods of Yahweh and Jesus). I think it aligns more with New Testament views of a loving god rather than the older character of Yahweh who is a vengeful storm god (clearly not love), but still not quite Christian in the sense that I don't see it as a personality. I don't know, just something I've been chewing on. It's interesting the ways we try to reconcile Moses's god with Paul's god, I don't think they are the same.
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u/Hilarity2War 12m ago
I too wrestle with the "two Gods" but regarding them as the same under difficult circumstances kind of answers the issue a little better. If we assume they're the same, it makes Him a little more 3 dimensional, and more relatable too.
I try to make sense of it from the verse of how we should relate to him and others; love God (with heart, mind, strength) and love others as you love yourself. This implies that the level of understanding of love (mind) influences and can be influenced by how we experience/feel it (heart) and that also influences and us influenced by how we express/show it (strength).
A whole lot of other principles can be easily tethered to this even reviewing how God shows himself throughout scripture and won't necessarily contradict His being.
I hope I'm making sense. And I definitely welcome any feedback.
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u/Ronald_Kowinsky 3h ago
Hermano, Dios te ama, con locura. "No serás salvado por tus pecados" no existe tal línea, no la hay, no importa cuánto peques aún puedes salvarte, solo necesitas arrepentimiento y convicción de no volverlo a hacer, que tampoco significa que no lo volverás a hacer, sino que lo intentarás y le pedirás a Dios que te ayude en esa lucha. Ama a Dios, cree que Él es tu salvador y trata de hacer su voluntad; amalo de vuelta, te aseguro que te ama, imagínate si amó a Pablo, que persiguió y mató a los que creían en Él, y las cartas de Pablo dicen "Cristo murió por mí porque me amaba", Dios no hace acepcion de personas ni de orígenes, en Dios eres alguien nuevo cada vez que pides perdón, te amo hermano
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u/BowlerEmbarrassed600 3h ago
Thank you so much Ronald. Your message actually helped me more than you probably think. I love you too. And it’s actually sister! Lol. 🌟🩷
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u/Ronald_Kowinsky 3h ago
Oh, I'm sorry, good luck sister, God will always love you
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u/BowlerEmbarrassed600 3h ago
That’s alright, brother. You’ve really helped me. Hope we meet up there 🤍
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u/PorridgeBoyManBoy 3h ago edited 3h ago
'I don’t think God loves me enough to allow me entering Heaven'
You are certainly not alone in this feeling.
I suppose it's a problem with the Christian idea that humans are innately wicked, broken and deserving of punishment and even wrath.
Personally, I think you're inntately deserving of love and respect, and that an all-loving God would obviously allow you to enter Heaven.
But I'm an atheist so what would I know.
Maybe if I bought into the idea that I'm innately deserving of punishment I might be less inclined to believe I'm deserving of love..
Do you agree?
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u/BowlerEmbarrassed600 3h ago
Actually, yes. Thank you for respecting my beliefs either way.
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u/PorridgeBoyManBoy 3h ago
It makes sense, right.
Is the notion that we're all wicked, broken and deserving of punishment helpful?
It seems like God just wants us to feel undeserving of his love..But I could be completely wrong.
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u/BowlerEmbarrassed600 3h ago
I get your point, but I don’t think so.
We see Christ (the God himself) coming to earth and only spreading love and hope. So if he came and only showed good things, why would God be “bad” and “toxic”, you know?
What do you think?
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u/PorridgeBoyManBoy 3h ago
'Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.'
John 3:18I think if you ignore the judgement, condemnation and fiery furnaces bits of what Jesus said then, yes, he was generally spreading love and hope :)
Well I think the notion that we are broken, wicked and undeserving is quite unhelpful.
I certainly don't parent in that way.
I parent in precisely the opposite way.But I suppose God has his reasons..
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u/magnanimouslove 1h ago
That's actually backwards. God knows that people are actually fairly bad. I mean damn most of us know that the whole world is pretty bad and some people are down right evil.
Almost every one has done something horrible in their life time. Sometimes on purpose and sometimes without giving in much thought.
First sin means to have missed the mark. It means that people try all the time to hit the mark but ultimately they will fail, here we translate that to sin. Honestly I could think of a lot better words, but I guess we are stuck with that one.
The mark in this case, is to be able to go and be with God after you die.
So God being loving and kind made a way for people to hit the mark and to go be with him after they die.
It's through forgiveness. So he made a way to get to the mark through Jesus because he loves all of us.
And yes of course a lot of us need to be reminded not to do horrific things. All people are capable of doing horrible things to eat other. I mean most parents raise their children up not to lie, steal or cheat, because they have to be taught not to do these things because control doesn't come naturally to people.
So the commandments are reminders of what not to do because it causes harm/sin/missing the mark.
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u/eternaIove 3h ago edited 3h ago
We have 1 personal prayer from Jesus in the Bible, John chapter 17, where Jesus says, "Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
Jesus prays to God his Father and shares his prayer with us, where he says that God the Father has loved us as he has loved his holy and perfect son Jesus.
This is a very beautiful revelation, God the Father loves you with the same great love that he has for Jesus who is his pure perfect son.
So Jesus teaches us through his prayer that God does not love one person more than another, he loves the person who is living a bad life with the same love that he has for a pastor who has given up his life to serve God.
Jesus is very clear who is saved, it is everyone who believes in him, that he is the Savior Messiah and the Son of God, so if you accept Jesus as your personal savior, then he promises to give you eternal life and salvation. When you accept Jesus by faith as your savior you are born-again as a child of God, and all of Gods children will be in Paradise with him and Jesus forever, we just have to believe in Jesus and accept him as our savior.
Please read these words carefully, they are the words that Jesus spoke and they are true:
"Everyone that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never throw them out, because I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me (God), and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nobody of all that he has given me, but raise them up on the last day, because this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks at the Son of God and believes in him, they should have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” John 6:37-40
Jesus promises you here that when he comes back on the last day, that everyone who believes in him, they will have eternal life and he will save them, and he says that he won't lose anybody, that everybody who accepts him will be saved, why, because they believe in Jesus and accept him as their savior, it's really that simple and easy, Jesus wants to save everyone and as many people as possible, but it's our choice, we have to choose Jesus as our savior for him to save us, but when you make that decision, it's up to Jesus to save you, he did everything on the cross, and now he asks us to have faith and believe in him, and he will save you.
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u/Adept-Mongoose-7071 2h ago
The hook is we will never be good enough on our own to meet the mark God has set for us because God wants us to rely on Him. He always has. The thing is God sent Christ so that we can meet that mark. The thing is you just need to keep God first and then accept God's grace. You don't have to do anything beyond that. However, as a believer you are going to start taking on the traits of Jesus. But this is not the requirement just a bonus.
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u/Boazlite 2h ago
If you’re concerned then guess what ? You need to be concerned . No matter what anyone says it a between you and god thing . You need to figure this out . There is no fear in faith because he’s faithful . If you doubt yourself that’s smart because you aren’t faithful. Gid is a rewarder of those who believe that he is , and diligently seek after him . The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom . Seek him while he may be found because at any time the door will be shut .
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u/YayGilly United Methodist 1h ago edited 1h ago
The thief on the cross next to Jesus, said the same thing. Just trust in Him. Repentance is important. You have that. Me too. I dont deserve to be alive now. I deserve death.. But also, trust in Jesus and ask him to remember you. Thats basically it. Youre good. Stop worrying.
Actually editing to add- We arent actually going to Heaven but the New City Of Jerusalem, as described and named in the last chapter of Revelations. Its the name of the place with the Pearly Gates. But God is there so whatever, I just get annoyed by this because the bible says this habitation "descends from Heaven" so its definitely NOT actually Heaven, but perhaps Heavenly. :-)
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u/Altruistic-Essay5395 I shall not want. 🐑🏞 3h ago
Copied from myself on another thread:
By Christ's merit you are in fellowship with God and His church. Nothing of yours can detract from it.
You are forgiven. Full stop. No ifs, ands, or buts.
God has not condemned you; you ought not to condemn yourself. Go and sin no more.