Will God ever stop giving us chances?

Sincerely,
One More Chance

Dear One More Chance,

When we die, our fate will be sealed because there will be no more opportunities to repent (Heb 9:27)… but that isn’t because God gave up on us.  God doesn’t give up on us; we give up on Him.  God tells us that if we repent and confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us (1 Jn 1:9).  Our heavenly Father is ready and willing to forgive (Ps 86:5).  He doesn’t desire anyone to perish (2 Pet 3:9), but He accepts our choice… even if we choose to reject Him.

Is saying, “OMG” (oh, my God!) using God’s name in vain?

Sincerely,
TTYL

Dear TTYL,

Yes, emphatically, yes it is.  We are so thankful you have asked this question because it is such a problem in today’s culture.  Acronyms and shorthand used in texting (such as l8r, btw, ttyl, etc.) have become a part of the pop culture and our everyday speech.  When you shorten something, it still retains the same meaning.  For example, ‘ty’ still means ‘thank you’ and is accepted as a phrase of gratitude.  Therefore, when people type or say ‘omg’, it still means that they are treating God’s name in an irreverent and blasphemous way.  It is a sad fact that many christians treat phrases like ‘omg’ as a sort of “loophole” around using the Lord’s name in vain… but it is still blasphemy.  God isn’t fooled by shorthand (Gal 6:7).

Does God need us?  If He has everything already, why does He need us?

Sincerely,
Feeling Frivolous

Dear Feeling Frivolous,

God doesn’t need us, but He wants us.  God loves us without regard to our necessity.  Like parents with their children, God loves us even though we are technically more of a burden than a help.  Children are messy, expensive, and time-consuming… yet, good parents love them unconditionally.  God is our Father (Heb 12:9).  We love because He first loved us (1 Jn 4:19).  It isn’t that God needs us; it is His unselfish desire for us to have life and spend eternity with Him.

All the major faiths of the world preach that only through following their teachings and believing in their god will one reach heaven.  This means everyone else goes to hell.  To a christian, all the muslims are hell-bound.  To a muslim, all the christians are infidels and will never reach God.  I find it hard to believe that a loving God would set up half the world for failure.  Each faith is strict about the requirements to spend eternity with God.  How do we come to terms with this concept that ours is the only way?

Sincerely,
Too Exclusive

Dear Too Exclusive,

One of the key components to any religion is that we accept that particular religion’s god as he is.  It isn’t fair to simultaneously try and find which god is real (Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, etc.) and also have a pre-conceived notion about how we want God to behave.  If the Muslim’s are right, then Allah exists, and it doesn’t matter whether Allah is loving or not – Allah is what Allah is.  If the Buddhists are correct, it doesn’t matter whether we like reincarnation or not – reincarnation exists.  The same is true with Jehovah, the God of the Bible.  God is who God is, without regard to our opinion of how we feel He ought to be.  We may feel that He has “set up” a large portion of society for failure, but if the God of the Bible is real (and we feel confident He is!), we must take Him at His Word that all have evidence of His existence and are without excuse if they don’t follow Him (Rom 1:20).

The key to finding which god is the true God is to look at the evidence – primarily the key documents for each religion.  When you compare the Koran, the Dharma, the Veda, and other books of faith to the Bible… there is no comparison.  The Bible is accurate scientifically, prophetically, historically, and contextually consistent; it never contradicts itself and contains truths that only God would know and yet can be proven true by practice.  We highly recommend you read our article “Who Wrote The Bible?” for further explanation of the proof that the Bible is from God.  When analyzing religion in the search for truth, follow the evidence, and it will always lead you to the Bible.

Why did God make pain?

Sincerely,
Hurt

Dear Hurt,

If the pain you are talking about is the human body’s ability to feel pain, our pain reflexes are a healthy thing.  Those who can’t feel pain have a disease called congenital analgia, and it is a devastating disease.  As the parents of one child with this disease said, “Pain teaches; pain protects; pain can save you from a lot of bad things in life.”  Our nervous system is a tremendous gift from God, and it is part of what makes us “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14).

On the other hand, if you are talking about the emotional trials, suffering, and pain that people go through on this planet – God didn’t do that.  God didn’t create the world imperfectly.  When God finished the world, it was perfect (Gen 1:31).  All imperfection that we find in this world is a consequence of our sins (Gen 3:17-19).