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Faith Quest

What form does God exist in? Is it some form of positive energy?

God is Spirit and permeates the entire universe, except hell, with His presence. Yes his a above and beyond the created universe.

In the past God communicated with us through the words of His prophets, but now he has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ you can encounter the fullness of the Godhead. He who has a relationship with Jesus Christ has a relationship with the living, personal, moral and infinite triune God.

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FaithQuest is a safe place for you to ask any question you have about God, Faith & Life in general.

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Why can’t I confess my Sins to Jesus just before I die?

Q: I was told that I can just confess my sins and Jesus will forgive me. Then why not sin my whole life and confess just before death?

The way to have a relationship with God is by coming to Jesus who died for us and by rising from the dead now lives forevermore. But, when we come to Jesus we realise the folly of a life lived in seeking pleasure from the temporal things of the world. Broadly speaking, the pleasures of this world are of two kinds: legitimate and self-destructive.

We recognise that legitimate pleasures are genuine but yet are short-lived. They seem to point us to something higher and beyond – a pleasure that is permanent and unabated. Conversely, other kinds of pleasure destroy us either instantly or, as is more often the case, gradually. These are accompanied by guilt and other psychological impairments and very often physical scarring.

If the choice is between slow death through destructive pleasures or the lasting joy of a living relationship between God and me, I’m not sure why anyone would choose the former? It may have to do with a inadequate understanding of the good news. The Bible calls us to a relationship with Jesus not to kill joy, but for ‘pleasures at His right-hand for evermore’.

So when we are in a relationship with Jesus we find greater joy in the legitimate pleasures of this world, yet knowing that we have unimaginable greater joy awaiting us.

Finally, we may think that we can repent at the 11th hour. But, we cannot predict the end of this life. As a popular saying goes: Those who say they will repent at the 11th hour die at 10:59! God is not to be mocked!

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Why Criminals and Politicians who do wrong enjoy life more than us?

Q: There are many criminals and politicians who do so much of wrong yet they enjoy a comfortable life and people like me who work hard have a difficult life. Why?

The Bible tells us that God not only created a good universe, but also made humans in his image with the ability to love one another and make choices. When humans disobeyed God, the good life that God had planned for them was lost. Something fundamental changed within them – there came in greed, insecurity, lust, jealousy, selfishness and many other such negative qualities.

Thus soon after the beginning of time we as individuals, depending on how we have allowed these negative qualities to govern us, have started exploiting nature and fellow-humans. Criminals and many Politicians have been able to leverage their positions of power (either by force, coercion or manipulation) to satisfy their base desires of greed and selfishness. This has enabled them to create for themselves zones of personal comfort.

But, the deeper question is, whether they have contentment? Almost all who have attained to power or wealth by unfair or exploitative means have physical comforts but have no contentment. An unknown author put it this way:

  • Money can buy you a bed but not sleep.
  • Money can buy you a clock but not time.
  • Money can buy you a book but not knowledge.
  • Money can buy you a position but not respect.
  • Money can buy you medicine but not health.
  • Money can buy you blood but not life &
  • Money can buy you sex – but not love.

On the other hand, people who live a difficult life can live a life of contentment with the promise of eternal life.

Jesus died on the cross to give those who trust in him a new life from within. The externals may not seem to change but deep within us we start loving others and seeking their well being. This will lead to contentment that is beyond understanding. We may/may-not have money but we will be blessed with eternity, wisdom and a love that has no boundaries.

So, even if your life is difficult instead of seeking comfort, it is wiser to seek joy everlasting and contentment here on earth – which no wealth can buy for us. We have that as a free gift from God to us in Christ Jesus.

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Why does life have so many tensions and struggles? What is the purpose of my life?

The Bible tells us that God not only created a good universe, but also made humans in his image with the ability to love one another and make choices. When humans disobeyed God, the good life that God planned for them was lost. Something fundamental changed within them – there came in greed, insecurity, lust, jealousy, selfishness and many other such negative qualities.

Thus soon after the beginning of time we as individuals, depending on how we have allowed these negative qualities to govern us, have started exploiting nature and fellow-humans. Selfishness, greed and insecurity have largely made for a world with many tensions and struggles. Human preying on humans has been the greatest cause of unpleasantness in human society. We have exploited nature and wrecked the balance of the created order – so, natural calamities have also contributed to our distress.

Our relationship with fellow-humans and nature can only change by allowing God to change us from within. Human effort has failed. History shows us that Laws, no matter how many, have failed to reign in our self-centredness. We are still able to manipulate and exploit loopholes to serve our selfish purposes.

Jesus died on the cross to give those who trust in him a new life from within. The externals may not seem to change but deep within us we start loving others and seeking their well being.

So, we will find our purpose in restoring our relationship with God, fellow-humans and nature. The specific for each individual may be different based on genetic make-up, gifting and talents.

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Where does the soul go after death?

The human soul is ‘me’ – the one who lives on even after my body is no more.

If I have been perfectly good my soul would go on to eternal joy. If I have any wickedness or shortcoming it would be headed for eternal punishment.

The Bible says that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’. In other words, there is no one who has been perfectly good enough to earn heaven.

Some common views suggest that one could go to heaven, if my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds. But one bad deed (even in my thought life) makes me a law-breaker. Let’s consider a case when you have broken a traffic signal. The police officer calls you aside and tells you that you going to be fined for it. Suppose you argue with the officer that you’ve always kept the law – you’ve been wearing you seat-belt, your pollution under control documentation is intact, your number plate has followed the required lettering system etc. Can you demand that he let you off? No! In the eyes of the law. You are a law breaker and have to pay the penalty.

In like manner the Bible says that the ‘wages’ of sin is ‘death’. In other words, separation from eternal joy. So, as law-breakers in the eyes of God, we have been sentenced to punishment. Yes, everyone of us.

But don’t dismay. The good news is that Jesus Christ who became man lived among us as the ‘only good one’ without any sin, either in deed or in thought. He faced an unjust trial and died on the cross where he paid for our disobedience, rebellion, and sin. Those who put their trust in him can exchange their ‘bad deeds’ for His ‘eternal life’.

You can do the same too and have the certainty that you will have eternal life of joy in the presence of God Himself.

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In so many religion who is the true God?

Am glad you asked! Your question is very good. It indicates that you have recognized that all claims about God (existence and essence) are not true. In fact, very few recognize that most of them are contradictory at the core and only superficially similar.

You can apply a simple test for truth (as you would for any field of study)

a) Are there logical contradictions within the belief system. We’ll need to apply reason here. Some may say that we should not use reason when it comes to matters of God and belief. But then, if we ask ‘Why we should not use reason?’ they would give us a few reasons. So, obviously reason cannot be disqualified in our search for truth in religion (as in any field where there is a search for truth). Blind belief does not need reason –and these are just superstitions.

b) Is there evidence to support what the belief claims? The Bible says that Jesus lived in space-time history. If it is true we should be able to apply the historical method and find evidence that Jesus really was a person who lived in Israel during the beginning of the first century. The Bible places an even more audacious challenge – it says that if there is no historical evidence for Jesus who rose from the dead, the Christian faith is a lie. It pushes the test for evidence to the extreme. Try it yourself!

c) Finally, it should make a difference in my inner person and my soul responses. If I am not being changed from within to become a better person I would suspect that there is no relevance to the experience of my faith.

It is very rare that a person has real hunger and is willing to overcome the bias of birth, community and culture to seek the true God. But to one who seeks – WILL FIND! We hope you are one of those very rare ones!

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If anyone doesn’t believe in God, is there life after death?

A man is convinced he is dead. His wife and kids are exasperated. They keep telling him he’s not dead. But he continues to insist he’s dead.

They try telling him, “Look, you’re not dead; you’re walking and talking and breathing; how can you be dead?” But he continues to insist he is dead.

The family finally takes him to a doctor. The doctor pulls out some medical books to demonstrate to the man that dead men do not bleed. He takes him to the mortuary and pricks the fingers of the corpses with a needle to emphasize the point. After some time, the man admits that dead men do not bleed.

The doctor then takes the man’s hand and a needle and pokes the end of his finger. The man starts bleeding. He looks at his finger and says, “What do you know? DEAD MEN DO BLEED!”

We too can choose to obstinately believe what we wish irrespective of the evidence. This makes it very challenging to consider evidence objectively. Even if we don’t consider the external evidence, eternity is set in our hearts and there is a deep longing for it. Sometimes we kill the longing, yet it tugs at our heart strings given an opportunity.

What about our longings for justice? We know that most often justice in not served in this life. There are those who have cheated, stolen, indulged in vile behavior and even abuse but die without getting their just dues. If this life is all that there is, our sense of outrage at injustice in misplaced. Some will anyway escape it – but there is life after death and judgment.

But now pause for a moment and ask yourself – am I really who I pretend to be? What about my greed, my jealousy, my bitterness, my lust,…..? Am I ready to receive my just dues too, especially when I consider my thought life and my imaginations? The Bible tells us that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard’. So what is the way out? Of course, we have to bear the punishment for it. But we will not be able to bear the punishment for our sins – it is eternal separation from God.

Now wait a minute – God has already done something to reach out to us – He has paid the price for my disobedience by the death of Jesus on the cross. He has taken my place in death so that I can share with him in his resurrection from the dead into eternal life. Dead men do not bleed and …. There is life after death. Eternal Joy for those who have been cleansed from their sin!

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How can you differentiate God according to religion?

Every human has a hunger within that needs to be filled in by God. Blaise  Pascal, the famous French mathematician and philosopher, put it like this: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, ……”.

C S Lewis explains ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”

All religions at its root are about this hunger – humans attempting to reach God and please him. These are human efforts and really get nowhere at the end of the day, except to feel the vacuum more deeply. What happens after the gaiety of a festival? Are we waiting for the next one to take our eyes off the mundane-ness of our existence?

But Jesus Christ was born as man among men so that God could bridge the gap between humans and himself. Jesus Christ is God reaching out to us. And, that is the fundamental difference between the Christian faith and all the others. We just have to receive the grace of God given through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to be in a living relationship with God. We are not only promised eternal life as individuals but we also start experiencing the daily fullness of a purposeful life. Not driven now by desires of the flesh that can satisfy only for a time, but by what is everlasting.

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Judaism, Christianity and Islam, aren’t they same?

Q: Judaism,  Christianity and Islam came from the same source. If they are children of the same God,  why so many clashes in community? 

What is common about Judaism, Islam and Christianity is that they are theistic religions – meaning they all believe in a moral, personal, infinite God. They are also similar, in that, they believe in God who has revealed himself through writings, though each has a different book. Islam is based on the teachings of Mohammed the prophet.

The Christian faith shares the same books of Judaism which is called the Old Testament. But the Bible goes on to say that the Messiah that the Old Testament promises is Jesus Christ. Jesus is God himself who was born once as a human being, lived among men and was finally crucified on the cross on trumped up charges. But having lived a sinlessly perfect life, even to his death, he was raised from the dead to live eternally. The life of Jesus, his teaching and those of his disciples are recorded in the New Testament of the Bible.

One does not become a disciple of Jesus by being born in a Christian home as much as one does not become a car by being born in a garage. Even participation of the rituals of the church does not make one a disciple of Jesus. Irrespective of which community, culture, caste or religious persuasion you were born in you have to make a conscious decision to follow Jesus to become a disciple of Jesus. Those who have given their life to the Lordship of Jesus know what it means to be loved unconditionally and to also have a peace that passes human understanding.

Further, we need to keep in mind that God disclosed in the Bible in different in essence from that of Islam and Judaism – He is Trinitarian – meaning He is one God in three persons. The Godhead is in community and lives in perfect harmony. So, the Christian faith is rooted in the essence of one God yet in eternal fellowship. The triune God has lived in this perfect relationship from eternity to eternity. The question of a a disciple causing disharmony runs contrary to the very being of the God he claims to worship.

So, the disciple of Jesus is one who should have peace within and also be able to share that peace in society by being peacemakers. So, no one who is living as a disciple of Jesus would be the cause of disharmony in society.

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Why is there difference between rich and poor?

The Bible tells us that God not only created a good universe, but also made humans in his image with the ability to love one another and make choices. When humans disobeyed God, the good life that God had planned for them was lost. Something fundamental changed within them – there came in greed, insecurity, lust, jealousy, selfishness and many other such negative qualities.

[bctt tweet=”Why is there difference between rich and poor?” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

Thus soon after the beginning of time we as individuals, depending on how we have allowed these negative qualities to govern us, have started exploiting nature and fellow-humans. Selfishness, greed and insecurity are at the heart of such wide economic disparity amongst humans.

These qualities cannot be eradicated by any means, but by allowing God to change us from within. Human effort has failed. History shows us that Laws, no matter how many, have failed to reign in our self-centredness. We are still able to manipulate and exploit loopholes to serve our selfish purposes.

Jesus died on the cross to give those who trust in him a new life from within. The externals may not seem to change but deep within us we start loving others and seeking their well being. This will lead to generosity beyond what is normally possible because we are secure for this life and the life to come.

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FaithQuest is a safe place for you to ask any question you have about God, Faith & Life in general.

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