Would God prefer someone who is ever faithful, but who only does good things because he is afraid of eternal damnation?
Or would he prefer some who does good acts and betters the world, but does not worship or even believe in him?
I’m not the first person to ask this, but it amazes me how many people get thrown off when I bring this up to them. Usually it is Christians that get thrown, because one of the main tenets of their religion is to seek forgiveness from Christ. As long as one seeks Christs forgiveness, no matter how late in life or how heinous their actions, they will be forgiven.
They always seem to glance over the other part of that: if you are a good person and you do nothing but good in your life, but never seek forgiveness from Christ, your soul is hell-bound.
Thus, the do good things and seek to do Christ’s work because they don’t want to go to hell.
I this that is disgusting. I hate the idea of original sin, especially when it is implied that people are wrong, awful, and need to be saved.
I find the idea of a god who does this to people, and then wants them to worship him to keep him from harming them.
I don’t believe that any god worth believing in would need someone like me to believe in him. Further more, a god worth believing in would never punish someone who doesn’t believe in him, solely for that lack of belief.
Now, the idea of an all forgiving and loving god does not bother me. In fact, it gives me comfort. Two of my best friends believe in such a god, and I have large amounts of respect for them, and they for me. If more people truly believed in God like they do, I think the world would be a better place.
Because an all loving god wouldn’t care what you do in his name. He wouldn’t care that you prayed to him day and night. He would only care about the good you tried to bring to the world.
Now, why do I stay an agnostic atheist? Marcus Aurelius put it best:
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
I’m not saying that you can’t live a good life if you are religious. There is plenty of evidence to prove you can. But doing good, to be good, is what everyone should strive for. Were I God, I would prefer someone who has pure motivations for being nice, not the ulterior motives of heavenly reward or eternal damnation.
If I were God, I would prefer an atheist.
Shame on The Universe 
Plus, this god provided people with rationality, curiosity and reason. I doubt he’d be pissed if people put them to good use and came to a different conclusion.
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Exactly. People say God gave us free will and knowledge, so why would we ever be punished for using them? A good God, when we die, would pat us on the back, tell us we were wrong but thank us for trying anyway.
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While some Christians believe that not seeking God’s forgiveness can condemn one to hell (largely the Evangelical Protestant population), that statement is easily a generalization. The Nostra Aetate (you can find the text on the Vatican website) for instance, claims that salvation is possible in all faiths, provided one is a good person and follows the basic tenets of Christ’s teaching. This sentiment was echoed fairly recently with Pope Francis’s claims that atheists can go to heaven. Many notable theologians, writers, and artists of the Christian faith have expressed the universality of man throughout the centuries.Tolerance is not a new philosophical concept, and was not introduced with secularism. CS Lewis even wrote that a good person who is not Christian is more likely to be saved than a faithful Christian who does good deeds only through fear of God.While I understand the spirit of the post, I find it does a little bit overgeneralize the Christian population, and gives the perception that they are intolerant. The beliefs and actions of some, however loudly spoken, are not representative of one of the world’s largest religious institutions.
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In reply to Alex: You do have a point. It is a bit of a hasty generalization, and I will probably write a follow up to this post, due to the reaction I received on Facebook. Many of the people who do make those statements do choose to identify as christian, without offering their specific brand of it. Also, Evangelicals make up the majority of the US Christians, so you do tend to hear those beliefs more here. The comments I tend to hear are from the Christians in my life lately.
I actually do have a large respect for religions, and I see the good they can do. I also love the current pope. I believe he is the example that Christians should aspire too, aside from Christ himself. You would also be the example of a Christian who I have enormous amounts of respect for.
Thanks for commenting. 🙂
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Read some of the feedback on facebook, which was interesting to read. Looking forward to your follow up post!
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