Which do you think God would be more pleased with?

A religious person who struggles to try to please God but who would truly rather be doing other things?

An atheist who just naturally does the same things that God would have asked them to do?

Well, if you mean the god that loves all things equally, neither would deserve affection more than the other. Both are her/his creations.

However, and we can see this quite often in society, having faith doesn't mean you have a good moral and ethic code. If you've got a devote believer in a truly good and higher power, they shouldn't be thinking about bad-mouthing people, thievery, and subjugating others to serve themselves.

It couldn't be said that they actually believe. What they're doing is trying to be good so that they can be "saved". It's a self-serving action.

I've found that the more you sacrifice for the world (energy, time, money... etc.) the more the world repays your kindness.

Abra...

A religious person who struggles to try to please God ....

but
who would truly rather be doing other things....

is obviously ONLY involved in religion, and not RELATIONSHIP with God.

Religion make one feel like he HAS to do the right thing...

Relationship ,on the other hand ,
makes one WANT to do the right thing......

out of LOVE for God.....

simply because there is a RELATIONSHIP with God.



And RELATIONSHIP .....

is what God would be MOST PLEASED

to have with ALL His Creation(Humanity) ....

more than anything else in the world

I see that people are just going to side-step the question to avoid having to admit that God would most likely be pleased with a highly moral non-believer.

I should have know that people would avoid the real issue.

And MorningSong, if the biblical God was concerned with having 'relationships' with people he wouldn't be planing hide and seek.

So clearly your answer makes no sense concerning a dogma that has God playing hide and seek and guessing games.

That's just another one of those have your cake and eat it to things.

You want to claim that God demands that we have 'faith', and then you also want to claim that he demands that you have a relationship with him.

Make up your mind.

You can't have it BOTH WAYS.

Firstly, it's not a sidestep. That's the answer you'd get from most people. I just wanted to see if you'd pick it apart. This should probably constitute another thread, but here goes...

Loving all things equally (or having equality) would mean that god loves Hitler just as much as you or me. It also means that with your morning breakfast, you might as well use bleach instead of milk.

Things aren't equal, and shouldn't be equal.

Secondly, why is Morning Song's head so beeeeg? But really, to elaborate on Abra's point, you absolutely cannot hope to have faith and a relationship with god.

Faith implies the possibility of non-existence. All crazy discussions about reality aside, I don't need faith to communicate with my friends.

God doesn't play hide and seek.

But He does wait for you to seek Him with your whole heart .

And if You seek God with your whole Heart, He shall be found of You.

But God won't force You to Seek Him...

But He Will Make Himself known as You Seek Him.

Why ,

God will even speak to you ( one way God will make Himself known to you)

thru His Body of Believers.....

on a Religion Forum...

Did you know that Abra?

Abra wrote....

"You want to claim that God demands that we have 'faith', and then you also want to claim that he demands that you have a relationship with him."

........

Abra....Christians no where claim,

that God DEMANDS anything.

God doesn't DEMAND Anything;

simply because

God gave Us a FREE WILL to CHOOSE .


Abra...
when we have FAITH to Believe,

God meets us right there at the point of our Faith...

and does the Rest...

by stepping into our heart( thru His Holy Spirit ).

Then....

AFTER Faith To Believe,
comes the RELATIONSHIP.

Relationship with God...just like it was in the Beginning...the Way it was MEANT to Be with God and His Creation, Abra.

Abra I don't remember what verse it is but it talks about this issue in the bible.It talks about a very good man who went to heaven and when he talked to God;God said "Depart from me I know not who you are".It also says "Nobody enters the kingdom of heaven except through my son".It should noted though that even though a non believer may not get to heaven that doesn't mean that God wouldn't bless his good deeds here on earth.

We always talk about Christian issues but lets put this from a Islamic perspective...I personally have never though about Allah prayed to Allah or even know anything about Allah except he is the God is Islam.Lets just pretend that all the Christians are wrong and Allah really was God.If I died do you really think Allah would let me into his heaven?Of course not.I haven't done the slightest thing for him nor did I believe in him.It wouldn't matter if I did good things or not.If people got to heaven by doing good things then there would be no reason to believe in God.

Jesus did warn about about consequences though of a Christian being evil and basically not doing what he should be doing.He said that he gave you the crown of life and this crown can be taken away from you.So being saved does not mean you can just do whatever you want and expect to go to heaven just because you said one time that you believe in God.The bible also talks about different rewards for people who are especially righteous such as those who remain virgins even if they never marry,those who die in the name of Christianity,etc.

The question wasn't about going to heaven.
I can't go anywhere I don't believe in, but I think that God would be more pleased with the person I am than with someone who quotes him constantly and does nothing to live up to it.

I would say trying in vain to please God is probably better than not doing anything at all.I think God gets more upset with a Christian knowing he shouldn't do something and does it anyways knowing it will upset God than a non Christian doing the same thing since a Christian should know better.

Why do you always imply that Non- Christians have no morale values?
A lot of us may have the better values, at least we are not going around bashing people in the name of God.

Perhaps God is pleased with everyone equally regardless of what one believes or not.

Dust off your sandals and be gone.

Who says the god dude would be pleased or displeased?

Perhaps the god dude couldn't give a flying fig what we do or don't do....

..(being a figment of a collective delusion anyways)

i think God would be better pleased by the person that struggles to know and please him.

No, I have not stopped beating my wife.

I love all the sexy photos you use as avatars of women you wish you looked like Debbie.

They so truly reflect your religious values.

Preach the Bible in a Bikini and flirt with all the heathens.

Christianity probably would have actually been a very successful religion had it started out that way instead of with the male-chuavinistic and female oppressive views that it actually holds.

Your behavior is the antithesis of what you preach. It's quite humorous to watch you preach with the Bible in one hand and thumbing your nose at the very same doctrine with the other.

You clearly don't believe in the Bible, yet you preach it like as if you do.

What's up with that?

I mean, I could claim to be a Christian too and denounce the Bible but what's the point to that?

This is precisely what I mean. People who claim to be religious but don't do as their God requests.

All women who preach the Bible are blatantly rejecting God's word. It perfectly clear that God said in the Bible that women are not to speak out on religion, yet that's all that Christian women ever do.

Why do they push a religion that they clearly don't even believe?

It's silly.

Why don't you just find a religion that you can actually believe in?

You clearly don't believe that God is like the Bible says. That's obvious.

So why not pick a religion that portrays God in a light that you can actually BELIEVE?

I'm just curious.

I think the biblical god or at least that psychopath that is portrayed in the bible would be equally pissed off and annoyed with both. The one that believed in him and was trying his best to please him and be a good Christian would not be good enough and the atheist would be in trouble for thinking on his own two feet and not fearing god's wrath.

You are damned if you do and you are damned if you dont in that whole picture. Thats why its ludicrous and I want no part. Im evil and bad anyway because Im a woman and therefore a temptress of good, decent men.

Ive got nothing to lose.

I best illustration of this I can think of is the people who were tithing at a church or whatever, and the rich guy gave a bunch of money. then a poor girl gave all she had which was a few pennies. Christ made the point that the poor girl had given more because it was all she had to give. So I would have to say it would be the one who was really trying to please God, sense that was the question about who would be pleased!

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