|
'How do we know God is there?'
We can only know God is there if he chooses to make himself known. He has done this in creation, through the Bible and supremely in the person of Jesus. Had we lived almost 2000 years ago, we could have seen him face to face. Jesus claimed to be God and he backed up those claims with his actions. He calmed storms, healed the sick, cast out evil spirits, raised the dead, and forgave people. When Jesus himself was put to death, he rose again. The evidence of Jesus' life and actions demonstrate that he was who he claimed to be: the living God 'How can a loving God send people to hell?'
The Bible reveals two sides of God's character - his justice and his love. Since all of us have rebelled against God, he is just in giving us the punishment that we deserve. If we tell God we want to be separate from him, God gives us what we want - eternal separation. However, because God is supremely loving he sent his son, Jesus, to take all of God's anger on himself. If we accept the death of Jesus for us we can spend eternity in heaven not hell. The amazing thing is not that God sends people to hell (as we all deserve), but that he has made it possible for us to go to heaven, even though we don't deserve to. 'How can God allow suffering in the world?'
There is no simple answer to this question. All of us go through suffering in our lives, and many people suffer greatly. The Bible shows us that God is completely perfect (he hates suffering and evil) and also completely powerful (and so he could remove it in an instant). Suffering exists in the world because of our rebellion against God. God hates suffering, has suffered himself, and has promised that there will be no suffering in heaven. He is delaying the day when he will end suffering once and for all, in order to give us the opportunity to turn back to him and forgiven for rebelling against him.
|