Why do I have to exist in the first place

SocaliCatholic · Jun 4, 2004

I dont want to exist becuase the concept of hell scares me so much I think it would be better for me to not exist in the first place so I dont have to gamble with my future just in case i sin without going to confession before i die and mess up.

bill_t · Jun 4, 2004

The concept of hell should scare you. Remenber, you exist because God has a plan for this world that you are part of. You will sin, just as ever other person that is alive today. You will always be forgiven if you are sorry and confess your sins. Do not think of hell, rather think of heaven where you will be with God.

SocaliCatholic · Jun 4, 2004

bill t:

It bothers me becuase Jesus said it was better for Judas to never have been born in the first place. I definitely dont want to sin or betray Jesus, but I feel like it would be better for me to not have been born in case I mess up.

Didi · Jun 4, 2004

You exist in the first place because Our Heavenly Father loves you and created you for a specific purpose on earth. Because He loves you, He will always forgive you if you are honest and truly sorry for your sins and try to do better, with His help, of course.

During your spiritual journey, if You stay close to Jesus and continue to learn about Him, you will fear sin more because it hurts Our Sweet Lord and you don’t want to offend Him or cause Him any pain, rather than fear sin because you are afraid of hell.

Think of someone you really love on earth, who really loves you back. You don’t want to hurt them. It’s the same with God. When your love grows for Him, you want to please Him and love Him back.

He loves you so much, He sent His Only Son to suffer and die for your (our) sins so that He might spend eternity with you. He wants to be with you! Try spending time with Him in Eucharistic Adoration and you will feel His love.

God bless!

ncgolf · Jun 4, 2004

Jesus told St. Faustina either trust in my Mercy or in my Justice. By choosing Mercy we glorify the power of Christ, and when we trust in His mercy it is most pleasing to God. Read some of the writings of St. Faustine (her biography is a good one) to understand what Mercy is and how to live it with our neighbors. I think you will gain new insights into the love that Jesus has for all of us and how to trust Jesus in our lives.

myrna · Jun 4, 2004

The purpose of life is the same for every person, and if you really think about this it makes sense. If you do this, you will not lose your soul.

The catechism instructs us that our purpose in life is to Know God, to Love God and to Serve God in this life so we can be happy with Him in heaven for all eternity.

This really happened: A priest that I know was dying of cancer and at his deathbed he sort of got a last bit of energy and tried to get up, everyone present was trying to stop him because he was so close to death they thought he was out of his mind. However, he started talking about the purpose of life. He kept saying over and over again, that he must tell the people because the secret of that was known to him, he wanted to give a sermon. He never did because he died, but I was thinking and thinking and wondering what it was about those words that inspired him so.

I realized something, maybe not what he knew but one day while thinking it was known to me that God, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ came on earth to die, everyone of us comes on earth to live, but He came on earth to die for us, He came because He knows us, loves us and He came to serve us ALL.

_Christopher · Jun 4, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

I think you are being overly legalistic and not focusing on the relationship aspect. God is your “Dada” (Abba in Aramaic) not your police officer waiting for you to screw up.

When you do fall, He is the one that picks you back up, not yourself, remember that.

Chris_W · Jun 4, 2004

You did not have to exist. God chose to create you. So now you do exist, and will exist for eternity. You merely need to choose where you would like to exist for eternity. Look to the future…for that is what is within your control.

G.K. Chesterton gives a neat analogy to the idea that what exists did not necesarily have to exist. He used the story of Robinson Crusoe:

The story of “Robinson Crusoe” begins with an inventory of items the man saved from the sinking ship. The reader then realizes how wonderful each of the items on the list becomes, and how thankful we would be to have that item, if we were in Robinson’s predicament, because it was very possible he would not have had those items.

Chesterton wrote, “It is a good exercise…to look at anything…and think how happy one could be to have brought it out of the sinking ship on to the solitary island. But it is a better exercise still to remember how all things have had this hair-breadth escape: everything has been saved from the wreck.”

This helps me to look at the wonderful things God has given us (including the beauty of the Catholic Church), and it encourages me to make good use of God’s gifts, out of appreciation for them, rather than merely for the purpose of my salvation.

Richard_Lamb · Jun 4, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

It seems you have an erroneous understanding of confetion and hell, first you go to hell because you reject God, I,E mortal sin…

If you repent of your sin and die before going to confetion then you will not go to hell, rmember you go to hell because you reject God.

RobedWithLight · Sep 3, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

Well, you now do exist and there is nothing which you can do to cease existing, for even if you do kill yourself, your immortal soul would go on. Existence is a gift. It allows you to grow and improve. It allows you to appreciate truth and marvel upon the beauty of creation. It allows you to give love and to be loved in return. Do you ever consider the things you would never experience had God chosen not to create you, or annihilate you at the very moment of conception?

God didn’t create you only to be cast into hell after death. That is ultimately your choice, not His.

Gerry

tuopaolo · Sep 4, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

I think the answer to your dilemma is to not gamble with your future by not sinning or not committing mortal sin.

You can always pray … pray for the grace to preservere each day.

As to your question, I’m not really sure why you have to keep on existing. Sometimes I think that its impossible for God to annihilate a person; I have difficulty conceiving of it sometimes. Other times I think that maybe each person, including even Satan and the demons, will one day end up in Heaven or a kind of Limbo. But that’s just my speculation; I wouldn’t count on that!

I think that if you make a habit of avoiding mortal sin and growing in the virtues and receiving the Sacraments then you can be more and more sure that you are one of the elect, destined for Heaven, and so that might give you some peace of mind should that happen.

AlanFromWichita · Sep 4, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

Dear SocaliCatholic,

Most of the things I want to say were said by other posters. I’d like to expand on what Didi said:

When I was little, I tried to do what was right just because I wanted to do what’s right, and to please my parents. Teachers then, and much more now, seemed to take the approach that a child is intrinsically evil and has to undergo “behavior modification” involving punishment and reward. While I think this approach can be somewhat effective at preserving social order, it does little for the heart. It keeps the children focused on punishment or reward rather than the intrinsic righteousness they should develop. Consequently, they learn that the world is much more about “getting caught” than about “right and wrong.”

Before Jesus came, the Church relied heavily on threats and rewards to keep its people in line. After 2000 years the message of Jesus is still not coming through clearly, but I believe He loves and accepts you regardless of what you think of yourself. When He said, “do not judge” I think he intended to free you from the bondage you are expressing – the bondage of having to judge yourself. All of us who are honest with ourselves know our own unavoidable wretchedness regardless of whether other people notice it or not, so even though we may appear perfect to others and get lots of praises, that just convicts us even worse in our own mind. I think your “safest” route is to put your complete trust in Jesus, follow Him because you want to do what is right, and then you can just forget about all the B.S. about going to hell. I think some of the modern “tough love” teachings of today literally “scare the Jesus” out of people.

If your faith is strong, you might check out the book “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning, with a foreward by the late Christian singer (who studied Catholicism and was to receive his first Communion two days after he died) Rich Mullins. It is not particularly Catholic so I don’t recommend it if you are weak in your Catholic faith. You can read an excerpt at amazon at: amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1576737160/qid=1094300112/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-0901643-1718463?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Alan

hermit · Sep 4, 2004

I have often pondered the question as to whether or not we were given a choice to exist?

Putting us to a test that we didn’t agree to seems to be out of character for a benevolent God.

francisca · Sep 4, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

Don’t focus on hell nor sin. Instead focus on God who has power over hell & sin. Believe in Jesus, God’s only Son, who has died for our sins. He can free you from all of your sins. Those who believe in him are given The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide you and keep you in God’s Path of Righteousness.

Ask God that you may believe Him and be saved for eternal life is your portion because of what Jesus has done for you. Believe that life is good despite whatever you see and experience. Because Faith is our prove for the things we hope for.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:18
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

2 Corinthians 5:19
namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, NOT COUNTING THEIR TRESPASSES against them, and He has committed to us THE WORD of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:20
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The Word of reconciliation with God is Jesus himself. Jesus is the Word of God that has give all of us life (John 1). All of us exist because God loves us and willing that we exist forever with Him in Heaven. He has Promise to save us, and His Promise will not fail, because He is God and He is faithful ! So put your hope and trust in Him. Read you bible and praise God and His Goodness, believe His Faithfulness to you despite of anything. Pray to Him as a child to his father, talk to Him about all things in you life.

God bless U and keep U always.

francisca · Sep 4, 2004

hermit:

God does not put us into a test. God has seen our glorious future with Him. To give us free will to make us perfect as He is perfect. For us free will means learning, but God has a very big plan for us. His plan for us is “salvation through Jesus”.

We are given choice to believe or not. If we believe, existance guaranteed forever

.

God bless.

hermit · Sep 4, 2004

francisca:

When did you have your conversation with God?

francisca · Sep 4, 2004

hermit:

I don’t really understand your question.

You mean when did the last time I prayed?

I pray everyday.

Greg_McPherran · Sep 4, 2004

SocaliCatholic:

Jesus said “Do not be afraid.”

Vincent · Sep 4, 2004

To paraphrase John Paul II, you are unique, unrepeatable and willed for your own sake.

Buckeyejoe · Sep 4, 2004

You have no choice, If God had asked us ahead of time whether or not we want to exist and seeing the world and all our individual suffering, I don’t think too many people would choose to exist!

Thank God He doesn’t consult us on this issue, you and I do exist and Paradise awaits us after death, be patient and KEEP the FAITH!

Why do I have to exist in the first place

SocaliCatholic

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