Guys I'm really doubting if God even exists? There are so many religions out there and good people who are not Christian.
I feel like maybe God and Jesus is not not real. Maybe someone made it all up?
I feel really bad having these doubts, but I can't get rid of them.
Each time I pray, I think "why am I praying... is there even a God out there?"
Can someone help?
Comments
I gurantee you that you will never find any athiest who can prove his basic beleif, that God does not exist. No one can prove it. At best, an athiest will present an argument which will be no more than pure rock throwing at Christianity.
At the end of the day its either God exists, and hence we were created, or he doesn't and we came about by random chance. Since there is no inbetween, its arguable that the agnostic is just an atheist who is too afraid to admit so.
If you have serious doubts I think you should seriously research the Biblical creation as opposed to evolution. There is abundant evidence for the biblical creation not to mention the historical proof and consistency associated with the Bible.
Furthermore, the fossil records provide very strong evidence for Noah's arc since fossilisation requires rapid sediment to cover a living (or recently killed) animal etc.
Take a look at the following link, it provides 2 arguments why God exists, its a general approach to the concept but hopefully provides you with a start:
http://www.gradresources.org/worldview_articles/evidence_for_god.shtml
For information on science and creation you can listen to the following sermons:
http://www.stmaryscopticorthodox.ca/media_sermons/sermon_sci/sermon_sci.html
or read them here:
http://www.stmaryscopticorthodox.ca/publications/articles/sci/sci.html
At the end of the day you really need to put in the effort by looking for the evidence and comparing it to the Bible.
Hosea 4:6 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.'
God Bless
Doogie
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As
the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked
about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I
don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't
exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would
there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither
suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of
these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't
want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer
left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the
street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked
dirty and unkempt.
The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to
the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a
barber. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did,
there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like
that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."
"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES
exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."
ALSO, IF YOU TALK TO YOUR FATHER OF CONFESSION HE WILL HELP YOU GREATLY
if there was no GOd then why are we here? who can create a human being with incredible features that are so perfect? There has to be someone and that person is God!
Christianity and the Bible has been for sooooo sooooooooo long. Nothing would be carried for many many centuries unless it is something true and real. BTw... islam is carried for years but the quran changes everytime.. as oppossed to christianity and the Bible that never changes.
As geomike said and he's right.. talk to your father of confession.
GBU
there are 4 possible outcomes.
lets say you do believe in god.
1) you DO believe in and live by god, and god DOES exist. yay. heaven. you win. +10
2) you DO believe in and live by god, but god DOES NOT exist. oh well. +0
lets say you dont believe in god
3) you DONT believe in and live by god, and gos DOES exist. oh crap. hell. you lose. -10
4) you DONT believe in and live by god, and gos DOES NOT exist. oh well. +0
so if you DO believe in god, you have 1/2 chance heaven, 1/2 chance nothing
however, if you DO NOT belive in god, you have 1/2 chance hell, 1/2 chance nothing.
so would you rather walk the road with half a chance of heaven, or half a chance of hell?
i hope this helped... sorry its kinda messy im not good at writing :(
god bless, and good luck :)
chris
Now, while numerous avenues of attack can be lodged against the vaunting of Atheism or Skepticism and while a coherent defense can be latched to positive apologetical claims, I will primarily focus on the surfacing issue that you yourself have raised in the question. Your question is composed of three issues concerning philosophy of religion; the plurality of religious beliefs in the world, the ethical standards of non-theistic proponents (for I assume that theists who demonstrate exceptional goodness are of no concern to the theist's upholstering claims of God's existence) as well as the historicity of the man named Jesus Christ. I believe each one can be addressed coherently and intelligibly and further explicate a belief that the rational evidence of the theist's claim outweighs any notion of non-belief. However, due to lack of time, I will deal only with the first....dismantling what are often textbook examples of problematic religious particularism. Sucha vierw holds that only one particular religion can claim the path to truth and eternal salvation. This poses a wide range of difficulties for the genuine skeptic or artheist who finds many a religion that are ro so fundamentally different from the Judeo Christian worldview.
However, before getting into that core question of your dilemma we need to tackle the surface issue you've raised first. Your argument on the surface flows as follows:
1 If God exists then all morally sound individuals will attain eternal life.
2 Christianity claims that only morally sound Christians will attain eternal life
3 Some morally sound individuals are not Christians
4 Thus, not all morally sound individuals will attain eternal life
5. Therefore, God does not exist
Now at face value this argument seems sound. Deductively it follows through as logically consistent prima facie argument. After all, the premises do cohesively lead to the conclusion. Yet, when analyzing an argument deductively, it si also essential that all the premises are true in it of themsleves. So the question arises, are all the premises of your argument sound? Well it seems to me that 3 is a given on the basis of mere experience and probabilistic reasoning. Well, what about the remaining premises; do they hold up to philosophical scrutiny? Not quite. Take a look at premises 1 and 2 for instance. I don't see any reason whatsoever to believe that morally sound individuals will go to Heaven, neither on the basis of general theistic claim or particular Christian claim. Theism is merely the belief that a God exists and exists independently as a Being of excellence in the universe, from whom all things were ultimately created . However, nowhere in general Theistic belief is there a claim lodged that morally righteous people will attain eternal life. For it may just as be the case, that a God of the universe exist and that no people or a select chosen will attain eternal life. There is simply no guarantee, even given that God is omni-benevolent by nature, that those who follow a code of morality are guaranteed eternal life with Him. In order for one to assume such a belief, one would need to attach and extra premise in the argument. Perhaps 1*: If God exists, then He is a God who promises eternal life to those who are morally sound individuals. Yet, once again, I see no reason to believe that this is at all true....aside from pure speculation, there seems to me no reason to believe that God will promise eternal life to anyone.
Now let us assume for a moment that premise 1 does hold water and is indeed true. Let me grant the argument leeway. Does premise 2 then stand firmly upon their banks of truth? Well, once more I think not. For although the Christian God does promise eternal life, He does not do so on the basis of one's moral deeds. In fact, the Scriptures express a very different tune when it comes to salvation by grace alone. Saint Paul clearly indicates that "none are righteous, for all who have fallen short of the glory of God". The Scriptures seem to clearly indicate that God's salvation is a gift of grace to which no redeemable acts of goodness can win over. Regardless of how moral, selfless or upright you are, judged by our own merit we all fall short of the glory of God and are thus justly condemned. The Christian word view in particular is clear that salvation was given once and for all on the cross and that there are those who freely accept it and those who freely reject it. As philosopher William Lane Craig best puts it;
"No one deserves to go to heaven; if God judged us by our merit we’d all be condemned, no matter how selfless, upright, and morally good we are. None of us can earn his way to heaven. Therefore, salvation can only be the unmerited gift of God’s grace. To fail to grasp this is to fail to grasp the very essence of Christianity. So if one rejects God’s grace in Christ, one falls back on one’s merit, and no one is good enough to deserve heaven.
As for the so-called carnal Christian, let me say that someone who claims to know Christ but shows no fruit of regeneration has no basis at all for assurance of salvation. So let’s assume that we’re talking about a genuine believer who is trying to live a Christian life but finds himself sinning over and over again. What is God supposed to do with such a person on your girlfriend’s view? Send him to hell because he doesn’t measure up? Of course not; he’s saved by grace through faith, not by his own merit...one will doubtless say that if God will forgive him, then He should forgive the morally upright non-believer as well. But He has! The debt for all his sins has been paid; it’s just that the upright non-believer rejects the payment. God wants to save him; but the morally upright non-believer refuses to be saved."
Thus, neither on a general view or specific Christian view of Theistic belief, is there any reason to believe that the moral soundness of men will grant them eternal salvation. (I believe this problem should be better reserved for the particular theistic view of Islam, if ay worldview at all.) Now, if premises 1 and 2 are less warranted then their potential defeaters, they simply cannot stand with any verity. Yet, the entire argument seems to hinge upon those initial premises. I think while more can be said, enough has been to demonstrate that the argument is internally flawed. Yet what about the problem of Religous Pluralism? Can the skeptic vaunt that a diversity of religions is sufficent to nullify the absolute claim of one?
While it is true that so many religions are existent in the world as we know it, I believe it is arbitrary at best to claim that no one particular religion can hold claim to truth posterior to the fact. The pluralist will often argue that it is rather selfish for one particular exclusivist to claim that so many other religions are false and his alone is correct. On the basis of arrogance and selfishness displayed by the religious exclusivist the assumption is made that his exclusive worldview is flawed a priori the tenants of the worldview. However, to do so is to commit ad hominen, the logical fallacy of analyzing a claim's truth value on the basis of the proponent of the claim rather than on the claim itself. For imagine a viable doctor who ingeniously discovers a cure for aids. The doctor in selfish and conceited ambition arrogantly boasts about his discovery claiming that all others were "below his mark" and unsophisticated enough to discover the cure, that all other doctors should bow down to his insurmountable ingeniousness. While we may agree that such a doctor is selfish, insensitive and even amoral, we do not assert that his discovery of the aids vaccine is irrelevant or untrue! Only a foolish individual would refuse to accept the vaccine on the basis of how arrogant the doctor is, especially if that individual is himslef inflicted with the disease. What's worse, is that under the pluralists own proposition the pluralistic view itself must be wrong. For, could not one argue that it is even more conceited and arrogant for the religious pluralist to affirm that his view alone, above all others, is the only one that is correct? This is especially true when considers how much of a minority the religious pluralist is compared to the 80 percent majority of religious believers today! Under the own pluralists' arbitrary conditions he cuts himself under his own feet.
Now, what about the other often surmounted counterargument; that exclusivity is incoherent because religious beliefs are culturally relative? That is to say, that since all the world's great religions are constituted at different places by different cultures that ultimately no one particular religion can be championed as correct. Does such an argument hold water? Well I think not. For while it is true that various religious beliefs are epistemologically founded in different areas of culture or society, it does not follow that all of those religions are therefore ontologically sound. Judging whether a belief is true or not on the basis of where it comes from is not only a conflation between epistemological and ontological value, it commits the genetic fallacy. Thus, sound analysis of a claim's truth must be assessed on the metaphysical and logical coherency of a claim's propositions. Secondly, I find it ironic that under this type of analytic critique the pluralists' own view self-destructs. For, just as one may argue that if the religious exclusivist was born in 21first century politically correct western society he would have been raised a religious pluralist, so too may one argue that if the religious pluralist was born in areas like the Middle East, or Eastern Asia then he himself would have been raised a religious exclusivist! Thus the rug is pulled under the pluralist's own feet.
While the discussion and retorts go much deeper, I am confident that your skepticism lies at the heart of one of these two issues. Proponents of pluralism who are sophisticated scholars tend to attack a more rooted issue in religious exclusivity; Namely that, "If God is all-knowing, then He knew who would freely receive the Gospel and who would not. But then certain very difficult questions arise dealing with predestination and God's omniscience. Nevertheless, leaving these more armored retorts to be for now, I believe there is no good reason to believe that Religious Pluralism is a more plausible worldview over and above Religious Exclusivism.
Moreover, I believe we can take the argument further. I believe that not only can we show that there is no explicit contradiction between the Christian God existing and His choosing to reveal Himself through one particular worldview, but that the claim is wholly coherent in it of itself. The Judeo-Christian worldview proposes that God in all His glory chooses to reveal His magnificent nature for the benefit of and potential relationship with all men. In reveling His essential properties such as, omniscience, omnipotence and Omni-benevolence through His written Word God has foreordained such properties under the emblem of absolute truth. Thus, in every possible world God, as the maximally greatest being, has chosen to reveal his personal nature through the single Word or spoken Truth to which all men can find consistency in an inconsistent world; namely the person of Jesus Christ. For as long as logic demands that there be absolutes for a coherent worldview (which I believe it does), then if God is the pinnacle of all logic, it follows that He reveals himself in the demanded absolutes of reason infinitum. Thus, as one philosopher pithily put it, "One cannot deny the exclusivity of God unless He is to deny the exclusivity of truth as well. For truth by definition is exclusive. The moment you deny that any and all propositions are exclusive, you immediately affirm it in the very exclusive denial of all such propositions"
I Believe, I don't really like your story. It implies that suffering and your relationship with God are proportional, which they are not (on earth at least, Jesus even said so). Also, going to God and a barber are two different things. Poor people are able to go, but they cannot afford it, whereas going to God is free. I may be misunderstanding the point of the story.
marina008, the Bible being around for so long doesn't really count as evidence - so has the writings of the Hindu religion. I agree.
My only advice is to just keep in mind that the devil exists, and that is his purpose to drive you away from the faith. So if you are in the doubting stage (it won't be for too), just keep this in mind.
I feel something holds me when I get up from my bed (gravity) but I don't see it.
I look at my body and looks so simple from outside and yet so complicated
on the inside.
I look at the plants and trees and see all the fruits and vegetables that
it makes and yet plants and trees do not use it !
I see the beauty of each fruit and how it is shaped and preserved.
I see the sun shines at day and the moon smiles at night and everything
seems motionless, yet we are spinning and the whole universe are in motion.
yet we don't feel it.
I see the sun at the right distance to sustain live on earth !
I feel something blow my hair (air) yet I don't see it.
pray and Ask Jesus with clean heart and He will answer you.
Yes, God exist ...
God is knocking at your door ...
how can you deny with all the miracles that have been happening, and all the visions that have been seen? haven't you ever heard stories of appearances of saints or exorcisms? God most definitely does exist. however, weather he exists or not, think about this.
there are 4 possible outcomes.
lets say you do believe in god.
1) you DO believe in and live by god, and god DOES exist. yay. heaven. you win. +10
2) you DO believe in and live by god, but god DOES NOT exist. oh well. +0
lets say you dont believe in god
3) you DONT believe in and live by god, and gos DOES exist. oh crap. hell. you lose. -10
4) you DONT believe in and live by god, and gos DOES NOT exist. oh well. +0
so if you DO believe in god, you have 1/2 chance heaven, 1/2 chance nothing
however, if you DO NOT belive in god, you have 1/2 chance hell, 1/2 chance nothing.
so would you rather walk the road with half a chance of heaven, or half a chance of hell?
i hope this helped... sorry its kinda messy im not good at writing :(
god bless, and good luck :)
chris
Haha, are you getting Rational Choice at School? This is pretty much Pascal's Wager, I would disregard this as a reason to belief in God. There are more important valid reasons to believe in Him.
But the way I see it is this:
1. He either does exist but I don't feel Him and am doubting Him because He has finally given up on me and has left me. so there is nothing to do really.
2. He either doesn't exist.
I don't know anymore. It's worse everyday. I'm becoming bitter and confused.
don't give up, because in the same way you would be happy to get an email from a long lost friend, you will realise, when you get closer to God that the search was worth it, and even more than worth it.
keep searching, my friend and you have nothing to lose.
Keep trying, its all You can do.
[coptic][ont on pa`svyr - `mmontek `sjom `ntek`iri kehwb[/coptic]
Sometimes you have ulterior motives feeding your doubts, and this is the time to weed them out. Christ said "and the pure in heart shall see God". Perhaps, you can take this time as an opportunity to go deeper into understanding one-self- purifying ones motives- gain single-mindedness and discover God in the way Job did.
Another thing I think I should when I go periods like you are currently now, is to remember the reasons why I believe in Jesus: both the scientific (for instance, the idea of the Natural Law, the Resurrection, the logic of the Gospel to me) and the experiential (ways I have been touched by God, by Christians etc). Maybe, times of doubt show a sinister side to us- one of lack of gratitude?
Perhaps, we need to pray, break out into doxology, read the Bible with more hunger.
Maybe one should read some Christian Apologists? David Marshall, Alvin Platinga, C. S Lewis, Anthony Flew (his new books though) etc.
This is a post to myself as much to any.
GB
It is called "These Things We Believe"
by Fr. Deacon Ezra and it printed by Regina Orthodox Press, INC.
You can read the summery here ...
http://www.reginaorthodoxpress.com/ththwebe.html
I started reading this book and I could not stop reading it ...
I also like to share this video with you.
Now, yes, there are decent people who aren't Christian, but if they had an
opportunity to be Christian they gain so much, and have:
Love, joy,peace,patience,kindness,goodness,faith, gentleness,and self-control,
the Fruit of the Spirit
Think about it; which person have you ever met that had the most peace, the most Grace?
This comes from God. Observe Christians and compare them with others.
...That they may praise your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven (it's a verse from the bible in the agpeya_
We first must believe in God; pray that He will show Himself to us, soften our hearts; it is POSSIBLE.
Seek and you shall find-- God!
+++
I Believe, I don't really like your story. It implies that suffering and your relationship with God are proportional, which they are not (on earth at least, Jesus even said so).
My friend, the Bible clearly states that God reveals himself in nature. To state that studying the Biblical creation is a terrible idea clearly contradicts the book of Romans.
Furthermore, I did not raise nor imply that suffering and a persons relationship with God are proportional.
Can you expand on why studying the Biblical creation is a terrible idea? as I respectfully disagree with your statement.
Romans
1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
1:19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
1:21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
1:23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
1:24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
1:25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. [NKJV]
send me your e-mal and I will e-mail it to you
God blss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWvS1UfXl8k
As an exercise of scientific honesty, I invite everyone to search and have a good look at the scientific discoveries by scientists of the Intelligent Design movement.
and these 3:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/video/ondemand/beginning-was-information/beginning-was-information
I trust everything will be clearer and you will be able to make up your mind.
GBU
Let us imagine for a moment that you decide to be an atheist, and you died. If atheism is true, nothing is going to happen. You will not be around to tell the Christian "I told you so". There will be no "atheist heaven" for those who become atheists! You will simply cease to exist for all eternity. Now, if atheism is false, and here you are standing in front of Christ in all of His glory,.... I cannot imagine how a person in that case would feel like!!! You WILL crap your pants!!! You won't have any intestines in you, or any food, or any thing physical; but you will still crap your pants...!!!!!
Even with a little bit of logic, we can easily say that God exists! The ultiamte question is where did the universe come from??? Almost all scientists agree that the universe began about 13.5 billion years ago in an event known as the Big Bang. Now we can & must ask where did this Big Bang come from! Our options are very few:
1- we can say it came from nothing.
2- we can say it came from an unkown thing " X ".
3- we can say the universe always existed.
4- we can say it came from an eternal, intelligent, personal, all-pwerful being (God).
1 is completly ridiculous! Because from nothing comes nothing!! That one is a no-brainer..!!
2 takes us in infinite circles, because now we have to ask where did " X " come from!
3 is not supported by any modern science. Also, if you understand astronomy & the life of stars, you will see that the day is comming when all hydrogen will be fused up into heavey elements, & no more stars can form. Now if the universe is eternal, than why didn't this already come to pass?? It makes no sense.
4 is our most logical option. I admit, it doesn't make perfect sense either, but you would be retarded if you picked 1,2, or 3!!!
Now, when it comes to biology, it makes no difference how God chose to create us.
We all know that no one discovered how life started. Even comming up with a bunch of organic molecules (miller urey experiment) is like comming up with some nuts & bolts for building an Enzo Ferrari!! Also, we don't know which part of the cell came first. Remember, that a cell needs all of its parts to be functional & to reproduce. Now how did it get all of its complex parts at the same time to function??? How do you get DNA without protiens, and how do you get protiens without DNA?? Short of like what came first the chicken or the egg???! Remember, the Bible is a spiritual book, it was never ment to be scientific. Imagine God telling the early Jews about evolution, electrons, or how cells function!!! The Bible would have been 100 times thicker than it is now!!! God's primary concern is that we love & choose Him, and learn to love & worship Him!
Finally, add up all of the evidence for Christ & you will see that Christianity has the most chance of being true. We cannot come up with a 100% scientific proof that Christianity is true. And this idea comes from the Bible. Hebrews 11:6 says: " 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
What a perfect verse! It almost seems as if the writer of Hebrews knew that in the end many will come & deny the existance of God! It clearly says, those who will find God are only those who truly need Him & are willing to live by faith. It would be even better if you read the whole chapter.
Two points I believe are true:
1- God is a personal eternal being who loves others and wants to have the strongest relationship possible with others. Others meaning you & me.
This is clear from many Bible verses. God could program us like robots to "love & worship" Him, but that would be fake right ?? It is like falling in love with and marrying a mannequin!!! So God created us and gives us free will. As history shows, humans used their free will to kill, hate, steal, trick, love things other than God, do many other things, and to love God. That is how God chooses for Himself a people. He only wants people who truly love Him & want nothing more than to please Him because He deserves it.
2- I am starting to believe that God designed this universe and this life of ours to divide people into two groups: those who choose God, & those who don't. Those who don't choose God do so because they don't care, think He does not exist or care, mad at God because of a tragic moment in their life, have other gods in their lives, or think that science proved the Bible wrong and their is no more need for God. Those people, through some kind of logic, decided they do not need God. We could write all kinds of reasons & ideas as to why people reject God one way or another. But the bottom line is, for those people, God is useless to them.
Now those who choose God do so because they enjoy worshiping Him, love Him, know that they need Him, know that without Him there is no eternal life, know that without Him there is no ultimate justice, they are happy with Him, they love others & are peaceful, and they know that with God, life has a great meaning.
Some even accept God even though they admit that they are not convinced of every thing in the Bible; like the creation account or the flood, or some of the history in the Bible. Those people live and accept God by faith. And that is what God demands of us. The Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith. Need I underline the word "impossible"?
Also, if we look at most of the stories in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we see God tellings us don't trust man, trust Me, obey Me, & live by faith.
This idea also reminds me of the verse that says, " be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelations 2:10".
So we may come across ideas that hurt our faith in God, but we still won't give God up. Because to give Him up means, no eternal life, no meaning in this life, and no true happiness. And that is the primary reason why atheism (an ideology that is rapidly increasing in our secular society) is a hopeless philosophy. Again, atheism is a tragic, hopeless, philosophy that implies that the universe came from nothing, that all of humanity will one day no longer exist, and that our life is nothing more than a 1 in a trillion trillion trillion accident.
So, why would God accept any of the other people who rejected Him even if they were "good people"? Those people do not need God enough. They want everything to be "scientifcally proven" and they want concrete evidence. They refuse to listen to God and live by faith. And our faith is not completely blind. There is evidence for the Christ, you just have to look for it. Another idea is that most people have become used to the idea of us knowing everything. That is not true. There is much we don't know about every thing from history to quantum mechanics.
So it looks like those people don't want God and so they do not deserve to be with Him. They belong in hell.
Now hell for the devil & his angels is all fire and suffering. But just maybe, hell won't be an eternal torture for those "good people". They will simply not have the happiness & the wonderful relationship with God that Christians will have.
Now I also believe God is just & fair. We will have people who have never heard about Christ. Maybe they lived 2000 years BC in China. They had no chance to hear about Christ. Surly God would not treat them the same as He does us. They will be judged by their own moral standard. Maybe also God knows which of them would have accepted Him and which would have rejected Him.
These are some general ideas of topics that could take up many books!
And God has used many people to help bring the Christian message to others.
Remember, the bottom line is, it is your choice. God will never force you to choose Him.
Here is a great website: www.reasonablefaith.org
You can log in for free and read & listen to many important topics in Christianity.
Christ bless!
If you have any questions or other ideas please ask me!!