Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
I Don't Care if God is Real or Not!
There are some who claim they just don’t care. They don’t care if God is real or not. They don’t care if others want to believe or not. They don’t care because they simply don’t feel its important enough to worry about it. But where exactly is the intelligence in that stance?
The question at hand then is, “what if?”
What if God is real? Then when you die and you are faced with the ultimate punishment of suffering in a lake of fire forever, I guarantee you will care then! Keep in mind, its not just for a few hours of suffering and then it ends. Not for a few years. It’s forever! A never ending agony of suffering, and why? All because you couldn’t be bothered to really consider whether God was real or not. Then when you are suffering and you are begging God for mercy, I ask you this, why should God care? If you couldn’t find it in you to care whether He was real or not, why should God care if you are suffering or not?
Look, we are not talking about the possibility of a reprimand here. We are talking about your eternal soul. Do you believe you even have a soul? If you do, how can you not care where it will end up after you die? Even if you believe it is only remotely possible you have a soul, just the slight possibility should mean it would be worth looking into.
Do you want a reason to care?
There are literally millions of Christians in the world who have experienced the presence of God in their life. A loving presence that is so powerful they simply broke down weeping. There are countless testimonies where people who were angry and hateful people had turned to Christ and instantly became kind and compassionate people. Not a handful and not a few hundred of them. Not even only a few thousand, but literally millions of people have been truly changed by God. How do you explain that?
It simply is not logical to think that millions of people all over the world would lie and make that up when they have nothing to gain in doing so. Especially when they believe lying is a sin to begin with. Are there some who lie about it? Most certainly, but all of them? Millions? Not a chance!
It’s even more illogical to think they are all crazy. Millions of people going crazy and having the same experiences? And when have you ever heard of people going crazy and becoming better human beings?
The only other possibility would be they were all brain washed. Really? Millions of people brain washed? To truly brain wash someone, you have to do something akin to mentally torturing them over a period of time. You don’t just speak to them for a little while and brain wash them. It just doesn’t work that way.
The truth is, there are millions of people who have experienced God’s loving presence in their lives. There are countless who have been changed by God. They are not crazy. They are not brain washed. They certainly are not all lying. The vast majority of them are telling the truth. If that is enough evidence to convince you that it is even possible that God is real, then you have every reason to care about where your soul will end up when you die. Because almost everyone who has had those experiences were Christians. Not Islamic, not Buddhist and not any other religion. 99.9% of them are Christians. So if Christians are the ones who God reveals Himself to on a regular basis, then it is their beliefs that are more than likely correct. That means Hell and Heaven are real. That means you have every reason to care about where your soul will end up.
The simple fact is, when you die, it will be too late to care. Your salvation is completely dependent upon your belief while you are alive. Not after you die. If you are not absolutely certain what happens to you after you die, then as far as you know, anything can be true. Which means that Hell very well can be a reality whether you care or not. Not caring will not change whether it is real or not. As long as it is even remotely possible that hell is real, it should logically be the most important thing in your life to look into.
Think of it this way. If hell is real and all it takes for you to avoid literally suffering for all eternity, is to spend a little effort learning the truth, how foolish would you be to ignore it?
The question at hand then is, “what if?”
What if God is real? Then when you die and you are faced with the ultimate punishment of suffering in a lake of fire forever, I guarantee you will care then! Keep in mind, its not just for a few hours of suffering and then it ends. Not for a few years. It’s forever! A never ending agony of suffering, and why? All because you couldn’t be bothered to really consider whether God was real or not. Then when you are suffering and you are begging God for mercy, I ask you this, why should God care? If you couldn’t find it in you to care whether He was real or not, why should God care if you are suffering or not?
Look, we are not talking about the possibility of a reprimand here. We are talking about your eternal soul. Do you believe you even have a soul? If you do, how can you not care where it will end up after you die? Even if you believe it is only remotely possible you have a soul, just the slight possibility should mean it would be worth looking into.
Do you want a reason to care?
There are literally millions of Christians in the world who have experienced the presence of God in their life. A loving presence that is so powerful they simply broke down weeping. There are countless testimonies where people who were angry and hateful people had turned to Christ and instantly became kind and compassionate people. Not a handful and not a few hundred of them. Not even only a few thousand, but literally millions of people have been truly changed by God. How do you explain that?
It simply is not logical to think that millions of people all over the world would lie and make that up when they have nothing to gain in doing so. Especially when they believe lying is a sin to begin with. Are there some who lie about it? Most certainly, but all of them? Millions? Not a chance!
It’s even more illogical to think they are all crazy. Millions of people going crazy and having the same experiences? And when have you ever heard of people going crazy and becoming better human beings?
The only other possibility would be they were all brain washed. Really? Millions of people brain washed? To truly brain wash someone, you have to do something akin to mentally torturing them over a period of time. You don’t just speak to them for a little while and brain wash them. It just doesn’t work that way.
The truth is, there are millions of people who have experienced God’s loving presence in their lives. There are countless who have been changed by God. They are not crazy. They are not brain washed. They certainly are not all lying. The vast majority of them are telling the truth. If that is enough evidence to convince you that it is even possible that God is real, then you have every reason to care about where your soul will end up when you die. Because almost everyone who has had those experiences were Christians. Not Islamic, not Buddhist and not any other religion. 99.9% of them are Christians. So if Christians are the ones who God reveals Himself to on a regular basis, then it is their beliefs that are more than likely correct. That means Hell and Heaven are real. That means you have every reason to care about where your soul will end up.
The simple fact is, when you die, it will be too late to care. Your salvation is completely dependent upon your belief while you are alive. Not after you die. If you are not absolutely certain what happens to you after you die, then as far as you know, anything can be true. Which means that Hell very well can be a reality whether you care or not. Not caring will not change whether it is real or not. As long as it is even remotely possible that hell is real, it should logically be the most important thing in your life to look into.
Think of it this way. If hell is real and all it takes for you to avoid literally suffering for all eternity, is to spend a little effort learning the truth, how foolish would you be to ignore it?