QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD - Fellowship Baptist Church

Life’s Most Basic Questions

Why Do I Exist? Does My Life Really Have Any Significance
Is There A God? And If So, Where Is He And What Is He Up To?
Am I Unique? Do I Have Any Real Value?
Why Is Life So Unfair? And Why Do Bad Experiences Happen To Me?
Why Do I Feel So Alone? And Why Don’t I Have Any Real Friends?
Why Don’t I Do What I Know I Should? My Actions Tend To Betray My Intentions!
Is There Life After Death? What About My Future? Where Will I Go When I Die?

Why Do I Exist? Does My Life Really Have Any Significance?
If you are reading this, then you are a representative of the human dimension and you wrestle, as we all do, with the great questions of life. What in the world is life all about anyway? What are we doing spinning around on this planet at almost 1,100 miles per hour, tilted at a 23 degree axis? Why aren’t we flying off into the universe? What force is keeping the members of this global village earthbound? Is gravity really all there is to believe in? Certainly, all of us have asked ourselves these questions. Most of the human race are card-carrying members of the “Search for the Meaning of Life Club.” Pondering the questions of the human dilemma and struggling for the right answers in a world that seems bent on hiding the truth about the here, the now, and the hereafter seem common to us all. The fact is, many do not know why they are here and what they are here for. They are living a meaningless life, simply existing. What a sad way to live! There is more to live for than simply satisfying the physical and even intellectual needs of the body and mind. The God Who created you fully expects you to live your life for a higher purpose than just pleasing yourself. He wants you to glorify Him. The Bible says these words,

“That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:6).

You are so important to God that He invites you to have a personal relationship with Him. The Bible tells us that God has a wonderful purpose for each and every life. That purpose begins with experiencing God’s love—and at that moment—being made into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Here is how the Bible says it,

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:28-29).

You and I were created to bear the image of Jesus Christ and to make the truth of God known to all men. When Jesus was on the earth, He called His disciples to become a part of an incredible mission. That mission was finding men whose lives had no meaning — men who were cut off from God through sin — and restoring them to a loving relationship with their Creator. You have a reason to exist — a wonderful cosmic purpose for life — and you can achieve direction in life by connecting with Jesus Christ. He will give you a reason to exist — a significant purpose for living.

Is There A God? And If So, Where Is He And What Is He Up To?
God is where He has always been and He is doing what He has always done. He is looking for you. God has been trying to connect with you long before you pondered the question of His existence. The truth is, you have been experiencing the negative consequences of alienation from God all your life. Every person who exists outside of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is suffering from the absence of God syndrome, which displays itself in fear, guilt, and loneliness. Those who have not experienced the forgiveness of God are doomed to wander through time cut off from the vital life that only God can give.

Where is God? He is nearer to you than you can possibly imagine. You and I are no different than Adam and Eve, who, after disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, for the first time in their lives experienced fear, guilt, and alienation from God. They ran and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:1-13). God came looking for them, but they were hiding in the trees, afraid to speak to Him. However, God loved His creation and knew that something must be done if the fellowship between them was to be restored. God looked for them; they certainly were not looking for God. In the same way, God has been searching for you all your life to love you and have a relationship with you. The Bible teaches us that God is very near to each of us. In the book of Acts it is recorded that He is

“not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28).

What is God doing? He is extending His grace (loving favour) to every man who will receive it through His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible records these words,

“being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

God is looking for people, like you, who are seeking the meaning of life. He is willing to extend His love to you for all of eternity if you will look to Him by faith and allow Him to forgive you of your sin. The Bible says it this way,

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

God does exist and He is pursuing you. He loves you and desires for you to know Him and experience the joy of His presence.

Am I Unique? Do I Have Any Real Value?
Not only do you have a reason for your life on this planet, but you also are a very unique and valuable person. You are a precise individual, tailor-made by the great Designer. You are God’s special creation. Before you were formed in the womb, the Bible tells us that God was already involved in the shaping of your life. Here is what the Bible says,

“You knit me together in my mothers womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained to me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-14, 16)

God made you who you are. You are not a product of some random evolutionary process. Think it through — there are billions of people on this planet and you are the only one with your fingerprints and DNA structure. Furthermore, if the DNA strands from your body were stretched out in sequence, they would reach to the sun and back (93 million miles) 400 times. You are a complex, unique individual!

When Jesus Christ was on this earth 2,000 years ago, He prayed to God the Father,

“to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:23).

The Son of God wanted you to know that God the Father wants to love you just like He loves His own Son. That’s amazing and it makes you very special.

Why Is Life So Unfair? And Why Do Bad Experiences Happen To Me?
Life is full of trouble and there are days of heartache. That’s a fact. Life is painful. For some people it seems as if each day is like being in a torture chamber - it is agonizing. If we dwell on the injustices of life, it will eventually lead us to bitterness. One of the reasons many of us struggle with the question of “Why is life so unfair?” is because we do not understand that this earth is not the land of the living, it is the land of the dying. All around us there is disease, death, and sadness. The Bible teaches us that we live on a planet that is suffering from the after-effects of sin. When you understand this, it changes your perspective about life and things begin to make sense. You realize that this life is simply the proving ground that is preparing you for life in eternity. Yes, life is short and unfair, yet the Bible tells us that God loves us and wants to share His love with us for all of eternity. The Bible puts it this way,

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:3-7)

If you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, then what you have in this life is not what you get. God has a wonderful plan to make all the injustices you have experienced in this life right. In God’s eternal kingdom there will be no more suffering and pain. You will experience life the way God really intended it to be. The Bible records these words about the end of all suffering,

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

Life is brief, but eternity — endless time spent in Heaven — will never end and there are no bad experiences there.

Why Do I Feel So Alone? And Why Don’t I Have Any Real Friends?
Making genuine friends is one of the real struggles of life. Why are friends so fleeting? Why do I feel so alone most of the time? In answer to that question, the Bible clearly states that God invites us to become His friend through the sacrifice of His own Son. John’s gospel says

“Greater love hath no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if ye do what I command you. I no longer call you servants; because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:13-15)

God never intended for you to be lonely or isolated from others. Just the opposite is true. God invites you to discover the end of all loneliness in a personal relationship with Him. When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you become part of God’s family of believers all over the world. He calls you into community with all Christians. This community of genuine friendships is based on respect, love and forgiveness—which is what our relationship with God is based upon. God offers His all-encompassing love to all who know Him as personal Savior and Lord. The Bible says,

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3b)

Imagine being a personal friend of God. Maybe that seems impossible, but I assure you it is not. You can become an intimate friend of the God of the universe. It begins the day you find forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. You don’t have to feel lonely; God wants to be your friend.

Why Don’t I Do What I Know I Should? My Actions Tend To Betray My Intentions!
If you are honest, you will admit that you have suffered personal failures. If you say you haven’t, you are only fooling yourself. Every human being does the wrong thing at times, even though he fully intended to do the right thing. Why do you say things that hurt others and do things that damage your credibility and integrity? The Bible gives us clear guidance on this subject. You cannot do what you know you should because you were born with a sin nature. The Bible says,

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

The sinful nature which you inherited is what qualifies you as a member of the human race, but it also means you need a Savior. Jesus Christ came to give you the ability to overcome your tendency to sin. When a person receives Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he receives a new nature. The Bible tells us,

“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:4)

This new nature is God living in you. The new nature is spiritual, but you still have your old nature, which is fleshly: it still wants to do the wrong thing. However, now you have a choice. You can choose to follow God’s way and experience life and peace to its extreme fullest. The Bible puts it this way,

“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6).

This does not mean that you will become perfect. It does mean that after you receive Jesus Christ as Savior, you have the God-given ability to do what is right. The conflict is still there, but the divine nature of God is also there to empower and guide you.

Is There Life After Death? What About My Future? Where Will I Go When I Die?
Where do people go when they die? Do they just cease to exist? Do humans possess a soul that will live on forever? People like yourself wonder about these questions every day. The truth is you are a living soul and God has devised a plan whereby you can spend your eternity with Him in the life to come. This plan involves your decision to believe in Jesus Christ with all of your heart and soul. Jesus said,

“I am the resurrection, and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in my will never die.” (John 11:25-26).

Jesus made it very clear that there are not numerous ways to get to Heaven, but only one way — He is the way. The Bible records Jesus’ words this way,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

God is offering you eternal life. The Bible says,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God loves you! In fact, He loves you so much that His only Son, Jesus, died on a Roman cross to pay your sin debt, was buried in a tomb for three days, and came to life again on the third day, proving His power over death. Death no longer reigns because of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that sin (disobedience to God’s will) has separated us from God and condemned us to Hell. However, God offers eternal life to us as a free gift through Jesus Christ. The Bible puts it this way,

“the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Does this make sense to you? If it does, wouldn’t you like to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you are willing to put your faith in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your own personal Lord and Savior, you need to pray. The Bible says,

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13).

Why not tell God right now in your own words that you are sorry for your sin and that you believe Jesus Christ died for you and rose from the grave. Tell God that you are receiving Him right now as your personal Savior. Tell Him you accept His forgiveness from sin and by faith receive the eternal life He has provided for you. Tell God you want Him to be your leader and the Lord of your life. Tell Him that you are willing to surrender your life to Him and follow His leadership.

If you trust Christ as your Savior, death and sin will no longer reign and you will live forever in heaven