Week 6 Questions–4th Hour
Question 1…Answer each part of this question to get credit. If you do not respond in detail to each part of the question you will recieve a zero for this week’s posting.
Can you believe that God exists and not end up living with God in Heaven? Why or why not?
Is belief in God’s existence enough to save you? Why or why not?
Can you think of someone who believes that God exists and is destined for Hell? Who? Why are they destined for Hell?
If you believe that God exists, are you destined for eternal life living with God?
Do you think that someone who uses Pascal’s Wager for the existence of God can truly live for God? Why or why not?
Science time…If someone believes that there are environmental issues–is that enough? Why or why not?
After you answer these questions, read James 2:14 – 26. Do not read this scripture first. Make sure you answer the questions above first and then read the scripture to see what God has to say about the matter and then…Write a response to these questions. Did your opinions change or are they all still the same? Why did your opinions change? Or why did they not change?
Question 2…Answer this question in a separate comment, please.
If 2.25g of argon gas is at 25C and 745mmHg, how much volume will it take up?
23 comments Mr. Holt | Blogroll
My viewpoint for the first question is that yes, you can believe that God exists and not end up living with him in Heaven. Simply believing in God does not mean that you are ensured to be with him in heaven when you die. You can believe in God and still live a skewed life at the same time. What I mean by this is that a person could be a serial killer or perhaps a rapist and still believe in God, but because of the type of life they chose to live, they are most likely not going to go to Heaven. They are not going to go to Heaven unless they are truly sorry for their sins and are forgiven by God. This leads me to my next point. I believe that believing in God is enough to save some people but not others. I believe that it can go both ways because if someone believes in God and lives a moderately good life, then I think that would be enough to save them. If someone believes in God and lives a not so good life though, then I do not believe that they would be saved. This person would not be saved because they are basically turning God’s goodness into evil, and so I do not believe that they would be saved in the end unless they are forgiven. The person who just lives a moderate life is not necessarily proclaiming God’s word to the world, but they still aren’t seeking to oppose every aspect of God’s will like the other person. As a result, a person that believes in God’s existence but is still destined for Hell would be a murderer. A murderer can believe that God does exist, but if they do not seek forgiveness, then they are surely destined for Hell. They believe in God, but they obviously do not believe in living a life for him nor do they care enough about living eternally with him in Heaven. Consequently, they become destined for Hell. I think that this answers the next question also because you obviously are not destined for eternal life with God if you believe in him but still live a destructive life at the same time.
I do not think that someone who uses Pascal’s Wager can truly live for God because someone who believe in Pascal’s Wager is only believing in God because of the fact that the chances for a good outcome are better than if they did not believe in him. I think that someone who does indeed believe in Pascal’s Wager is only looking out for their own well being, and so they do not truly care about living their life according to God’s will.
Now for the science part. I do not think that it is enough for someone to just believe that there are environmental issues out there. If they truly believe that there are environmental issues in the world, then it is up to them do something about it. If they want these issues to be fixed, then they have to do what they can in order to fix them. They have to be active in solving the environmental problems rather than just standing by and watching the problems get even worse.
According to the passage, it is not enough for someone to simply believe in God in order to live eternally with him in Heaven. In order to be with God in Heaven, one must believe in him, but they must also act in according to their belief. They must perform God’s will in the world. They must act on their faith in God,rather than only having the faith within their heart. Even after reading this passage though, my own opinion has not changed because I believe that just because someone does not fully act on their belief in God, they are not going to be automatically destined for Hell. This does not mean that they will automatically be destined for Heaven either though, and that is what I think Purgatory is for. They will have to go through Purgatory first before being able to be with God in Heaven, but they will still go to Heaven because of their moderate faith life.
Yes, you can believe that God exists and not end up living in Heaven because you could sin a lot. Some people who believe in God are bad people who sin all the time and they could end up in Hell instead of Heaven.
No, I don’t think God’s existence is enough to save you because in order to be saved by God you need to live a good Christian life the way God would want you to live it. If you belive in God and you sin harmfully everyday of your life, then God probably won’t save you because of all the wrong things you have done. If you want God to save you then you need to ask for His forgiveness and be truly sorry for what you have done.
No, I can’t think of anyone who believes that God exists and is destined for Hell.
Yes, I do believe that since I believe in God that I am destined for eternal life in Heaven because I live a good Christian life. I’m nice to others, I go to Church, and I try to be the best Christian I can be.
No, I don’t think someone who uses Pascal’s Wager for the existence of God can truly live for God because they’re basing God’s existence on which wager is better than the other. You shouldn’t use a wager to decide on whether or not you should believe in God, you should decide for yourself to know whether or not God exists.
No, I don’t think that just because someone thinks there’s environmental issues that they truly exist because you need to know for a fact that they do exist. Just because you think they exist doesn’t mean that they actually do, you need fact and reason to know that there are environmental issues.
After reading James 2:14-26,all of my opinions stayed the same because in order to believe that something or someone exists, then you need to show that they exist.
You could believe that God exists and still end up not living in heaven with God because you could commit serious sins and be in Hell or you could also end up in Purgatory. Our belief in God is not enough because we need to put that faith into action in order to be saved. I really cannot think of someone who believes in God that is destined for Hell. If you believe in God even somewhat at some point your conscience will kick in and you either won’t commit the sin or ask for forgiveness after. I do think though that if you believe in God you will eventually have eternal life with him. I do not think that Pascal’s Wager can be used in this situation because that if “playing it safe” and you are only believing something to save yourself. With science, I do not think that if someone justs believes they are real that that is enough. With things like GW you really need scientific proof and evidence to back up your theories.
#1 continued
Scripture- After reading the scripture, I do not want to change my opinions because I did say that you need to put your faith into action and not just have it.
Yes you can believe that god exist and still not go to heaven, just because you believe in god doesn’t mean that you are automatically saved from going to hell. Believing in god makes it even worse that people do some of the things that they do, just because you are a Christian or a believer in god doesn’t mean your going to hell. For example if you killed someone based on your religious beliefs does that mean that taking someone’s life is justified because of religion? No, murder is murder. Belief in Gods existence is not enough to save you. We believe in many things but that doesn’t mean that are beliefs should justify our actions.
Some slave owners believed in god and they still had slaves and some Christian slave owners thought that they were doing the right thing by having slaves, but we all know that human capitol is wrong. So I would say that they deserve to go to hell.
If someone believe in paschal wagers theory I don’t believe that they are honestly believing in god, they think that belief alone is what will save them, but that’s not true that’s half of the battle, but your actions is the other half
If someone believe that there is environmental problems then yes that is enough environmental problems are things that we can see which is totally different from believing in god and knowing is that enough. Have you ever spoke with god so it’s fair to say that your goodwill will also have a part to do with your judgment day.
In reading James my opinion has not changed on how I feel because its expressing my point of view of what I’m try to say which is that ok you believe but you don’t act as a Christian should and you don’t act like you believe.
I believe that you can believe that God exists and still not end up in heaven because you also have to go to Mass and be a good person to get into heaven. You can’t let terrible people into heaven just beacuse they believe in God. They have to live a good life to get into heaven.
I do not think that belief in God is enough to save you from hell because many people can truly believe in God and be one of the worst people in history. God would never allow these unrepentant people to enter heaven just because they believe in Him.
An example of someone that believes that God exists and is destined for hell is Hitler. He killed millions of innocent people just becasue he was an extreme racist and hated the entire race just because he prejudged them.
If you believe that God exists, you are not necessarily going to go to heaven just because of this. You have a better chance of reaching heaven through believing in God, but it is not guaranteed that you will reach heaven out of faith alone.
If someone uses Pascal’s wager for their reason to believe in God, they are not really believing in God at all because they have no faith in Him, they just want the rewards of “believing”. It is possible, though, for someone to do this if they live good and generous lives, and if they never stray from the path that God has set for them. This is difficult, though, so you should not believ in God just for the rewards because He will see right through you.
It is not enough for someone to just believe that environmental issues are there, they must try to do something to fix these problems, just like it takes good works to get into heaven, not just faith alone. They must get out there and do something about these issues because anybody can believe that they are real, but only a few people do anything about this.
After reading the passage, all of my opinions stayed the same. This passage helped to reinforce all of my opinions, and it gave me direct proof of what I have already stated. This passage said exactly what I said throughout this response, which is that faith alone is not enough to save anyone. It shows that good actions are needed to get into heaven.
Question 1:
There is a definite possibility that you can believe in God and not end up in heaven. I’m not saying that God doesn’t exist, but, if he doesn’t, then a person who believes in God would not go to heaven. They would not go to heaven, because heaven cannot possibly exist without the existence of God.
A person who believes in the existence of God has a better chance at gaining entrance into heaven and spending eternity with God, but that is not an automatic “in.” In order to live hand-in-hand with God eternally, one must live their life the best way they can to be given the opportunity to live with God in paradise.
Pascal’s wager helps people understand the probability of God’s existence, but it in no way guarantees that a person is truly living for God. Every single person in the world can state that they believe God exists. It takes a special type of person to actually live their life thoroughly for God.
It is not enough to believe environmental issues exist. A person must also act to help improve the problem. This same logic applies to the question about God’s existence. To be rewarded by God, you must live your life devoted to God. To improve the environment, you must live your life devoted to improving environmental issues.
After reading the selection from the Bible, my opinions about the questions I have answered above still remain the same. I feel extremely confident with my well thought out answers. The passage stated, “So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.” Without acting on your personal opinions on matters, nothing will matter. It will just be a thought that will be forgotten. We must all act on our opinions to make them matter. Otherwise, none of our efforts will matter at all.
1: You can believe in God and still end up in hell. Believing in him doesn’t automatically make you a saint by any means. You have to earn heaven. Belief alone cannot save your soul.
I don’t think Pascal’s wager can be used to get into heaven. With that, you are more or less cashing into the idea of God for pure benefit. It is not a true belief in him, just the idea of him.
If you mean is that enough for them to exist, then I guess? If you believe in them, then there has to be a reason for your belief meaning there is a problem. If you believe there’s a problem, that is not going to make it go away. You have to work to make it go away and stay away.
I agree with the bible passage. This was exactly what i was trying to say. If you have faith without any effort, it is essentially meaningless.
Yes because it does not only rely on if you believe in God or not that you will get into heaven. How you act and what you do in your life and if you believe in God all effect the final judgment before God. If you were righteous and performed good acts for others you will be able to live with God in Heaven.
The belief in Gods existence is a big part in being saved, but there is more to it. Like a said before, your actions and good deeds that you peformed in your life will help you be saved. How you live your life and the amount of prayer and sacrifice you offered for the Christian religion will help you be saved as well.
I don’t really know anyone that believes in God and is destined to hell because you don’t know if they are. They could be really bad during their life, but they could have a conversion and change their lives and still be saved. God will always forgive you if you truly want forgiveness.
If you believe in God, I think that your pretty much destined for eternal life with God. The only way you can screw it up is if you do bad things in you life, terrible things like murder, adultry and things like that.
I think that if someone uses Pascals wager for the existence of God that they can’t truly live for God. I think that you have to truly believe in him in order to live a true life for him. If you only follow the crowd and thats the only reason you believe in God, then I don’t think that it is a true life for God. You are believing in what the majority believes in. Its not true faith.
I think that if someone believes in environmental issues, that they should do something about them. They should try to fix or help get rid of these environmental issues. It is not enough just to believe in them, you have to do something about them. You can’t just sit there and do nothing.
My opinons did not change. All my opinions said that you have to do something about it and act upon it and that it what these verses in the bible are telling us. If we have faith, but don’t have works then the faith is dead. Same applies to the blog questions. If we believe in God but don’t do anything to express it or show it, it is useless and unmeaningful. That is why we should always act upon things that we believe in and show others what we believe in and our faith.
Yes, you can believe God exsists and still not end up in Heaven. You have to obey the 10 commandments and strive to become more like God and then you will go to Heaven. A belief in God’s exsistance is not enough to save you. You have to take action on your beliefs. That is like saying you believe your car will start, but unless you start it yourself it’s not like anything will actually happen. You can believe God exsists but unless you act upon your beliefs nothing will happen or change. I cannot think anyone is destined for Hell because there are many chances for redemption offered by God to you even if you think a sin you committed is really really really bad. Just believing in God does not mean you are destined for eternal life. Everything is about taking action for your thoughts and beliefs. Someone using Pascal’s Wager can not truly live for God, because they are not really believing in him they are just saying they do incase something good comes out of it.
Just believing there are environmental issues is not enough. You have to take a stand against these issues and also show other people that the issues exsist.
After reading the Scripture passage I still believe everything I just said to be true. My opinions did not change because the passage basically said exactly what I said. There is no point in believing in something if you do not practice it.
I was taught to believe that I have to believe in God to go to Heaven. There is no other way to go to heaven, we have to put our faith in him, and believe there is a God and heaven. No belief in God is not enough to save you because you have to worship him to the highest, and obey the commitments God his giving us, but that’s still not enough. No believe hell is destined for the people who don’t believe in him and don’t obey him and his commitments. No because eternal life is not giving to all people, you are give eternal life if one lives by God and do the things he said to do. No because it can make you believe in God, but not truly live for God. Because Pascal’s Wager is that there no way to prove there is a God. So each person has to choose if there is a God or not. If you believe there is a God and live your life like there is a God, the rewards will be infinite. Pascal says that if there is no God then, you have lost nothing but you gain a good life. So the wager is to believe there is a God. It don’t change my opinion don’t change because like the passage say that you have to have both faith and work to believe in God. You can’t just have faith and think you going to heaven or have work and think you going to heaven. It goes both ways, work and faith.
1. A person can fully believe that God exists and still not end up in heaven. They must also live their lives in the way that God would want them too. They must follow all of the commandments and go to church; faith alone will not bring them fully to the kingdom of God. There a lot of people who can believe in God and still be destined for Hell. Such as, If a person has sinned mortally and never had that forgiven. There are also the people like Hitler who may believe that there is a God, but do not act upon that belief and live their lives in that way.
If you believe in God you are on your way to eternal life with him. Of course, as I have stated above you must do a lot more than just believe in it.
I do not think that a person who only believes in God for the reasons stated in Pascal’s Wager. They must fully believe from their hearts and not just say they believe for the convenience of it. You are not living your life for God if you believe in it this way, you are just living your life in the hopes that at the end of the world that belief will give you something in return. This is not a bad thing to believe in and want, but true faith requires a lot more than that.
This goes right along with the environmental issues of this time. If you believe they are there that is a good start, but much more needs to be done. If everyone felt obliged only to just believe in the issues then no proposals to fix problems, solutions, or work will be done on the improvement of society and the earth.
This passage only enhances my answers above even more. A person must do something along with believing to be truly living for God.
I believe that it is possible that even if you do believe in God that you still may not make it into heaven. Just because you say you believe in God does not get you and automatic ticket to heaven. If a person does not live their life the way God wants them to and just talks the talk then most likely they will go to hell. and honestly i can not think of a specific person who says that believe in God but will be going to tell. Most everybody i know who says they believe in god lives a pretty good life. people who believe in god because of pascals wager will most likely not go to heaven in my opinion because they are believing in god because it is the logical thing to do not because they are making the choice to put their faith in God. also just because some one believes that there is environmental issues is not enough. Ok they have recognized the problem but now they have to take action on it otherwise it is worthless because if a million people say ya our enviroment needs work and dont do anything the environment will continue to detiorate.
After reading James 2:14 – 26 my opinions have not changed. i think that your actions on your faith in God is what will get you into heaven.
1.Yes, you can believe in God and still end up in Hell. If you believe in God but do not do anything in your life to prove it, or show other people the word of God you may not go to Heaven. Christians should not live in hiding they should spread the word of God.
2.No, you must prove to God and show him what you are willing to do for him before you are saved.
3.Yes, you can believe in Pascals Wager because all it is saying is that their may be God and their may not be, but if you believe your good any way.
4.No, if you know there is an environment problem then you must do something you need to spread the word so people know and understand.
5. My opinions stayed the same because i feel that the scripture I read was similar to my answer.
I agree with Lauren because she used some good examples like believing that your car can start won’t literally make it start. I also liked that she mentioned the many chances of redemption that God offers to us, which give us a chance to get into heaven, even though we have sinned.
I agree with what Tommy said about heaven being something you struggle for. People often think that heaven is handed to you for believing in God, but it is so much more than that. In order to truly earn heave, you must work hard and model your life to that of Jesus.
I agree with Scott. He speeks the truth. If you say one thing but don’t put it into action, then it is worthless. You have to work to get to Heaven.
I agree with Steve. I was taught to believe in God and then you could go to heaven. We have to have faith and believe that God and eternal life in heaven exists because that is what we work for our whole lives. I was taught this and this is what I grew up in believing. Those who don’t believe in God, don’t automatically go to hell, but it is harder for them the get to heaven.Depends on how they lives their lives, but it is harder because they don’t have God helping them because they don’t believe in him.
I agree with Scott because I also believe that you cannot just talk the talk in order to get into heaven and live eternally with God. You cannot simply say that you believe in the existence of God and automatically be destined for Heaven. I do not believe that you necessarily have to go out into the world and proclaim God’s message to people, but I do believe that you have to live a moderately good life. You cannot expect to make it into Heaven while living a negative life, even if you do believe in God’s existence. You must live a life in a positive manner, and if you do, I truly believe that will be enough to live with God forever.
I agree with Laura and what she said about Purgatory because I did not even take that into consideration but it is very true. Some people can go to Heaven and some people can go to Hell but also God can bring people to Purgatory and then later decide. Also I believe that with anything in science you can usually find facts to back up your beliefs. Thank you Laura, for having such a wonderful answer.
i agree with caitlin, just because you believe in god does not mean you are gaurenteed a spot in heave there are people who have committed crimes and base it on there religious views that doesnt mean that the crime no longer exist just because they felt they were doing what god wanted.
I agree with Jake because your faith alone in God will not save you. Like he said we need to do things like go to church every Sunday to receive grace.
i agree with tom paul
he makes a good point when he says that you have to prove to God that you should go to heaven, and just saying you believe in him is enough. I also liked his way of prooving to God that he believed in him would be by spreading the word which i thought was very interesting and true.