I'm a 15 year old guy who goes to church and worships god, but beside that i always feel like what ever i do is useless and a waste of time becuase its not like we ever look back at all the memories when were in heaven so its like why do good in school cause where your dead and in heaven its not like any of that is still there...........idk, do any of you know what i kind of mean, like when were in heaven its not like we will remember the time at the movies with friends or anything....I'm reading a book and the more i think about it, its like why even read it, when i'm gone it wont matter what i did when i was alive.

What matters is that you are of great worth to God as His arms and legs of love in the body of Christ. The Bible says that we are created for good works - to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and give shelter to even the stranger. That's a lot of responsibility, but we do not have to do it alone. The Lord is our head and is always with us.

EPHESIANS 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to DO GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

HEBREWS 10:24 And let us consider one another how to stimulate and provoke one another to love an, GOOD DEEDS and noble activities. 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

MATT. 25:31-45 When the Son of Man comes in his glory....He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.....Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil & his angels. For I was hungry & YOU gave ME nothing to eat, I was thirsty & YOU gave ME nothing to drink, I was a stranger & YOU did not invite ME in, I needed clothes and YOU did not clothe ME, I was sick and in prison, and YOU did not look after ME.". "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

To keep it simple, which makes it even that more profound, I would tell them it was God coming to man in the body of man so that He could save us from our mistakes and from death.

God is not limited to the frame of man but transcends man and the limitations of man. From the begining of the Bible, starting in Genesis, God refers to Himself as plural - more than just one in person, but one God.

Genesis 1:26 ¶  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Ge 11:7  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

If God had use for more than three, He could be so, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are what He has revealed to us and they are for our benefit, as it was the Father that resurrected the Son and the Son that gave us the Holy Spirit.

This question came up in our family recently, and after thinking about it for a long time I came to the same conclusion as the original poster. It seems that fire would be a clean way of disposal of the old body, but none of the others in the Bible did it this way. Part of me says it doesn't matter, but the fother says it does.... It's too bad that the world has so many rules, regulations, and leaches - making it so very expensive to bury a loved one.

I've been thinking about this topic for a couple of years now. It's always bothered me when I thought about it.

How could God create us?

I don't mean this literally, but it doesn't make sense to me when I think of the consequences that occure because God created to universe.

If even one of the entire human species had to go to hell, would it be worth it to even create humans?

God knew when he created the universe that he would have to create hell, not by his choice but by ours. But why make it at all if he knew that some of his children would spend eternity without him, in agony and regret?

It's been a stumbling block for me this past year, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me out on this question.

I hope my wording was understandable, I'll put it in different words if some aren't understanding what I'm trying to say.

~Thanks

God had to create the darkness in order that the light could be seen, the same as a master painter cannot paint everything in white. The darkness gives definition, outline, and the colors character to the masterpiece. How would the Son's of God shine forth if not for the darkness they shine out of? The risk God took was giving choice, if it could be loosely be considered risk, and those that choose evil or the dark over the light have participated in their own demise and place themselves with satan in the lake of fire.
God still has this loving heart towards His creation in man, but will not supercede man's will, although he knows our choice before we make it. He stands outside of time, and His perspective sees the begining to the end at the time of eternity which is "now". Those that He has seen from the womb as evil, such as Pharoah, God can move them to hardness so that His glory can be known, in that "all things work together for good; to those that love God and are the called according to His purpose". (Romans 8:28)
In my opinion, the choice given in the garden of Eden was where God made man the object of His love, as special in all His creation for fellowship as family. Our short stay in this earth is where we develope and learn Agape love, faith, and commitment towards God. Our characters in faith are refined and brought forth a pure gold - precious to God.
Your reference to His children - remember when Jesus told some that they were of their father the devil? Because God has given us life does not make us His children. He has given us the power to become Sons of God -

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Joh 8:44  For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Pe 3:9  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.

Ro 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

With study and understanding there is nothing different from God's plan from the Old to the New Testaments. The promise was fulfilled and made complete in Messiah - Jesus. All peoples and nations of the earth are still blessed by God's chosen people and the promise given to Abraham, the father of our faith. It is very interesting to go back and read the blessings Jacob gave each of the tribes of Israel and to note who gets the "firstborn" blessings, receiving the double portion which is Ephraim and who represents the Church today. We are all still grafted into the root of Abraham in order to receive the promise of a Messiah, Jesus.

Ro 4:13  It is clear, then, that God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God’s law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.

Ro 4:16  So that’s why faith is the key! God’s promise is given to us as a free gift. And we are certain to receive it, whether or not we follow Jewish customs, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

Ro. 9:25  Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, "Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before."
26  And, "Once they were told, ‘You are not my people.’ But now he will say, ‘You are children of the living God.’"

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Mal 3:6  "I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed.

Jas 1:17  Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven’s lights. Unlike them, he never changes or casts shifting shadows.

Here's another verse that mentions God's pleasure.

Re 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Even the devil has to ask permission. The devil is fooled and thinks he can win, but God uses satan's darkness in contrast to His own light.
Examine and meditate on Romans 9:22. What masterpiece painting can be done if it is all white? It is the darkness and black that gives definition to the light and glory of God. Even the greatest crime of darkness ever done, crucifying the innocent Jesus, was used to good for those Sons revealed, that love God and respond to the His call. The are revealed against that backdrop of darkness as lights shining in the night. The darkness gives definition and the colors character to the masterpiece of God's creation. Indeed, God created Lucifer and knew by His foreknowledge of the evil that would come of it. To deny His foreknowledge of these things is folly, and because He created evil doesn't mean that He does evil anymore than Him creating man makes Him a liar. God does not lie and does not do evil. He makes all things, including evil, work together for good to those that love Him and are the called according to His purpose - again, God's perspective that we are to respect.
We examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
There is no need to translate Isaiah 45:7 into something that is not plain. God knows how creation works and the plan He has in creating and using evil so that He could reveal His glory and the Sons of God could be fashioned and revealed is working. People always ask why did God allow evil....well, Romans 9:22 answers the question., and He will only suffer its existence until all the Sons of God have been revealed and then it will be done away with forever - thrown into the lake of fire with death. I read that there will be no darkness after satan and death are gone forever.

Romans 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Ro 8:28  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.

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
2Co 7:15  And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

I know that God created us, but why did he put us on earth?  And if he is all knowing, then why did he allow Adam and Eve to fall?  What is the purpose?

God created us for fellowship. He walked and talked with Adam in the cool of the evening. God created evil as a defining contrast to His light. No artist can paint a masterpiece with all white. There has to be black for definition and color for character. The evil came about by choice being given and risked by God in the choices given in His creation of lucifer and then using that evil to provide Adam a choice to obey or disobey in the Garden of Eden. God wanted true love and fellowship from His special creation in man, and could not force us to obey or to love Him. Who has heard of love that is forced or robotic being satisfying? Through man's fall, God has been able to show us redeeming love and had planned ahead through and by His omniscinece to redeem us with the lamb slain before the foundations - Jesus. God suffers the existence of evil until all who will be revealed have come to Him and then it will be done away with forever along with all that follow after it.
Although God created evil, He does not do evil, but uses it to reveal Himself to His creation - that contrast of evils darkness flees before the light of His holiness and light of truth. Evil thinks it wins victories, such as the crime of ages when Jesus died innocent at the cross, but look at the glorious result - salvation for mankind and resurrection of Jesus as the firstborn of many brethren.

Ro 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Isaiah 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Re 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Ro 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

I see no reason to limit God in any ability to communicate the truth to us in the scriptures. By faith, I trust that God is able to suspend and keep Jonah in the whale for three days. the same as Jesus was three days in the belly of the earth and rose to new life.

Matthew 12:39  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41  The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Ezra, chapter ten, also provides another witness about seperating from unbelievers that all the Israelites were to do.

Jonah was stubborn and prejudice. God changed his mind. There are many lessons to be learned from the literal text. Ninevites were noted for these heartless tortures of other nations and to be fierce warriors. Evidently they believed in God because they repented, as a nation, when Jonah finally obeyed God and preached repentance to them.
Yep, God will shade you from the sun with a flower, but He isn't beyond kicking us in the behind when we need a boost to get up and get at it...

Well, as usual, I hit the 1%. I believe that predestination and freewill are both true and they only become untrue when we put ourselves in God's perspective. He is in eternity and sees the whole picture from beginning to end....we don't. From our end, it's free will, from His, He can use evil to bring about good because He already know that they have chosen wickedness and He see it in them from the womb. HOw does He know this..?...well He is God.
I used to be full Calvinist until I saw a plain choice given in the garden, and I began to understand why God had created evil. Without evil as a defining contrast, God's power and glory would never be known to His creation.

Ro 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Isaiah 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

An Israeli friend of mine informed me that the large majority of Israelis are atheists (atheism = disbelief in our Creator, which is the most base and backwards attitude anyone could possibly have).  Based upon your definition, this would mean that the majority of today's Israelis are not Jewish.

I'm not sure why you are getting this from my definition of Israel. If you read the old testament you find that Israel was the name of Jacob given to Him by an angel he wrestled with and demanded a blessing. Jacob, son of Isaac, then went on to father the sons who would all be the tribes of Israel. These 12 sons then divided the land of Israel and lived in their seperate portions of the country. The boundaries are given by God in the book of Genesis of where Israel was to be, and it was much bigger than it is now. The book that I gave the link for in another thread goes into depth about who Israel is, for those interested to know. It was fascinating to see how God used ALL of Israel to bring salvation to all mankind. This included all the tribes of Israel and not just the one tribe most people associate Israel with - the Jews, named after their father and son of Jacob, Judah. Israel has 12 other tribes, and following the stories of the old testament, we see that Israel had a civil war brought on by the sons of David and Israel split into two kingdoms with seperate kings. THe kingdom to the north was called Israel, and the kingdom to the south was called Judah. From here on, God dealt with each tribe seperately, with different prophecies and punishments.

The Israel that exists today is in no way similar to the old Israel, other than it is roughly located the same geographic area.  Perhaps "Israel" should be seen as more of a conceptual place, to be used more as a figurative term for a land where God is properly revered by the spiritual sons of Abraham.

Well, that may be your idea, but God plans to fully restore the physical Israel, complete with tribal borders right after armageddon and the milliniel kingdom is established with Jesus reign of 1000years with the saints as judges. Just as we are physical and spiriual, so is Israel.  

There was the old covenant in the Old Testament, but did not Jesus come to establish a new covenant for all mankind?  Would people be excluded from this covenant just because they do not accept it?

Well, ofcourse all mankind is blessed through this covenant to Abraham and God's chosen people. Even God's first promise to Abraham was that his seed would be a many nations or "hamon goyim" in Hebrew which means multitudes of Gentiles. So even from the begining, the promise was to Gentiles too.
There is no exclusion for any that want to come to God through His door in Jesus, but remember Jesus was a fulfillment of Gods plan that started back in Genesis and goes through the Old Testament all the way to the cross. The heritage we have is rich to discover, but why you would think understanding the Old Testament would exclude anybody has to be from something somebody else would say. Not me.
This covenant has not changed, Look at who the new covenant is to in this verse in the New Testamnet:

Hebrews 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

I am not trying to start any mean spirited arguments or anything.  I am only trying to understand.

Me either, I want people to be blessed, but reading the book would help you see these verses in scripture and Who Israel is. It is physical and spiritual, just as we are. Romans seven tells us about the root of Abraham and the grafted in branches. We are told to not boast against the natural branches.
Jesus said He came back to find the lost sheep of Israel and that they would know His voice. Are you one of the lost sheep of Israel that heard His voice? Probably none of us know how far back our bloodline goes and whether or not if we might be distantly related to one of the lost tribes of Israel that went into captivity and were absorbed by the Gentile nations to emerge as a mighty warrior nation that would protect their brother Judah in the last days. God never loses track of His "firstborn", and the head of the "firstborn" was the leader tribe of the house of Israel when it went into captivity - Ephraim. They were lost, but now are found, just as we are. Lost and found. Those who were "loammi", not my people, have become "sons of the living God" - just as we. Here's that link again if interested: http://www.aarons-advocates.org/BACONT.html   God bless...

Hosea 1:9  Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
10  Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Matthew 15:24  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

John 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

I agree.  That's why people shouldn't confuse today's Israel with yesteryear's.  

Well, actually they are when examining the scriptures closely because God never breaks a covenant and has not nor never will.  The covenant is still to the two houses of Israel and to all those that are grafted in. Dis you read my post and understand it? Most people have been taught replacement theology, but it isn't true. Even the New Testament talks of the Better covenant being to the two houses of Israel in Hebrews 8:8. The houses split after Solomons reign with two kings for Israel. One house, called Israel was headed by the tribe of Ephraim - and the other house was Judah, headed by the house of Judah.

Hebrews 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

I know I've pasted this verse many times with others about how scripture tells us that God hasn't changed a bit from the begining,  in whom there is no variableness sor shadow of turning, concerning His covenant. The book explains this and if your interested, read it, and then we can better discuss. The link makes it available for free.
Nothing has been replaced nor lost with God.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.