Posted on 09/27/2010 1:34:18 PM PDT by marbren
Your perspective is a familiar one.
However . . . I suggest that
NOTHING
in your ENTIRE life experience . . . NOTHING, ZIP, NADA, 0.00000000000000000000000000000000% OF ANYTHING
has
EVER
DEMONSTRATED TO YOU
THAT
one can safely, successfully [and certainly NOT wisely]
PRESUME
to dictate to a greatly higher ranking entity
what that entity MUST do
to comply with
YOUR EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR RELATIONSHIP.
Yet, you persist in demanding that God conform to your expectations and requirements for relationship.
Curious, that.
NOTHING in your experiences suggests that would be a successful strategy.
Yet you persist with it as though it is somehow, oddly,
your “divine” right.
I’m sure God’s VERY impressed with your cheek.
HINT:
ALMIGHTY GOD
DICTATES
the terms and manner of RELATIONSHIP.
Or . . . as Bill Cosby says . . .
NOAH, HOW LONG CAN YOU TREAD WATER?
and as God says to Job . . .
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?
Cut it out.
You know what I’m saying. We have chatted in the past.
Answer like a man.
BTW, He doesn’t show HIS face to mortals.
Even Moses only got to see, in Moses’ mortal state, the ‘back part’ of God’s GLORY . . . whatever that mysteriously means.
On the other hand, Christ said those who’ve seen Christ, have seen The Father . . . whatever that means in precise terms.
Interesting article World leaders flock to Afghanistan on this page
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1432.htm
There are things we will never know.
There are things we can never know.
Mathematically, there are things that are true that will never be proved, there are universes we will never see or touch.
But I need something, OK? Maybe he can’t or won’t land on the White House lawn.
Then he can land at the supermarket parking lot. Somewheres.
Something to believe that is real and concrete and has meaning and follows some kind of karma logic and is not idle fantasy.
And the sad fact is aliens, if they show up, will only prove I am even closer to the ants that live in my yard than I thought... not closer to God.
How about this.
I have found that God is almost always willing to meet us part way.
HOWEVER, IT’S ALWAYS STILL ESSENTIALLY ON HIS TERMS, IN HIS WAY, IN HIS TIMING.
PLEASE CONSIDER
asking Him
TO MAKE HIMSELF REAL TO YOU IN TERMS YOU CAN TRUST AND MAKE SOME USEFUL SENSE OUT OF.
Now the trust will involve some faith.
HE HAS DECLARED THAT IS A REQUIREMENT FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, TO PLEASE HIM.
HE WILL NOT REMOVE THAT PRIORITY.
However, He certainly knows we are but flesh and quite flawed in our capacities to apprehend Him in a functional way. He is virtually always willing to meet us part way
AS LONG AS we recognize HIS being Almighty God in terms of authority, rights, etc.
Otherwise, there is no order, all is meaningless chaos.
I would not guess how long He might take to respond.
He tends to do so when we least expect it and in ways we least expect.
THEN we have a choice—to accept the evidence, or not.
It is usually not emphatic undeniable proof. He requires too much faith to totally remove all need for faith.
However, HE DOES, IS VERY GOOD AT providing SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE, SUFFICIENT FOUNDATION for faith in ways very tailor made to our unique person and experiences.
I will certainly pray accordingly.
I will ask Him to touch you in the area of your deepest need, your deepest longing, your specific unique personality in ways that only He could know.
Others will be praying as well.
We shall see.
Thank you, Quix!! I appreciate you and your prayers very much!! God Bless!!
There was nothing unmanly in that post.
I’m surprised by your response.
I don’t recall a LOT of past exchanges with A LOT of people.
Sorry . . . just not the sort of thing I tend carry in my working memory without a LOT of frequent use.
The fact remains that you have NOTHING in your experience to suggest that an extremely lower ranking entity
can DICTATE successfully
the nature, terms, means, timing, structure, format, agenda
of a meeting with the greatly higher ranking entity.
NOTHING.
Yet you DEMAND
ALMIGHTY GOD comply with your expectations and sensitilbites.
He’s not in that business.
Are things still improving?
Thanks for that. Good illustration.
If someone were to tell you that, what would it count for?
Fair question?
Well, He did in the person of Jesus.
However if you choose to dismiss that well documented historical event, He is still capable of making Himself know to those who sincerely desire to know Him.
Life is no bed of roses and all of us struggle with the sin and evil that exists in the world, wondering why, and all the answers just seem like so many platitudes.
However, physical creation demonstrates the necessity of a creator.
The greater the capacity for good, the greater the capacity for evil. If the creator were not perfectly good, he would be so completely evil that it would obliterate everything not of him self. Thus the creator HAS to be good in spite of our not understanding how he could allow evil to exist.
Philosophers have been wrestling with the question for eons and I don't think anyone is likely to come up with an answer now.
However, challenge God if you want. Dare Him to prove Himself to you. He can handle it; it's not going to offend Him any. And it will be a win/win situation for both of you.
I don’t think challenging God, if he exists, is a good plan. Isn’t that what Satan is all about?
If God were to honestly show himself to me, then I would believe. But he hasn’t so far. And I don’t see him when I look in a mirror, I see me. So I have reason to believe in me.
If heaven was in me, then I would be in control, and nobody, including me, wants that.
You are absolutely correct there.
Perhaps you might try reading some CS Lewis. Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain are two of his works that I have found very helpful. He works through the reasoning for both topics and deals with them as well as any I've seen. I'm still slogging through The Problem of Pain, dealing with my own health issues and watching other people I know work through their own difficulties.
Nobody escapes dying and it's really beyond our comprehension when it is violent and sudden or a result of evil. And that's not easy either. I want a nice, comfy predictable life with no problems. That would be my road to choose.
There are no easy answers and we may not ever get any. But along with Job, I want to be able to say, *Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.*
I can only note that you didn't answer my question and butt outta here where I probably shouldn't have butted in to begin with.
I replied to you in 1593
It must really suck to be in the situation you're in.
Actually, I have just about everything I could ever want.
Except answers.
The greater the passion, the greater the pain.
Whatever, eh?
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