Posted on 01/05/2010 11:32:11 AM PST by freedomyes
So many dead. So many grieving. So many distraught.
Where is God? Where is the good God?
(Excerpt) Read more at grantswank.blogtownhall.com ...
my condolences - i lost my best friend this summer (he was 37 and in peak fitness) - Im watching his wife deal with the same issues. Fortunately her faith carried her through
Job has always been among my favorite books — the guy was put through the wringer, and came through it ok. Our trials have a purpose, though we may never fully understand it. Maybe God placed another cosmic bet with Satan ... “take, for instance, my friend SnakeDoctor —betcha can’t break him.”
Though, for all of those that refer to the “patience of Job” ... he started bitching pretty heavily from about chapter 2 through about Chapter 38 (when God told him to butch up and quit whining ... that’s a SnakeDoctor paraphrase). Job had 2 chapters of patience.
SnakeDoc
Why doesn’t this happen every day?
Humans, in their fallen state, deserve no less.
A good God withholds his wrath from a rebellious and wicked people that He created in His image.
And, He KILLED HIS ONLY SON as payment for this rebellion, to show us that He SO loved the world.
Your question isn’t relevant.
Death is a different thing, from God’s point of view.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
His ten children, killed as part of the bet between God and the Devil, are less fortunate.
clamper,
I am so sorry for your loss. You are in my prayers that the Lord will give you comfort. It will help if you will go to Him as well.
Have Faith in Him FRiend, do not faint in that. He can be your solid place to stand, He can be your Comforter. I pray that you’ll find comfort.
Define “less fortunate”. They ascended to heaven and missed out on the rest of the beating that Job took. Their worries were over, and their deaths were not without meaning. Just goes to show, there is a reason for everything ... but not necessarily a reason we can know or comprehend.
SnakeDoc
You don’t think Adam had a physical body before the fall?
Good question, not sure. I know that’s how some people now read Genesis, but that may not be the case. The entire concept of the fall may be God saying, OK, you don’t trust me when you have free will, then it is time for you to exist in a proving ground where you face the consequences of not choosing the correct path. The pre-fall descriptions give rise to the thought that maybe it was describing a supernatural existence- one that certainly didn’t follow the laws of nature we see around us.
Genesis also seems to clearly describe the Garden as a set-apart/unique place from the rest of creation- after all, Adam was sent ‘out’ of the Garden, it doesn’t say God changed the garden.
It’s been 11 months since I lost my daughter. I’ve lost others in my lifetime, including a brother, but I wasn’t prepared for anything like this. The loss has profoundly affected every aspect of my life. The things I once took for granted are no longer so certain, and very little seems to matter in quite the same way.
What I am learning is that there is no “getting over it” - there is only living with it, if you can.
Taking “comfort” seems illusionary but we all need safe harbors. I hope that you can find solace.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way! We and our world are so broken.
we were not meant to lose eden but first parents’ free will went wayward and we suffer for it ever since. that’s the power of free will granted mortals by the almighty.
true
God does not promise you a life of happiness and joy or even fairness on this earth, not even to his most devout and faithful. The rewards you receive are not of this world but the next.
This simple truth is why I absolutely hate the preachers who promise prosperity and happiness in this life for those who just do a,b or c. This is absolute hogwash and heresy.
Tell the persecuted christian in N. Korea he’ll be fine and wealthy etc if only he live a more divout life. What nonsense.
God does not promise you a life free from suffering or misery or hardship. Do you think Job deserved to be ruined by God just to test his faith? Suffering is part of this world and life, and while many live in relative comfort many more live in abject squalor, do those who live in squalor have any less value, or are any less part of Gods will than those who live in power and prosperity? I certainly don’t think so.
What God does promise is his Love, and rewards in the next life for good living in this one.
To put it simply, who are any of us to know the will of God? It would be more laughable than the ameoba trying to know the will of the whale. Faith is something that is, we can’t and won’t understand it far more often than we do, but the believer has faith that there is a purpose and reason even if we have no ability to see it.
I know. We chose this. God didn’t want it to be like this.
That meaning being, apparently, to prove a point to Satan.
Just goes to show, there is a reason for everything ... but not necessarily a reason we can know or comprehend.
Well, in this case we do know the reason. They were killed to settle a bet, collateral damage to a dare.
A test of faith. Proof of resolve. Satan killed his family to draw him away from God. God allowed Job’s faith to be tested, but did not dictate the manner in which he would be tested.
SnakeDoc
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