Ruger, a few questions for you... - Page 8

Hi Vk4......Hi my dear enemy lol

 

vk4 wrote: your omniscient god sees this, does not act, lacks power to or just doesn't care?

 

I don't know why. God may stop it, He may not. But I do know this:

Romans 8 vs. 28 says: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Not just some things, not just the good things that happen to us but ALL things, even our most terrible experiences, even our worst afflictions. One of my favourite quotes sums this up nicely:

Whatsoever is good for God's children they shall have it, for all is theirs to further them to heaven; therefore, if poverty be good, they shall have it; if disgrace be good, they shall have it; if crosses be good, they shall have them; if misery be good, they shall have it; for all is ours, to serve for our greatest good. (Richard Sibbes)

A quote attributed to Mother Teresa also lends some perspective:

In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.

While minimizing our present suffering by contrasting it to an eternity with God may be a relief to some, others still try to figure out how God uses our suffering for His glorious purpose. Some things in Christianity however remain a divine mystery, possibly because we are not meant to understand them or because our limited minds could never understand them.

Isaiah 55 vs8,9, says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Suffering leads some to bitterness, anger, and further rejection of God, but can also have the opposite effect as the Bible teaches:

...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5 vs. 3 - 5)

You see Vk4, God knows our suffering. God's own Son Jesus Christ endured the worst suffering by bearing the sins of the world when He died on the cross. Since the worst suffering can have the best outcome, surely we can trust God that if we love Him, our suffering will be for our ultimate good. Rather than asking God to take you out of your suffering, invite Him into it. If you love God, He will work His will in you for your eternal wellbeing. Is this not reason enough to love God?

That's some twisted shit, Shtal.

Travels still watching the debate! It's great and Sam is adorable !! ,,, could make a girl an atheist. :)! Almost ,,,,lol 

You cannot know, Ruger, that the child in that photograph has not been raised in Christianity.

Besides which, although I applaud vk4 for his swift reaction in posting it (even 'again'), you 

know and I know there are millions of pictures, of millions of people including children, that

also illustrate my point.

Many of them are in Africa, yes;   but many Africans were educated under the Missionary

Schools system and its aftermath, so they too are of the christian faith ... and much good

it does them when the Rains don't arrive or War rears its ugly head. 

 

How "temporary" is it, really ?  Maybe a short period of time for that one child - though surely

an unecessarily agonising one - but multiply it by those millions I refer to, and the years

involved ...

i always get shocked  when a tornado rips thru the US and the 1 house in the street that gets spared the xians claim is a miracle and praise god, the 10 xians families in the same street  that lost everything including their lives....

GSDtravels, please enlightened me from scripture, perhaps my interpretation is wrong and it became twisted as you say...if you can't and you don't accept what it is written then I care less how you think, what you think or your personal opinions are.

"GSDtravels, please enlightened me from scripture,"

decent invitation to a discussion - excellent.

 

"perhaps my interpretation is wrong and it became twisted as you say"

 

indicates a willingness to see things from another's point of view - excellent

 

"...if you can't and you don't accept what it is written then I care less how you think, "

 

indicates not a willingness to see things from another's point of view - not excellent

 

what you think or your personal opinions are. "

 

closes all chance of a discussion and adds an insult before anyone can offer a response - close minded whiney preacher not interested in anything but forcing his own opinion on anyone that will listen.

ruger you have challenged me at times, i now challenge you. please re-write this quote IN PLAIN ORDINARY EVERDAY MODERN ENGLISH, and follow by a brief summary of what you think it means.

 

 “The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.”

shtaal wanna share some of yr wisdom on the god wiping poop on priests faces thing???

Reggie, you are doing exactly what you accuse Gouda of doing.  Can you see that? Maybe you should think on that for a while.

*  Those scriputres you quoted, I had quoted on the previous page.  I couldn't agree with them more.  When you posted what you believed about Hell, warning bells went off in me.  I can't speak for gouda, but I imagine he had the same thing happen, which is why he said what he did.  His spirit reacted to yours, as mine did.  He called it God talking, and in a sense it was, but through scripture.  That is our basis for truth, and some distort it!