Evil Things To Good People

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='Autumn Dusk' post='1574183' date='Jun 17 2008, 05:23 PM']I worded it so that you folk would help me. I know how to manipulate people to get something out of them.[/quote]

Perhaps and perhaps your doing that now for your personal game show. Ether way it greatly effects your creditability.

[Autumn Dusk]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1574207' date='Jun 17 2008, 07:33 PM']Perhaps and perhaps your doing that now for your personal game show. Ether way it greatly effects your creditability.[/quote]


Who are you to care about my credibility...you're just a regular phatmasser like me. I don't have to prove myself to you or anyone else. I will listen mods if I am forced to but thats just about it.

[Adrestia]

[quote name='Krush2k2' post='1573070' date='Jun 16 2008, 05:27 PM']A friend @ work sent me this news link from something that happened this week in Dallas.


[url="http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080616_wz_richardsonmurder.c4d863c.hl"]http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa...er.c4d863c.html[/url]


He is an aethiest who asked me how could God not interfere with an incident like this if he is all loving.

I know the concept of free will but can someone offer me something deeper to say? What a sad story [/quote]

God [i]did[/i] intervene 2,000 years ago and He [i]continues[/i] to through the actions of those who follow Him. It's up to us to choose to return the love that God gives freely to us. When we choose to turn away from God our actions hurt those around us. God does not interfere to save our mortal bodies, He intervenes to save our souls.

[KnightofChrist]

I'm sorry but we're out of time! Good night folks thanks for watching!

[Autumn Dusk]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1574217' date='Jun 17 2008, 07:37 PM']I'm sorry but we're out of time! Good night folks thanks for watching![/quote]

You might be out of time but I have allllll night...ok, just until I get bored...but thats as long as I feel like

[KnightofChrist]

dp

Edited June 17, 2008 by KnightofChrist

[Krush2k2]

Ok just to clarify-the link is a news story of a girl here in Dallas-20 years old-who 3 men apparently raped and cut her head off.

Now if God was in control of every situation-he would interfere-but because of free will-WE are in control thus evil is allowed to happen. Ok Understood-

Here is a quote from a poster in reply to this thread

"The whole point to being a Christian is to die to this world and live for the next"

Ok if that is true than why wasnt Jesus revealed to people living back in Rome when all they belived in was Greek Gods? Obviously there is more to life than to be prepared for the next.

Why should I think that my prayers tonight for God to "protect' will be answered? Obviously that girl wasnt protected by Divine intercession, nor was anyone in 9/11 or those thousands a day who suffer from rape, molestation, etc... so why even bother praying for safety when free will is preventing Gods interference?

I'm just playing Devils advocate here as like I said-I have an aethiest friend at work who presents these questions to me daily-I'd like to here intelligent deep answers to these.

Also if God is all knowing, and he knew free will would lead to child molestation, child rape, abuse, etc.. then why did he design us in that manner?

[Kitty]

[quote]so why even bother praying for safety when free will is preventing Gods interference?[/quote]

This is something I've been sort of thinking on too. And, what use is praying if God's will be done? Is God going to change his will because you prayed for it? What if we didn't pray? Would anything change?

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Krush2k2' post='1576734' date='Jun 19 2008, 10:32 PM']Here is a quote from a poster in reply to this thread

"The whole point to being a Christian is to die to this world and live for the next"

Ok if that is true than why wasnt Jesus revealed to people living back in Rome when all they belived in was Greek Gods? Obviously there is more to life than to be prepared for the next.[/quote]

Jesus was born in Israel during its Roman occupation, Paul preached at the Acropolis, and a church was obviously planted Rome before long. Of course, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth to fulfill the prophesies in the Old Testament about him.

I agree that there is more to life than simply getting to heaven, but for the sake of simplicity and clarity, that is the bottom line. After we die, it's either eternity with God or without Him.

[quote name='Krush2k2' post='1576734' date='Jun 19 2008, 10:32 PM']Why should I think that my prayers tonight for God to "protect' will be answered? Obviously that girl wasnt protected by Divine intercession, nor was anyone in 9/11 or those thousands a day who suffer from rape, molestation, etc... so why even bother praying for safety when free will is preventing Gods interference?[/quote]

Because God is God and we are not. We pray to recognize his sovereignty and to practice our humility beneath him, and even our humility beneath all other people in order to combat pride. If your prayer is all about you and what you want, you're praying for the wrong reason. Obviously, some prayers aren't so selfish, but we still don't know what goes on inside the hearts of people involved in this horrible acts. If God should interfere to prevent any evil from happening at all, why didn't he prevent Eve from taking the fruit and prevent Cain from killing Abel? Why did Jesus come into our world at all, if all we need is for God to prevent anything evil from happening here in the world he's already created?

God cannot do that because it's against his loving nature. If he holds us against our will, he is hating us rather than loving us. Instead, God reaches out to us through Christ to rescue us from this world. That's what being "born again" is all about: we die to this world and kiss it good-bye because there is a redeemed creation in our future that will be free from all the evils of this world.

[quote name='Krush2k2' post='1576734' date='Jun 19 2008, 10:32 PM']Also if God is all knowing, and he knew free will would lead to child molestation, child rape, abuse, etc.. then why did he design us in that manner?[/quote]

Love conquers all, including all evil. If we think evil is powerful, we're giving ourselves over to Satan and recognizing him as our lord. Yes, these are wretched evil acts, yet we know God is perfectly just and perfectly merciful: He's going to take care of it.

[quote name='Kitty' post='1577179' date='Jun 20 2008, 04:33 AM']This is something I've been sort of thinking on too. And, what use is praying if God's will be done? Is God going to change his will because you prayed for it? What if we didn't pray? Would anything change?[/quote]

I believe our prayers can and do change God's will. Simply read Scripture, especially Jesus' interactions with people. You see his heart moved all the time by the sincere prayers of those who believe in him. Granted, that doesn't mean the prayer of every Christian is answered. We often pray for things that cannot happen, or we pray selfishly even when we think we're unselfish. We must remember that Lazarus eventually died... a second time. "Thy will be done" is only one part of the Lord's Prayer. There is also "forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" and this is the part that we most need to pray in response to sins like rape, murder, and molestation. If we cannot forgive (or desire to forgive, if we aren't yet willing to forgive) the perpetrators of these acts, we cannot expect forgiveness for our own sins, nor can we expect peace and justice in this world.

We cannot hold our grip on this world; it is passing away. And that is good news!

Edited June 20, 2008 by LouisvilleFan

[Deb]

All of your questions can't be answered in a few minute post. Educate yourself by doing some reading. You could start with the bible.

God may know all that is going to happen but, that does not mean he is going to control all that happens. He gave us free will. He gave us choices of good or evil. If men choose evil, they will reap evil, if not in this world, than for eternity. Our life in this world, to me, is kind of a test. How you live it, how you trust in God, how you love others will determine where you will spend eternity. Expecting life to be some kind of rosy existence is typical of those who are only interested in their selfish needs. Atheists are the saddest example of people whose faces are turned so far from God that they spend all their time trying to convince others he does not exist. I can't imagine anything more hopeless than thinking that life on this earth is all there is.

If I pray to the Lord to protect the innocent. My prayers are magnified. The Lord may not step in and protect someone I love but, my prayers may have halted a horror for one thousand others. I know my prayers are heard. I do not always know how they were answered or when they were or even what that answer was.

God was slowly revealing Jesus since the beginning of creation. Again, read the bible. Pray from the heart. Empty words mean little to God. Jesus Christ was tortured and murdered in a horrible fashion. He did it voluntarily, for us. Could God have stepped in and stopped it. Of course. He didn't. He let this happen to his son as atonement for our sins. He was the ultimate sacrifice.

Life is pain and suffering. How one loves God through that is the test. When one has been given a gift of faith, complete trust in God and his plans comes with it. I would recommend more time begging God to do his work in me and bring me to him than trying to blame every action of man on God or to use that to dispell God's existence. Those who actively work to deny God. They are so toast.

[Galloglasses]

Hold Up.

Christ was the Ultimate Good Guy and all the bad things in the world times twenty happened to him.

If good people are trying to follow His example of loving others, (consiously or not), why should we be surprised that bad things happen to them, when God did not prevent them happening to His Son?