Straying from God

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Permalink Reply by Carla on August 27, 2011 at 2:37pm

Awesome David..  God is using you...  see how He let you go your own way, convicted you to come back, and now you are able to speak into the lives of others because of the circumstances you have lived through.  Kayla..  listen up..  This is how God works.  Blessings, Carla

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Brady on September 17, 2013 at 7:24pm

I don't think many of these people, who like me are fed up, discount that God exists. If they are at the point that I am now, we know hes there but are weary of the do nothing God of present. We have been taught our entire lives about the "LIVING GOD" and all the miracles he performed and the masses he fed. The god who actually answered prayers and spoke to his people. That's the God we were taught exists, but yet in 51 years of life that one has been MIA!! I have no use for God as he has surely made it clear he has no use for us. 51 years of praying and serving for what? God has done nothing but shut doors and made evil people's lives easier. Don't preach that my reward will be when I die or to trust in him unconditionally. The more I think about the Bible is that it is a book of god helping others oppress entire races. I as of today have rid my house of anything to do with the hypocritical God we were foolish enough to bend our knees to daily for naught!!! Please don't any of you tell me you will pray for me as I now take that as an insult and a curse.

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Permalink Reply by ribbon on September 17, 2013 at 9:59pm

Shannon,

I too had done the same thing as you said you did by getting rid of anything that had to do with the Lord. Lots of us , I am sure, can understand similar frustration of not believing God is with us. I remember when, for years I had such anger and I blamed people and God for it all.  I thought I was better off without Him in my life. I was wrong more wrong about that then anything. I have learned that it is satan who is ruler of this evil. When Gods chosen people pray and serve they should be doing it because they love God and love God because He first loved them. That's what I hope for me some day... to love God and not expect anything in return. This worlds ways are ugly very cruel and against God. Please don't turn your back .  And as far as telling a true Christian not to pray...... that would be kinda like telling someone stuck in a desert not to take a drink of water.  It is my hope that you direct your anger toward the father of lies instead of the one who sacrificed His son. 

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Brady on September 18, 2013 at 3:44pm

Janie , Satan has been here on Earth since the beginning. During the history of this planets entire history as documented in the Bible, God did intervene and used his power to make sure things came out his way. The Bible is full of stories where God enforced his will upon the Earth. I know the next argument will be but he gave us free will, to live as we chose, but then the stories in the bible would refute that wouldn't they? God many times used his power to decide the outcome of a situation. That proves he can do these things and has done in the past. That being said why is it so different now than then? Satan has no power without God, unless of course God is not the "All Mighty". If Satan is who you blame, then on the same hand you have to blame God for allowing such evil and atrocities to happen. If God only wants the truth and for us to walk in the light, why then when people do to the best of their human abilities (another attribute governed by God) do they get punished for doing so. Through out the history of the bible God decided and imposed his will on nations (Free will?). God has raised the dead, cured leprosy, stood up for whores and Criminals who repented, fed the starving masses, answered the prayers and begging of his followers etc, etc. Yes my question is why isn't God doing for the people of today, what the Bible says he did before? Now, either the bible is a lie, and not as accurate as we have been taught or God for some reason unknown to anyone has abandoned his children. 

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Permalink Reply by ribbon on September 18, 2013 at 3:58pm

I do think  God is here ,I don't think anybody could survive an evil world such as this without God?  His holy spirit is here. When I mentioned satan being ruler of this world , I didn't mean God was non existant.. I just mean he for now has his way. You mention free will... I actually think there is a couple forum discussions talking about Free Will.  I do believe people can choose right from wrong.. I am not good with explaining my thoughts.....  When I said I stopped blaming God and people.... I should have said " I stopped  (hating) people and God but instead put my anger and hate toward where the evil comes from.

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Brady on October 5, 2013 at 10:52am

I am in mindful thought of your kind words. I am in a process right now of stepping back and re thinking. Thank you for your words and Yes, your prayers, although in a fog at the moment, I do appreciate your sentiment. 

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Permalink Reply by Carla on September 18, 2013 at 6:43am

Shannon,

This world is certainly not how we want things to be, after all, satan is the god of this world. (2 Cor 4:4).

This is not to say that satan has supreme power over the earth....because he doesn't.  he can only  operate within the domain which God has allowed him to.  God is Sovereign and I believe you understand this, which is why you are angry, perhaps even disillusioned... Am I right in assuming this?

 

So perhaps there is an unsolved question for you... something like 'Why does God allow suffering for Christians?' or 'Why are so many people oppressed?'  or just simply... 'Where is God?'

 

Blessings, Carla

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Brady on September 18, 2013 at 3:45pm

 Carla, Satan has been here on Earth since the beginning. During the history of this planets entire history as documented in the Bible, God did intervene and used his power to make sure things came out his way. The Bible is full of stories where God enforced his will upon the Earth. I know the next argument will be but he gave us free will, to live as we chose, but then the stories in the bible would refute that wouldn't they? God many times used his power to decide the outcome of a situation. That proves he can do these things and has done in the past. That being said why is it so different now than then? Satan has no power without God, unless of course God is not the "All Mighty". If Satan is who you blame, then on the same hand you have to blame God for allowing such evil and atrocities to happen. If God only wants the truth and for us to walk in the light, why then when people do to the best of their human abilities (another attribute governed by God) do they get punished for doing so. Through out the history of the bible God decided and imposed his will on nations (Free will?). God has raised the dead, cured leprosy, stood up for whores and Criminals who repented, fed the starving masses, answered the prayers and begging of his followers etc, etc. Yes my question is why isn't God doing for the people of today, what the Bible says he did before? Now, either the bible is a lie, and not as accurate as we have been taught or God for some reason unknown to anyone has abandoned his children. Yes Carla I am very very angry, but hardly disillusioned. 

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on September 18, 2013 at 3:56pm

Satan has constituted authority that has been given him by God, man does not have freewill, but has been given liberties by sovereign God. God is sovereign and has fulfilled what He has promised.

 

The question for you is "In what way do you believe God has lied to you?"

 

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Brady on September 18, 2013 at 4:28pm

I'm not the one who needs to answer a question here and I posed many questions in my responses above, can you answer any of them? I love how the topic gets redirected back at the question poser. But lets give it a go shall we?!  So your answer is God gave power to the most evil soul he could, to impose this ultimate evil on his children who he LOVES so much. God made this universe and specifically Earth for our Species, gave us commandments and set us up for failure by interjecting Satan into the mix??? Really is this your argument, and this is absolutely the first time I've heard any Christian say we weren't given free will.  The bible tells us over and over and over how much the Lord "HATES" evil and sinners, but in the same breath brings it to life for us his ultimate creation. So is Satan a self serving entity for God to make him the Hero in the end? This would be self glorification, and that seems pretty lame for the All mighty creator of the universe. That would make him prideful, which is one of the 7 deadly sins isn't it? So you say God is sovereign and fulfilled what he has promised, what exactly is that? I understand that is your opinion of what your perception and interpretation of the Bible is, but that is subjective at best. Once again Ill say God has done many things according to the Bible, always opposing evil. So where is he now, for all of the  people who have just a much faith as those in documented in the bible? How many need to starve, be homeless, die needlessly from disease, war, etc. Please don't tell me that God hasn't ever chose sides in war or any other issue, and that being said he didn't make the outcome exactly what he wanted. Please, by all means explain how we were not given free will, as that is the basis for the entire plan of Christianity. I await your response..............................

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on September 18, 2013 at 4:50pm

Freewill implies you can do what ever you want and that simply is not true. God has the right to over rule your will and mine at any time. The Bible says we are born with sin natures and are separated from God. We are not His children by human birth, but only through spiritual birth. We can go in this direction if you want, but I will try to keep my responses simple.

 

Have you ever studied the doctrine regarding the fall of man and the doctrine regarding the lostness of man? God and man are right where He said He and we would be. God said we will face trial, tribulation, persecution and death in this life, some horrible. This was given in His Word. We also know that once born man will die twice, with being cast into the Lake of Fire being the second death, and twice born man will die once, die in the flesh only and that for a period of time. But, again, I will only go into this if you really have interest.

 

Sure God has taken sides (always based on His righteousness and perfect will). He said so in His Word. Sometimes He was on the side of Israel and they won amazing victories (Gideon for example) and at other times because of their disobedience He used other nations to chastise Israel. God does not apologize for the flood or for what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, in the mix of all of man's failures toward God He has shown great grace and mercy. He has given His Son to die in your place and mine, but He will not make us take Him.

 

As far as God opposing evil, He hates evil, but He also has a plan that may not suit your liking, but none-the-less it is His plan for the salvation of lost men and women who will come to His Son for forgiveness and new life. Yet, this new life does not magically remove us from the things taking place on earth. We live in the fallen flesh, in a fallen creation, with fallen people, and yes there is an enemy who wars against us. This life is but a mist, but our eternal life with Him is unending. Again, I will stop here and only go further if you wish.

 

Now, I repeat ... "How has God lied to you." That is the crux of your problem with God and not all these attempts to redirect us down various rabbit trails of this and that. Based on what you have said you have changed from believing to being angry and that indicates an event in your life that you feel God let you down. If you simply want to attempt to attack God we will go in circles. If you want to get to the root of the problem we need to start with my basic question posed to you.

 

I will add this and await your reply. If you think that by coming to Christ that this life was going to be easy and without pain some one lied to you and it wasn't God, because He never said that this life would be easy. In fact, salvation is free, but being a Christian in a fallen world that is awaiting redemption is difficult.

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Brady on October 5, 2013 at 9:18am

Are you actually serious with this response, how dense can one human being be? Everyday people make choices, which contradict the doctrine, and "God's will". Yes I have read the word over and over in my 51 years. Free will is not the ability to just do what ever you want, but more over the freedom to make a choice. In free will you can choose to make righteous choices, or ones that we all know to be wrong. I never said God has lied to me, I said he has been absent from this world like he used to be. Don' start down the trail of we are all born into sin in the flesh speech. Are you one of those who believes that an infant who dies at birth is condemned to Hell? If so we have nothing further to even attempt to discuss. As for God's Plan, how exactly do you know if the choice you make on a daily basis is in line with that plan? Since you are not governed by the loose definition you tout as your Free Will theory and every decision is governed by God will, that opens a whole new door.  Everyone knows the difference between right and wrong and I still hold to my integrity and moral compass. But according to you no one has free will, that would include murderers and rapist. So according to you was God "Ruling over their will" when they commit their atrocities to another human being. This brings the focus right back to my point, why is this allowed to happen? Like I said and you re-enforced, God has been more than willing to jump in and make sure things go his way before, so why not now? And since you evidently have the red phone line straight to God, if we all were in the spirit (thus according to you perfect) before the universe was created, why then did we have to be born in the flesh? Did God get bored with perfection? Last I knew Adam and Eve were Gods perfect creation until they ate the forbidden fruit, I may be wrong but they were flesh and blood right? Don't come on here thinking you can read the mind of all who question God, due to our life experience and trials. Your condescending, theological superiority complex attitude,  makes you judgmental in your responses at best. I'm glad that your life is going so well and wish you the best. Like I said from the beginning, I know God exists he has just been absent from my life for years. I never "attacked God", I question why he used to do things and performed miracles through out history for the poor and downtrodden but now allows the suffering of what I see as innocents. Yet according to your theory the gassing and mass murder of men women and children are all part of the loving Gods plan and will, sorry but I don't buy that. If you come back with the lame response of well that's all the devils doing, that would imply that God is not in charge or all powerful, and that he allows and thus supports evil.  The single set of "Footsteps in the sand" are mine!! Your response and opinion mean nothing to me, I am waiting on a response from GOD!!!

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