Thanking God

[Justadude]

Good post.

Thanks!

See, I do not believe at all when I hear a person christian or otherwise, say that "God did this" or " Why did God allow this.."that it was God.

When I was young many moons ago , we knew a pastor who said -
" Anyone tells me "this sickness, disease or calamity was sent to by for this, that, or the other reason. I then say..' Oh , so if this is from God, it must be a blessing then ...if it's a blessing I will pray for you that God gives you twice as much blessing. May your sickness, ( disease or clammily) increase even four fold, then you may be even more blessed by God. "

That never made much sense to me either. It's like the Rabbi who said COVID was God's punishment for gays. My first thought was, boy this god sure has terrible aim!

Obviously this old pastor was a strong man of faith , and got people healed.
One old lady wanted to die, because her husband has died that year.
He said to her, " You can die and go to heaven, but you are not going to die sick, sickness is the Devils chariot. So I will pray the you get healed, come to church on Sunday so they can see that you are healed, then you go home and die, well. She did, and she died three days later.
Today ( that was the 60's) they don't come like that dear old Pastor...he was a funny old bird.

Sure sounds like it!

@Justadude P.S.
BTW, I myself have a heart problem , high BP , and a couple of other things...not quite sure what that old pastor would say to me if he were still here!!

Maybe he'd heal you?

I agree with @Heart2Soul I have no answers ...I know what and in whom I believe...all the questions will have to wait until ...this old flesh passes away and all things become clear. Until then, I will say with my dying breath , -"God is good, and He took our sicknesses and disease along with our sin on the cross."

Until then, I just Trust Him.

Thanks. I really appreciate your honest answer.

 

[Justadude]

There is an assumption with all atheists that this life means everything....that there is no other purpose to life than eating and breathing in this creation. So then any other explanation is not understood by these because the viewpoint is limited to a temporal life.

Your two statements are rather contradictory. First you say atheists believe "this life means everything" but you immediately follow that up by saying they believe the only purpose to this life is "eating and breathing".

It's a common misconception among theists that people who don't believe in gods therefore don't have any purpose in their lives, when actually it's the opposite. Because this life is all that we know exists and because we're not restricted by fear of what the gods will do to us if we aren't sufficiently submissive, don't say the right words when we pray, don't eat the right foods, etc., we have the freedom to make our lives about anything we want. We can make it about family, happiness, enjoying each moment, helping others, helping the environment, whatever.

So you see, just because someone doesn't believe in gods doesn't mean their life is without meaning and purpose.

But a believer knows that this life is a testing ground....and training ground for an eternal life.

So then if you go over all your points with that in mind you will find that there is no problem with whether a person's time is up....or not.

They who know God trust in His ways.....even though we don't understand all the parameters in a specific lifespan. But all things will be made clear in that regard after the time of this life is over. It is wise to do well while we still have breath. We were created for God's use and pleasure...not our own. We have no claim to any authorship on ourselves or our bodies. They are all a gift from God to be used to honour Him....not to serve other interests..

So your answer to the OP is that Christians who thank God for sparing them are mistaken and shouldn't be thanking God for sparing them, because this life doesn't really matter anyways?

 

[Justadude]

My prayer for you is that some day you actually encounter what you're looking for..

Well, I'm not really looking for anything but I appreciate your sentiment.

Jesus didn't/doesn't seek to save His life.

So Christians shouldn't seek to save theirs, or thank God when they're spared when something bad happens?

 

[Waiting on him]

Well, I'm not really looking for anything but I appreciate your sentiment.


So Christians shouldn't seek to save theirs, or thank God when they're spared when something bad happens?

You only need to look at the crucifixion of Christ to see how much emphasis God places on this life...... Though I do understand that if this life is all a person has to look forward too, then it will be most precious.

 

[Justadude]

You only need to look at the crucifixion of Christ to see how much emphasis God places on this life...... Though I do understand that if this life is all a person has to look forward too, then it will be most precious.

I guess that kind of takes the wind out of the "pro life" movement's sails, eh?

 

[Waiting on him]

I guess that kind of takes the wind out of the "pro life" movement's sails, eh?

Most processing Christians sadly now days are only seeking to save their lives.

 

[Justadude]

Most processing Christians sadly now days are only seeking to save their lives.

Saving one's own life seems to be a pretty ingrained instinct among humans (and lots of other organisms).

 

[Waiting on him]

Saving one's own life seems to be a pretty ingrained instinct among humans (and lots of other organisms).

That's just the thing that makes God soooooo different, He seeks too give His so others may live.. this is my wish.

 

[Waiting on him]

When and if it's legit,,,, there's no greater love

 

[amadeus]

That's just the thing that makes God soooooo different, He seeks too give His so others may live.. this is my wish.

Jesus lived/experienced/exemplified this verse written by Paul:

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." Phil 2:3

And we are to become like Him! How well are we doing toward this end?

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." I John 3:2

 

[Waiting on him]

Jesus lived/experienced/exemplified this verse written by Paul:

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." Phil 2:3

And we are to become like Him! How well are we doing toward this end?

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." I John 3:2

I do wish all could see this is what the Christian aspires too be.

 

[amadeus]

I do wish all could see this is what the Christian aspires too be.

When a person is really and sincerely hungry and thirsty for the truth, God will fill them. Jesus says as much here:

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matt 5:6

God may use you or me in the process, or some other person or means... but He will not fail to accomplish what He has said:

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

 

[bbyrd009]

few there are who find it

Saving one's own life seems to be a pretty ingrained instinct among humans (and lots of other organisms).

and Jesus too, you can even read it for yourself

 

[bbyrd009]

At one of the blogs I read the author regularly has pieces about how after some tragedy, the survivors thank God for their survival or some other aspect of the outcome. Invariably the same questions get asked by non-theists like me, and in a post yesterday the blogger summed up these questions in the following way:

1. If God made orchids and butterflies and robins, He must also have created pediatric cancers, brain-eating amoebae, and every plague that ever existed. What sense does it make to only credit the Creator Of All with the nice stuff?​

New International Version
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

New Living Translation
I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things.

English Standard Version
I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Berean Study Bible
I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.

New American Standard Bible
The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

New King James Version
I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’

King James Bible
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

2. For an all-powerful God to heal us, He first has to injure us or make us sick — and He does exactly that relentlessly and with startling efficiency. When believers recover from a scary illness, where’s the logic in praising the entity that made them sick in the first place? Isn’t that akin to, from the burn ward, thanking the arsonist who firebombed your house but then handed you a pail of water?

the assumption that Yah makes one sick--when the sickness is invariably self-inflicted--makes your Q moot imo, sorry.

3. There’s a pridefulness in thanking God that apparently doesn’t bother the faithful, but that, to others, often looks self-important and unseemly. If you believe you are so special and so full of trust in the Almighty that He saved you, the implication is that people who died fell short. Even if you didn’t mean to, you’re suggesting that their faith was insufficiently strong; their prayers too feeble; their suffering not important enough to warrant divine mercy.

my guess is that that is why believers are the most roundly condemned in the Bible; after all, they actually have no "beliefs," only Absolute Truths that you are required to agree with or be doomed by them, and etc
You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.

Those seem like reasonable questions to me. The only thing I would add is to question the concept of praying for God to intervene in the first place. Is the prayer/request an effort to change God's mind and get him to do something he wasn't otherwise going to do? If not, and the outcome was predetermined as part of "God's plan", what's the point of praying for intervention?

bc that is how pagans pray, why not let them enjoy their time under the servants? Knowledge of the Bible--which certainly does not condone that prayer btw--will come soon enough i guess, and the truth is not so pleasant

 

[Dcopymope]

Most processing Christians sadly now days are only seeking to save their lives.

Is there something wrong with self preservation?

few there are who find it
and Jesus too, you can even read it for yourself

Yeah, this always gets conveniently over looked. Jesus, really was only doing the will of his Father. After all, when the Father speaks, "the word" must take action. But lets not let this delude us into assuming that he cared that much about our souls at his own expense. He cared, because he knew what was at stake, but not as much as people claim he did, LOL.

(Luke 22:41-42) "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, {42} Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

 

[Waiting on him]

Is there something wrong with self preservation?



Yeah, this always gets conveniently over looked. Jesus, really was only doing the will of his Father. After all, when the Father speaks, "the word" must take action. But lets not let this delude us into assuming that he cared that much about our souls at his own expense. He cared, because he knew what was at stake, but not as much as people claim he did, LOL.

Matthew 10:28 KJV
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

This is what Christ says to do, isn't it?

 

[Dcopymope]

Matthew 10:28 KJV
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

This is what Christ says to do, isn't it?

And yet, Jesus clearly did have a bit fear of them which can kill the body with the scripture I cited in my previous post. Anybody can say "have no fear", that's easy, its just talk. Anybody can shoot their mouth off about what they say they'll do. But I'm all about what is real, how things actually are, not on what people imagine things to be.

 

[Waiting on him]

And yet, Jesus clearly did have a bit fear of them which can kill the body with the scripture I cited in my previous post. Anybody can say "have no fear", that's easy, its just talk. Anybody can shoot their mouth off about what they say they'll do. But I'm all about what is real, how things actually are, not on what people imagine things to be.

Or could be He only fears the one with the power to cast both body and soul in to hell. Should I post the scripture again?

 

[Waiting on him]

Jesus doesn't fear man, as a matter of fact, He orchestrated the whole thing.

 

[Dcopymope]

Or could be He only fears the one with the power to cast both body and soul in to hell. Should I post the scripture again?

Nah, won't be necessary. He feared that which can kill the soul in hell so much that he was willing to forsake his mission on earth if it be his Fathers will. And that makes all the sense in the world to you.

Jesus doesn't fear man, as a matter of fact, He orchestrated the whole thing.

What in the burning koala do you mean by this?