KingJ said:
It is funny to think how the righteous want to die and go be with the Lord whilst the evil want to hold onto this life as much as they can. A righteous person is kept living because God is using them. The evil, God gives them as much time as He can without showing partiality. God had the angels kicked out of heaven for a level of intent. When a human reaches that same level, God cannot keep them alive any longer lest He show preference to them. God shows preference to nobody. God has to sadly give them over to death. God is saddened by the fallen angels and all the evil that reject Him. They choose death. This is proof that we have free will. If we didn't, God would take us all to heaven...the irony of Calvinism.
As for suffering, Psalms 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.
Hi KingJ
I have to question you as to you saying that the righteous want to go to be with the Lord... Do they? Then why when man gets sick or a disease or harmed do they run to the physicians or the medicine cabinet to remain amongst those above ground?
God is no respecter of persons that is true, but He loaths sin for He knows it's damage and has warned us that sin brings death physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If life
was not supposed to be a blessing to enjoy, then why did Christ die so that we could have eternal life?
But who would want to live eternally in poverty, lack, hatred, sickness, war, disease, etc... Sin brings chaos, and disorder in the world and there can be no peace. God made the earth to be inhabited. He made it so beautiful for us to enjoy..
The purpose of their being a people of God is for them to keep the Word alive in the earth so that we remain our brother's keeper. God needs people to work for Him to keep the peace. When we work for God we are useful to Him, but even Moses at 120 years was full of life and just went to sleep. God is able to keep us alive as long as we are productive for Him.
But sin has taken it's toll in this earth. We may be spiritually reborn, but our bodies are still frail and susceptible to disease, or poisoned by sorcery(pharmacy,medications,chemicals) or man made chemicals in everything we use and we still suffer for the sins we commit.
aspen2 said:
Well, that goes back to the OP - why you? Or why me? And not others that are allowed to suffer and die? My opinion is that God has determined all of our deaths and therefore, close calls only seem close calls from our perspective. We are not called to praise God for saving us at the expense of our neighbor - perhaps we are called to reach out to the families of the people who were killed?
I see what you are saying I do say many times when someone survives a tragedy that it must not have been their time. I haven't heard of anyone praising God for sparing them at the expense of another and I would certainly not. I have heard them say Why me?
In fact I often wonder why this, and I am aware of how selfish and bad this sounds: There is one man trapped and they send 5 men to rescue the one and 3 die in the process, but they saved the ONE and everyone is ecstatic that they were able to save him. That doesn't make any sense to me, but I guess that is what is humanely correct to do, just doesn't make any sense at the sum of it. I am sure that if I were put in the position to rescue someone physically, I would do the same thing because we don't know that we shall die in the process we just understand that someone needs our help and we would want them to do the same for us.
I believe and the Bible teaches that tragedies are to awaken sinful man to the judgment of God for their accumulated ungodly ways towards one another. It is a shame that some must die in them, but it is to hopefully make the survivors look up and repent and remember there is a GOD. I did not know God that day, yet I did give credit to God for it because there is no way that I could have guided that car at that speed through all those cars without harming a soul or damaging anything. No way!! So that too could have been a wake up to me but I did nothing more than think it as a miracle of God... yet it was till 2002 before I gave my heart to God and received the Spirit.
Acts 17:24-28
24
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
KJV
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