Yeah, I think I am done on the topic myself. It's cool to debate and give reason as to why we have that opinion but I've said my piece and others have said theirs. I'm not here to change minds, just make people think. I'm glad we've been respectful, that's how it should be
Why do you feel that no one can know gods will except him? What aspects of his will do we not understand? Being that all scripture is inspired of God, and everything in the Bible was put there for our benefit, of what benefit could a scripture be if we weren't supposed to understand it? I admit some things are "difficult" to understand, but that only means it may require work on our part to find the proper context in order to understand it.
Loved the write up Dan and completely get it and a HUGE portion of me agrees. I myself probably utilize the verbage "blessed" more than I should, but in the same breath perhaps I don't use it enough. Yes, it is true one shouldn't utilize the word justifying a purchase or a want or a selfish item...however I do not shy away from stating for example "The Lord blessed me with an awesome hunt or an awesome deer..." I don't shy away from that because He poured out something which I STRONGLY did not deserve, as a matter of fact I deserve nothing which I receive or have...for the only thing I 100% deserve is death. I think the key is to be conscious of when utilizing the term blessed comes across as pictured in the write up and when it doesn't...it surely can do damage or raise awesome conversation chances to share your faith.
I think there's a difference between understanding the Bible and understanding God's will. God's will isn't outlined in the Bible. By God's will I mean details for every single person's life and why things happened the way they did. Example: why person A had a healthy child and person B had a miscarriage isn't mentioned in the Bible but according to God's will there was a reason for it and it's up to each person to use the Bible to learn how to deal with what happened and get closer to God so that reason may come to light. But that reason itself isn't mentioned in the Bible. Ty, if you deserve nothing (which I agree, none of us deserve anything but death) then everything you receive in life is a blessing. Material or not. See the verse at the bottom. I guess I'm not sure why people are ignoring this verse that I've given multiple times. I don't even see how there can be an argument against it. People who think any material wealth isn't also a blessing by God means they think they got it on their own. This verse completely puts that to rest but people still seem to think otherwise. This is where I feel like people are picking and choosing what they want to believe from the Bible and pick and choose what power God has. The Bible is all or nothing for me so... "You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today." Deuteronomy 8:17-18 EDIT: Ok, let me just add. After some thought, I see where there is a big weird twist to it all. If I were to say "I paid this hooker for the night, what a blessing for God to provide me the money for her." I understand that God didn't bless me with a hooker. But he blessed "me" with the money and I used it selfishly to use it for something outside of what God would want. So I see how there is an entirely different angle about it. I kept what I put above because of principle and in my head I had it set in mind that the general term material wealth being referenced was not something sinful.
I agree with you that we must believe all of the Bible or none of it..far too many people pick and choose, as you say. The point you make about not being able to know"gods plan"for each person on earth i talked about in my earlier reply to MGH_PA. The Bible says exactly why some appear more fortunate than others. Eccl 9:11 explains that, while 1 John 5:19 tells us that God isn't the one controlling anything or anyone on earth....we were gifted with free will and are influenced by the ruler of the earth...the devil. Gods will for every person on earth is the same, to attain everlasting life, as stated at John 3:16. That doesn't mean every person WILL achieve it, the decisions a person makes throughout their life will decide that, but it is still his will that they do so. A loving God would never "will" that anyone suffer, the Bible calls him a "happy God."
Right right. I agree with that. I was leaning more towards the reasoning of why something happened specifically. God wouldn't will suffering on someone but there would still be a reason for it to happen. God's will knows that reason, not meaning that God willed that suffering to happen. We are on the same page, I don't think what's in my noggin made it to the keyboard to explain it well.
Yea my fingers move faster than my brain sometimes too.I think we are pretty close anyway. My thoughts are if a person gets killed by a drunk driver, the reason that happened is because an idiot made a terrible decision and took the life of an innocent person. As to why they made that decision, the devil had an influence on their thinking. But i don't think it in any way reflects on the person who was killed
Of course. God knew it would happen is what I mean, in regards to His omnipotence. Maybe "God's will" isn't the best choice of words Anyway, it's all an interesting conversation. I'm just glad that our members list has been cleaned up a bit and these kinds of threads don't turn hostile and end up locked for name calling. I've always tried to be civil and I hope it continues around here, we've had one wild summer on this board.
Spear, I acknowledge everything is a blessing, because from Him everything comes (atleast in my opinion) however I acknowledge the appearance it can paint if I post on Facebook or share with friends how God has blessed me with a brand new house or truck....just gotta be conscious of that aspect was what I wanted to stress, perhaps I failed to do so.
Interesting thread, don't have much to contribute other than one of my pet peeves is hearing fellow Christians say they are lucky when something goes well for them or they do something great. You have an opportunity to have an influence on someone else and instead of recognizing the providential care of God we waste those opportunities when simply say that we are lucky.
I'm blessed....I have a partially fully functioning brain......I admittedly did not read the article nor do I really want to. I did, however, read the comments on the thread. Spear, I feel for ya buddy. It took me a long time to conceptualize that I never will conceptualize Gods master plan. Context clues have pointed the direction of the posted article and I believe, having not read it, that the idea is people over use the word "blessed" when tied to an event that is clearly not the intent of when to use the word.....if I am wrong I'll haze myself later. My point (to elude any discussion about religion...if thats even possible) is that I am over people getting so bent when someone says something...anything. Thats why the "N" word is still such a dagger, it carries such a negative connotation (rightfully so) but it is still only a word. Or the beloved "C" word. I dont use words like that because they are socially unacceptable. I personally could care less. If a fella feels blessed because he bought a house....fine. If a muslim feels blessed because ISIS picked him to be on their team....fine. Words and their meanings and their contextual value are only worth what value the listener (or reader) puts into them. Aside from literally getting personal with me or my family, I could care less when someone feels blessed. I feel blessed because my kids are healthy...God did that not me. I feel blessed that I have a job in these tough times...God did that. I feel blessed because my job (that God allowed me to have) pays me money that I can use to buy a new bow. I am blessed....sue me.
So, you comment on a thread and not even read the subject that the thread is about? Btw, how much less could you care? "I couldn't care less." Properly used.....I couldn't care less about your opinion if you're not going to read the article.
I mean, I am all for hearing an opinion but at least read the article in reference. Don't feel sorry for me, I want people to have their own opinion. If not we wouldn't learn from each other. I'm less interested in an opinion from someone who didn't read the article than an opinion that I disagree with by someone who has read the article.
I agree with the article. I believe there is a God, yet I am not Christian. I live in the land of several million dollar churches, ones which have 500-1000 cars out front each Sunday. It seems as though everyone is "blessed" with a bmw at those churches. God gave use free will. When a person works hard and earns money to make it in this world, that person did it on their own. Now if a long the way they helped many persons on their journey to becoming successful, then they did a good thing and maybe God should recognize that work. The bmw they drive is not blessed by God. The reason I know materialistically successful people are not blessed any more than poor folks is because we are all the same. We all sin, we all do bad things, we all live deceitful lives.
Perhaps you're right...I can't read the article...it's blocked on the government server. I never said I feel sorry for you Spear...but either way....I voiced my opinion on the comments I read on the thread...I made little to no reference to the article...though I doubt I was was off on it's content. Obviously witty....Dan. I could care less how you use phrases... All in all, I made a comment on a thread...on a bow hunting forum of all places that was a relatively neutral comment and it was still my opinion...if I didn't say I didn't read the article you'd of never known. You thrive on the opportunity to bash people. I didn't bash anyone...I spoke about words...so bash me for it. It's still just a thread on a forum...with the subject of the thread as the title...
Crap......I just read the article on a friends computer......................................sorry guys....................I have just been humbled with a stout lesson...I wish to have all previous post stricken from the record....bash away...
