• secretlife said on Sep 17, 2007....

  LOL! 
  the Lord works in mysterious ways!

• Lioness said on Sep 17, 2007....

  Haha.. what a divine humor.. Love it!

• shiningstar said on Sep 19, 2007....

  Just goes to show that everyone sees everything differently. Condensing everyone down to one way of seeing everything takes away the flavor(salt) that makes life so very interesting and versatable.Peace

• queenparanoia said on Sep 21, 2007....

  hahahahahahahahaahhahaha. love this post!!!

• Antimatter said on Sep 24, 2007....

  I especially like the implication that atheists are evil and in league with the devil.

  (And that would be sarcasm.)

• lidstrom82 said on Sep 26, 2007....

  Actually that's not true, antimatter...one can serve the pursuits of the devil without actually worshiping him. Someone can also do good things that God agrees with without worshiping Him, either. So it goes both ways, and whether we do one or the other, it doesn't necessarily implicate us as "good" or "evil", or put us in league with either God or Satan. Personally, I'd rather be in league with God and KNOW that what I'm doing is purposely for Him, than do what I want and not know either way what my actions count for.
  
  All this awesome joke says is that a person can do the will of God without them knowing it. The woman has been blessed with food, even though the neighbor just wanted to prove her wrong.
  
  That little old lady is the bomb :)
  
  
  

• Antimatter said on Sep 26, 2007....

  That only begs the question, how do you “KNOW” with any certainty if you’re doing things that god would approve?

• lidstrom82 said on Sep 26, 2007....

  To be completely honest with you, the Bible explains what God approves; that's what it's here for. It tells us what's right and what's wrong, and explains that Jesus saves us from our wrongdoing and regrets.
  
  That sounds fantastical, but in practical terms, with how bad this world can be, we need a force of good even stronger to overcome the worst atrocities of this world. I know that the Bible explains what Jesus does for those who believe in Him. It might sound confining or closeminded to assume that there is a God, or a Savior in Jesus - or that there's only one God, for that matter - but the way I see it, if someone saves your life, the least you can do is know their name and be grateful. Because God saved my life, I will know Him and be grateful.
  
  Thank you for asking a very practical question, antimatter. According to a recent study, over 90% of Americans believe in God, but mention of Him is something we mostly avoid in everyday conversation or public events - and when God IS mentioned, it is usually met with snickers - even on 9/11. For anyone willing to take the Bible at face value, the mysteriousness of God or what He wants is answered.
  

• Antimatter said on Sep 26, 2007....

  I don’t mean to be rude or blunt, but the god I’ve read in the Bible is anything but a force of good seeking to overcome the worst atrocities of our world. If I were to “take the Bible at face value,” I’d have no choice but to distance myself from the deity it describes.

• lidstrom82 said on Sep 26, 2007....

  Antimatter, you've been really respectful in sharing your views, and it's much appreciated :)
  
  I wasn't even a Christian until age 17, and being 25 now, I've been a nonchristian longer than I've been a believer. Comparing the two periods of time, I'm much better off in my life now, without question.
  
  To many people, it seems that God is a bully that demands we play by His rules, or we lose. There are some mighty tales of destruction that God either allowed or made happen Himself.
  
  What I realized was that God did these things in response to the wickedness of mankind, to punish them for wrongdoing. Objectively looking at what people did, God's chosen people of Israel or not, they were disobeying God left and right. It only took a little while for the Israelites to worship a golden calf, even as Moses went to speak with God Himself. God punished many of them by having them melt the golden calf and to drink the scalding, liquid gold.
  
  Does that sound drastic and cruel? Yes, it does. At the same time, it takes the object of sin that the people worshiped and forced them to internalize it - literally. Remember as well, however, that God had freed His people from Egypt, parted the Red Sea to allow their escape, destroyed their enemies that had enslaved them for years, provided protection and cover for them, provided food daily - only to find them STILL complaining and doubting. I would venture to say that the combined effect of sin in all of humanity outweighs any "drastic" or "cruel" punishment that God has meted out. God brought about the Flood to wipe out the cruelty in the world - that only Noah's family survived is a testimony to how depraved the world can be.
  
  What we can consider is that if we put ourselves in the role of parent, and lovingly give birth to a child, we are best fulfilling our roles as parent if we decide to undertake parenthood with a purpose - say, raising a child that will bless others and be a positive example for everyone around them. What if you raised the child to the best of your ability, and yet you constantly found them rejecting you, disrespecting you, undermining you, and the like? They ignore you when you tell them to do something, purposely do the opposite of what you say, act as if you don't exist, and would blame you for everything they (and others) did wrong. They would curse you to your face and come to blows if you tried to restrain them.
  
  How would you respond? With love, I would hope. And despite any punishment God has given to wicked people, I assure you, that without God's love for us, we wouldn't even be here to speak on the matter; humanity would have been wiped out long ago. We also recall that one of God's commandments that He gave to Moses on Sinai was for us to honor our father and mother. To revisit the parenthood analogy, God actively gave a command for your rebellious child to obey you - even if they disobey, God is still calling for your child to obey you for YOUR benefit, and theirs...and that is hardly something a malevolent god would do.
  
  I think that if the world embraced the fact that we are collectively responsible for the worst atrocities of the world, and considered the God did something about it in His Son, Jesus, we would trust in a savior to lift us above our own pettiness and actually improve the world. The goal is not to have perfection, because it's impossible for flawed people in a flawed world to overcome those defects. It's like asking an old car to fix itself.
  
  Rather, the goal is to take responsibility for our own part in hurting others, realize our need for healing, accept any punishment we deserve for any wickedness we caused or encouraged, and consider the possibility that God is more than just the punishments He meted out to our ancestors. Perhaps He allowed drastic examples because it would take that much to snap us out of our own haughtiness and foolish pride. I say that all to encourage you to think of God in a different light, Antimatter. If we were judge ourselves merely in times where we punished our children, confronted loved ones, or expressed our anger, we wouldn't look very joyful, either. But there is much more to God in the Bible than wrath long ago. There is a loving God who created us just TO love us.  I'd think without God, we wouldn't even know what love was.
  

• shiningstar said on Sep 26, 2007....

  Just goes to prove if one believes that anyone is bad,  wicked or wrong,  if they are bigger and have  more power they can do anything to the smaller people to "teach"  them a better way.  So says religion. The rest of the world calls being that way a bully.  If that is their god's way of loving people we are better off without it.  According to our dictionary "we the people"  know more about love than their God.Peace

• lidstrom82 said on Sep 26, 2007....

  Just because Christianity didn't work for you, shining, doesn't make God a bully, His views undesirable, or religion a negative thing. Simple as that. 

• shiningstar said on Sep 27, 2007....

  I do not "make" your god a bully.  If one accepts the definition of love or bully that we say we believe in that defines him as the opposite of love and a bully.Peace

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