God has a plan. An observation and a question.

Rose65 said:
Yes I do believe God has a plan for each of us, if we trust in Him.

We are mortal, our bodies must ail and die, good and bad times will happen to everyone. Those who have faith will pray for help in tough times and praise God for good times - in fact worship Him no matter which. Why? Because He is God.
Those who complain often ask why God let's things happen, but I wonder if they ever thank God for the good things? It would be absurd to think life ought to be a basket of roses and to carp about it being God's fault if things are not to our liking.

God does hear sincere prayer, but He answers in ways we may not understand or like. It is His will, not ours.
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Why would it be absurd to think life ought to be a basket of roses if God is omnipotent and our FATHER??? My earthly, imperfect, father never would have hurt me as God has done most recently and repeatedly to the point where I felt like I was in an abusive relationship and it was time to leave because not to do would so could have injured my mental and physical health as well. That's all really.
 

Old Salt said:
According to PBS:

"While there is disagreement about where Mark wrote, there is a consensus about when he wrote: he probably composed his work in or about the year 70 CE, after the failure of the First Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple at the hands of the Romans. That destruction shapes how Mark tells his story."

I.O.W. Eye witnesses to Jesus' life, death and resurrection had to be still around when the first Gospel was written! And since Christians were already being persecuted it's a powerful argument for the truth contained in Mark's Gospel!
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I have no intention of dismissing what others believe... however... an open and sophisticated mind should be able to accommodate
what science and incredible technology have been able to pinpoint.

If several people have the same experience and “witness” the same event … they will not recount it in the same way. The simple reason being … perception.

For instance, two people standing side by side and are experiencing the exact thing will have two completely opposite perceptions about what happened and will therefore tell different stories.

Imagine then.... these events being retold hundreds of year later. Does it really make sense?
 

When we first moved to Georgia with my husbands job we decided to try one of the local cafeterias. At a nearby table was a family holding hands and praying. I had never seen anything like that in public before. What happened? Did somebody die? No. Welcome to Georgia.
 
chic said:
My earthly, imperfect, father never would have hurt me as God has done most recently and repeatedly to the point where I felt like I was in an abusive relationship and it was time to leave because not to do would so could have injured my mental and physical health as well. That's all really.
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@chic
Care to share a bit more?
Was it the church?
 
Gaer said:
I don't mean to "stir the pot" but you said, "I don't believe what you do." What do you mean?
What "do I do" that you don't agree? You don't agree that I should express my thoughts?
Just asking respectfully.
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No problem, I just meant your beliefs about God and the Angles are different from mine. No harm in that most of us have differing beliefs and I think that makes for more interesting conversations and friendships.

I absolutely think you should express your thoughts. I read all your posts, I think, and as I believe I told you bought one of your books. You and your ideas make this a more interesting place, so keep em coming!
 
chic said:
Why would it be absurd to think life ought to be a basket of roses if God is omnipotent and our FATHER???
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Well, God is like our earthly father in some ways but wayyy FAR from being equal...no comparison!...ramp that up a gazillion notches!

I don't have all the answers because, by design, the Bible doesn't give us all the answers, but my faith-based answer is found in the New Testament of God's Word. God is LOVE & Good, Satan is EVIL & Hates. We are God's children, our punishment has been paid for our bad choices if we believe.

Don't forget about the presence of Evil and our ability to choose good over evil. It's necessary so that we are not robotic creations.

So why do good people suffer? That's a tough one for sure. All I know is that God will allow natural consequences to train us toward perfection, to teach us, to learn, to grow, to obey, to trust Him, to lean on Him for all things, and to follow his perfect plan. And He will allow us to go through trials and tribulations...some huge...to mold us closer and closer to perfection in preparation for eternal life which makes our time on earth look smaller than ultra-miniscule in comparison...but means a whole lot for eternity.

Also,"the sins of the fathers will be visited upon their children for generations" which I believe means that the mistakes made in the past by previous generations will naturally affect our planet and our children for the "3rd & 4th generations"...meaning a long time.
 
Old Salt said:
According to PBS:

"While there is disagreement about where Mark wrote, there is a consensus about when he wrote: he probably composed his work in or about the year 70 CE, after the failure of the First Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple at the hands of the Romans. That destruction shapes how Mark tells his story."

I.O.W. Eye witnesses to Jesus' life, death and resurrection had to be still around when the first Gospel was written! And since Christians were already being persecuted it's a powerful argument for the truth contained in Mark's Gospel!
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That PBS documentary was a ridiculously biased TV hit piece by the greatly discredited Jesus Seminar and its atheist leader Robert Funk. In any case, dates on New Testament books are a highly controversial subject that cannot be proven either way. Generally atheist scholars have an agenda of providing as late of dates as they can that of course reduces believability as well as denying books were written by eyewitnesses, especially any of the 12 apostles or Luke. There is plenty of information that points to earlier dates especially 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that is generally dated at AD54 or just 2 decades after the Resurrection when most of the early Christians as well as the Apostles were still alive. 1Co15 is the most important scripture in the New Testament books. The last gospel written by John (unproven to be apostle John) was likely the only text significantly Holy Spirit inspired.

https://www.compellingtruth.org/New-Testament-timeline.html

The Early Church
Pentecost: 30 A.D. (Acts 2)
First Persecutions: 32—34 A.D. (Acts 3-4)
Paul on the Road to Damascus: 34—36 A.D. (Acts 9)
Writing of the Book of Matthew: 43 A.D.
Execution of James (brother of John): 44—45 A.D. (Acts 12:2)
Execution of Philip: 54 A.D.
Nero Emperor of Rome: 54 A.D. — 68 A.D.
Writing of Book of Romans: 58 A.D.
Execution of Matthew: 60 A.D.
Writing of Book of James: 62 A.D.
Writing of 1 Peter: 63 A.D.
Writing of Acts: 63 A.D.
Writing of Book of Mark: 64 A.D.
Writing of 2 Peter: 65 A.D.
Execution of Peter: 64-67 A.D.
Jerusalem falls to Rome: 70 A.D.
Execution of Thomas, possibly in India: 72 A.D.
Writing of Jude: 75 A.D.
Writing of John's Gospel: 85 A.D.
Writing of John's Letters: 90 A.D.
John on Patmos: 96 A.D.
Writing of Book of Revelation: 97 A.D.
Apostle John Dies: 100 A.D.

Unfortunately, the New Testament does not give a precise timeline for these significant events—apparently God doesn't think we need them. The dates regarding the writings of the Gospels, especially, may be off by as much as 15 years. The dates of the deaths of the apostles are through church tradition, as the only death mentioned in the Bible is that of James the brother of the Apostle John in Acts 12:2.

The Ministry of Paul
Paul on the Road to Damascus: 36 A.D. (Acts 9)
First Missionary Trip Begins: 48 A.D. (Acts 13-14)
Second Missionary Trip Begins: 51 A.D. (Acts 15:36-18:22)
Writing of 1 & 2 Thessalonians: 52-53 A.D.
Third Missionary Trip Begins: 54 A.D. (Acts 18-21)
Writing of 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans: 57-58 A.D.
Arrested in Jerusalem: 58 A.D. (Acts 21:26-22:29)
Travels to Rome: 60-61 A.D. (Acts 27:1-28:16)
First Roman Imprisonment: 62-63 A.D. (Acts 28:16-31)
Writing of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon: 62 A.D.
Writing of Hebrews, 1 Timothy, Titus: 63 A.D.
Second Roman Imprisonment: 65-66 A.D.
Writing of 2 Timothy: 66 A.D.
Execution of Paul: 66 A.D.

Corinthians chapter 15
Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me (Paul) also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
 
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Jesus did as He did for perfectly good reasons. He chose not to write anything down, first hand witnesses did that in due course. The greatest apostle of all, Paul, who was a true scholar, wrote letters that became a huge part of the New Testament . The result is that from a small band of disciples, millions believe today.
I believe in Him above all else.
 
In Revelation 1:14-15 it is written “that Jesus's skin was a darker hue and that his hair was woolly in texture. The hairs of his head, it says, "were white as white wool, white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace.”

Despite what is written in the Bible, there exists a great number of Bible loving Christians who attend church regularly but have racism in their hearts.
I can never understand that and I was brought up in the Christian Church.
 
Pardon me, Revelations total historical BS, IMO. I disregard it completely, biblically historically speaking.

Have low opinion of Saul/Paul used cart salesman but that's a different pitch. Con job. Business takeover. A pirate. Original apostles too goofy to carry on show alone. Lost control.
 
My following speculation is not what anyone will read in books or as Christian denomination dogma. My conjecture is that why Jesus had Paul aka Pharisee, awarded Roman citizen Saul and then Luke become involved is that the original expectation between God and his race of Angels (possible UIEs) was that Jesus's mission would NOT succeed due to the intractable dark nature of many ruling humans. So that God and his angels would need to take over control of the Earth from we disgusting, immoral, warlike, Earth monkeys. Something they probably greatly wanted to avoid in their precious galactic zoo but were frustrated over repeated failures over a millennium plus from Moses's days in trying to change sinful human behaviors. Thus Jesus may have been God's last final attempt to help we humans.

Instead, the followers of Jesus after the Resurrection, were quite successful at establishing a nascent Jerusalem based church, so changed from short term plans of End of Times, to a long term strategy. They were successful mainly because hundreds of followers really did see like a seeming true miracle from God, a resurrected Jesus in the flesh that no amount of threatened punishment even death by torture, could deter, if they also believed their own eternal life followed. The fact that so many believed they saw Jesus meant authorities could not simply deny whatever as the imagination of a few Zealots with agendas. If the Resurrection had just been an elaborate phony plan with Jesus actually suffering a horrible tortured death, his many followers would never had sacrificed their precious lives so. To have a long term chance of a Christian church succeeding required documenting in written form Jesus's mission period and Resurrection. Something simple oral tradition was weak at. However the 12 Apostles were not Greek language educated because they had not been selected to create a long lasting Christian church if the end was coming soon, so could not effectively record those times.

Thus Jesus, God, and his race of Angels went to wing it Plan B. Selecting the Jewish, prime Jesus persecutor Saul, was a incredibly wise plan, to spread the word around the Mediterranean beyond Israel and that did greatly succeed. Saul himself saw and that was so convincing that he as Saint Paul flipped his passionate thinking 180 degrees, then endured through hardships and pain through the rest of his life. The 3 synoptic gospels were gradually formed from fresh oral traditions of Jerusalem followers. If what someone wrote was incorrect, there were hundreds of believers that were still alive that could have refuted whatever. By time of the AD70 Roman army destruction of Jerusalem and temple, the 3 gospels may have been considered too weak in the most important message. So the Holy Spirit once again came down and inspired John to write his amazing gospel that better focused on eternal life as the gift believers followers would receive. Luke's ACTS document was also very important as it ties much together beyond the gospels.

And as I have written elsewhere, eternal life may be physically possible, not just some magic like miracle, once one understands that all Earth intelligent animal life is at its essence, complex oscillating electromagnetic fields nature termed brainwaves, and as such might arguable be transferred by some ultimate ancient entities into non-organic impedance matching containers, thus essentially immortal if not physically destroyed.
 
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I listen to music about Jesus many hours per day. It makes me feel comfortable and at peace.

However, logically i do not believe there are any "gods." I believe, when we die, we simply CEASE to exist. I would call myself an "Existentialist."

We all live a certain number of years and then we get very sick and die. I am age 88 and expect to die in 1 to 3 years. I accept all pain, impairment and death as natural events.

The key to a happy life is ACCEPTANCE of all pain, impairment and death. I expect to die in 1 to 3 years. My Geriatrician already told me he will NOT treat any heart disease or cancer which impairs me. All I want from him is some medicine to reduce my pain.

Opiates are usually worse than any illness so my Geriatrician is giving me Tylenol and Gabapentin to suppress the pain.
 
Lara said:
No, because God created us with the ability to make our own choices and some choose not to follow God's plan.
God probably has to tweak His plan for us according to where we are in our journey when we finally decide to listen to His plan
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Yes. ‘Free will.’ That was my thought also.
God will tweak his plan if I decide to listen to his plan. How do I know what his plan is for me?
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Yes. ‘Free will.’ That was my thought also.
God will tweak his plan if I decide to listen to his plan. How do I know what his plan is for me?
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My faith-based answer is that you will know what His plan is for you when you completely choose to follow His lead. Surrender and cast all your burdens at His feet as you completely trust and obey, staying focused, listening, and seeing your life make more sense, have more purpose, feel more fulfilled, etc.

It may not look like what you WANT your plan to be but it will look more like what you NEED your plan to be in order to be the best you were meant to be. It won't necessarily be easier because we grow from trials and tribulations...and growth is best for us. And when you waiver from leaning on Him completely, which we all do on occasion, you will know that too because your life will will start to get messy again and off-center and less fulfilling. You'll just know. Then you just get yourself back on track as you trust and obey again.
 
Lara said:
My faith-based answer is that you will know what His plan is for you when you completely choose to follow His lead. Surrender and cast all your burdens at His feet as you completely trust and obey, staying focused, listening, and seeing your life make more sense, have more purpose, feel more fulfilled, etc.

It may not look like what you WANT your plan to be but it will look more like what you NEED your plan to be in order to be the best you were meant to be. It won't necessarily be easier because we grow from trials and tribulations...and growth is best for us. And when you waiver from leaning on Him completely, which we all do on occasion, you will know that too because your life will will start to get messy again and off-center and less fulfilling. You'll just know. Then you just get yourself back on track as you trust and obey again.
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Thank you. I have something to say about it but not sure how to work it yet. I’ll respond to this a bit later.
 

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