A philosophical Christmas query : What does God want from us?

Aneeda72 said:
Why would anyone need to please God? It’s not about “pleasing” God. It’s about being a good person. God gave us freedom of choice, freedom of choice is not about pleasing anyone.
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I was raised to believe there were special privileges for those who please God. I'm no longer sure about this. :unsure:
 

Gary O' said:
Ever actually study The Bible?

I've been told many times, by my renegade friends;

'I can't believe in a god that kills people'

That discussion gets a bit deep....deep as one wants, really;

As for the flood -

Mankind was living past 900 years of age and fully corrupting itself. Finally melting down to total corruption - mankind would never have made it to today - at that rate. He would need to "push reset" - giving them lower life spans and remove a lot of the damage they had done, as well as a lot of the advantages they had - so they could not ramp up to such massive wickedness and self-destruction so fast.

Even so - He gave them a 120 year message for repentance and if they had accepted it - then no flood.

==========

As for Sodom and Gomorrah

Notice in Jude 7 that it is a signal to all mankind not to follow that path where as we see in Genesis the entire city except for Lot - was corrupt. Having a couple of cities (relatively small by comparison to today's mega cities) serve as a warning/example for generations to come was a price that was paid.
Still if they had listened to Lot's teaching about his God - they could have been spared. In fact Abraham bargained with God so that if only ten people were not corrupt out of the entire city it would be spared as Nineveh was spared in Jonah's day.=====================
God's plan was to allow himself to die for all the sins of all mankind in all of time - but to do that He could not allow Satan to turn the entire world to evil and self-destruct before there even would be the Messiah - nor could He just yank everybody's free will away and turn them into compliant robots.

So that means the "choices have consequences" system where bad choices result in a corrupt and self-destructive society - would be allowed "to a point".

Of late I've been studying the correlation between David and Goliath and Jesus' time on earth.
Never really knew there was one.
David was the lone one.
Somewhat of an intercessor.....standing in place of his people
Much like Jesus, our intercessor
Standing in place of us.

I could jam this forum with my findings, but won't

Just gotta say, it's really worth the study


I won't bore anyone with my findings, but, studying, if one really wants to know, is eye opening and fascinating.
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Yes, I've read the bible many times over and studied theology in college before switching my major. The bible leaves me flat. Sorry it just does. I don't feel all profound or uplifted by it anymore though I once did. I have seen too much injustice and misery for the bible to make sense or be relevant to me now.

Often I feel God challenges me beyond my ability to bear which is not supposed to happen if God walks with you so I am just confused at this point. :oops:
 
chic said:
Yes, I've read the bible many times over and studied theology in college before switching my major. The bible leaves me flat. Sorry it just does. I don't feel all profound or uplifted by it anymore though I once did. I have seen too much injustice and misery for the bible to make sense or be relevant to me now.

Often I feel God challenges me beyond my ability to bear which is not supposed to happen if God walks with you so I am just confused at this point. :oops:
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I so hear you, Chic

I've been there for a very long time.....most my life.

A kindly mentor can help.
Not a bible thumping zealot, but one with sweet, deep knowledge, that can prayerfully guide you.

Hopes and prayers for you, sister.

We can chat via PM if you wish.
If not, I understand
 

Gary O' said:
I so hear you, Chic

I've been there for a very long time.....most my life.

A kindly mentor can help.
Not a bible thumping zealot, but one with sweet, deep knowledge, that can prayerfully guide you.

Hopes and prayers for you, sister.

We can chat via PM if you wish.
If not, I understand
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You're very sweet and understanding Gary. It hasn't been such a great year for either one of us. hugs cats.jpg
 
After studying the prophecies and their pinpoint accuracies, I was still lingering with no real conviction.
Until I studied His death.
He died my death.
The one where you go to hell.
Took my place....

About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). Matt 27:46

Separation from the Father.....for the first time
Literally breaking His heart
Death

It broke MY heart.....still does
Realized I could do nothing.....but accept.... believe



​

 
If I believed there is an omnipotent sentient being billions of years old living outside the known universe. I'm guessing that being would want me to stop wondering about.

When there will be a return to stop human births that begin and continue to be mentally and or physically challenged?

When there will be a return to eliminate abject poverty.

When there will be a return to explain what the plan is for mankind when the population on earth exceeds the earths resources.

When there will be a return to explain what happened to the gigantic life forms in earths pre historic era.

When there will be a return to explain how there could be 10 fascinating creatures only found in Madagascar.
 
If you listen to preachers and other evangelical groups, God wants us to be positive in all things and we are especially blessed when we are being torn apart. Apparently he also needs our hands and feet, because he can't seem to get things done on his own. Yet he appears to be a sort of Santa Claus figure who is interested when we are being naughty or nice. Yes God, not his real name, is quite the all-powerful conundrum. I just believe that God can pretty much do what he wants when he wants and is not at all interested in prayers that are pretty much our attempts at telling him what to do. When I went to church the prayers offered up sure sounded like that. I used to think, who do these people think they are, ya God's going to get right on that. Smh.
 
Gary O' said:
Just gotta say, it's really worth the study
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Gary O' said:
I won't bore anyone with my findings, but, studying, if one really wants to know, is eye opening and fascinating.
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Like the book of Judges in the old testament:
Folks were doing okay then they started carousing, ignoring God's dictates.
God said, 'Okay, you want'a do as you please-give it a try.'
Wouldn't you know it, the folks continued their carousing... then, then, a foreign invader arrived, conquered the folks, making
their life hard.
The folks cried out, 'Help!'
God said, 'I'll send you a champion to run the invaders out of your country. However, once this has
occurred, I' expect you to obey my laws.'
The folks said, 'Okay.'
So the invaders were banished and the folks were happy, happy, happy.'
(continued)
 
The book of Judges, part II
The folks worshiped God, but, but they started sinking back into carousing.
Same old story, a conqueror arrived make the folks life hard.
The people cried out, 'Help.'
The folks just couldn't grasp that the dictates of God were forever.
Seems like the folks cannot learn that Carousing will not be tolerated.
If you choose to go your own way; well, okay- so be it, now, let's see what happens.
 
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I wouldn't go around try to blame God for anything good nor bad! I would tend to blame the human population. We are going around and doing good and bad things. For example, 100 elephants are killed everyday for their ivory. Who kills those majestic beasts? God? I don't think. Men will military type guns do. Men set the snares, not God. Men poison the water with arsenic; not God. And when it comes to global warming, no use blaming God. Blame those huge factories and those huge SUV trucks, etc. I really get tired of God being the scape-goat for our own stupidity. We have to stop acting like little kids that blame the other kids but never ourselves.

When you really think about it God did not make World War I nor World War II. He doesn't waste his time making earthquakes, floods nor hurricanes. That's Mother Nature! Blame her!
 
Why would God, if he exists, consider us special in his vast universe and love us? Only we humans are capable of incredibly deep mind, emotion, and feelings. Well recorded and planned over weeks with 7 cameras, surprising people at Seaway Mall near Niagara Falls.

 
Packerjohn said:
I wouldn't go around try to blame God for anything good nor bad! I would tend to blame the human population. We are going around and doing good and bad things. For example, 100 elephants are killed everyday for their ivory. Who kills those majestic beasts? God? I don't think. Men will military type guns do. Men set the snares, not God. Men poison the water with arsenic; not God. And when it comes to global warming, no use blaming God. Blame those huge factories and those huge SUV trucks, etc. I really get tired of God being the scape-goat for our own stupidity. We have to stop acting like little kids that blame the other kids but never ourselves.
for
When you really think about it God did not make World War I nor World War II. He doesn't waste his time making earthquakes, floods nor hurricanes. That's Mother Nature! Blame her!
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But God ALLOWS it to happen. A minister once said to me, "When things go right for you, God gets all the credit. When things go badly YOU take all the blame." He was right about this and many people besides me feel this way in relationship with God.
 
chic said:
I was raised to believe there were special privileges for those who please God. I'm no longer sure about this. :unsure:
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The main point of God is that everyone is treated equally, which is why and how equality became so important to the growth of freedom in the US.

I also think this confusion started as a child. We/you learned if you pleased either parent-THAT parent gave you “special privileges“. This happened to most of us, even me sometimes. Then, as a child, a type of transference occurred.

You decided that if you did things you thought pleased God, you would receive “special privileges” and interpreted some good things that happened as special privileges. But those “privileges” may have been your “guardian angel” helping you, or fate, or hard work on your part.

Anyway, this is my take on it all. Which you can take or leave. 😂. As for the Bible, it’s a God inspired book written by a bunch of old men after the death, of JC. As we grown older, a lot of us realize the Bible has a lot of stories and wishful thinking in it; and has been edited for dramatic effect. 😏
 
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Aneeda72 said:
Well, since God and JC have prepared at place in heaven for those who are Christian; I doubt either entity cares if anyone gets vaccinated or not. I would assume the same can be said for the Satan. 😂
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But what if these vaccinations are God’s gift to us? How can we know with certainty? Might he not be offended if we don’t accept his gift? And Uncle Sam, he’s always seemed to want to do what’s right. As for Satan, I haven’t seen nor heard much about how he feels about this pandemic stuff, so far. But he might be working in mysterious ways. Such a sticky wicket it is!
 
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