GAH plus questions
First I must comment by saying "GAHHH"...my physics teacher is about to drive me up a wall...if it werent for the fact that I have 9 days left...i think i might die. But after that fact, I have a couple questions for you guys. We were reading paradise lost in english and it arroused some spiritual questions for me - maybe you guys could answer them (as you are all-knowing)
1) If God knows everything in advance, and knows that we will not use our free-will to choose his path, why would he create people to give into corruption?
2) God must have known the devil was going to rebel, why didn't he confront the devil before the devil solidified his plans?
3) This seems sorta blasphemous, and im sorta embarrassed to put it in here...but why did God make it so we must worship, almost like a tyranny, instead of putting us on "friends" terms? I know this seems like a childish and weird question...and im not searching for the answer, like "he is greater"...or "he is our friend" something more...but i dont know what (dont quite understand this myself, but it came up in my head)
4) It seems like the devil wasn't that evil, it seems like he just wanted power...much like any other human (not saying I would worship him)...but in the bible does it portray his personality as the ultimate evil? (I know the true evil comes in his corrupting everybody else...dont really know why im asking this question)
5) Somewhere in the bible it says that the lord will not give you what you cannot handle, but then why do we have christians who convert during hard circumstances?
I know some of these may seem childish, or blasphemous. But they are not meant to be that way...just curiousities that were aroused in my heart, and i really want answers. So, if you could try to answer, I would be very greatful. Lately, I am really trying to solidify my faith, and I am trying to work out all the "kinks" in order to get there.
posted by JtotheSstaff @ 6:11 PM
4 Comments:
I'll give some of these a whirl....these answers arent the best, so what i'd advise you to do is just ask your pastor about these and/or look into some christian literature about this stuff.
But, i think a lot of these can be answered by God's desire for us to have free will. If He went ahead and stopped everything bad from happening and whatnot it would not really be free will. The best analogy i've heard that shows why God gives us free will is with a young child and his parent. If you had a toddler and just went ahead and child-proofed everything in the house and put out of reach everything that he could break or get into, he would never learn how to make right and wrong decisions about what he can play with and what he cant. Now of course you should keep your kid from getting into the dish washing detergent or whatever, but most people still have things that their kid might get into. They might hurt themselves or break something a few times, but they'll learn what's right and wrong. Its a lot cooler to see this one where the kid learns whats right and wrong. In the same way it brings more glory to God when we turn to him and choose to follow him for who he is, not just because we dont know any better. We see this kind of thing with Adam and Eve--GOd didnt have to put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, but he did.
I think this explanation speaks to your first and third questions. Our free will is a beautiful thing, its in the reflection of God. He could have not given us free will, but the fact that he did is more glorious. And the consequences of us having the free will is that some will choose one way and some the other--its unavoidable, if there arent different paths then there isnt free will. Applying this to your worship question....again we have a choice to worship Him. Its not like he's forcing us to do it, you can if you want to but you certainly dont have to. God isnt doing it for his personal gain, he's got all the glory already, he never needed us in the first place. So why is there worship? Well for one, i've really learned that it is an amazing privelege to worship God. It just blows me away at how awesome it is to just be able to glorify his name. Also, when we worship him and we draw near to him, the Word promises that he draws near to us and we pull down the gifts of heaven. We are IN HIS PRESENCE!!! Isnt it awesome that he wants to be in our presence? SO, God isnt being tyrannical about worshipping him. Also, God is our friend. Now he is also our king and ruler and lord, but read John 15 and you see Jesus saying that he calls us friend.
Now, on your last question i'm a little unclear about what you're asking. I dont quite understand what you mean by "why do we have christians who convert during hard circumstances?" Do you mean why do christians give up on God when things get tough? If thats what you mean, then the reason that those christians "failed" is not because they had too much to handle but because they werent depending on God. The reason that he will never give us more than we can handle is b/c we're depending on Him, and if he's who we're standing up under than we can never fall. When we "fail" its because WE got in the way of GOD's work. 2 corinthians 12:9 Jesus says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." In other words, its His grace (grace is defined to be God's enabling power; dont get it confused with mercy) that pulls us through everything. But, if we arent allowing His grace to be in control, then we're trying to do something ourselves and we WILL fail. The strongest man in the world is the one who is most dependent on God.
WOW i wrote a lot. I hope that makes sense...it makes sense to me. Its kinda hard when you're just writing something. It'd be better to just chat about it, but oh well. What do you guys think about all of this?
---Luke
I don't think these are childish questions at all...sometimes you're just curious, sometimes you just can't wrap your mind around a concept and make sense of it. Kudos to you for seeking answers.
Some scripture to think about:
Acts 18:24-28 (free will)
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (God won't give you more than you can handle)
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 ; Colossians 4:5-6 (just some encouragement)
And just to add to Luke's comment...Yes, Jesus is our friend (what a great friend to have around!), but we worship him because, really, it's an unequal relationship. Jesus gave us something that we could never give him, even if he needed it. And, Jesus stands by us, even when we are fairweather friends. So, he deserves our praise. It's kind of like this: So, you're walking across a street, oblivious to this bus that is coming at you in a matter of seconds. This fella sees you, runs and pushes you out of the way, knowing that he will take the fatal hit. Now, do you shrug your shoulders, and say "hmm, well wasn't that nice" and just keep on walking? Or will you turn around, look at the man who saved your life, and hold him in the utmost honor? So, if we were created on a strictly friends basis, then we would be equals to Jesus...but we aren't, so we need to give God some props.
love
Jordan M
Thanks you guys, this help really means a lot. It annoys me that all these questions are coming up in trying to make my faith my own. I thought it would be an easy process to transfer from my parents instilled beliefs to justifying my own...but it is really really really hard. ITs like i know the answers to all of these questions, but i have to hear them out from somebody else for them to make sense. Thanks
Maybe i'm misunderstanding what you mean by "making your faith your own", but you should never think your relationship with Jesus is anyone's but your own. Petra's salvation and relationshp with God is a gift that he gave to Petra and it is Petra's only.
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