Thank God for Miracles!

[Mr. Smith]

Originally Posted by Sweet Pea

Okay - I'm not going to "shout" any more..... however, I do think you misunderstood my post.... my intention was not to say God "caused" it when I typed he "used it". There are some things that are just "life". Car wrecks happen, people get cancer or some other terrible disease. It's all part Adam's fall. I don't believe that God gives anyone cancer, or that he moves cars around on the road to have wrecks so that people will see their need of Him - however, when these things happen, I do believe that he "uses" the circumstances. Is this a better explanation for you? That's what I meant all along. Hopefully, the niece will be stirred by the near accident that her family was involved in and turn her heart toward God. Although it is a tragedy, the simple fact of knowing what happened to the other family could have happened to her family should give her pause to stop and think about how she is living her life.

If you have posted with Esther at all, you would realize that your assumption that she rejoiced that another family and not her family died a horrific death, is totally wrong !

I think we all agree that the circumstances are tragic for the other family. May God be with their extended family and friends.

It's not an "Assumption" and I'm not wrong at all. Go back and read it. It's fairly easy to read. She claims a "Miracle" (which is completely insulting) and reinforces that it was a miracle by informing us that another family was destroyed. Assumption wasn't needed. I just read what was there.

And I didn't understand your post. It's possible, however, that you could word it better. If you had said, "God could use this to reach whoever", that would mean that good could come of it, and that's a plausible concept. But you said, "God used it to get their attention." That indicates He made it happen because someone needs to wake up.

So I'll leave it open that you would have worded it better. But no, I did NOT misunderstand it.

[Mr. Smith]

Originally Posted by pelathais

There was a saying in the ancient world that went something like: "The arrow does not recognize the courageous warrior."

In ancient warfare the archers would fire their volleys in ranks and not at any particular single target. Wherever an individual arrow landed was determined entirely by chance and the movements of the onrushing horde. The arrow volleys were intended to thin the ranks so that the hand-to-hand combat might favor the defending side.

In the warrior culture, the warrior who ran headlong into battle without regard to his own safety was greatly admired. However, it was observed that these types who didn't crouch behind a shield were also cut down with greater frequency. The arrow didn't appear to recognize or "favor" the brave.

The "arrow" was seen as a symbol which signified all of the things in life over which a person had no control. Dysentery and cholera struck down the healthy and the rich as well as the sick and the poor ("sick" and "poor" were usually the same individuals). Lightning and floods ravaged all who were in the path of the storm, but some were spared due to unseen forces or just random luck.

Did God favor these pigs in an Iowa flood over the livestock that drowned?





If so, why? Your position forces us all to visualize a capricious and uncaring "god" who has little regard for the lives of human beings - but he goes to great lengths to save three little piggies in Iowa. I reject that "god."

Do you think God favors His people when they play the lottery? If so, why has no OP ever won one of the really big jackpots? We could have used that money to keep WEC open. Instead, WEC has been forced to cut staff and do drastic layoffs. Why? Why doesn't God intervene?

Where was God when this UPC church was destroyed by a volcano and earthquake? Why didn't God listen to the prayers of these saints?



http://www.apostolicnews.org/2010/06...-in-guatemala/

Why is this pastor suffering the destruction of his own home?



Like someone else said before, your posts just sound like the self justification of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. You ought to consider the rebuke they received at the hands of God, then maybe you'd seek the prayers of the surviving family members of those who were killed on the highway recently.

GREAT post.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by jfrog

Let me put it simple. If God miraculously spared the first family, then he also miraculously sent a car crashing into and killing the other family. I believe that if God really were to spare a family in a miraculous fashion that no one else would be found dead in their place.

faulty logic, Frog. It would go more along the lines of God spared one family from a drunken suicidal driver but didn't spare the other. It's not like God caused the accident to happen but that He could have prevented it.

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

faulty logic, Frog. It would go more along the lines of God spared one family from a drunken suicidal driver but didn't spare the other. It's not like God caused the accident to happen but that He could have prevented it.

If Esther's God had done nothing then that other family would still be here. There is no getting around that logic.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by jfrog

Think of all the other families on the road behind the hummer that was crashed into. Thank God for miraculously sparing them and not letting them be the ones crashed into! That's a rather hollow praise to God though, isn't it?

Is it possible for someone to be thankful to God and grieve at the same time? Why is it wrong to praise God for sparing a close relative not only from death but eternal death? And how do we know if it were not but for Esther's prayers that her niece would not be alive today?

Are we wasting our time to prayer for traveling mercies?

Okay, how about this scenario, two saints suffer persecution, one is killed and the other is delivered. Is it alright to rejoice over the one who is set free? Read Acts 12.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by jfrog

If Esther's God had done nothing then that other family would still be here. There is no getting around that logic.

God didn't cause the collision.

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

God didn't cause the collision.

By preventing Esther's family's collision her God caused the other collision. (For if he had not prevented her family's collision then the other family would not have had a collision.)

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Mr. Smith

NO IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!!!!!

I'll make a deal with you...the next time someone in YOUR family is diagnosed with a deadly disease and moronic Christians show up at your door, on your phone, and in your mailbox claiming that God has appointed this deadly disease JUST so He can get your attention, I'll let YOU describe how it feels and as well, explain the view of God one must have to see Him that way. It has happened to me!!!!

It is possible. Sometimes brushes with death do wake up folks to how short our lives are and our need to be right with God. It made me seek God.

God is able to make all things work together for good to them that love him even the death of this other family.

[Mr. Smith]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

It is possible. Sometimes brushes with death do wake up folks to how short our lives are and our need to be right with God. It made me seek God.

God is able to make all things work together for good to them that love him even the death of this other family.

No, it is NOT possible. God does not kill a family of four by burning them alive expressly for the purpose of getting someone's attention. If that's your God, I'm not interested in Him.

[mfblume]

How about each perspective giving scripture that shows an identical example, and not just a statement that one may think applies towards a situation?