No, certainly not. If anyone else did that, it would be murder, but God gets a pass. He stands by and watches lots of atrocities. Has the power to stop them, but doesn't. But that's fine. He's God. (Funny, nobody would let me get away with standing by and watching a toddler get hit by a train and say "That's fine. He's Timmy.")
Oh, this is all explained in the book "The Shack", of course. You see, God can't step in and stop, say, a child molester. That would be wrong. No, the only way He could have stopped something like that is 1) to interfere with the molester's free will (how awful!) or 2) not to have created in the first place. Yep. Those are the only two ways "God" could think of, in the book.
Sigh.
So what's your conclusion, Timmy? That there isn't really a God to step in? Or that there is One, but He's not as good as we are? (At least, those of us with protective instincts)
__________________
"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
But deep down you do have to wonder why god does not stop the child molester or thief,murderer etc..........
Or why He didn't stop my brother from drowning, or heal my father of diabetes or heal my sisters child of his fatal birth defect, or why He allowed a woman in her 40's in our church to die of cancer last year or why He allowed my husband to lose his job or....
We all have reasons to question God. Some choose to have faith in Him in spite of everything and some don't. Simple as that.
__________________
"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
So what's your conclusion, Timmy? That there isn't really a God to step in? Or that there is One, but He's not as good as we are? (At least, those of us with protective instincts)
I am an agnostic/deist. Agnostic because I don't know (and I don't believe anyone knows or can know). Deist because if God, the creator, does exist, He is not interfering with His creation. He's letting it proceed on its own, according to the laws of physics etc. that He put into effect.
__________________
Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
KWSS, you could say that about lots of things. If a young man signs up for the military, he knows the risks, so if he gets killed, he essentially committed suicide. Or a fireman, going into a burning building knowing the risks--if the building caves in on him, he technically committed suicide.
It was the MAN Christ Jesus who died on the cross--the Spirit didn't die. And the MAN Christ Jesus suffered and was martyred just as any other human in the same circumstances.
God had the power to change the outcome, but then He has the power to prevent any human death, but doesn't. Does that make Him a murderer everytime someone dies?
I'm trying to understand the difference you are making between martyrdom and suicide. Jesus could have answered the high priest differently and explained the profecies concerning the firstcoming of the messiah instead he provoked him by claiming he was God manifest in the flesh. He provoked him with the truth but he could have explained the prophecies and prevented his death. I see it as suicide, much like I think the movie has a noble and redemptive ending. What I'm trying to say is that I view a noble suicide much differently now that I've seen the movie.
I am an agnostic/deist. Agnostic because I don't know (and I don't believe anyone knows or can know). Deist because if God, the creator, does exist, He is not interfering with His creation. He's letting it proceed on its own, according to the laws of physics etc. that He put into effect.
I wonder where God is and why he doesn't reveal himself like he did in the OT. What is so different from the times we live now to the days of the OT? Then again millions of people receiving the spirit and speaking in tongues is proof enough for me.
I am sorry but it will take a little more then tongues for me that is something that has been proven can be faked......LOL
How about the real result of "having the Spirit", as they say? Love. Joy. Peace. Longsuffering. Etc. The problem is, many people display that fruit besides tongue-talking Christians. Even people who don't claim to be Christians! And the really funny thing: some Christians don't have much of that fruit!
__________________
Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Linear Mode
