Lord, I am willing
To receive what You give;
To lack what You withhold;
To relinquish what You take;
To suffer what You inflict;
To be what You require.
Author unknown - quoted in Growing Your Faith: How to Mature in Christ (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2004) 181
Thank You Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, for revealing Yourself to me and to billions upon billions of others. Thank You for giving to me belief and trust in You so sound and so sure that I can lie down and sleep in peace because I know that You, O Lord, provide for my safety.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Lord, I am willing
To receive what You give;
To lack what You withhold;
To relinquish what You take;
To suffer what You inflict;
To be what You require
And yet that seems to be a problem for so many atheists who are sorely disappointed in a God that supposedly does not exist. There seems to be this notion that if God existed, there would be no suffering or disappointment in this world. The Bible is all about having a relationship with God and enjoying fellowship with him and His church. We are all on a journey whether you believe it or not. What you make of it and how you deal with everything is up to you.
There is something very stunted or childish / fearful in an atheist's relationship to suffering.
JD, atheists are not disappointed in a God that does not exist. However, many of us are disappointed in a world that seems all too interested on His supposed existence (and competing interpretations surrounding His supposed existence) than in existence itself.
You also misunderstand the point about suffering. It's not suffering that disproves the existence of God (although some argue that). It's the extent of the suffering and the suffering caused by natural phenomenon.
It's the extent of the suffering and the suffering caused by natural phenomenon.
This is what I think.....
Insofar as the extent of the suffering, there would appear to be a full range of "suffering". Minor bumps and bruises, terminal illnesses, grieved loss of loved ones. All types of suffering, minor and major. It seems to fit that humans have a full range of options at their disposal, to do good or do bad. Furthermore, one person's idea of terrible suffering might not seem so bad to the next person who might find a different type of suffering to be much worse. Who gets to decide what types of suffering are worse and which ones are to be limited (if they could)? The arguments would continue ad nauseum.
Natural phenomenon. If a dam were to break somewhere, unleashing a torrent of water to flood an unsuspecting, inhabited valley and all of a sudden this Big Huge Arm comes down out of the sky, sets down on the valley floor and diverts the water just long enought to safely evacuate everyone, would that be enough? Alot of hard-hearted atheists would change their minds because they saw this gigantic arm come down out of the heavens at just the right time and yes, there must be a God. Such an act would also take away freewill on the part of the person to believe or not believe. It would appear that God would like us to operate a bit differently than that.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." John 20:24-29
Post a Comment