Good or evil - How do you know?

Originally posted by jiggerj
The bible tells us that god did these things:

killed everyone in a flood
turned Lot's wife into a pillar of stone
Let Lot escape the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because he was a good man - a good man that had sex with his daughters.
God killed all of the firstborn of Egypt.
He played a terrible mind game on Abraham, making him think that he had to sacrifice his son.

Miracles:
Jesus healed the sick
walked on water
brought people back from the dead
cast demons into pigs and commanded them to jump off a cliff
rose from the dead after rotting for three days in a tomb

Question: With such awesome displays of miraculous power by Jesus, and with such heinous atrocities committed by god, how would anyone know whether a thing was done by Satan or God? Maybe it only looks evil to us. Maybe it's really a good thing. How would any mere mortal know the difference?

We wouldn't but Jesus said it was all about love. So let's just believe everything had a purpose for love, even though we have no idea why some of these things happen.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

The one that gave life cannot murder. It's was His to begin with. We use HIS Spirit, not ours. I answered the question. Only a thief can take. God's will is to give. There is no paradox with God when He moves us from one time domain to another. You must be born again. God can move a life from one age to the next. It's His choice.

That's right. We are nothing. We have no more value than a child's toy, to be played with as the child sees fit, or to be thrown in the trash. We are zip, meaningless, unimportant, irrelevant.

Man, this thinking is so so sad.

My thinking: I may be of no significance to the universe, but at least my life is my own. No strings attached.

Spoken like a true child who resents his parents.

Originally posted by jiggerj
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

The one that gave life cannot murder. It's was His to begin with. We use HIS Spirit, not ours. I answered the question. Only a thief can take. God's will is to give. There is no paradox with God when He moves us from one time domain to another. You must be born again. God can move a life from one age to the next. It's His choice.

That's right. We are nothing. We have no more value than a child's toy, to be played with as the child sees fit, or to be thrown in the trash. We are zip, meaningless, unimportant, irrelevant.

Man, this thinking is so so sad.

My thinking: I may be of no significance to the universe, but at least my life is my own. No strings attached.

edit on 5/13/2013 by jiggerj because: (no reason given)

reply to post by EnochWasRight


So what does that say about a parent who resents his children?

Genesis 6
6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

He even killed most of them.

He must have loved them a lot, right?

You must be born again. Here is a thread where I show this mystery from Moses scattering the people across the wilderness. It is for their own good. Raising a Child of God is much more than raising a child.

Hidden Mystery of Moses

Originally posted by 3NL1GHT3N3D1
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

So what does that say about a parent who resents his children?

Genesis 6
6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

He even killed most of them.

He must have loved them a lot, right?

reply to post by jiggerj


“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can't. If a thing is free to be good it's also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible.
Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they've got to be free.

Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently, He thought it worth the risk. (...)
If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will --that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings-- then we may take it [that] it is worth paying.”
C.S. Lewis, The Case For Christianity


For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

As you come to Him-- [Who is the] living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious-- you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

...without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
...when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, [you] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it...
...to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God,


Jeremiah 29:11
1 Peter 2:4,5
Hebrews 11:6
Ephesians 1:13,14
John 1:12

At the very least, you can be assured that the very hairs of our head are numbered and our value exceeds that of many sparrows. Thus most certainly of more value than "nothing at all". (Matthew 10:31)

reply to post by jiggerj

The Bible was written by man. How man perceives and understands God is limited and some may want to shoot me for this, but IMHO the authors of the Bible could only grasp God in terms of human emotions and behavior and tend to define God in man's image.

Try as they might God is indescribable. Then came Jesus and He knew that Father and called Him "Aba" (Daddy). He said "turn the other cheek", taught them about loving enemies and not throwing stones because everybody is a sinner.

This little girl played with matches in the dirt that represented Jesus, Mary and Joseph and put them behind violets and buttercups. I told my son that recently and he said "You mean you've always been this way?"

Yeah, I think I was born loving Jesus.
It all boils down to faith.

Not to knit pick, but I never heard that Jesus commanded the pigs to off themselves. They just went crazy.

You are a decent man. That you ask the question how do you know whether it is God or the Devil tells me you are wanting to discern the truth. Not that it will mean anything to you, but I pray you can sort out the difference. Go outside and look at the beauty of nature and think of that daughter you love. Ask your questions and you will get the answers you seek within yourself.