The Good News Cafe Forum

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by CC1

I did not come out of some SERIOUS darkness and "tribulation" as I ws raised in church and a good Christian home but I also can't comprehend how personal attacks or mean people could cause a person to lose faith in God.

Reminds me of how lame I thought it was when I read upon Steve Jobs death that he stopped being a Christian because he could not reconcile the pain and suffering in the world with God. Amazing that someone that smart could be that shallow. There are plenty of folks who could have explained that to him if he had reached out or even done a cursory search on the internet.

I think many times people use outward things as an excuse for an inward issue.

I go to church with a woman who lost her son in Iraq where he served as a Army medic. She has very tough days but the vast majority of the time keeps it all in perspective and always loves God and leans on him for strength in her weakness. I will put her grief up against "mean people" and "personal attacks" any day. The bottom line is that if one lets God's Spirit be the Comforter he said he would be then no matter what comes against us we can find the strength to handle it. It is when we stop turning to God for that strength and look to ourselves that we get bitter and turn against relationship with God.

I'll go even further and suggest that if a person's faith in God depended on whether or not people were nice to them then they don't have faith in God at all, just faith in 'whatever it is those nice people believe'.

I mean... God (if he exists) is GOD, not people. And thus, the truth about God is independent of people's behavior.

Example: I do not judge Islam based on the behaviour of a select group of self-professed Muslims. I judge Islam based upon it's actual content and beliefs and dogmas and claims.

Same with any other philosophy or religion.

Sure, the behaviour of adherents can give a person a clue about what they believe, some religious beliefs are destructive (Thuggism, for example) but my faith in God was born of him literally saving my life.

And if a person claims God never did anything for them at all, I'd say they didn't see a few things. I know looking back on my life God has done amazing things for me that at the time I utterly failed to recognize as His blessings and mercy.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by Esaias

I'll go even further and suggest that if a person's faith in God depended on whether or not people were nice to them then they don't have faith in God at all, just faith in 'whatever it is those nice people believe'.

And if a person claims God never did anything for them at all, I'd say they didn't see a few things. I know looking back on my life God has done amazing things for me that at the time I utterly failed to recognize as His blessings and mercy.

I think it is a spirit of this age. I battle this with some of my own loved ones. They don't like "organized religion" because of double minded or duplicitious people they have met in the church.

The fact of the matter is that anything involving imperfect human beings is going to have its shares of hypocrites, double minded, etc, etc folks. However there are also going to be a lot of folks living for God the best they can and honestly putting forth their best effort even if they do stumble sometimes.

As you pointed out our faith and confidence should be in God not people. And not in God just when he does things we want him to. We should have confidence that if God does not answer prayers the way we would like him to it is ultimately for our good.

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by CC1

I think it is a spirit of this age. I battle this with some of my own loved ones. They don't like "organized religion" because of double minded or duplicitious people they have met in the church.

The fact of the matter is that anything involving imperfect human beings is going to have its shares of hypocrites, double minded, etc, etc folks. However there are also going to be a lot of folks living for God the best they can and honestly putting forth their best effort even if they do stumble sometimes.

As you pointed out our faith and confidence should be in God not people. And not in God just when he does things we want him to. We should have confidence that if God does not answer prayers the way we would like him to it is ultimately for our good.

I prayed for something for 20 years before God answered, and now realize that the 20 year delay was God's PERFECT timing, after the fact.