Posted on 11/23/2012 8:38:07 PM PST by carlo3b
WHERE’S GOD...?
Have you ever wondered where in the world is GOD, when we are witnessing unspeakable horrors throughout the world each and every hour of each and every day?
Forget listening to the news, local, national, or heaven forbid international news, there isn’t a moment’s peace in the world if we accept what we are told... Heck, we can’t even turn on the TV, log on to the computer, or flip on the radio at the top of any hour of the day or night, without being reminded of the suffering of our fellow humans, not just in countries that we have come to know half way around the globe.. But, down the block, or an innocent day care center, that we pass on our way to the mall.. Don’t even get me started on what is happening at malls…
We all know about the NEWS, if it bleeds, it leads.. That doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, it’s all about holding us hostage to our nature, like slowing down to view an accident, secretly hoping to see some tragedy.. Don’t lie, at least to yourself.. If you don’t like the news, don’t turn it on.. Better than that, if you can’t handle the bad in the world, stay in bed!
How could this be happening, where are we going, and when is going to stop, if ever, and most importantly, where in the world is GOD when we need HIM?
If we are so self-absorbed, or fragile, perhaps we’re looking for GOD in all the wrong places.. Maybe there really isn’t any GOD, and no one is to be blamed for the evil in the world.. I know it’s pretty popular today to deny GOD.. We are being bombarded and snickered at, it’s called enlightened to refuse the existence of ALMIGHTY today..
To be sure, I am the wrong guy to lay out the case for the faithful; I am in no way religious, using today’s interpretation, I’m a heathen.. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I stopped going to Church regularly, when the kids grew up, and left the nest.. And, the older I get, I find it harder to defend some of the core issues of my contemporaries.. However, I’m not quite a “live and let live” yet.. Just look around at today’s culture, and you can see where that has gotten us…
If the sunrise, the Redwood Forest, and a baby’s smile, doesn’t do it for you, I’m at a loss to persuade you of the fundamentals of the true believers, I’m here for the BIG PICTURE! Lets bring it closer to home.. My GOD is a lot closer to me than answering my hopes for a Pulitzer.. I don’t need you to see a patch on my sleeve, or my quotations of the passages from the Bible, to justify my faith, not that there is anything remotely wrong with having that devout a commitment, I have simpler, and a much more personal relationship with MY SAVIOR.. By today’s standards I’m shallow, but it works for me, and it just might for you too..
I am not perfect! I know, I know what you think, but I am not really flawless..… My GOD is with me all of the time, he sees me, hears me, watches everything that I do, and for that reason, he has to be forgiving, because I am no Angel.. However, because he is omnipresent, and because I know when I screw up, and I’m ashamed of it when I do.. I believe, that you are exactly what you do every minute of the day.. If you lie and deceive, even some of the time, you’re a phony, clear and simple.. If you steal even a pencil, you’re a thief!
Be honest with yourself, if not because you know it, but MY GOD is watching too, and he is has your best interest in your BIG PICTURE.. He doesn’t stop me, that is my job, I already know what is wrong, and when I need to catch a break, he nudges me to remember what I really did when HE needed me to behave in HIS image.. I don’t have a fear of GOD, I have his respect to live up to.. I don’t walk around in constant shame, because I’m not a bad person.. I only get what I am willing to give.. Get it?
I don’t expect MY GOD to stop the horrific actions in the world, but GOD knows each of us, personally.. If you expect GOD to protect you, then you have no responsibility for your actions, therefore no blame, no reason to improve.. If you expect GOD to give you that break, when the chips are down, what did you do when the chips were down in your own life.. Did you earn your break when you were dealing with others?
Today, I’m sick as Hell, but I didn’t always take care of myself, when I should have, and I knew it.. But I am a happy person, sick or well, not by nature, but because I earned it.. When you do good, and live clean, at least most of the time, you have earned a break when you really need it.. And GOD knows, I’ve had those breaks when it seemed all was lost.. MY GOD is a kind of a score keeper..
Here is where I might depart from my brethren, I’m not too sure about the afterlife, I’m going to get the best out of the HERE AND NOW.. THANK GOD..
Acts 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols.
Acts 17:17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
Acts 17:18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. And some were saying, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?"Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,"-- because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
Acts 17:19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?
Acts 17:20 "For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; we want to know therefore what these things mean."
Acts 17:21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
Acts 17:22 And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
Acts 17:23 "For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
Acts 17:25 neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
Acts 17:26 and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation,
Acts 17:27 that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said,' For we also are His offspring.'
Acts 17:29 "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
Acts 17:30 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent,
Acts 17:31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. "
The passage says all that needs to be said. However, few will listen.
We have to learn what we have to learn.
Take WWII....I can actually see God starting it.
Nuclear weapons were going to happen no matter what, WWII just sped the process up.
Would Khrushchev have backed down had he not known the horror of WWII, first hand? Maybe him thinking “I can’t be responsible for starting another World War” Was what saved us all.
Well, if you don't know, you ain't goin'.
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." (James 4:3 KJV)
And what in the world is that statement about not being sure of eternal life? I sounds as if you need to start building your faith in a large way. Change who you are listening to, because "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God". Listen, things look bleak if you look at them from the standpoint of the world. Consider that the plagues of Egypt were a blessing to the Hebrew nation, but a curse to the Egyptians! We are not of this world which is passing away, so focus on the promise and not on the plague.
Matthew 6:26:
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
Luke 12:7:
"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
We can’t blame God. Most of the suffering is caused by God hating people aided indirectly by everyone else who refuse to say no.
Jerry Falwell was right sep 12, 2001
We diddn’t need tea parties, we needed repentance
and we are going to reap the whirlwind because of that
May God have mercy on us and cause us to repent before the rapture, which is sure to come soon, but not before the US is dealt with, I just dont believe it will until we are judged.
The people of Amerika have abandoned Him, so doesn't it make sense the He too has abandoned us?
I don't know where you expect Him to be, but I do know where I expect Him to not be."
Very true. I think this is a big part of the reason I've had a deep sense of sadness since the election. I can't seem to shake it.
“His true nature is beyond us”
This is what I said.
Time to learn to read.
Khrushchev didn’t back down. He got what he wanted, US nuclear missiles removed from Turkey.
Remember Thailand?
Remember that one woman who ran out into the ocean to save her children from the tsunami?
She stopped. You could see the desperation, the realization and the resignation in her body language, even at that distance. Even from behind.
And then she was no more.
Looks like it’s time to go back to the Church that raised you, Carlo, and meet Him.
God is like an introvert: He needs to be invited and he wants to know he is needed; otherwise, we made the mess so we must clean it up. He is not our humanitarian maid service.
That’s a tragic analogy, but an apt one, IMO. It just really feels like the election was the tipping point.
It does remind me of Lurker’s old tagline:
The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.
God is within us?????
Not always. Many have thrown God out of their lives — living only for the present and not for eternal life.
When we sin, God waits for us to confess our sins and come back to us so that he can forgive us. Have you ever heard or read the words of absolution spoken by the priest?
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1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
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Yes, that is where He is.
I am not concerned with what the church says.
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