ourelves = ourselves
The devil made me do it. 
Posted on 11/22/2004 11:12:20 AM PST by stuartcr
I read the Book of Job this weekend, and I have a question regarding the reasoning behind Job's trials. I believe that God is all-powerful and all-knowing, which includes knowing what we are going to do. Going on this premise, my question is why did God, knowing the outcome, subject Job to all that he went through? Why did He allow satan to do the things he did to Job? The only thing I can think of, was to prove a point to Job?
So you too, do not believe that God knows all, including the details?
I know, and I will stop before we all get too nauseated.
So you don't believe that we all do as God created us to, even though He knows what we are going to do regardless of our free-will choice?
I'm not really sure. I just act as though He does, and try to live my life accordingly. Personally, I think he knows me better than I know myself...
Don't let my kids know that... ;0)
I heard a good explanation awhile ago. Essentially, it is a testament of Job's faith. No matter how terrible life gets, no matter how much you favor death rather than endure the pain of life, your trust that God is there and he knows is all you need.
It matters more than anything else in one's life.
As sinners we are not worthy of God, but He loved us so much that He lived amongst us as true God and true man and never sinned.
Jesus then bore the sins of the whole human race on the cross and gave you and me the gift of salvation.
If you believe yourself to be a sinner (as are we all), there is one way, and one way only, to remove that sin and live with God eternally.
We do not come to God on our own and cannot save ourelves. The Holy Spirit moves us to know Him and then we choose to do so or not.
I suspect that you are being moved by the Spirit now and that is why you are seeking conversation with other Christians.
This is a good verse to keep in mind:
There is no contradiction in God, but there is finite understanding in us.
But if we believe we know how it's all going to turn out, why wouldn't satan?
ourelves = ourselves
The devil made me do it.
Because Lucifer is too arrogant to believe that he would lose - he doesn't have faith in God any longer, so by loss of that faith, Lucifer believes he can beat God...
That sounds good, thanks.
If we are doing as God created us, and He knows all that we are going to do, why do you believe that we are all sinners? As the Creator of all things, didn't God create the outcome of our free-will choices? Even down to our choice of religious beliefs?
Satan doesn't know that God, the Creator of all, is all-powerful, thus assuring only one outcome?
Satan must not have read the Book of Job.
You have alot of questions - which is good! Blind faith is not what God wants from us.
I would strongly recommend that you continue reading the bible, and as you read, ask God to help you answer these very questions. Keep reading and praying and learning and the answers will come to you in time. I promise you that.
No amount of church-going or theology classes or anything like that can teach you as thoroughly as actually reading the bible and asking God for understanding.
If, free-will were not possible, Eve's disobedience in the garden would not have been a sin. There would have been no need for the instructions to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge. Jonah tried to dis-obey God's will and got a three day all expenses paid trip to the bottom of the ocean for his trouble. Josiah, the king of Judah, got in the way of God's servant, Pharoah, and wound up dead, even though he, Josiah, was a good king........
How can we verify that you actually read Job?
I have formed my own answers, but oddly enough, they do not seem to agree with the majority of the people that I ask.
Whether he did or didn't doesn't really matter. I guess another way to look at it is that maybe he KNOWS he's destined to lose, so all he can really do at this point is to cause whatever havoc he can, and take as many of God's children with him as he can...
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