Posted on 07/07/2020 10:06:10 AM PDT by Salvation
We are often told to trust in God, and many of us have counseled others who are anxious or downcast to do so. But what does that mean?
In some cases, when people give this counsel they mean this: Don’t worry, God will eventually give you what want. God will come around to your way of thinking at some point. Hang in there and wait for God to answer (your way). He’ll take care of things (in a way that pleases you).
This is not trust.
To trust is to move to the stable conviction that whatever God decides to do is the right thing. It means being at peace with what He does, what He decides. It is to accept that God often acts in paradoxical ways, in ways that are different from, or even contrary to, our notions of what is best. God often permits evils for some greater good, even if this greater good is hidden from us.
At the foot of the cross, we realize that even a total disaster can produce immense good. We call that terrible day “Good Friday” for a reason. The apparent “total loss” of that day ushered in the New Covenant and made more than enough grace and mercy available to save the entire human race—if we but ask.
Many of us have experienced difficulties that were quite devastating to us at the time. In some cases, we have subsequently come to understand why God permitted them. We can see how we grew from the experience or how new opportunities were opened to us that, while not our preference at the time, were in fact best. In other cases, however, what went through still make little sense to us. But if we have learned to trust God, we can be at peace with His apparent “No” to our desired outcome. Trust says, “It is well with my soul.”
An old hymn with that title says,
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
That is trust: the ability to say, “Whatever my lot, it is well with my soul.” It is not wrong to present our wants and wishes to God, but trusting Him means being at peace with His answer, not resenting it.
We are forever asking God to bless what we are doing, but when do we ever seek what God is blessing and then do that?
Trusting God doesn’t mean thinking that He’ll eventually give me what I want. Trusting God means being at peace with whatever He wants; knowing that He wants it is enough for me; there is peace and it is well with my soul.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
He seemed to want to talk...to dump something that was pressing him.
He told me two years ago he had a stroke. That was soon resolved with lotsa work to make a comeback. Looking for cause...the doctors did their due diligence and found two tumors...one in the brain and one in his lung. Stage one and two and they are shrinking.
I thought a bit and looked up into the sky and said...Is that really what you wanted to do with the stroke....find those tumors? Trust.....
I think that many people will believe that events will play out the same way, whether there is a God or not. Saying that God wills it, doesn’t really change things. So you are in a position to say, “God willed it” or there is no God that does the willing. The events don’t change only the interpretation changes. And this makes everything seem arbitrary, makes the position that the course of events naturally play out the way they do stronger (not that there is a God behind it, directing it). Many people are in this position because of prevalence of science that predict bad things happening due to nature: we grow old, get ill and die. That’s just the way nature is. To make the claim God is behind it raises all kinds of vexing and reassuring questions questions. Raises the question of the miraculous or things that defy nature. But many people don’t go that far and accept that nature is the only account of everything.
:) beautiful
God, our creator (made in his image) is love and wants to share His love with all of us. God allows each of us to chose the path that we follow - either good or bad. He wants us to return that love, but does not force us.
If we trust God, He will lead us down the right path. We may face struggles and suffering, but will eventually lead us to happiness knowing God in Heaven. Otherwise, we will continually look for answers and not be satisfied.
God created nature and allows the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the good and the evil. We can appreciate all that God has provided us and thank him or ignore God. God wants us to be righteous and love Him. And he tests us to show our true selves.
Satan is also active in tempting us with empty promises to do evil like he did to Adam and Eve.
I agree. But there is an atheism (point out by Walter Kasper — a Catholic theologian) that thinks nature doesn’t change — things will be the way they are — so it’s pointless to believe in God. I think many people fall for it.
Yes. There is atheism. There are sinners, They choose.
God will wait for them and send them graces to change. God will not force anyone to choose Him.
Our nature is to know what we are here for on this earth. Some will find God and others may never mature sufficiently.
We all desire God. We need to acknowledge where we came from. We seek the Truth and happiness. We need to suffer through the struggles of life to find that Truth and happiness in God.
Can you imagine someone in Hell that will never see God or understand God’s love?
Actually I can imagine it. I know the lock on the door of hell is on the inside. I once wrote this dialogue about someone who doesn’t feel they need God. Here are his reasons and tell me what you think:
Dialogue with God
Person: You give me this gift of life which I didn’t ask for but then expect me to do this, that and the other thing because of it. And if I don’t I’ll probably go to hell, right God? I mean, I can’t even turn the gift down (suicide) without some horrible consequence.
God: I love you and want to have a relationship with you.
Person: Well, what does it say about your love if the gift is flawed to begin with by original sin? I had nothing to do with any of that Adam & Eve stuff and now I’m at a considerable disadvantage. How just and loving is that! Maybe you owe me an apology for creating me as a flawed human, God.
God: Yes, original sin didn’t involve you.
Person: Good, I can demand compensation… and maybe satisfaction.
God: Look, according to Anselm, satisfaction usually applies to me.
Person: Let me get this straight. You give me a severely flawed gift which I didn’t ask for, and then expect me to feel obliged to you and do everything you say. If I turn down this gift terrible things happen to me, right! But what you really want is a relationship with me, like the gift is some box of chocolates. I can’t say, “Thanks God, but I’m trying to cut back and I just got out of a bad relationship and need some space.” And if I don’t do what you say... I’m a goner.
God: This is for your own good.
Person: Of course you would say that… But see, you call all the shots, like some celestial dictator, and I either have to obey or suffer the terrible consequences. You say I’m free. Yes, I’m free to do what I want, but not free from the terrible repercussions that follow if I don’t do what you say. And what I want is to just live my life simply, without this added turmoil of whether I’m going to heaven or going to hell. I mean life is hard enough and I don’t need to complicate it with wondering if I’m bound for eternal damnation because I’m not in some lovey-dove relationship with a God that is pinning for me.
God: You’ve over simplified this.
God offers you the Truth and His love, peace and happiness.
You can choose to accept God as good and worthy of worship as the Creator or reject Him (and accept evil). Yes God made you in His image for eternity.
If you say that God doesn’t exist, then you don’t know the Truth of God’s existence, and if don’t seek the Truth then you gamble on the outcome after your earthly death. Your choice.
All humans are affected by sin and the consequences (even if we did not commit the sin), so we are tested in this life. God knew you before you were born. You choose how to live your life, God tries to give you graces to help you.
All you have to do is be good, righteous, Love God and your neighbor. And not sin. God has great mercy if you are truly sorry for any sins. God will test you to see if you are worthy of His love and eternal life with Him.
God, the Creator offers a wonderful life in Heaven with Him, yet you want to choose other options (evil and sinful) to show your superiority to God and your ignorance of the Truth. Adam and Eve in Heaven were tempted by Satan to be superior to God and we all suffered the consequences.
God truly loves each of us as a person, but he does not love the sin and we need to be cleansed of any sins before entering Heaven.
Oh, by the way, don’t listen to the temptations of Satan, you seem to know exactly the consequences of sin by your arguments.
Remember, that God sent His only son to offer His Body and Blood to die on the cross for our sins and salvation and he conquered death (and evil Satan) as He rose on Easter Sunday.
I used the “you” as the person; not you personally.
So would you say the person I wrote about is sinful because he wants to be left alone?
God judges sins and a person’s intentions.
I don’t believe that you can be in the middle. One chooses good or evil. There is no middle ground that it doesn’t affect us. A person can be left alone to a point, but we all have to deal with life and choices. It is natural to want to know and seek the truth.
If one wants to be alone from God, it appears to me a choice to reject divine love that Jesus selflessly offered on the cross to God the Father as doing the Father’s will and to offer himself to save us from sin and restore us to share in heaven with God.
The story of the apparitions at Lourdes, includes the famous line: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”
“If one wants to be alone from God, it appears to me a choice to reject divine love that Jesus selflessly offered on the cross to God the Father as doing the Father’s will and to offer himself to save us from sin and restore us to share in heaven with God.”
So you are saying that wanting to be alone is a rejection of God.
If one needs to be alone to figure oneself out, to enjoy the freedom of not having constant demands placed on one so that one has a calm mind... then I would think that God should see this as a necessary condition for a true choice. You might need space to really be free to figure things out.
So I don’t believe wanting to be alone is a rejection of God. It is a state where one can honestly determine what’s best for oneself.
Being alone is not the acceptance of God. One either accepts or rejects God.
Jesus told us the two great commandments: Love God and love neighbor.
God is patient and will wait and not force anyone.
However if one dies in mortal sin, then they suffer the consequence.
“Ask, and it will be given you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
Yes, one either accepts or rejects God. Between these two poles lies the third of figuring out whether to accept or reject God. You’re saying this third pole is a rejection of God and, I suspect, a sin. My point is that it is necessary for real choice and is not sinful, is not a willful rejection of God, e.g., out of spite.
The argument this person makes, which I outline, needs to be addressed to have the conviction of believing in God. That type of argument goes on in people’s minds when they are between the two poles of choice.
If you say parts of this argument are wrong, then how would you convince this person that what he is saying wrong? You can’t just say, “God loves you” — you have to address the specifics of what this person is saying that leads him to think the way he thinks.
That, to my thinking, is hard.
It is human nature to know God as we are created by God and God wrote it in our heart. We seek the truth about who we are and what is our purpose in life.
If one’s mind is blank, then they have not accepted God. By default they have rejected Him.
In Baptism as a child, parents accept God and agree to instruct the child in the faith. As a child attains reason, then they start the process to know and accept God. They can also not start the process to know God and effectively reject God. They can continue to grow or not grow in their faith in God, a lifelong process.
As an adult, one should go through a process to learn about God and then accept God In Baptism. Again it is a life long process to learn about and know God and continue to accept or reject Him.
Some may not have reason to accept God (mental issue) and others may not be exposed to the knowledge about God (a tribe in the outback).
Acceptance or rejection is not just a one time and done, it is a process until we die. Jesus is the Judge and will look into our hearts and see what we have done.
We are all called to spread the Good News about God and salvation, but each person has to accept it by themselves.
I’m thinking more about people who wrestles with some of the specific issues presented here. For example:
1.) You give me this gift of life which I didn’t ask for but then expect me to do this, that and the other thing because of it. And if I don’t I’ll probably go to hell, right God? I mean, I can’t even turn the gift down (suicide) without some horrible consequence.
2.) Well, what does it say about your love if the gift is flawed to begin with by original sin? I had nothing to do with any of that Adam & Eve stuff and now I’m at a considerable disadvantage. How just and loving is that! Maybe you owe me an apology for creating me as a flawed human, God.
3.)You say I’m free. Yes, I’m free to do what I want, but not free from the terrible repercussions that follow if I don’t do what you say. And what I want is to just live my life simply, without this added turmoil of whether I’m going to heaven or going to hell. I mean life is hard enough and I don’t need to complicate it with wondering if I’m bound for eternal damnation because I’m not in some lovey-dove relationship with a God that is pinning for me.
What would you say to the person to convince him that his thinking about God is wrong? You can’t just say, “God Loves You” as if that makes all this go away.
We can share the Good News so that His creator loves him and wants him to share Heaven with him if he is good and follows the commandments (guidance from God) to love God and neighbor. Our conscience helps us understand good and evil.
It is his choice whether he chooses good or evil. We can be a friend and show him how we lead a good life and share our friendship.
Suicide is generally a evil selfish act and normally goes against our natural instincts of self preservation.
God’s love isn’t flawed and he gives us graces to understand His love, but we must accept it and allow it to grow in us.
Suicide is not turning a gift down, but destroying life.
God is good and loving and doesn’t owe anyone an apology. Life is not always fair because others have free will and their actions can affect us in good and bad ways. Our struggles and suffering can help us grow into better persons or we can allow it to defeat us.
God has offered eternal happiness with Him or eternal Hell. The choice for each person to be good or evil. Adam and Eve didn’t have original sin but they committed sin. I presume that they were sorry for their sin and repented and regained God’s graces after Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected.
For most of us it is an easy choice to do good. It is harder to admit our sins, be sorry for them and ask forgiveness. We often like to do things that are sinful and Catholic have the Sacrament of Confession for forgiveness of our sins.
Tell him to go seek the Truth. Advise him that there are many false prophets and false teachers. Read the Bible and ask for help to understand. Pray. Go sit before the Blessed Sacrament at a Catholic church and talk to God and listen. Tell him to consider a RCIA program at a Catholic Church to learn about God and the Catholic faith, and if he finds it difficult he can always stop.
The mission of the Catholic Church (which consists of its members) is to proclaim God’s Truth and help all reach eternal life with God. All of us want love and acceptance. God can be a best friend if one allows it.
As a Catholic you’re saying man does have original sin. We are fallen creatures. But does that seem fair compared to Adam who didn’t have original sin. Why should we pay for his
transgression? Today’s courts would consider “blood guilt” as a form of archaic justice and would not allow it. Further, it goes against the idea of freedom and morality — that morality is based on the freedom of our choices, that we are responsible for our choices and not our forefathers.
Life is not fair, One plays the hand that is dealt. Each of us is different. We are not perfect. We have the opportunity to grow, be happy and be good or be defeated, be sad and blame others. The cup is half full or half empty. Attitude and God’s graces help us overcome our struggles.
All are born with original sin, except for Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother. God gave us Baptism with graces and the forgiveness of original sin and personal sins at the time of Baptism.
Morality is based on good and evil which we choose freely. We have a conscience from God as a human being. We know right and wrong and we have a need to be good and happy.
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