Posted on 06/10/2015 11:41:33 AM PDT by MNDude
I was listening a little bit to Dennis Prager yesterday, and his Ultimate Issues issue of the day was about when people try to comfort someone suffering by telling them "don't worry, God never gives you more than you can handle."
I just heard a little bit of the program, but his stance was these are the least comforting words ever created and this is not found in the Bible.
What are your thoughts on this saying?
I’m with mbarker. makes me cringe.
My grandfather was a small town GP for many years and he oft cited this line to his patients enduring the hard knocks this old world can give, when one lady came back with this:
“Yea, Doc, buts I sho wished He didn’t hold me in such high regards!”
You should ask that of people from Cambodia, Poland and Siberia but they are all dead.
Study what the Romans in 70AD in Jerusalem did to the Jews.
Up until now, America has been VERY LUCKY.
Paul talked about wanting to “know Him and the power of His resurrection”. Without a death of some sort, you will never experience the power of His resurrection.
Enduring it in this context clearly means without falling to temptation. All of the examples cited refer to situations where the Israelites were faced with a temptation to sin and fell to that sin -- idolatry, immorality, denial of Christ and God.
I hate the "more than you can bear" formulation because our modern ears hear that as "God will protect you from negative consequences of our obedience to Him." or "Bad stuff won't happen to Good People" type of stuff. This is offensive to scripture and to the examples that heroes of the faith have given us. Many of the early martyrs were faced with the temptation to recant their faith in Christ in order to save their own lives. They resisted that temptation, knowing they would be killed. I'm aware of one instance in which a martyr was asked directly whether he was a Christian, said yes, was hauled away and then another and then another Christian stood and volunteered that if the first was killed then they would have to be killed as well because of their Christian faith. Death in this instance is not something that they can handle, but rather they maintained their faith and their obedience to God's will instead of falling to the temptation to deny Christ but preserve their own lives.
It is interesting because one of the most significant schisms in the early church (the Donatist controversy) concerned what to do with bishops and other leaders who did fall to the temptation to deny Christ. God promised that he would provide them with a way out of the temptation, but they fell to it anyway. Many members of their local churches believed this disqualified them from positions of leadership in the local church because they had failed in the temptation even though this would have meant execution.
“Dennis is a Jew who rejects Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.”
Are you sure??? If so that is SOO SAD!!
Dennis is actually a "rabbi" who teaches classes at Praeger University in Judaism (and other topics). As a very orthodox Jew, he is compelled to reject Jesus the Nazarene as the Messiah. He is, however, very grateful for the Christians in the world who he says are Israel's best friends. Certainly hope God opens his eyes...
Not only early martyrs, but current ones as well.
I read about a Coptic Christian who was asked to renounce Jesus or his children would be tortured to death. (Muslim). He did and has been grieving since because he thinks he can’t be forgiven. That is clearly temptation beyond what almost anyone can bear.
Yes He gives us more than we can handle.
In those cases we end up broken and on the floor asking for His help to get through it.
How about...
“If God leads you to a problem, He will lead you through it.”
Ex. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the book of Daniel chapters 1–3.
Think about how many succumb to Satan’s temptation.
Argh! That’s terrible news. I always heard him talking about God so I assumed me must be a really born-again Christian.
If he died, I would probably feel the same way I did when Michael Landon did.
“Life is hard. Sometimes just too much so to bear.”
Amen. In 3 years, 3 months, I lost my whole family — daughter and only child, father, brother and husband. I don’t know why/how I am still here.
Yeah...what was the story on Landon? I heard he was not really a born-again believer the way it seemed to be portrayed. But, of course, I don’t pretend to know what transpired in those last hours of his life.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction.
It is manure.
Free will gets man into all kinds of messes, some of which he just can’t handle.
Bonus opinion - “everything happens for a reason” - also manure
I heard he was Jewish, and his kids were Christians and they were begging him to accept Christ before he died. I don’t think he did. :(
Here is what is hanging in my house:
“It is not that God doesn’t give you more than you can handle;
God helps you handle what you are given”
“God never gives you more than you can handle..”
Never liked the statement. For one, God doesn’t give you horrible things. Horrible things happen but God doesn’t “do” them. And being FReepers.. we read horrible, senseless acts of violence every day. Did God insist some girl get gang raped or some car smash into a tree killing an entire family? That being said, God.. can help us through our prayer and leaning on His Word and Grace.
Another phrase that I detest is “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. IMHO.. it may not kill you but it can change you (and not necessarily better than before). That phrase gets my panties all twisted, too.
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