WHERE'S GOD.. WHEN WE NEED HIM?

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.. 

it also is the only reason I know I’ll see the people I love again, as well as the pets I have loved and taken care of. Love doesn’t end and it’s not meaningless. That means the objects of that love don’t end and are not meaningless, either.

God’s love is the only thing that keeps me going in the end. If I didn’t think God didn’t have my back and loved me, there’d really be no good reasons for existence, no real purpose. Existing for no reason wouldn’t make sense. Morality wouldn’t either, being nice to others would be no different than being bad to them. It’d all be relative and subjective.

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.

Harry, Harry, Harry.. This is why I wrote the message and haven't replied to any of the answers, well, until now! Your reply to me is why IMHO, we are loosing the MESSAGE WAR, to a wider audience in the voter booth..

Who are you, in a broad context, to tell me what is in my heart, or how do you believe that only YOUR WAY, IS THE ONLY WAY?

Who, other than those who have actually conversed with THE ALMIGHTY, can say that I am not allowed to develop a devout relationship with MY LORD..

It is that arrogance that has driven me away from my former Church, and man made religion in general.. My Church told me my own sainted mother was excommunicated from her beloved Catholic Church, because she divorced my worthless and cruel father, and married a man the treated her like the queen she was..

If you actually believe that I will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven because I developed a more devout method to worship MY GOD, you might want to rethink that mindset..

In this thread, I never suggested that the Bible wasn't the spoken word, or that my way was absolute, I attempted to open up a dialog so others could tell us of their relationship..

IF there is an afterlife, IF, not there is not, you might be surprised who will be there to meet you, then again you might not ever find out who is there.. jus sayin.. :)

Carlo, Carlo, Carlo, :)

You are absolutely correct in the statement about me not knowing your heart, but what I do believe is that the bible is the inerrant word of God, and that word says that "because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9&10)

I (and everyone else) can only know your spoken confession (or written in this case), but God knows your heart.

I haven't been a Catholic for 50 years, and have been a Christian for the last twenty. Nothing that I every learned in the Catholic church prepared me for eternal life so I put almost no value in their teaching.

Here is the bottom line. If you have a right relationship with Jesus as defined by His teaching, your name will be in the Book of Life. Only you and God can know that, although others can gain insight into your life by witnessing the type of fruit that you are bearing for the Kingdom. "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit."(Matthew 7:17)

In the end, one thing is certain. We will all stand before the judgment seat of God. "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:13-15)

I pray that you make it!

Harry, you are a GOOD MAN, and a real FRiend.. I value your opinion, not just because you set forth a worthy argument with wisdom and backed up with the WORDS OF OUR LORD, as written through the Blessed, but you care enough to worry about me, a virtual stranger.. You are doing GOD’S work as a Christian should, from your heart..

You have given me much to think about, and I promise that I will, because my eternal soul depends upon it.. Thank you Harry, may GOD continue to Bless you and yours..

MERRY CHRISTMAS.. from your FRiend Carlo

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