Posted on 01/03/2002 11:19:13 AM PST by ArGee
A very rich man decided that he wanted to show kindness to the people of the fair city where he lived. Since he was very rich indeed, he decided to throw a banquet for the entire city. He rented the largest sports arena in the city and began his plans. He planned for huge amounts of the best food possible, making allowances for every religious and medical diet. He advertised the banquet in every possible manner - television, radio, billboard, door-to-door canvassing. Considering that there might be some who could not travel, he arranged for free bus transportation to and from the event, and some special-needs vehicles for all who could not ride busses. He even scheduled the banquet to run for 24 hours a day for several days so that everyone could be sure of being served.
He planned long and hard and finally the big day came. The rich man ate quickly and then went about wishing all his guests well and personally making sure that all had every need met. After a while he went outside to tour the grounds and talk with those who had not yet gone in, and those who had already left. Everyone was happy. Many were profusely thankful. It was a glorious occasion.
At one point the rich man noticed a group of people sitting outside a locked door with most unpleasant looks on their faces. Sensing they were not happy, he went over to them. He did not introduce himself but simply asked them if he could be of service.
"We want to go in through this door," one of them replied.
The rich man explained to them that the hall was arranged to feed a large number of people as quickly and effortlessly as possible. This required order inside, and the entrances and exits had been carefully planned to be as efficient as possible. He then offered to go call one of the golf carts that were avaialbe to help people who could not walk far to take them to the entrance. But the man replied, "We do not want to go in the entrance. We want to go in this door. We don't understand why we can't go in any door we wish. We think the man who set this banquet up is mean and hateful for insisting we go in through the entrance. He has tried to bill himself as a very kind man by offering this banquet, but he is not kind at all if he will not indulge us and let us go through this door.
The rich man was distressed at these words, but still attempted to please these people. He tried once more to explain to them what was behind this particular door, and how if they went in this door they would disrupt the meal service being offered inside. He offered to drive them himself, not only to the door, but inside the hall to their tables if they would only go through the entrance to enjoy the meal. Again the man said, "No, but only a hateful man would keep us from going through the door of our choosing. And we will sit here and tell anyone who will listen to us what an awful man he is until he lets us in."
At that the rich man was enraged and he shouted, "Enough." Then he called a police officer to have them thrown off of the property and ordered that they not be allowed to return until the banquet was over and all the scraps had been hauled away. Then, mourning for their loss, he turned to visit with other guests.
Thanks.
Philip Yancy wrote a book called Where is G-d When It Hurts. He was driven to write the book because a friend had just told him about an experience. The friend had prayed all night for G-d to reveal himself or the friend would become an atheist. G-d didn't reveal himself and the friend declared a profound lack of faith in G-d based on G-d not coming through. Obviously this shook Yancy up. Why would G-d not honor such a request?
The book is good and long, but there is one important point that I will share. Immediately after G-d parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, they cast a golden calf to worship. In other words, the big "fireworks" display of awesome power didn't create any faith in the people. What more marvelous proof of G-d's existence could they ask for? Yet, even with the memory of walking through the Red Sea dry shod, while Pharoah and his army were destroyed, they couldn't wait to go back to worshipping the way they were used to in Egypt. Profound miracles don't create faith.
If slapper were to ask me, I would say that maybe G-d is showing Himself, but slapper is looking in the wrong place. For me, G-d has never showed Himself to me more clearly than when I was reading His Word. I have had a some experiences where I would claim that G-d spoke to me, but all of the most profound have come while reading the Bible. It's as if G-d said to me in the first place, "Why are you looking anywhere else? There is a complete revelation in those 66 books and you've had them available to you all your life. Start there."
Of course, someone will say, "I don't believe the Bible is G-d's Word." I will answer, "You asked me how G-d revealed Himself to me. I gave you my answer. I won't be so arrogant as to claim that my way is the only way. But it is one way. Read your Bible and search for G-d there." When I was searching for G-d, I would listen to what anyone said about how to find Him. I dumped my pre-conditions and simply searched until I was successful. It's kind of like looking for a job. You don't just answer one ad and then go on welfare for the rest of your life if they don't hire you. You look until you find. Most of the people who tell me they have searched for G-d have really only tried one approach - the one you suggested about, "G-d, if you're there, knock over that tin can." Jesus told a parable of a man who found a treasure in a field. He told a parable of a man who found a wonderful pearl. The implication is pretty clear. This is a treasure. Do you approach finding G-d like filling out a lottery ticket and hoping you will win? Or do you approach finding G-d like trying to achieve all of your career goals? Are you searching for G-d or just playing games?
Those are my thoughts.
Shalom.
All of us know we are but flesh, and the flesh and spirit worlds war constantly - the flesh trying to understand the spirit. To seek God (who is of the spirit realm) in relative terms of our physical senses won't bring us to a knowledge of Him, neither will a superficially intended search reveal His character. Jesus said those who would worship the Father would do so in the spirit and they that do worship Him have the right to be known as "Sons of God". All I know and can testify to is that God requires us to love Him above all else, and love others as ourself - then He will do just as He has promised and manifest Himself to His children....
Brothers in Christ,
Az
Sorry, but none of this rhetoric has anything to do with independently verifiable evidence of this alleged god of yours.
The very fact that this is such a flawed and imperfect system is what reassures me that it is all created by man, just like Tolkien's world. In other words, there'll be no one to tell anything to. When we die, we are dead. That's it.
Would you be impressed by a man who says
"You don't HAVE to love me, my dear, it's entirely up to you! Of course, if you don't, I'll kill you..."
That would blow my mind. But, fortunately for my poor mind, they are an order of magnitude longer than we. I doubt we will catch up.
Thanks for dropping by.
Shalom.
Well, I'm a guy so i'd probably be a bit shocked about the dear part. ;-)
What's the difference between some random man's plan and the plan of our Creator?
Cheers, Slapper. :-)
I have read every post on this thread and I would like to thank you for the time and obviously heartfelt effort you have put into it.
While I am not yet ready to "Come to the Table" to borrow your oft-repeated phrase, I now know what my beliefs are at the current time (I was always confused before), and I know that I will be able to advance them in the future if the opportunity comes to pass. Thanks for your help (and to others who have made useful comments on this thread).
Cheers, Slapper. :-)
No matter how you slice it, it's coercion.
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