re: Do you think God controls the weather?

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It rains on the just and the unjust.

/thread

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The just get wetter, though.

No... I don't believe in God.

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The "God has a plan" rebuttal is just as bad as the "God works in mysterious ways" reply. It's a simple cop out used by people who can't handle having their beliefs challenged.

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1.) Christians believe God has a plan
2.) Something bad happens
3.) Christians still believe God has a plan

How has their belief been challenged?

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Did I get-in-on this thread in time to suggest that God is punishing Houston for being a sodomite city right now?

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Odd how he never punishes San Francisco.

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I'm not. But it's rare that decisions for or away from faith are made rationally. They're not rational decisions. They're emotional. That's been denigrated in our hyper-empirical world. But I think wrongly so.

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I disagree. I'd be willing to bet nearly all decisions made to reject Christianity are rational decisions. That's pretty much the whole point.

God has a will....a purpose....for all. That is simply to worship(acknowledge) him and to help others worship(acknowledge) him. We know this through scripture. People claiming Gods will in tragic events are exercising a human need to turn a negative to a positive. We can't say the 4 year old Johnnie died of cancer due to Gods will with certainty because there is nothing in scripture to support that. What we do know, from The Word, is that Satan holds dominion over this earthly realm until Yeshua returns. We also know that believers will suffer just as Yeshua suffered. Paul told us this in the epistles. To what degree each of us suffers is not foreseeable. Our suffering is due to sin and evil in the world. I might suffer the death of a child to a tragedy. You might lose a sister in an earthquake. My faith gives me comfort knowing that if my innocent child(unable to make a faith decision) dies, her soul will be with Yeshua and his father in paradise. I believe that applies to all children.

I understand where you are coming from. I grew up a Christian but turned atheist for about 5 years from age 19-24. I, like Paul, ridiculed Christians. I went out of my way to confront and humiliate Christians witnessing on the streets of downtown Athens many nights. Religion is so messed up and hypocritical at times that it's blind adherents have succeeded in turning people away from God instead of bringing them to God. But the true meaning and intent is pure and the truth. That being original intent......relationship between God and his creation.....you, and me. I won't tell you that I will pray for you because that is offensive and condenscending. At least it was to me when I turned from God. It is hard to reconcile the evil and bad of this world. I can only say that when someone opens their heart....truly opens their heart to truth in The Word.....discernment and understanding is given. The first is understanding the simplicity of "purpose." This is Gods true will. I covered that in the first two sentences of this post. Most people never even discern this most simple thing. Why? Because the enemy of God muddles this simple truth with distraction and what I call "noise." Once this will of God is settled in your heart and mind, truth can be found through scripture. Real truth. Not relying on what others(pastors, scholars,theologens) say but what The Word says. You and God. Reading scripture intensely and cross referencing from each testament in the search for spiritual truth.

It was not until I turned back to God and said "okay, show me...I am willing....now show me" that I gradually gained the clarity of true relationship as it was originally intended. Not religion....rather, relationship.

That's funny, the smartest and most powerful business men in the world spew this gibberish. I guess they are all weak fools.

Intelligence doesn't remove the innate human desire to cognitively cope with death and suffering.

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Belief in a book written in the bronze age by goat herders in the middle east.

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We aren't Muslims. We don't believe God is contained in the Scriptures. So our belief isn't "in a book." It's in the God who revealed Himself in that book.