Andrew W wrote:
"James" <bireda@allvantage.com> wrote in message
news:ekhon2lvkn4p9r8g8shpk5a1cm2mja05p0@4ax.com...
"Giles" <g_harrap@yahoo.co.uk>
Re: Why has God never given an amputee his legs back?
Whenever Christians cite a miracle it always has a medical/natural
explanation. Supposedly God is always answering prayers and intervening
to cure, for example, someone with cancer. It might be the chemo that
worked but a Christian will say, "Praise the Lord." Or perhaps medical
science's help is noted but the Christian feels that prayer tipped the
balance.
Christians are certain that prayers are answered one way or another.
The "another" is when the person dies. :-)
The Bible reassures us that prayers are responded to. Anything asked
for can be granted. With faith.
George Bush is creating thousands of new amputees in Iraq. God isn't
going to give a single one of them new natural legs to replace their
amputated ones, is he? No matter how many people pray for it. You know
what, not many will even pray for their legs back. They don't expect
God to do that. They don't expect God to intervene. No belief in prayer
there at all. Isn't this a deep-down acknowledgement that prayer is
merely a ritual, to make us feel less helpless?
If you think your God can cure cancer, why can't he give someone their
legs back?
Hello,
Hello again Andrew,
We have already had discussions, and we each have our own opinions
about the Bible, thus I did not promote continued discussions.
So I will answer your questions here, but will not reply anymore (at
least for a while), since I am not here to debate things into the
ground, but to inform people of what the Bible teaches and hopefully
to spark some interest from that.
Because at the present, Satan is the ruler of this world. (Joh 12:31)
Do you mean John 12:31?
Bible books can be abbreviated. For example, Genesis is "Ge". And
Matthew is "Mt". The abbreviation for the gospel of John is "Joh".
"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be
cast out."
This appears to be referring to the judgement of this world, which hasn't
happened yet.
Where does it say that Satan is the ruler of this world? It says he is cast
out of this world, not made ruler of it.
Yes, that is correct. The judgement of this world hasn't happened yet.
So until it is, the ruler of this world (Satan) will still rule until
that happens.
True, it doesn't mention Satan by name in that verse. But other
Scriptures identify who that ruler is.
For example, Satan plainly tells Jesus that he was given rulership
authority over the earth. (Mt 4:8-11) Satan offered all of that to
Jesus, if Jesus would worship him. Jesus declined the offer, but never
refuted Satan's claim of world domination.
2 Cor 4:4 calls him the "god of this system of things has blinded the
minds of the unbelievers,". I don't think it takes a rocket scientist
to see that this "god" is not talking about Almighty God, nor Jesus.
1 Jo 5:19 says "the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked
one".
So yes, Satan is the ruler of this world. And one look around,
VERIFIES that. If God was ruling this world, here is a glimpse of what
the Bible says things would be like. Re 21:3,4,
"3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling
of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his
people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away." (NIV)
Another question. Why is God's worst enemy ruler of anything? Especially our
only habitat, where we are completely defenceless against him, and which
will be God's future earthly kingdom?
You are mistaken. You are not defenseless against him. Jas 4:7,
"...Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Why does God permit wickedness? If we didn't already cover these
things in our past conversations, it was because of issues raised long
ago by Satan and others. Once these issues are settled once and for
all, then the world you see today will never be seen again. (because
all wickedness be be removed)
For example, one challenge to God was that humans only serve God
because God rewards or protects them. (see the book of Job) Satan said
to let them feel adversity and they would stop serving God.
At any rate, there were also a few other issues that have to be
settled, so that NO ONE in the infinity of years to come will again be
able to challenge God on such issues.
Now since God does"not tempt anyone with evil" (Jas 1:13),
That's not true.
God purposely left Adam and Eve alone with a very tempting Tree of knowledge
of good and evil, AND with a serpent in it! An evil lying serpent!
He was testing them, according to the Christian teaching.
If that's not tempting someone with evil (to do evil) then I don't know what
is.
You are again mistaken. The Bible never said that Satan was in that
tree. Rather Satan was around the area and tempted Eve to break God's
command.
No, God putting that tree there was not evil. God had the right to
test the loyalty of His creations. There is no indication that they
JUST HAD TO EAT FROM THAT TREE AND COULDN'T STAND IT IF THEY COULDN'T.
They had all kinds of delicious trees to eat from and didn't need that
one for any reason. But Satan induced Eve into thinking that more
things would happen than just satisfiying her taste buds, if she ate
from it, such as she "You will not surely die." as God said she would,
and she would "be like God, knowing good and evil.'' (Ge 3:5)
If lying spirits can inspire beliefs in people so easily then what makes you
so sure that there were no lying spirits inspiring some of the verses in the
Bible itself?
Good question. If I quote Scriptures such as 2 Ti 3:16 stating that
God is behind all those verses in the Bible, then you will state how
do you know that 2 Ti 3:16 is not from one of those "lying spirits"
claiming that.
All I can tell you is from my experiences of studying the Bible over
the years, that I have never ran across a bona fide Bible lie. There
would have to be some lies if "lying spirits" are behind some of it.
And if those "lying spirits"only told the truth about God, then it
wouldn't make any difference anyway.
True, there may be some minor contradictions such as differences in
quantities or spelling of some words etc because of copyists errors.
(God never said all copies are inspired of God, but the originals
were. And a comparison by scholars of oldest Bible manuscripts with
later ones shows very little differences, esp doctrinal) But I have
never seen any lies such as incorrect statements of science etc.
Of course, if you have not done extensive research into the Bible WITH
AN OPEN MIND (a closed mind will get what you are looking for, but a
open mind takes what the evidence reveals, which ever way it goes),
then would not not personally know these things.
God. Notice 1 Joh 4:1,
"Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression ["every
spirit," KJ, RS], but test the inspired expressions to see whether
they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth
into the world." (NWT)
Can you describe how to perform one of these tests for determining what is
from God and what isn't?
The Bible isn't too clear on exactly how to do it.
Yes, it is clear if you read the Bible. You can test it by seeing if
it contradicts or is not in harmony with the Bible. Notice this stated
principle at Ac 17:11,
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians,
for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the
Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (NIV)
If for example, Paul was telling the Bereans that God was influencing
what he was telling them, then the Bereans were GOING TO THE BIBLE to
verify that. So that is how you test them.
I will read your answer to this email, but based on our previous
conversations will not respond anymore since for one thing I just
don't have the time. If you have other Bible questions, please seek
out the web page below.
Sincerely, James
***********************************
Want a FREE home Bible study?
Have Jehovah's Witnesses questions?
Go to the authorized source:
http://www.watchtower.org
***********************************
God is permitting such things to go on until certain issues that have
been raised have been settled beyond question. (more details on this
if you want) Then, God will restore amputees legs etc. Even death
itself will forever gone. Re 21:3,4,
"3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling
of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his
people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away." (NIV)
Sincerely, James
.
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