(no subject)
When people lose tolerance for God, they lose tolerance for the people of God.
Many who deny God do so because they do not want to follow another.
Psalm 14:1-6 NIV (New International Version)
1 The fool [a] says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. 4 Will evildoers never learn- those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD ? 5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. 6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
Footnotes: 1. Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.
I stumbled upon an article written by Atheist, W.O. Saunders.
"I would like to introduce you to one of the most lonesomest and unhappiest individuals on earth. I am talking about the man who does not believe in God. I can introduce you to such a man because I myself am one, and in introducing myself, you shall have an introduction to the Atheist, Agnostic and skeptic in your own neighborhood, for he is everywhere in the land. You will be surprised to learn that the agnostic envies your faith in God, your settled belief in a heaven after life, and your blessed assurance that you will meet with your loved ones in an afterlife where there will be neither sadness nor pain. He would give anything to be able to embrace that faith and be comforted by it. For him there is only the grave and the persistence of matter. After the grave all he can see is the disintegration of the protoplasm and the psychoplasm of which my body and personality are composed. But in this materialist view, I find neither ecstasy not happiness. The atheist and agnostic may face life with a smile and a heroic attitude. He may put up a brave front, but he is not happy. He stands in awe and reverence before the vastness and majesty of the universe, knowing not whence he came or why. He is appalled at the stupendousness of space and the infinitude of time, humiliated by the infinite smallness of himself, cognizant of his own frailty, weakness and brevity. Certainly he sometimes yearns for a staff on which to lean. He too carries a cross. For him, this earth is but a tricky raft adrift in the unfathomable waters of eternity with no horizon in sight. His heart aches for every precious life with him upon the raft - drifting, drifting drifting, whither no one knows.”
Why is it that people say faith tested when things are bad? Isn't that when it would be strongest? To KNOW that God is with you is to know that our sufferings are part of His plan for our lives. "But wait, " some will say. "why wouldn't God keep me safe always, here on Earth? Why can't I just be happy more often than not?" I believe that this is because we are not in Heaven, not in paradise. We are taught to seek Him and have faith no matter - No matter the worst thing that ever happened to me, I still believed God was there, because He was. I just didn't seek Him for comfort because I felt that my separation from Him was of my own doing and that I was not worthy of the happiness I'd felt before - that my own mistakes placed me in the hole.
God is the ideal father. Think of those times you have been away from your father and then gone back to him and think of those times he has given you comfort. You went to him because you knew that he would comfort you. God is more than that; God is the Father of all. Seek Him not in desparation but in the confidence that it will come. Look not towards your sorrows, but to God, forgetting that which troubles you.
Many who deny God do so because they do not want to follow another.
Psalm 14:1-6 NIV (New International Version)
1 The fool [a] says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. 4 Will evildoers never learn- those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD ? 5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. 6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
Footnotes: 1. Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.
I stumbled upon an article written by Atheist, W.O. Saunders.
"I would like to introduce you to one of the most lonesomest and unhappiest individuals on earth. I am talking about the man who does not believe in God. I can introduce you to such a man because I myself am one, and in introducing myself, you shall have an introduction to the Atheist, Agnostic and skeptic in your own neighborhood, for he is everywhere in the land. You will be surprised to learn that the agnostic envies your faith in God, your settled belief in a heaven after life, and your blessed assurance that you will meet with your loved ones in an afterlife where there will be neither sadness nor pain. He would give anything to be able to embrace that faith and be comforted by it. For him there is only the grave and the persistence of matter. After the grave all he can see is the disintegration of the protoplasm and the psychoplasm of which my body and personality are composed. But in this materialist view, I find neither ecstasy not happiness. The atheist and agnostic may face life with a smile and a heroic attitude. He may put up a brave front, but he is not happy. He stands in awe and reverence before the vastness and majesty of the universe, knowing not whence he came or why. He is appalled at the stupendousness of space and the infinitude of time, humiliated by the infinite smallness of himself, cognizant of his own frailty, weakness and brevity. Certainly he sometimes yearns for a staff on which to lean. He too carries a cross. For him, this earth is but a tricky raft adrift in the unfathomable waters of eternity with no horizon in sight. His heart aches for every precious life with him upon the raft - drifting, drifting drifting, whither no one knows.”
Why is it that people say faith tested when things are bad? Isn't that when it would be strongest? To KNOW that God is with you is to know that our sufferings are part of His plan for our lives. "But wait, " some will say. "why wouldn't God keep me safe always, here on Earth? Why can't I just be happy more often than not?" I believe that this is because we are not in Heaven, not in paradise. We are taught to seek Him and have faith no matter - No matter the worst thing that ever happened to me, I still believed God was there, because He was. I just didn't seek Him for comfort because I felt that my separation from Him was of my own doing and that I was not worthy of the happiness I'd felt before - that my own mistakes placed me in the hole.
God is the ideal father. Think of those times you have been away from your father and then gone back to him and think of those times he has given you comfort. You went to him because you knew that he would comfort you. God is more than that; God is the Father of all. Seek Him not in desparation but in the confidence that it will come. Look not towards your sorrows, but to God, forgetting that which troubles you.