David Lancaster Member Posts: 276 From: Adelaide, Australia Registered: 05-22-2006 |
Seeing as this is a Christian forum, made me wonder what you guys think of God. These may be tough questions for some...easy for others. Can you honestly know exactly what you believe to the extent that you can answer these questions? I ask these primarily based on my own understanding of the Christian faith however if your faith is different change the questions to answer it how it'd suit your understanding  Who is God? These questions can be answered in many different ways with many different ways of interpreting them. For the sake of the thread there's no right or wrong answer, only your own personal understanding and answers to these questions. They may be lengthly and hard to answer so if anyone even has the time to answer one of them that'd be pretty cool |
Realm Master Member Posts: 1971 From: USA Registered: 05-15-2005 |
God is God, ruler and creator of everything, and desigern and uber-smart programmer of all real-world gfx, AI, physics, and food-chain programmer. The bible says (somewhere) that God cares for every single sparrow and knows the feathers on its back, so how much more God must care for us. 'nuff said. God's like... Awww man! *cry/but God's like really tough so I'm not sure... I think he just feels really sorry for us and dissapointed in us...* The first shall be last and the last shall be first. God celebrates when another person is born again. I think maybe God expects a little more from believers... God loves belivers but new belivers are his favorite and is what he concentrates on (A new beliver is most likely to stray), but he loves everyone just the same nomatter if they are saved or not. Character? God has the perfect character, but I don't really understand that question... It SHOULD feel like a joy and something to love. IF your being rightious for the wrong reasons, or its only superficially rightousness, then it would feel like aburden. Beinga truly rightous person CAN be a burden, especially in todays world where sin is still as a bundent as it used ot be, but maybe just a little more open. Not everyone respects a rightous man, but To that person being righouts should feel likea good thing. I think.. I'm only 15 Of all bad things come good things, somewhere some how. God gave everyone free will, so he doesn't control every person, but he can certianly kill off a dictator if he wants to. God has a grand plan, so even the most evil of people have a place in God's plan. Possibly their evilenss will repell others in their country from behaving the same way, like a character foil? Dunno the specifics, but there something in there God's doing right, God don't make mistakes. ------------------ |
spade89 Member Posts: 561 From: houston,tx Registered: 11-28-2006 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why does God allow evil dictators to oppress innocent people? (ie people who pray to God to save them yet they end up with inaction and huge disappointment) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- i can't really answer all the other questions because i just became a christian and i still haven't finished reading the bible but i think i can tell you my answer to that question. our life on earth is one big exam,that is ,some people get to live very good and rich lives ,like bill gates or warren buffet,and some end up starving and poor like the millions of people in africa(did you know that 90% of children under 5 in africa go to bed hungry,and every day more than a 1000 people die because of hunger),and some end up being dictators like fidel castro,hitler,joseph stalin , mao,or milosevic and they get to kill millions some like hitler and milosevic kill entire races of people and this bring us to the question why did all this happen why does god let all of this injustice happen in the first place? well you have to understand that god see's us all equally.when something bad happens to someone on earth they get compensated either on earh or in haven,it's up to god to decide which one(heaven or earth) we get compensated in ,if god decides to compensate us on earth that is because there is no point in our suffering,we already passed all the test he gave us ,but if he decides to compensate us in heaven that is either to test our faith in him,remember eyob from the bible god let the devil do the worse he can to suffer that person and the devil did the worst he can do but eyob maintained his faith.and in some cases like the suffering children above, rape victims or even child-molestation victims(which i think is the worst sin there is, next to treason),god might let those things happen to test us (everyone else ) what would you think after hearing the stories of people who went through sufferings as horrible as those ,would you still think there is a god?god sometimes wants to see the extent of our belief in him ,a person who truly believes in god doesn't question the actions god takes,because he doesn't have a right to do so,but if your belief in god is weak you'll ask yourself why does god let this happen?and you end up believing there is no god and humans came from monkey's etc...,god want's to see the faith you have in him ,what do you believe in?people without faith in god believe in things that are more convenient for them,not the truth,the truth is much more harder to accept than a lie. the bible said the truth shall set you free,so god is trying to see in what we belive in do you believe in god no matter what,so you question what god does or do you have absolute faith in him? well i hope i answered your question,i know i did lot's of ranting but to answer a question like this i had to. and always remeber "JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED!!" and "ALL OF ADAMS SON'S AND DAUGHTERS ARE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF GOD". ------------------ |
Jari Member Posts: 1471 From: Helsinki, Finland Registered: 03-11-2005 |
Right answers come from God.
quote: Creator of all things, our Father.
quote: He sees everything about us so there's no view as in some stereotypia would have.
quote: Nothing that He hasnt thought before.
quote: Following the line of previous answers the answer would be no but to say something else God's wrath is only upon the unsaved.
quote: He is love, all love comes from Him and that love is unlike earthly love because it's the perfect heavenly and holy love.
quote: Love, joy and peace.
quote: He doesn't. No one is innocent but all have sinned and this is why we are having a bit hard time here on earth due to our sin.
quote: I hope we see the right answers though. I prayed so, because He has them.
[This message has been edited by jari (edited December 12, 2006).] |
Calin Member Posts: 358 From: Moldova Registered: 12-04-2006 |
quote: God has an equal amount of love for everyone. However Christians and Non-Christians will get rewarded with a different 'share' when this world if over.
quote: It's a life of peace that comes from the assurance in Jesus and his reward for believers when he comes back. It won't 'feel' like a joy all the time though. The Bible is explicit on the fact that we will have troubles in this life.
quote: It's ok to pray for situations that we consider wrong. However we shouldn't get bitter when a situation is not solved the way we want or when we want. |
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
Who is God? in his words, "I AM" ...nuff said. How does God see us? i believe as HIS babies, parents and like-minded people will get the extent of this. What does God think of us when we sin? how do parents feel when their kids disapoint them in a major way?(good parents!) Does God think differently of us before we are saved compared to after we are saved? love us any more/less, no. think of us/see us differently, yes. What is your understanding of God's character? a strong father. Should living a righteous life feel like a burden and a struggle, or should it feel like a joy, something to love? the only time when it feels like a burden is when we're either thinking carnally, or we are trying to live a Christ-like life without the help of the Holy Ghost...attempting to do something impossible stresses me out at least. Why does God allow evil dictators to oppress innocent people? (ie people who pray to God to save them yet they end up with inaction and huge disappointment)the free will of the given dictactor, plus for soem reason these things have to come to pass, at least that's what Jesus said. ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
kenman Member Posts: 518 From: Janesville WI Registered: 08-31-2006 |
btb said it best God is "I AM" |
Mene-Mene Member Posts: 1398 From: Fort Wayne, IN, USA Registered: 10-23-2006 |
To your questions:
quote: There are 2 ways of seeing this. 1: How do I see God? I see God that He is more than a tool, that he is a being. Not just my Savior, but He who loves me personally. Not just Him who chases away my enemies, but he who protects me personally. He is a being in my sight. 2: What the definition of God? (What makes His being who He is) He is who He is, he cannot be defined properly by words. I can't be defined by just Weirdo, I have more than that to me, God is even more so. He is who He is.
quote: Like someone else said, He sees us as His personal babies of which he has the obligation to protect, and provide for. He is as a Father, and is one. When His children accomplish something, He shows pride in that. (Don't believe me? See Job, he said, "See my servant Job, and how he serves me") He also wants to give us all that is His. He longs for the walks and talks with us. (Like that friend you haven't had coffee (YUCK! I'm just using the stereotype reference) with in months.)
quote: I think he feels disappointment, and wishing that we could try better, but I don't truly have a very good idea.
quote: There is again 2 ways to look at this.
quote: It appears that you mean that what is God's characteristics, if so then I've already answered this, but like Romans said, God is Love. He is the Physical, and Spiritual, and Super-Natural demostration of Love.
quote: I can relate to this myself, I would say Yes to both. The struggle is easy to define, you want to do something, but you restrict yourself, and it is somewhat of a burden. But it is also a Joy and freedom. It is very hard to describe on the positive side of it. I don't think it is my place to describe this. I will say this, it is freeing and restricting, and increasing your potential at the same time.
quote: A couple things need be pointed out. Like Aslan said once, He saves them, but not always in the way they think. (Maybe not Aslan) Secondly, Free will is important to be realised. But sometimes it is important to point out that what we want isn't always what is best. A story, Once a pastor was in a healing service, and was laying his hands on a person. He started to pray for the person, but his hand kept drifting down, after multiple times he failed to finish. Upon questioning God about this, God answered that, had the man been healed, he would have lost his salvation, and that it would have been better for him to die saved, than live not. I hope I passed. ------------------ |
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Matt Langley Member Posts: 247 From: Eugene, OR, USA Registered: 08-31-2006 |
Great thread and awesome questions. Always interesting to see all the different perspectives people have Alawys a new chance to learn new ways to look at things and consider things in a way that we might now already have. I think my approach is to post answers to these before reading everyone elses... and then possibly post new answers after considering everyone else's perspective.
God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The triune. To better answer these I would answer it for all 4 cases... God as the triune, and God as each seperate part. God (as the entire trinity) The creator of all, the savior of all, that who inhabits us all who believe. He created us in his image. So I imagine him as a highly ambitious being with aspirations, dreams, and goals. I mean his ambition in creating us was magnificent. The fact that Adam and Eve disapointed him by committing the first sin shows that he did in fact have a goal and an aspiration for us. He created us, damned us, and saved us. To me that feels so much like a child that breaks your rules and gets grounded for a good ammount of time. You then give the kid a break by giving them a leave, a possible way out, a way to shorten or get out of their sentence. This just shows me how much God truly is Love. The Father I guess I don't see this all that differently than a father figure character. He is the one that reprieved us from the punishment of our sins. He is the one that gave us a way to escape the full consequences of our heritage. To top it off he did it with great sacrafice to him. Something any good parent would do. I think he shows us how to be parents in this as well. That Love is the most important thing. The Son This is the most humbling of all. He walked in our shoes. He dealt with temptation at our level and the dificulties of life at our level... and he succeeded! I think shows us that we can as well. That if we trust in God and follow his teachings we can be beautiful beings with pride in the Lord and pride in ourselves that the Lord enables and makes. I believe that we are his beautiful expressions or art and Jesus The Son was the most beautiful of all. The Holy Spirit The part of God that inhabits us all. I believe the Holy Spirit strengthens our convictions and reinforces are thoughts of Godly and just things. So many Christians are advocates of feelings and against rational thought, reason, and logic being applied to their religious beliefs. That the heart is greater than the mind. The thing is what we consider the heart is truly just a different aspect of our mind. We don't really get feelings from our heart, they are a different aspect of our brain. The Lord created us beautiful and amazing creatures, including our brain which runs our complex selves. I think once you accept the truth of this you begin to understand that the Lord speaks in rational thought, reason, and logic as well. For these are the rules he set our world up in. He gives us feelings and emotions to ballance it out and I think the Holy Spirit speaks to us in both, not just one. To say the Lord doesn't speak to use in rational thought, reason, and logic would be implying the Lord is limited. Beyond that it would defy common sense. Look at all the Lord has created based off these rules of logic. The science of life is truly the science of the Lord. He established such a structured reality that makes sense... and his lessons make sense. You don't have to embrace either logic or your feelings, you can use your feelings to reinforce your logic and vice versa. How does God see us? As his children I believe. We stray and make mistakes and he tries to gently, or not so gently, correct us and teach us the way of things. Just like and good parent. I think he may have held a different view of us after Jesus. Now I know some of you will say that God knows all, everything, and could not learn anything new since he already knows all. The challenge I would give you is Adam and Eve. If god knew without a doubt that Adam and Eve would sin, then why was he so disapointed? I think there are aspects of God that we don't understand. Such as the concept of him knowing all. I think God may have set up the concept of knowing all as limited for his own benefit. If he knew what was going to happen what joy would there be in doing it. Just as if he knew we would sin why would he create us and then get so disapointed. I think God works a lot differently than we've tried to understand and we simply envision him as all and everything and knowing all and everything since we have no other comparisson. I guess when we arrive in Heaven we will truly understand what God really is.
I think he feels sorry for us and feels betrayed by us.
I believe so. To me the difference is a child that doesn't seek a relationship with you vs. a child that does. You don't Love the child less but you cannot say you are as close to the child.
The best word to describe God's character is Love. I think the next would be understanding. Then I would add jealous and vengefull.
I think at times either and at time both. I relate it to going to work every day and giving it your best. Some days it's easy and the reward is ever present. You feel pride in the fact you are doing good work and putting all of your effort into it and that alone makes you feel good. Other days you just want to stop and do the easiest job you can. During those days doing the best job is a very big challenge and quite painful. Other times its a combination of both, it's a bit of a struggle but the reward is good in feeling pride in your work so you don't mind it so much.
God allows a lot of things. Such is the result of free will. I think for him to act too much would cause him to act against free will. I think in other cases it may be like Job. God may see it as a test to us, he may realize we need to be tested and in the end it will make us happier and stronger. ------------------ |
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David Lancaster Member Posts: 276 From: Adelaide, Australia Registered: 05-22-2006 |
In the book The Visitation by Frank Peretti (probably more accurate to the movie) the son was nailed to the fence by his father. When the son was nailed to the fence he cried out to God for help. Before that he sought a pastor and told him his Dad was hurting him and needed help, all the pastor did was call the authorities who went to the house and saw a perfect family and moved on. The father in his anger at the child squealing nailed him to the fence. He cried to God for help. He was failed, failed by the Church, failed by God. A situation like this traumatizing you for life, fragmenting your mind past any sanity and leading you into a rock hard shell of bitterness and anger. Where is God in this circumstance? What would you say to the son to get him to accept God? Could you say anything? Could you give him an answer which satisfies? One that isn't cliche, or insensitive but one that is real and means something vital? |
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David Lancaster Member Posts: 276 From: Adelaide, Australia Registered: 05-22-2006 |
That might be a hard question to answer, maybe one only God could :P I appreciate all your answers and thank you for responding. Very insightful! I love to hear what views people have on such topics. |
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bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
that is a hard question to answer. i believe the only people who would know the answer to that would be the boy(God would let him know), God, and possibly another person if God used them to convey the answer to the boy. ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
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spade89 Member Posts: 561 From: houston,tx Registered: 11-28-2006 |
david,i think we can answer this question,god will answer this kids question but he will answer him through us, the believers,although it may be hard to lead this child to believe in god,it is not impossible. the way i see it is men have free will and they do as they wish,god will eventualy judge his father and his father shall pay for his actions,christian life is not full of joy and peace,it is largley filled with persecution,the innocent will be persecuted,and the persecutors shall pay,god does not physhically intervene and stop this people,but if you keep believing he will reward you. remember how jesus was tormented and persecuted he was,our god is a perfect god,and he will judge perfectly. and another thing is who was this god this kid praying to,is it the god of the bible or another god which was made up by people,you have to understand god's character to answer questions like this. as a christian the bible is very explicit about the fact that we will spend more time on our knees rather than our tip toes. i seriously recommend you guys to visit http://www.wayofthemaster.com it really helped me understand god,just take 10 minutes out of your day to visit this site,believe me it's worht it,it changed my view on many things and if you happen to visit this site,i recommend either viewing or listening to "Hells best kept secret".
and remember nothing is impossible even answering questions like this,if you have god with you . ♠ ------------------ |
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David Lancaster Member Posts: 276 From: Adelaide, Australia Registered: 05-22-2006 |
Ha, I accidentally kinda already answered my own question :P It's in this movie: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1273037517 You have to watch into it some before I start saying stuff about this sort of stuff. |
Brandon Member Posts: 594 From: Kansas City, Mo, USA Registered: 02-02-2004 |
Great topic! Okay, I'll try to answer these questions with what I know... Who is God? How does God see us? What does God think of us when we sin? Does God think differently of us before we are saved compared to after we are saved? What is your understanding of God's character? Should living a righteous life feel like a burden and a struggle, or should it feel like a joy, something to love? Why does God allow evil dictators to oppress innocent people? (ie people who pray to God to save them yet they end up with inaction and huge disappointment)
[This message has been edited by brandon (edited December 28, 2006).] |
