Posts by myelaine

22

Fun Facts learned this week in my reading...

by Terry in

jw
friends

the temperature of the earth's core is as hot as the surface of the sun 9900 degrees farenheit.. .

below the amazon river lies another river called the rio hamza.

only 14% of the earth's species have been identified.. .

myelaine

in Canada, person can be given a sentence of up to 14 years in prison for startling the beloved Queen of England

xo

269

Why does god kill children?

by Comatose in

i was thinking about all the accounts in the bible that indicate god kills children as a punishment or teaching experience.

1. kills all of egypts firstborn sons, who were innocent kids who did nothing to him or his people, who had no control over the decisions pharoah made.

how many times have you read that account or thought about it without realizing the devastating pain dealt to all those parents, and remembered those were innocent kids?.

you said: "Michelle makes that claim, Comatose, but did you notice how many qualifiers, such as, 'could have', 'maybe' and "I think" that both she and tec/Tammy included in their replies? What it comes down to, especially with Michelle, is the Bible accounts as written make her so uncomfortable she's forced to make all kinds of assumptions, speculations, excuses and outright fantasizing in order to accept them. Taken as written, the accounts offend anyone with even a moderately developed sense of morals and are impossible to defend as-is."...

could have, maybe and I think are words one would use in trying to analyse something. The bible accounts don't make me uncomfortable. the accounts of the ancient hebrews were not unusual for their time. the bible makes it clear that the groups of people that moses and the hebrews encountered were not sweet and hospitable to them as they tried to make their way to the promised land.

moses was responsible for taking a rag tag complaining bunch out of egypt and within the span of forty years all that had left egypt were dead. the group that were poised to enter the promised land didn't resemble the group that left egypt. moses had built up a disciplined and cohesive army a diciplined and cohesive religious system and they likely respected the sometimes harsh hand of moses that had brought them this far. moses was harsh. he loved God and he was hurt when the hebrews did turn from the way of pure worship that God required...because he felt responsible for them and their behaviour. at one time he felt so overwhelmed with the responsibility that he asked God to kill him right then.

yes God required a pure worship and He wanted discipline too...because He wasn't just babysitting, He was building a nation for HIS name. any nation that thrives has laws and something that brings them together. that something for the hebrews was their "set apart" religion. in order to keep the participants set apart leaders did have to rout out and destroy from their midst those who would induce them to practice forms of false worship. there is nothing wrong with making the decision to protect the majority. that is why only the virgins were spared in the war with midian...the virgins hadn't participated in the worship practices that were thought to be religious sex rituals. these virgins were set apart and likely became the wives of the hebrew men as the hebrews were "very fruitful". why did moses make the decision to kill the little boys?...I don't know but he knew and he had his good reason. I don't plan to excuse his decision or deny it or defend it it just is that way. I trust that God had a plan for them that I am not aware of and I'll leave it in His hands. I can speculate that they may be being resurrected to be given the chance to turn to the living God because God does show mercy on whoever He wants to. the most merciful thing He can do is give a person a second chance to turn to Him.

I'm neither uncomfortable nor offended by the measures taken by moses and his loyalists in their effort to built a strong nation serving their God. neither am I uncomfortable or offended by efforts of the church today to take an uncompromising stand against the false worship that has crept into the congregations...it's the same type of situation that was faced by moses and his congregation...the situation is also similar to the problem in the apostle pauls day...he didn't have any problem keeping the majority from being "defiled" by false worship either. God still wants a people for HIS name. No paul didn't want to kill people that were a threat to the purity of the congregation anymore than the church today wants to kill its members that depart from the way. in pauls day the threat wasn't about the preservation of the nation that God was building but the life and continuation of the purity of the religious worship afforded God from the begining of the nation, in that the nation of israel grew and thrived. http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/holy-holiness.html

I believe the entire bible IS useful for doctrine, rebuke and teaching in righteousness. these OT scriptures though by todays "standards" are brutal, they are relative to a completely different time in the history of the world. I wouldn't remove any of it to suit my "theology", if anything I would move to adopt the books that were included in the ethiopian bible as they serve to give a more detailed picture than what we have now as to THE FAITH.

How do any of the episodes of war while nation building point to the idea of a God of love?...to me, a God who is dedicated to building and preserving a people who are free from subjection to the thinking that comes along with no just dicipline is a God of love. but God is not just "love"...scripture says that He also hates and He does and has poured out His wrath on that which He hates and He does and has removed His protection from those who "stray"...because it is HIS perogative to do what He says He's going to do, then I simply can't dismiss the fact that He is also a holy God who , from the beginning of the nation of israel, requires much from those who have received much. ezekiel 16:1-63

love michelle

269

Why does god kill children?

by Comatose in

i was thinking about all the accounts in the bible that indicate god kills children as a punishment or teaching experience.

1. kills all of egypts firstborn sons, who were innocent kids who did nothing to him or his people, who had no control over the decisions pharoah made.

how many times have you read that account or thought about it without realizing the devastating pain dealt to all those parents, and remembered those were innocent kids?.

myelaine

dear comatose...

I'm sorry I haven't responded to your question. I'm sure I haven't got a suitable response though because I haven't even taken the time to consider that text to find any teaching, rebuke or doctrine in it. Maybe since the episode is proven to be something you are given to consider, you can inform us of anything you've come up with.

I look forward to your thorough analysis :)

love michelle

269

Why does god kill children?

by Comatose in

i was thinking about all the accounts in the bible that indicate god kills children as a punishment or teaching experience.

1. kills all of egypts firstborn sons, who were innocent kids who did nothing to him or his people, who had no control over the decisions pharoah made.

how many times have you read that account or thought about it without realizing the devastating pain dealt to all those parents, and remembered those were innocent kids?.

myelaine

being willing to do something is not the same as being ready to do something. abraham could be of the right heart (willing) to do the command of God but not have a conscience (ready) to accept that what God commanded was what he wanted. I don"t think that God commanded abraham to sacrifice issac as a test of loyalty. I think because God asked abraham to move away from the surrounding nations after the incedent it was more of a teaching episode that we can learn from as well. It is within us to "go along to get along" even if it is against our own conscience. But abraham trusted in God's promise and that overrode his own conscience. that is a pattern that the army of israel followed. I don't think they were full of bloodlust and casually slaughtered anyone. (we do see bloodlust today in islam which has no connection to a conscience being overridden by the command of God...what we see there is a debased conscience similar, I guess, to what may have been going on in the ancient nations surrounding abraham with parents WILLING to sacrifice their children etc.)

dear AndDontCallMeShirley...

I'm not assuming...actually not knowing fully the dynamics of the situation back then, I'm trying to analyze the possible motivations of God; taking into account all the different aspects given of God's character and His stated purpose of ridding the world of evil instead of narrow-mindedly jumping to conclusions or seeking to dismiss facts as the lying pen of the scribes. bottom line, I'm not quite as confident in my knowledge as you seem to be as to the grand scheme of the seen and the unseen that I would boldly assume and declare that I am more moral than God based on a few texts that seek to explain the course of God's interaction with man over thousands of years.

love michelle

269

Why does god kill children?

by Comatose in

i was thinking about all the accounts in the bible that indicate god kills children as a punishment or teaching experience.

1. kills all of egypts firstborn sons, who were innocent kids who did nothing to him or his people, who had no control over the decisions pharoah made.

how many times have you read that account or thought about it without realizing the devastating pain dealt to all those parents, and remembered those were innocent kids?.

myelaine

I don't know why God asked that the livestock be killed too but He did want all traces of groups removed and all traces would mean livestock. It would also mean don't take any of their possessions for yourself either. He was serious about that too.

Isn't it possible that if the infant children were spared that they might have turned on the Israelites when they were adult? If they didn't understand God's justification in destroying their group, loyalty to their family might be reason enough for revenge, even given that their family might have sacrificed them.

Abraham is one person that was willing to "do it" because everyone else was. It makes sense that child sacrifice was common among other people groups and that is why he went so far as to try to sacrifice issac. He was ready to go along with what everyone else was doing. Did God see that unlike others his heart wasn't conditioned to do it willingly? Maybe and that is why God told him to go away from the people he resided by. Abraham wasn't like everyone else...he didn't have "bloodlust" I don't think God does either, He can see the heart of a people and what they are destined to do...He wanted to prevent harm by having the Israelites be proactive. He wants nothing less now...the gospel is proactive, He knows who the enemy is and He wants to gather to Himself those who will " believe the report".

I wonder if any of you would stand up and DO something proactive to stave off foreseeable horrors or would you "tolerate" it?

love michelle

269

Why does god kill children?

by Comatose in

i was thinking about all the accounts in the bible that indicate god kills children as a punishment or teaching experience.

1. kills all of egypts firstborn sons, who were innocent kids who did nothing to him or his people, who had no control over the decisions pharoah made.

how many times have you read that account or thought about it without realizing the devastating pain dealt to all those parents, and remembered those were innocent kids?.

myelaine

God commanded the Israelites to kill specific groups of people. He saw that these people were debased and that allowed to live their children would be the same...learning from their familial environment. What reason would any of you have for "tolerating" a group of people that would give their children to the fire?

there are groups of people today that do horrendous things to their own people and to others...to "tolerate" these groups is to completely lack mercy for those who are the victims. I can see God feeling the same way...He felt mercy for those who might have come into contact with them.

if you think that God was being "unfair" then I'll suggest a video that I've been told about on youtube, it shows a bishop who was beheaded by Syrian rebels...slowly and painfully with a small knife they sawed off his head while a small boy stands front and centre to take it all in because he is the next generation called upon to carry out the same sort of acts. This could have been the types of people that God sent the Israelite army out to destroy, because clearly if it could happen in 2013 it could happen then.

It is said that God sees the heart of people even from generation to generation...human "toleration" can't even "see" tomorrow. Romans 3:1-6

love michelle

31

A QUESTION NOBODY EVER ASKS....

by Terry in

what is the difference between working a math problem and, say...playing a piano piece?.

the math problem has a correct answer.

getting close to the correct answer is simply called being wrong.. music, on the other hand, can have a wide range of expression not easily judged to be "wrong".

myelaine

dear Terry...

you said: "I just can't see how a person can occupy their consciousness with a myriad of tribal fetish notions and O.C.D. rules of conduct in order to appease a celestial deity as though they were living in a cave shivering at Thor's thunderbolts"...

tribal fetish?...I'm talking about WHO God IS and worshipping Him. When you know who God is it isn't about tribal fetish notions, it's about worshipping Him in spirit and TRUTH. the fact is that it is the cults that seem to have to prove they have the truth by nursing fetishes and they occupy thier consciousness with trying to disprove the historically stated theology of God with defense of their own notions about who God is. Jesus revealed who God is and said He had "started a fire" on the earth by means of the Holy Spirit through the visible *churchHe established. I think these scriptures imply that taking "strange fire" when worshipping God is akin to NOT worshipping THE God but doing your own thing.

the *church has as her defense..."there is no salvation outside the *church"...as the *churchis the body of Christ...there is no salvation outside the body of Christ...one has to be IN Christ, in the TRUTH. matthew 7:15-19 says beware of false prophets[teaching] because that same false teaching bears bad fruit and john 15:3-4, 8-10 says that one must remain in the word of Jesus to bear good fruit. God commanded exclusive worship, to do your own thing was to spurn Him in the OT. Jesus also commanded exclusive worship of God as stated in the great commission...(to do otherwise is to spurn Him the TRUTH and His salvation).

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied[taught] in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" matthew 7:21-23 AGAIN..."And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 'For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." matthew 12:49-50

you said: "God's so-called priorities of what OFFENDS Him turns my stomach!"...I hope their plight isn't about YOUR stomach

...because man doesn't remove himself from causing "offense" toward others, Jesus has promised that He will return and put an end to all things that cause offense, that He doesn't follow man's schedule, is reason enough to believe that there are still men who are about to do His will. Until He sees that all men that will be saved, are saved, we wait on His schedule. to put it another way...this isn't His kingdom it is man's and until He steps in to take it, things will remain as they are (rev 22:11-15).

*church...Jesus, having all authority in heaven and on earth, gave the great commission over to the teaching authority of the church...matthew 16:18-19

love michelle

31

A QUESTION NOBODY EVER ASKS....

by Terry in

what is the difference between working a math problem and, say...playing a piano piece?.

the math problem has a correct answer.

getting close to the correct answer is simply called being wrong.. music, on the other hand, can have a wide range of expression not easily judged to be "wrong".

myelaine

dear Terry...

survival in a death situation is obviously important but a significant portion of life IS about living some choose to order their life around worship of God, their understanding is that God is central to their life.

dear cantleave...

"Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord , which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord ." lev. 10:1-2...

"Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord , with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil." lev. 16:12...

aaron's two sons ignored God's law. they took matters into their own hands and took the fire for the altar from somewhere else. this was a terrible sin on their part because they disobeyed the command of God. their sin cost them their lives.

Jesus gave authority to what by 325 AD became known as the catholic church...Luther took already burning coals of fire from the altar before the LORD to burn incense inside the veil so to speak...the incense could be liked to sincerity as incense is liked to the prayers of the saints...BUT, the other "theologies" are strange fire.

*theologies...I'm refering strictly to the study of who God is, His Being. the catholic church and luthers protestant church teach that christians are to direct worship to the God of the OT (as that God has been revealed as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit)

love michelle

31

A QUESTION NOBODY EVER ASKS....

by Terry in

what is the difference between working a math problem and, say...playing a piano piece?.

the math problem has a correct answer.

getting close to the correct answer is simply called being wrong.. music, on the other hand, can have a wide range of expression not easily judged to be "wrong".

myelaine

dear Terry...

suppose that Jesus gave the church the 100% correct theology and conferred on them the absolute teaching authority regarding that theology. Suppose that the church became known as the Catholic Church and they still had the authority and 100% correct theology. Suppose Luther came along and disagreed with the hierchy established in the Catholic Church while upholding that they were 100% correct in the theology. Suppose God says, "no one has "tampered" with My "Being" so, I'm ok with this development." But, suppose eventually others come along and start tampering with the 100% correct theology...they paint an entirely different picture of who God is...they even go so far as to make stuff up, listen to otherworldly entities, draw people out after themselves and or their ideas and completely disregard anything that the original teaching authority said. Why should God make allowances for sincerity if the 100% correct theology is still on the table?

Doesn't pride play a role in refusal to come under authority, to take direction?

I'm speaking specifically about nominally "christian" cults but maintaining that islam is the true religion of peace has become a pretty tough row to hoe lately as well.. I can see God's hand in making it almost impossible for man to sincerely believe these other "theologies" without making a conscience decision to turn from Him. I see that this many years into the history of the church He has made it easy to believe that the Catholic Church was given the teaching authority, 100% correct theology...God's Being hasn't changed in their hands where almost weekly He is moulded like clay in the hands of others.

God is placing all manner of hurdles before those who would tamper with His Being. It's to the point were other "theologies" don't come across as a more "enlightened" view of The God that the jewish and christian congregations worshipped but more like a reinvented God...a post-modern God more like we suppose ourselves to be...a better God than Jesus Himself could have imagined...it seems.

love michelle

19

Gorby's wife hospitalized, received surgery

by Gorbatchov in

this week my wife was hospitalized and received surgery.

we are happy she is allright now.

thank god!.

myelaine

It's wonderful that you and your wife were able to talk openly about the matter of taking a transfusion.

I hope Mrs. Gorby has a speedy recovery and continued good health.

love michelle