An old friend was angry because he rejects God on the basis that God should not allow suffering. I have heard this argument before over the years and argued with him that he doesn’t understand God’s Love.
I felt so sad that my friend sees God in a way that keeps him from knowing the fullness of God’s lovingkindness, mercy, grace, peace, justice and righteousness.
There is much suffering caused by natural disasters, and even more suffering caused by the evil men perpetrate in wars and through governments that cause and perpetuate economic injustice and conditions that favor a minority and exclude everyone else.
God has given humans the ability to take care of one another because we can choose every moment of our lives to help or to hurt; to forgive or to hold a grudge; to allow evil and injustice or to fight for good and righteousness; to defend those who are persecuted or to allow their suffering.
We can choose to receive God’s love and with the help of God‘s Holy Spirit work to alleviate suffering; work against persecution and injustice; work against those in power who condone and perpetuate hatred and evil; work to share God’s mercy.
In every activity of Jesus the Messiah, He demonstrated God’s love, mercy, graciousness, righteousness and peace while inviting people to join Him. Whether He was teaching about the difference of existence based on materialism or fully living in the freedom of the Spirit of love; whether He was delivering people from their illnesses—and even death—whatever kept them from living life to the fullest; whether He was miraculously feeding the multitudes, calming the wind and waves, or walking on water; people noticed Him and followed Him because He showed them truly who God is and that the religious establishments and political power of His day could be rejected and overcome by thinking about life differently and living a different way.
My old friend and those like him who reject God in Jesus the Messiah because they think that God should be different than He is do not know Him. They do not understand that this life we have on Earth is not all there is. They have not opened their hearts to the fullness of God’s love because there are many circumstances and conditions that block their understanding.
They have built walls of logic and made decisions and judgements and have decided that what they believe and know is unassailable. But God always has ways of breaking down those walls. God wants to win each person’s heart and He will never stop trying to get through to those who have rejected Him.
God is Love and the power of that love is made perfect in weakness. God chooses to allow everything that happens on Earth including the evil actions of individuals, groups and nations because the most important condition that under girds love is freedom.
No no one can make you love that person. Love only exists in freedom. We have the freedom to choose to love God and we have the responsibility to live with our choices.
In the FB tirade that ensued when I wrote about why I believed God allowed suffering, some friends of my old friend called me insane to believe in God and wrote that there is no truth in the Gospel, but that it is a myth.
It is easy to attack someone on FB and to criticize them. Little one-liners can be very satisfying when putting someone down as we have become more and more aware due to the sick tweets coming from corridors of power lately.
Sometimes I have stayed involved in discussions that go on and on, but FB is not an environment where you can change people’s minds necessarily. And the husband of a friend I only know online delights in triggering responses from me to tease me by pushing buttons when I make a statement about what is happening to our country politically.
The most concerning thing to me throughout this last year or so has been that people who say they follow Jesus think that what is happening is commensurate with what He taught and how He lived and with the reasons that He died and rose again.
It is mystifying!
And when those friends who are pastors, especially, have criticized me for statements I have made against the rhetoric and actions of the members of this current administration, telling me that we should not comment on elected leaders; writing that we should just love one another and not get involved in politics; insisting that since they are in power, it must be all right with God, I am dumbstruck.
But only for a few minutes.
Because it was just those kinds of mindsets that allowed the church leaders of Germany in the 1930s to go along with the National Socialists.
We are living in a time when the wool has been pulled over the eyes of many people who choose to support the most heinous activities and legislation that threaten the lives of people and will undermine the foundations of our nation.
It is beyond serious and we have to keep writing, speaking and working against what they are doing.
But we are not alone. God’s Holy Spirit in Jesus the Messiah transcends the religious and political institutions today just as it did when Jesus walked on Earth and in all the eras since then.
Over and over the leaders of religious institutions and the people with political power have worked against the Spirits of love, freedom, justice, mercy, righteousness and grace, but they have never won.
The Children of Israel waited about 800 years for their Messiah who came not only for them but for all human beings. And in the two thousand and seventeen years since he was born, human beings have continued to suffer because of natural disasters and the evil activities of governments and their fellow human beings.
So we should not give up hope in these difficult times where almost every day there are new shocking tirades by a sick man in power and his supporters who need prayer. But beyond prayer there is action because all the while during the 800 years that the Children of Israel waited for their Messiah, they were subject to the consequences of political decisions made by their leaders and by the leaders of empires outside of their borders. People who were faithful to God prayed and acted with God’s Help and we have the records of what they believed, how they prayed, how they acted and how God acted in the Hebrew Bible.
And it has been the same in the 2017 years since Jesus the Messiah was born. People still have the ability to believe or not; to pray or not; to act or not. And God is still involved and interacting with nations, and with individuals. And throughout we always still have the freedom of choice to do good or do evil.
As ever, Beloved, my prayer for you is that if you do not believe God exists and have never allowed God to show you that He loves you, that you will open your heart to Him even just the tiniest bit to allow Him to show you. He loves you so very much and wants to prove that to you. He will answer all your questions and relieve all your doubts if you will only give Him a chance to do that. I pray that you will.
And if you already know God’s Love in Jesus the Messiah, as ever, Beloved, my prayer is that you will continue to seek His face no matter what is going on in your life. He loves you so much more than you can imagine and He wants to keep drawing you closer and closer to His heart.
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, Beloved, now and always.
❤️❤️❤️
I felt so sad that my friend sees God in a way that keeps him from knowing the fullness of God’s lovingkindness, mercy, grace, peace, justice and righteousness.
There is much suffering caused by natural disasters, and even more suffering caused by the evil men perpetrate in wars and through governments that cause and perpetuate economic injustice and conditions that favor a minority and exclude everyone else.
God has given humans the ability to take care of one another because we can choose every moment of our lives to help or to hurt; to forgive or to hold a grudge; to allow evil and injustice or to fight for good and righteousness; to defend those who are persecuted or to allow their suffering.
We can choose to receive God’s love and with the help of God‘s Holy Spirit work to alleviate suffering; work against persecution and injustice; work against those in power who condone and perpetuate hatred and evil; work to share God’s mercy.
In every activity of Jesus the Messiah, He demonstrated God’s love, mercy, graciousness, righteousness and peace while inviting people to join Him. Whether He was teaching about the difference of existence based on materialism or fully living in the freedom of the Spirit of love; whether He was delivering people from their illnesses—and even death—whatever kept them from living life to the fullest; whether He was miraculously feeding the multitudes, calming the wind and waves, or walking on water; people noticed Him and followed Him because He showed them truly who God is and that the religious establishments and political power of His day could be rejected and overcome by thinking about life differently and living a different way.
My old friend and those like him who reject God in Jesus the Messiah because they think that God should be different than He is do not know Him. They do not understand that this life we have on Earth is not all there is. They have not opened their hearts to the fullness of God’s love because there are many circumstances and conditions that block their understanding.
They have built walls of logic and made decisions and judgements and have decided that what they believe and know is unassailable. But God always has ways of breaking down those walls. God wants to win each person’s heart and He will never stop trying to get through to those who have rejected Him.
God is Love and the power of that love is made perfect in weakness. God chooses to allow everything that happens on Earth including the evil actions of individuals, groups and nations because the most important condition that under girds love is freedom.
No no one can make you love that person. Love only exists in freedom. We have the freedom to choose to love God and we have the responsibility to live with our choices.
In the FB tirade that ensued when I wrote about why I believed God allowed suffering, some friends of my old friend called me insane to believe in God and wrote that there is no truth in the Gospel, but that it is a myth.
It is easy to attack someone on FB and to criticize them. Little one-liners can be very satisfying when putting someone down as we have become more and more aware due to the sick tweets coming from corridors of power lately.
Sometimes I have stayed involved in discussions that go on and on, but FB is not an environment where you can change people’s minds necessarily. And the husband of a friend I only know online delights in triggering responses from me to tease me by pushing buttons when I make a statement about what is happening to our country politically.
The most concerning thing to me throughout this last year or so has been that people who say they follow Jesus think that what is happening is commensurate with what He taught and how He lived and with the reasons that He died and rose again.
It is mystifying!
And when those friends who are pastors, especially, have criticized me for statements I have made against the rhetoric and actions of the members of this current administration, telling me that we should not comment on elected leaders; writing that we should just love one another and not get involved in politics; insisting that since they are in power, it must be all right with God, I am dumbstruck.
But only for a few minutes.
Because it was just those kinds of mindsets that allowed the church leaders of Germany in the 1930s to go along with the National Socialists.
We are living in a time when the wool has been pulled over the eyes of many people who choose to support the most heinous activities and legislation that threaten the lives of people and will undermine the foundations of our nation.
It is beyond serious and we have to keep writing, speaking and working against what they are doing.
But we are not alone. God’s Holy Spirit in Jesus the Messiah transcends the religious and political institutions today just as it did when Jesus walked on Earth and in all the eras since then.
Over and over the leaders of religious institutions and the people with political power have worked against the Spirits of love, freedom, justice, mercy, righteousness and grace, but they have never won.
The Children of Israel waited about 800 years for their Messiah who came not only for them but for all human beings. And in the two thousand and seventeen years since he was born, human beings have continued to suffer because of natural disasters and the evil activities of governments and their fellow human beings.
So we should not give up hope in these difficult times where almost every day there are new shocking tirades by a sick man in power and his supporters who need prayer. But beyond prayer there is action because all the while during the 800 years that the Children of Israel waited for their Messiah, they were subject to the consequences of political decisions made by their leaders and by the leaders of empires outside of their borders. People who were faithful to God prayed and acted with God’s Help and we have the records of what they believed, how they prayed, how they acted and how God acted in the Hebrew Bible.
And it has been the same in the 2017 years since Jesus the Messiah was born. People still have the ability to believe or not; to pray or not; to act or not. And God is still involved and interacting with nations, and with individuals. And throughout we always still have the freedom of choice to do good or do evil.
As ever, Beloved, my prayer for you is that if you do not believe God exists and have never allowed God to show you that He loves you, that you will open your heart to Him even just the tiniest bit to allow Him to show you. He loves you so very much and wants to prove that to you. He will answer all your questions and relieve all your doubts if you will only give Him a chance to do that. I pray that you will.
And if you already know God’s Love in Jesus the Messiah, as ever, Beloved, my prayer is that you will continue to seek His face no matter what is going on in your life. He loves you so much more than you can imagine and He wants to keep drawing you closer and closer to His heart.
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, Beloved, now and always.
❤️❤️❤️
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