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NoMattJames

- 3 months ago

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Does God Get Personal With You?

A few months back, I read a Facebook post written by a friend of a friend. She was a teacher who had been waiting to see if she would be pink-slipped. After her job had been spared, she wrote a long status update about how she and her family had prayed day after day for God's help and how he had come through. She even quoted one of her kids as having told her, "Mommy! Mommy! Jesus saved your job." There were eight or nine comments that all said something to the effect of "God is so good. Praise Jesus."

Then there was that Tim Tebow guy, the Denver Broncos quarterback who openly prays on the field and thanks God for help in nearly every media interview. Both of these examples inspire in me the exact same thought:

Does God really get that involved in the details of people's lives? Is God deciding who gets fired from your school district and who isn't? Is God helping the Broncos beat the Steelers? Does God even care who wins, or that football exists at all? Maybe it just makes people feel safer, more in control, to believe that prayer and God have some influence on their daily lives. I'm not so sure...

Does your God get personally involved in the details of your life?

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eugene/18142113/

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Life in this world is imperfect, flawed, and harsh at times, and I believe that God cares about what happens to each one of us as we struggle through whatever this world brings to us. God doesn't care about winning/losing, and hiring/firing, in the way you might think. I believe He cares about those things because He cares about people. God wants to use whatever happens to us for help bring us closer to Him. It is all about building a relationship with God -- not expecting Him to respond to you like a vending machine.

Well, my answer is yes. I believe God as something to do with the things going on right now in my life. Although I experience unfortunate things in my life, I know God has better things in store for me.

I think he does, and it's a wonderful thing

His messages generally end with,"You are such an a*s!"

Good thing I lost my capacity to listen.

It's okay to talk to god.

But when god talks to men it gets a little scary

First of all, there isn't a shred of proof that "God" exists, and it seems that "God" doesn't get involved in anything other than being a scapegoat for genocide, war, homophobia, racism, sexism, subjugation and thought control.

but doesn't the story above imply that if the family had NOT prayed daily then God wouldn't have spared her job?

what about the mothers in southern Sudan who cried out to Jesus day after day for their children to be fed but watched them die instead? Or the Muslim-background believers in Iran who are being tortured for being baptized, crying out to Jesus day after day without relief?
(I'd give starving Somalis or tortured Chechens as an example, but Christians might say, "We'll, it's because they're Muslims").

It might be better to consider prayer with God itself the reward, instead of focusing on what He / She can do for you.

I actually wrote a comedic screen play about the whole Tebow issue.

Please, do enjoy.
http://www.booksie.com/humor/script/cab77/tebowjus-episode-102-painted-red

To sum up the episode's moral lesson, a lot of things about Tebow have been blown out of proportion, and while he may be getting a bit old, (as well as the fact that plenty Christian Tebow fans would loath a Muslim football player) it's his choice and we're the ones choosing to focus on it so obsessively.

I do not think he cares if she had lost that job or had gotten it. Or having the notion if he is a fan for the Broncos does not make sense to me. With my upbringing in a charismatic/Pentecostal church people go off the deep end with these things, but if it gives him glory then that is what matters. All he cares about his glory and whatever gives him more glory. So in a sense with the teacher I think the outcome would of been the same because God is so much bigger and in control than that if she had prayed or not. Praying is fine, but I think the deeper issue is our faith or belief in a eternal being based upon what we see or the absent of what is not seen. I would of like to seen her reaction in God if she had lost a job. Hope this made some sort sense. Ask questions to expound my thought if necessary.

I don't know but I guess I really wouldn't want to find out either

What kind of God wouldn't wish to be personally involved in the lives of those he loved?

If you do half the work, God would gladly to the other.

I would like to ask a question that stems from the initial post: Can humanity change? Radically, fundamentally, change? Whether through the personal experience of god or not? I ask because humanity has been the same for hundreds of thousands of years psychologically, we may have progressed technologically, but it seems there has been no change inwardly, whether through a gods interaction or not. Can we change from the pattern we have been in from time immemorial? A lot of times I fear we, as a whole, cannot.

Yes I do believe God is involded in every area of my life, where or not I decided to listen to Him is my choice. But there have been many of times where I went somewhere not thinking that I would not encounter God and I have. I had a holiday job at this basket place and I worked with this girl who knew my bible study leader but I didn't know her. A few years back a group of us went to Vegas for someones birthday. We ran into this homeless man there and bought him lunch. Turns out he was a God fearing man who was stranded in Vegas because he was injured on a vacation. We went to Vegas to have some fun and we ended helping this man out and learning about God's love and how he comes through for you when your in need. And I know that several times Gods had be go to places I didn't want to go but I needed to go to help me with something. There have been a number of times when I'm going through something and noone knows but someone will randomly come up to me and tell me the exact thing I needed to hear to help me. There are so many things in life that I know God had a part in, little and big.

No way to know, but it seems very unlikely. God would have to be an accountant, keeping track of all the good and bad things you did (like Santa Claus), your finances, etc. and then decide who should be rewarded and who would have to suffer -- losing their job, for instance. Even worse, as your friend's friend seems to believe, God would keep track of who prayed more. A praying contest. Too much praying could get in the way of putting a good meal on the table for your children.

I will start by saying I am not religious. But I do respect people for being good people because God tells them to (not the gay-hating type of Christians). I do not believe God would get in the way of personal lives, and I highly doubt he cares about American football, but it shows that good people have good outcomes in life. Tim Tebow is one of the nicest and hardest working athletes in professional sports, and he deserves his success. If he wants to attribute that to God who am I to say no? Whether there is a God or not, he does the right things every day and sees positive outcomes because of it.

I think that some things are inevitable, but we still have the freedom to choose... you, me, anyone. We still decide what school we want to go to and what food we want to order. We pick who we want to talk to and what we wear. Maybe these events all lead to the inevitable. But no one ever said that the inevitable is bad. I think that God does get involved with our lives, how else do you explain miracles?

When I was growing up, my mother would often quote from the Bible that not a hair falls off our head without God's permission. Whether or not this quote is actually in the Bible (I have not checked, never having read the Bible from cover to cover), I actually believe that everything we do involves God since every one of life circumstances gives us an opportunity for spiritual growth. However, if we measure the answers to our prayers by the "yes"s that we receive, then we are not listening closely enough. A friend told me of this charming story which I think says it all. Her niece wanted a new bike for her birthday but the family was not able to afford it. She therefore decided to ask God to help her on this one. She prayed and prayed , but no bike materialized itself on the big day. Her dad, who was not too keen or religion and prayers, could not help but tease her on the fact that this God of hers had not answered her prayers. To which his daughter promptly replied that God had indeed given her an answer; He said "No".

I think GOD is my conscience. I listen to my conscience and it has never failed me. I do not always listen,but I am working on it. :) If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?- Confucius

Yes she does. She constantly reminds me that I should be out in the desert or in the mountains or at the beach enjoying the earth and my fellow citizens and not sitting in a dusty building listening to some old fart telling me how to run my life or heal my body oe whether my wife has dominion over her own person. She constantly reminds me that She does not exist as a person, place or thing.

I love the first passages from one of the banned gospels. Paraphrased heavily (I apologize), it quotes Jesus as saying;
I am within you and without you, I am all around you. Crack a rock and I am there, cut a piece of wood and I am there. I am not in single building...I am everywhere.

Nice for the established church to leave this one out of the bible.

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@NoMattJames Fresno, CA & Minneapolis, MN

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Does God Get Personal With You?

GotfiveMinutesforGod

lienonerom

Well, my answer is yes. I believe God as something to do with the things going on right now in my life. Although I experience unfortunate things in my life, I know God has better things in store for me.

NPhilipShaw

I think he does, and it's a wonderful thing

OneEyedSquirrel

His messages generally end with,"You are such an a*s!"

Good thing I lost my capacity to listen.

firespun

It's okay to talk to god.

But when god talks to men it gets a little scary

takeachance020

First of all, there isn't a shred of proof that "God" exists, and it seems that "God" doesn't get involved in anything other than being a scapegoat for genocide, war, homophobia, racism, sexism, subjugation and thought control.

JonathanBohemian

CAB77

BarnabyAlkire

punchmaster

I don't know but I guess I really wouldn't want to find out either

ransomed

What kind of God wouldn't wish to be personally involved in the lives of those he loved?

RyanCantDrum

If you do half the work, God would gladly to the other.

cg626

LizzieJane

onkey

dono3

Didar

suzannemarie

Schrutedit

I think GOD is my conscience. I listen to my conscience and it has never failed me. I do not always listen,but I am working on it. :) If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?- Confucius

GreatGodOphiolite

Does God Get Personal With You?

Well, my answer is yes. I believe God as something to do with the things going on right now in my life. Although I experience unfortunate things in my life, I know God has better things in store for me.

I think he does, and it's a wonderful thing

His messages generally end with,"You are such an a*s!"Good thing I lost my capacity to listen.

It's okay to talk to god.But when god talks to men it gets a little scary

First of all, there isn't a shred of proof that "God" exists, and it seems that "God" doesn't get involved in anything other than being a scapegoat for genocide, war, homophobia, racism, sexism, subjugation and thought control.

I don't know but I guess I really wouldn't want to find out either

What kind of God wouldn't wish to be personally involved in the lives of those he loved?

If you do half the work, God would gladly to the other.

I think GOD is my conscience. I listen to my conscience and it has never failed me. I do not always listen,but I am working on it. :) If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?- Confucius

What's Next?

His messages generally end with,"You are such an a*s!"

Good thing I lost my capacity to listen.

It's okay to talk to god.

But when god talks to men it gets a little scary