Religion

[Izzy]

SW,
There are portions of the discussion that we agree on and obviously others that we don't agree on. I took a little time before to attempting to respond to your comments because I respect what you have to say. I just can't agree with all of it. Why does God show mercy to one and harden the heart of another? I don't pretend to know and I would probably distrust anyone, other than our Lord, who claimed that they had the answers. There are certainly Bible verses that I know you are aware of that support the power of prayer and asking and receiving - particularly in the Gospels. However I would guess that you probably have decided that those passages solely apply to the spiritual, while I think they can encompass all areas.

Pain - what can I say - Pain is pain. But don't we usually learn more from it than without it? How can God take it away if it's such a good teaching tool? It's part of the refiner's fire.

If God doesn't respond to our prayers it would imply to me that the creator of this dynamic universe set things in motion and became static. I just don't believe that. Even the desks we're working on are not static at the atomic level. Our God didn't create anything that isn't active as far as I can tell from scripture and even from science. Even His Word is living and active.

My original comment was about not discouraging people from praying - and even if we don't get the answers we (think) we want and even if we are disappointed in or angry with God sometimes because we don't understand His ways and even if other people think we're making silly requests of Him - I just have to stand by that. Otherwise I might choke off someone's beginning communications with their Heavenly Father and I think that would be far worse. We just don't know what work our Father is doing in them.

Work is "powering" up again and I only seem to sit down to write so late! God bless you SW...and may the Lord also bless & keep each one who thoughtfully reads this discussion. Goodnight