Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Any Questions?
Since we can't get everyone together in one place to have some "God conversations" before Sunday I thought I'd post this invitation to ask questions. This could be one of our best threads yet...and, hey, it's only been two days!! Anyway, here's what I'm thinking. Anyone, adult or youth, who has questions about faith, God, religion, relationship, telling others, etc., etc., can write their questions as a comment to this post. Then, anyone with a thought, Bible passage, recommended book, blog, resource that helps address the question can respond. There may be different opinions and everything should be looked at through the lense of scripture ultimately. Questions can be about anything, nothing is out of bounds. For now it seems there are some with questions specific to what to share this Sunday so that might be a good place to start. So, that's it...let the questions begin!!
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4 comments:
hum.... good idea, but it can't really replace hanging out and talking in person. i mean, it's great for if you have a quick question or w/e... but it's not the same. we should keep this up and still find a time when at least some of us can hang out.
I can't really think of any questions, but I had a girl come up to me and ask me some questions that she really wanted answered and the conversation went a little like this:
Her: Why is it that when ask for pray and ask for things sometimes (most of the time) it doesn't happen?
Me: I heard someone tell me something one time, and here's what they told me, "There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer, it's just that sometimes the answer is 'no'." I like to think about that when I'm praying for something I've been asking for. It's really hard to trust God in the things we want sometimes, but if it's not his will for you to get that 'A' on your history test or even more serious things like helping a loved one heal from an illness, then his goodness and grace will be revealed all in good time. Sometimes 'unanswered prayers' can seem like God is neglecting our needs, but I try not to think of it that way. I really try to think of it as God choosing to let us choose by letting us learn on our own.
her: Well, how do I know that God is really doing best for us?
me: I know that the last thing you want to hear is me throwing out bible verses to you, but if you do really trust what the bible says, it tells us that He created us out of love. He wants us to be happy, and he wants us to be able to experience the joys around us. But he also wants us to learn about patience and trust and faith. Maybe some of those unanswered prayers are his way of saying, "Just wait and see."
Her: Why doesn't he just tell us about all of those things if he has the power too? Why does he have to let us all go through so much crap?
Me: I don't really know, but what I like to think is that everything that we will learn throughout our lives (and the things that we will not learn until later) is just way to much for him to tell us all at once. We wouldn't really take it all in. It's like when you start a new job and they tell you that you have to sweep the floor this way and use the cash register that way and greet the customer just so and clean out everything like this. It's just too much to take in all in one day. You have to do some stuff wrong and watch some other people before you feel like you've got everything down. He's just training us for our jobs. He's just teaching us to be Christ Followers.
...The conversation was pretty long, but those were just a couple of the questions I could think of that she asked. What do you think? What other questions do you think we might need to expect?
I agree with Karissa. We should meet in person. It funner!! :) and it makes it easier to talk. Although the computer is a good thing.
As to Jenn. I think that your answers were really good. If I had known that when I was first getting to know God, I would have felt more comfortable.
And I think that you are right. We should be able to come up with logical answers to hard questions such as these. Not the answers of course because we don't even know them. But when confronted with tough questions like these, we can also refer them to passages that help explain.
Let me know what you guys think about this. And if you know of any passages that help you understand the tough questions if you could pass them along, that would be great! Thanks
God Bless!
I agree that getting together would be funner :) I guess this post was to help answer any burning questions before Sunday in case someone was wondering about what to share if people started asking stuff. Jenn, I think it's cool you had that conversation and I liked your answers. I especially liked the analogy with starting a new job. Jesus actually said to his disciples, "I have many more things to tell you but it is too much for you now." It was his way of saying that if he told them everything they wouldn't be able to take it all in. Let's keep looking for ways to get together but use the blog to fill in the gaps when we can't. Hope everyone's ready for Spring Break!
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