How could a "loving" God have a plan for my life that was so cruel? (christianity answers only please)
96868
At tims in our lives we pass through some very difficult situations and we begin to wonder why certain things are happpening to us, it is almost as if we are alone in this world. It is almost as if nobody cares and we are greatly troubled, our faith and beliefs are really shaken.\n\nWe may even begin to wonder why our loved ones have to die, we question why there is war in this world. We are more troubled when we see innocent people die on in accidents caused by troubled or drunk drivers.\n\nAt other times we are greatly troubled by our family members and our family situations, we wonder why we are in certain family dies, we even question if there is indeed a creator and why are all bad things keep happening, sucide might even be the perfect solution to our predicaments but:\n\nthere is this voice reaching out to us from a loving Father who we may even try to question wheter or not he knows our situation, the word reaches out and tells us that THOUGH SORROW MAY ENDURE FOR SOMETIME, JOY COMES IN THE MORNING.\n\nit is true, you may be passing through really tough times, i have been there, i have even attempted sucide. however i have realised the depth of My Heavenly Father's love even though it is still very difficult for me (to fathom the depth  of this love). I have realised that EVERYTHING WORKS TOGETHER FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO TRULY BELIEVE IN HIM. i know that at times i may pass through some very tough times and think God is not there, but i have come to realise that no matter how bad that situation might be, by trusting in God, He will and He always certainly turns it around for my own. Besides at times when he seems the most silent, i realise that he is only carrying me.  \n\nIt is true that doubts will come and your faaher may even make situations worse for you, but one thing i can certainly assure you of is that God knows of your situation, and do not let your doubt steal away the Father's love for you.  \n\nContinue praying for your father and realise that in honouring your father you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and all of your strenght (by not doing what is against his will). At  times our parents may be pretty difficult, but we must realise that some of them are only trying to show thier love in the way the know our to.\n\nThough going a ggainst God's ways at times gives us a perfect solution, but if we truly search deep within our hearts we often always find out that we only get temporary joy. It may be that dishonouring your father really helped you, but I do not know wheter it invoved your going agsinst God's will.\n\nGod's plans FOR you are of good and not evil, he will certainly give you a hope and a future (JEREMAIH 29:11).\n\nAytime it seems as if the doors of this world are shutting down on you remember that:\n\nEVEN THOUGH YOU WALK THROUGH THE SHADOW OF THE VALLEY OF DEATH, YOU SHOULD FEAR KNOW EVIL, FOR THE LORD IS WITH YOU...(Psalm 23:4)\n\nYour serving and believing in him is no guarranty that you will not pass through problems and bad situations but it is an assurance that he will give you joy, peace and strenght at all times so continue like never before:\n\nTRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND DO NOT RELY ON O YOUR OWN INSIGHT, IN ALL OF YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATH STRAIGHT (PROV 3:5-6)\n\nmail me if you want: bilewomo@yahoo.com
899170
Hi Mathias, think of the terrible price that Jesus paid for your salvation and the agony He endured for you in the garden of olives, think also of the rejection that He endured and still does to win you the grace to live by Christian standards, now if you can do this then surely it is enough to let you know that spilling the seed of life that God gave you is indeed sinful and is not what Jesus would have you do as if it was right.\nthink to of your Angel Guardian who is at your side and has to turn away from you whenever you resort to this, you are like the rest of us, weak so pray for the courage to stop this degrading act
512759
What you seem to have missed is the greater point - you're not your own to begin with - He created you, all he asks now is that you recognize that by accepting him and worshipping him - it is not his desire that any should perish - but being good is not what he designed us to do - he designed us to worship - good deeds are results of our worship - not our means of worship.  You are in the midst of spiritual battle and I'm praying that God will give you spiritual rest and a mentor to lead you personally as opposed to this forum. As a parent I raised my son with certain values.  I have entrusted them to him.  It is now up to him to choose to use them.  If he doesn't then there are consequences he will suffer.  Does that take away his ability to choose for himself?  No.  It just means he didn't heed a more learned and wiser, experienced person.  It is a poor analogy, but it was the best I could come up with.
590322
Maybe God has chosen you for Himself! Maybe He wishes you to first see the Reality of Love and then be freed from begging for it from mere mortals! Maybe you deserve much more than what you think... :))))
286198
u are an idiot. you call yourself a christian, but you dont even understand your god's teaching. \n\nhow can you worship a god who condemns people who try to be good? why would u WANT to worship a god who is so vain, and so full of himself, that the only way to get in his good graces. that's disgusting. not to mention, that you only worship this god, TO SAVE YOURSELF! \n\nno one is righteous, that's for sure, but the mere fact that someone tried to be means something.
623178
Actually if I were God, which I would never ever desire to be, and the people on earth were like this, like they are now, I would destroy earth and not regret it. Good thing God is love and mercy and grace and compassionet. But the day will soon come where the earth will be destroyed anyway. God has more patience than I do.
419009
An all knowing God that knew in advance Adam and Eve would sin and yet let it happen and then punished everyone for their crimes which brought suffering into the world on immeasurable proportions and then tries to reverse the effect by sending HIMSELF down to suffer for ONE day and die fully knowing he would be raised again in three days and live in heavenly bliss.... meanwhile human suffering still continues. This one time, one day "sacrifice" is supposed to cover all the sins of the world and repair all the suffering then, now and future and help people BUT here is the catch. ONLY people who believe in it get saved. And according to the bible that will only be a FEW people "Narrow is the way" as they say, so in fact, the vast MAJORITY aren't getting saved anyway, so it was all done just to save a handful of people, which means everyone else will live, suffer and die all for nothing and then after they die go to hell to suffer some more. \n\n\nIt makes little sense to me no matter how Christians try to rationalise it.
400347
Please, talk to a clergy member, a close friend, or a family member. God has a plan for all of us. It just isn't always an obvious one.
1150359
I refer to the story of the man who ran in the bear cage yelling "If there is a God, no bears will attack me."  He was mauled and killed.  God does not alter reality or ensure that good things will happen, and I don't think there is anything in the Bible that would suggest that.  All will turn out as it must IN THE END, as The End is already written, but the path that leads there is one that includes as much disappointment and suffering as it does bliss and joy.  These things are here to test us.  Does anyone believe great suffering and horrible atrocities only happen to people who deserve it?  Could you convince a 9/11 widow or someone displaced by tsunami or hurricane of that?  Of course not.  Bad things are a part of life, and having faith in God does not mean having unwarranted optimism in an outcome that you hope for.  Having faith in God is having faith that, whether the chickens hatch or not, the final outcome reflects the Will of God and will lead to His Will being done in the end.\n\nLike if you interview for some job, and you pray that you get the job.  Perhaps you are meant to do something else in your life, and getting that job would prevent this from happening, so it therefore won't happen.  A fool might curse God for not succumbing to their will, but a true Christian with true faith will understand that it is WE who must succumb to HIS will, and understand that what may seem like a setback is part of God's plan, and we must be at peace with that.\n\nIf your chickens do not hatch, they were not meant to hatch.  But God's chickens will most definitely hatch, and this is what is best.\n\nI wish you luck in whatever it is that you are awaiting, and I pray that you find what God's plans are for you and come to the peace and joy that is planned for you, whether that means that you get what you hope for in the here and now comes to be, or not.  And I hope that you find the faith to direct your prayers as expression of thankfulness to God, and an expression of faith not that you will get some certain thing you wish for, but that whatever may happen in the short term will ultimately lead you where you need to be.  To me, that is true faith, and that is true prayer.\n\nSuffice it to say, good luck and God bless!
538220
God doesn't plan your life he just knows your decisions and its outcomes before you do. We have free will and common sense a gift or blessing God gave to all of us. But our sufferings on earth doesn't have any comparisons to our paradise in heaven!
811240
Hon, my heart breaks for you. You are noticing the destruction that sin does on one's life. You are missing the source of Life, Love, and Eternal Being. Please, turn to God, give Him your problems, pray for forgiveness repent of your sins He is faithful to answer you, if you are sincere.
609827
If you wanted someone to really answer your question seriously, why did you make it so long?\n\nJust reading the first few questions, which is all I had the energy for, God gave us free will.  If you want to go and rape someone, God cannot stop you else he has revoked our freedom of free will.  It only makes sense.
971194
God would never command such a sinful act that pleases you so selfishly from His people.\n\nPeace.
683348
I am not a bible scholar, but having been born with depression I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when people try to tell me that I choose to be this way. It is not free will! Society may aggravate it, but it did not create it. \nWhereas it is well known that bad things happen to good people & innocent children & that it is God that allows such things to happen---& that it the most difficult question. Why does God allow suffering? Is it really supposed to make us better people? But that is a whole new debate in itself...
1150985
You are correct. God is not capable of simply forgiving someone, as you and I are; he must kill someone in order to do it. In the Old Testament, he required that animals die every single day so that he could forgive the Israelites. This worked just fine for thousands of years, and then one day God just wasn't satisfied. I guess the novelty of animal sacrifices wore off and he needed a human sacrifice. But not just ANY old human sacrifice, this one had to be special, so he sent his Holy Spirit to Earth to impregnate a teenage girl (does that count as sex with a minor?), then he arranged for the resulting offspring--his own son--to die.  Only then was God able to forgive everyone.\n\nOr was he? People are supposedly forgiven for every bad thing they ever did or will do, yet they are required to beg forgiveness, anyway, every time they do something bad. And if they do a lot of bad things, they get sent to eternal punishment...even though God forgave them.
235845
U r getting it all wrong my dear.. Jesus had to sacrifice his life for we humans.. So that we REPENT for our sins.. so that we r always reminded of the fact that GOD has given his LIFE for us.. or better still.. A God incarnate has given his life.. It was our redemption in THOSE TIMES.. The next time HE comes on earth will be JUDGEMENT DAY.. We have already been given an oppurtunity to unserstand and rectify our mistakes b HIM..he has given us one chance by sacrificing himself..that doesnt mean he'll do it always.. Next time, we will be punished for our sins not HE!  \nIt was not God who died.. Jesus was a God-incarnate i.e.God born on earth as a human and since all  humans die, he had to die.. But Jesus is there on top..\n And God canty forgive us all without all of this.. Thatr would mean whatever crime u do, u'll be let off. God wanted to show to humanity that HE cared for us so much that he sacrificed his son!
207903
Sorry this is so long fuzzy dice but hopefully it answers your question!\n\nWhile we can grow spiritually through suffering (Heb. 12:6), we sometimes encounter afflictions that seem cruel and useless. Who benefits when a grotesquely deformed baby is born? What good can come from severe retardation? What purpose can be served by an aged person going on month after month in an almost vegetative state? Why does the stroke victim who cannot speak or use his limbs have to lie in a nursing home year after year? And what about the victims of accidents or disasters? We must admit that sometimes we can see no reason or purpose in some of the suffering we encounter. But that doesn't mean there is no divine reason or purpose. We just don't see it. Jesus said that a man was born blind, not because of sin on the part of anyone, but "that the works of God should be revealed in him" (Jn. 9:3). Then He went on to heal him supernaturally. Until that moment, no one knew why the man was born blind. But God did. Therefore, we must often rest in the assurance that God knows the answer to the question "Why?" Then too, these disturbing realities are a call to repentance. They remind us that this life is only a tiny segment of the whole picture. Jesus pointed out that the 18 people who were killed when a tower fell on them were not singled out for this accident because they were worse than average sinners. But He went on to say, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Lk. 13:5). Whenever we encounter diseases, deformities, disasters, or accident victims, we are to remember that we are no better than they. This is therefore a call to repentance for all of us. \nSomething else that can help us when we come face-to-face with these disturbing facts of life is the realization that (1) God did not necessarily cause these circumstances, and that (2) God suffers with the hurting. The world as we know it today is under the curse God pronounced at the dawn of human history (Gen. 3:17-19). Paul personified the non-human created world, animate and inanimate, as waiting eagerly for the day when Christ returns, because it will then be delivered from the frustration and pain it endures because of the presence of evil (Rom. 8:18-25).