Rifty
It is your opinion that it is 'sleight of hand' - by which I would think you mean trickery to deceive?
The book is one person's ideas as he thought through his expereinces that brought him to a faith in Jesus Christ.
"Hidden footprints' is a reflective walk through life, pain and yearning, highlighting the way the Divine whispers to us through creation, beauty and people.' Available through scripture Union Online Store htp:--www.nsw.su.org.au-pages-content.asp?plid=4 then click on book illustration, and then 'online store'.
God is omnipotent, so God You appear to be standing in judgement on God. It would seem that you are seeking to block out God's demands on you.
It is for humans to prevent as much suffering as is possible by living more responsibly. That is the social gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's not Muhammad vs. Jesus. It's sanity vs blind faith. Christian We all exhibit 'blind faith' at times. How much do you accept because you were told it was so by parents, teachers, friends, the media? It is not possible for every bit of information we have to be tested scientifically by us.
Do you mean physically healthy as well as morally good? It was not God who caused humans to be less than they were in His original Creation.
That was a human decision. But humans have the ability to make life better as they make wise decisions. Gambling, drug taking, promiscuous behaviours and criminal activities and others can all be avoided and there are those who, coming to a faith in Jesus Christ have been able to move away from them
In some instances the illness and physical incapacities of children come from parents who didn't prepare adequately for procreation, or who weren't given adequate instruction to do so. That is human error. But there have been those who have used their incapacities in ways that have helped others.
In the Christian faith we do do 'earn' Eternal life'; it is given as a free, unmerited, gift as we believe on Jesus Christ. For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves (not by good works that we do) it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2 : 8
some angels rebelled with Satan, so the propect for their lives has not been-will not be painless.
There have been Christians, as well as those of other beliefs who have worked to alleviate pain, to cure diseases and to find prevenbreastive methods. I am one of them.
-- mouths mercy and invented hell and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; Quite some time ago I watched a TV series on Mark Twain's life and vaguely I recall that he could have been responsible for some of the problems in his own life and if so, in the above, he is shifting the blame onto God instead of taking responsibility of those problems on himself. .
I was not seeking to pas tthe buck. What I was doing was to give information.
My life has been long enough to realise the interplay between people's actions. When things do not work out as we would have liked we can either blame God, (which I would think the majority or all persons do at some time or other) or we can seek out causes and take opportunities for change.
The past we can't change, but we can learn lessons from it. and do something good for the future When others have hurt us we can either physically hit back or we can forgive.
We still have choices OR would you prefer that God had made us preprogrammed robots. You can't have it both ways.
Gladys Swager
