Can you help me with how this is supposed to work...

Questioning Brother said:

No, free will is an illusion. It is impossible to exist with an omniscient God with a plan. Because either He wouldn’t know what we were going to do, or His plan could be derailed. Both of those are directly contradicted in the Bible.

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Sounds to me you have put God in a box, and then you don't like the God you have portrayed. Maybe you could have use of looking more into the character of God (which is love)?

Questioning Brother said:

God through action (being the direct cause) or inaction (not intervening to prevent) destroys almost everything I care about having.
God does nothing ( again action/inaction) to help me while I beg for help.

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I know it doesn't seem like it but God is not sending the problems and suffering that you are going through.
We live in a fallen world; stuff happens and Christians are not immune from it.

Questioning Brother said:

God continues to pile spiritual things on me despite the fact that I don’t care.

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I don't know what you mean by "piling spiritual things on me".
But in some way, on some level you do care, or you wouldn't be on a Christian forum posting in the Christian advice section.

Questioning Brother said:

And somehow this is supposed to make me love and trust him.

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No of course not.
God is not an authoritarian figure who says "you don't love me enough yet, have some more suffering." James says that every good and perfect gift comes from God. What you are going through doesn't sound at all good, never mind perfect, so it hasn't come from him.
He can give strength, peace and comfort as you go through it - or you could just endure it without any of those things.

Questioning Brother said:

can anyone explain how this is supposed to work?

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What do you mean "how this is supposed to work"?
Are you saying that if we believe in God we are "supposed to" have a problem free life as a reward for believing in him? Or that answered prayer means "give me what I want and give it to me now"?

We are supposed to love God because he created us, has given us gifts and talents, has made it possible for all our sins to be forgiven, and forgotten, through Jesus, whom he sent to offer his perfect life in exchange for our sinful ones, has given us his Spirit, eternal life and every spiritual blessing all this, when all that we deserved from God was punishment and death.
Jesus did nothing wrong at all - we have; yet he suffered separation from God so that we will never have to.
John says, "we love because he first loved us" - unconditionally.

We are not supposed to say "I will only love you if I don't have any physical problems." I did that for years; my faith depended on my feelings and circumstances and not on the love, patience and grace that God had already shown me.

com7fy8 said:

My companion could have cancer, for all I know. She could die . . . be already dead . . . for all I know. Or she could get COVID-19 and I might never be allowed near her again.

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com7fy8,

I'm sorry to hear about your companion. I wasn't aware she was ill. I'll be praying on your behalf and for her healing and restoration.

You now are reaping in yourself, according to how you have been sowing for an attitude.

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I love this sentence. Our thoughts have significant impact on our health and outlook on life. I had a procedure recently to alleviate back pain. I had it once before and it lasted two years. That's uncommon. But for some reason that wasn't the case this time around. I never felt 100% and the pain returned in less than a month. Now I'm scheduled for something different. More invasive but hopefully long lasting.

You'd never know I've been bed for weeks. Nor would you guess the mobility limitations or the painkillers I've been taking all this time. I mentioned it once and that was it. While I'm waiting for my blessing I've focused on being a blessing for others. Doing what I can in the circumstances while waiting on God. That's my motto.

Sometimes you have to take your mind off yourself. You can't marinate on your woes and expect a happy ending. You'll be overcome with despondency.

I think Habakkuk said it best:

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. —Habukkuk 3:17-18

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

Questioning Brother said:

The lack of care IS the lesson.

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As you perceive it, maybe.
Or you could ask the question, "what are you saying to me through this and how can I handle it?"

Questioning Brother said:

Actually, I can not see her either. She is in a nursing facility, and they are 0 visitation.

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Where I am, things are less horrible; so we can sign up to have a person brought outdoors where we all wear masks.

So, thank you for telling us this. God bless you . . . now, howsoever.

Questioning Brother said:

The only way family can see resident is for end of life. Also, she was much better at being a Christian than I ever was.

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Well, now you can follow her good example, by doing better. Examples are not to be praised and worshiped like they are idols out of our reach; but as Christians we become able to follow our good examples

If my companion dies before I do, she will not be gone. How she has loved me and been kind to me, and has been my example of having tender compassion for wrong and obnoxious people > this can keep on living in me, so I will be able to say she has not gone anywhere. However God has made her good for me can stay in me.

Questioning Brother said:

My heart’s desire was a easy and mostly painless life. I modified it to removal of the painful situations I am currently going through, but He has no interest in tha

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No one gets that. Not a single person in history.

Life is a sort of purgatory. For everyone.

Questioning Brother said:

God through action (being the direct cause) or inaction (not intervening to prevent) destroys almost everything I care about having.
God does nothing ( again action/inaction) to help me while I beg for help.
God continues to pile spiritual things on me despite the fact that I don’t care.
And somehow this is supposed to make me love and trust him.

can anyone explain how this is supposed to work?

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Welcome to the Kingdom of God.

When we build what is destructive to yourself and his purposes, he will do that.

According to Jeremiah 1:10,

Jer 1:10 WEB Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

So, if you're building a life that is in opposition to the life that God has given you, from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:10), then he will uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow, so he can plant and build in you the life he has given you.

Then, Jesus said in John 10 that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but he is come that you may have life, and that more more abundantly.

I encourage you to take the time to slow down, sit at the feet of Jesus.

Read the bible daily, pray about everything, and God will teach you what knowing God is about. Jeremiah 24:7, Philippians 4:6-9, Isaiah 30:15, Matthew 11:28-30.

Questioning Brother said:

Also, she was much better at being a Christian than I ever was.

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This is likely where most your pain is from. We just lost an elder that is a much better Christian than I ever was, and that was way painful and scary than I imagined.

If you want to stopped the pain, either pray God to save her so that she can help you grow, or pray God to make you spiritually strong so you can weather this.

Will pray for you.

Questioning Brother said:

God through action (being the direct cause) or inaction (not intervening to prevent) destroys almost everything I care about having.
God does nothing ( again action/inaction) to help me while I beg for help.
God continues to pile spiritual things on me despite the fact that I don’t care.
And somehow this is supposed to make me love and trust him.

can anyone explain how this is supposed to work?

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Maybe you have the wrong god. The God of the Bible is not the God you are describing.

Questioning Brother said:

Which part? The either taking things away himself or not acting to stop Deuteronomy 32:39 The not acting even when I am begging Him to? Psalm 22:2 Or expecting me to love and worship him despite the above? Various verses. Which part is not in the Bible?

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You have conditioned your interest in God upon his doing for you what you want done. He has made possible eternal life, the one thing that mankind has wanted since time immemorial, but that hardly seems to matter to you. Or such is what appears to me to be the case from what I've read. As for why there is something less than perfect happiness in this life, that is laid out in Genesis, so there oughtn't be a mystery about that part of the issue.

Questioning Brother said:

Which part? The either taking things away himself or not acting to stop Deuteronomy 32:39 The not acting even when I am begging Him to? Psalm 22:2 Or expecting me to love and worship him despite the above? Various verses. Which part is not in the Bible?

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None of it. The accusation that God is destroying almost everything you care about through direct action or inaction is not something in the Bible. He has not promised you that He will give things to you or take them away as a Christian. You say God doesn't help you when you "beg for help." Maybe because there is something you need to learn in the struggle that is the help you need. Perhaps, what you consider help is not what God considers help. When it comes to "God piling spiritual things" on you despite you not caring is wrong in two ways. One, experiencing "spiritual things" doesn't mean they are from God. Two, if you don't care that is your problem, not God's. Maybe you don't love and trust Him because you have unrealistic expectations of God and misplaced dependencies on certain outcomes you desire as qualifications for you loving and trusting Him. I think you need to ask God, "What is it about You, my life in Christ, and the circumstances I am struggling with that I don't understand?" Deuteronomy 32:39 is more about God's ability and authority than it is a confession to you that the problems you are experiencing are His doing.

Questioning Brother said:

God through action (being the direct cause) or inaction (not intervening to prevent) destroys almost everything I care about having.
God does nothing ( again action/inaction) to help me while I beg for help.
God continues to pile spiritual things on me despite the fact that I don’t care.
And somehow this is supposed to make me love and trust him.

can anyone explain how this is supposed to work?

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Questioning Brother,

Would you say you are currently a doubter about some things relating to God's action or inaction in your life?

Which 'spiritual things' don't you care about?

What caused you to come to this forum to seek help for the actions of God in your life? 'I don’t care' about what?

Oz

Questioning Brother said:

The lack of care IS the lesson.

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QB,

Are you speaking about the lack of care in your local church and/or by other Christians?

Oz

Questioning Brother said:

He either decided they needed to go and did it directly, or sat by doing NOTHING TO STOP IT. Either way, same outcome.



Yes, I consider help as something that actually changes the situation. Not empty meaningless words of comfort. If he doesn’t ACTUALLY help, His <insert whatever spiritual word you prefer> means nothing to me.



I already know what I don’t understand: How he has the gall to claim he cares about humanity in the slightest and allow suffering like this. If he REALLY cared, he would not have given us a choice in the matter. He would never have put the Tree in the garden.

I was using that as an example of where He says He gives and takes away Himself.

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You just restated your OP. Your concept of God is not biblical. You have the wrong god and, thus, you should be feeling the way you do. The last thing I will say on this is that you need to ask God to teach you the Gospel again and who you are in Christ. That is the only way you will reach a point where you will stop blaming God for stuff He did not do in your life. Living God Ministries - The Gospel
Living God Ministries - Your Identity in Christ