Bad things happening isn't a result of a curse or karma?

[JohnB445]

Well, number one I have no desire in my spirit to do bad things, but I would think that if I were to do bad things then God will eventually have me have a taste of my own medicine to teach me something.

But I noticed, I can be seemingly good and do nothing wrong and yet have bad things happen or come my way and affect me negatively. This was happening before I became a believer. But after I became a believer after almost 3 years I actually noticed bad things stopped happening to me. But maybe because of quarantine and me not getting outside much anymore.

Is bad things happening a sign of a curse or we did something wrong? If I wake up in the morning blind, or end up dying a terrible way like getting eaten by a shark I would think for a moment that I've been cursed.

 

[Pop D.]

It may be the result of sin, but not always. Just look at Job, or the man from John 9.

 

[pdudgeon]

Far better to look at the parable of the Good Shepherd.
In those verses, we see that Jesus is the Shepherd, and His job is to watch over the sheep of His flock; especially the lambs.
But we also see that He disciplined those lambs who haven't learned to stay with the flock, and out of curiosity, wander away from the safety and care of the Shepherd.
Curiosity for things outside of your accepted boundaries will always get a person into trouble. So the first lesson is not to let your eyes wander beyond your own boundaries/responsibilities.
Guard your eyes and your thoughts will be guarded naturally.
Job got into trouble because he did not guard his eyes, but let them wander.
And as a result of that wandering, his thoughts then strayed beyond what God would have had him concerned about.
God was already dealing with that problem, and needed no help from Job. But Job thought He did [mistakenly] !
And so Job's thoughts and his attention left the area of his own concern that had been assigned to him by God, and instead focused on his neighbor's concerns [which were assigned to his neighbor by God.]
So long story short, Job's mistake was in thinking that he knew better than God what should be done for his neighbor! Imagine that!

No wonder that Job had troubles!

 

[returntosender]

Seems like a long time now something goes wrong or something bad happens. I often wonder what have I done? Some say the devil wants you to lose faith in God or you must be sinning or you are being tested, etc. I have pondered it and have no answer. There was a time when I thought it might be that I was crying to a friend and not to God and when I stopped dumping on my friend it did ease at that time but it soon returned. Don't lose faith and go to God with it. Trust in god and don't discuss it with others, complain.
God bless and I hope it gets better

 

[A_Thinker]

Well, number one I have no desire in my spirit to do bad things, but I would think that if I were to do bad things then God will eventually have me have a taste of my own medicine to teach me something.

But I noticed, I can be seemingly good and do nothing wrong and yet have bad things happen or come my way and affect me negatively. This was happening before I became a believer. But after I became a believer after almost 3 years I actually noticed bad things stopped happening to me. But maybe because of quarantine and me not getting outside much anymore.

Is bad things happening a sign of a curse or we did something wrong? If I wake up in the morning blind, or end up dying a terrible way like getting eaten by a shark I would think for a moment that I've been cursed.

Bad things happen to us ... because we are in a fallen creation.

We live with fallen creatures ... whose first love has turned cold.

Our world has developed into a cursed place ... because of humanity's desire to go our won way ... instead of God's way. It was probably inevitable.

But God has delivered rescue from this world ... to those who are willing to follow Him. We still have to finish up our lives here first, but there is a new world which is waiting for us, where there is no death, or sickness, ... where every tear will be wiped away.

God will bless us with aspects of our new life even here ... so that we can endure ... until we are united with Him.

 

[A_Thinker]

Job got into trouble because he did not guard his eyes, but let them wander.
And as a result of that wandering, his thoughts then strayed beyond what God would have had him concerned about.
God was already dealing with that problem, and needed no help from Job. But Job thought He did [mistakenly] !
And so Job's thoughts and his attention left the area of his own concern that had been assigned to him by God, and instead focused on his neighbor's concerns [which were assigned to his neighbor by God.]
So long story short, Job's mistake was in thinking that he knew better than God what should be done for his neighbor! Imagine that!

No wonder that Job had troubles!

The scripture says that Job was perfect ... and upright.

You must be thinking of someone else ...

 

[Lifelong_sinner]

The scripture says that Job was perfect ... and upright.

You must be thinking of someone else ...

i thought the same thing. my first thought is he was talking about samson, who had wandering eyes.

 

[tturt]

Samson and Samson's wife had wandering eyes "But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend." During that time, once a couple decided to marry they were bethrothed. Tthe groom returned to his father's house to prepare for his bride. Plus, the bride made herself ready (Rev 19:7). Their communication leading up to the wedding was through a friend, a friend of the bridegroom. Sometimes that designated friend and the bride ended up marrying as was in Samson's case Judges 14.

 

[CMDRExorcist]

The fallen nature of the world is external to our own being, which means that bad and good things are going to happen to you regardless of how you act. Being a follower of Christ doesn't shield you from these things. Instead, it shields us from the spiritual consequences of our own actions. I am not accountable for someone else's evil deeds, but I certainly can be affected by them because that's just the state of the broken world.

I'd suggest that bad things never stopped happening to you, but instead you started focusing more on the good that was happening. It's important to maintain perspective in our lives. We must cherish and appreciate the good that happens, but understand (and be prepared) for the inevitable bad that will happen to us in this darkening world.

 

[A_Thinker]

Samson and Samson's wife had wandering eyes "But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend." During that time, once they were bethrothed, the groom returned to his father's house to prepare for his bride. Plus, the bride made herself ready (Rev 19:7). Their communication leading up to the wedding was through a friend of the bridegroom. Sometimes that designated friend and the bride ended up marrying as was in Samson's case Judges 14.

It wasn't so much that Samson's betrothed had wandering eyes.

Samson's misfortunes continued to be generated by his own hubris. He wasn't supposed to be in the land of the Philistines at all, let alone searching for a bride there.

During a pre-wedding celebration, Samson bet the men present that they couldn't answer a riddle of his. If Samson won the bet, his Philistine guests would gift him with 30 new suits of clothes, but if Samson lost the bet, he would have to gift his Philistine guests with 30 new suit of clothes.

Sometime during the 7 days of celebration, the Philistines got desperate ... and threatened the bride and her family with loss of life and limb ... if the bride would not divulge the answer to the riddle. So, she did ... so Samson lost the bet. Samson got all riled up and jumped to the conclusion that there had been some hanky-panky with his bride-to-be. And he went and wreaked destruction upon some Philistines in his wrath.

And so, his bride-to-be was given to another ...

 

[tturt]

Dont see some of what you are.

God had more to do with some of Samson's behavior according to these "And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel."

"And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house."

 

[A_Thinker]

God had more to do with some of Samson's behavior according to these "And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel."

"And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house."

God often makes use of our foibles ...

 

[Jeffwhosoever]

There is no such thing as Karma. Its a made up concept in Hindu religion, whereby a person's either wealth or good fortune is a reward being paid back to him or her from some event usually in a previous life or earlier stage of the same life, and things that happen bad are punishments for evil you have caused either in a past life or earlier stage of this life. It sounds like "what comes around goes around" and masquerades as some superior form of justice, better than Christianity even offers, but its a total fraud. Do you know what the true objective is in the Hindu religion? To die with zero karma, neither good nor bad, but neutral or none. If you die with good Karma, you reincarnate to get your rewards, even if that reward fades soon and you find yourself in a terrible condition later in life and regret ever being born, and if you die with bad karma, you reincarnate as some lower form of animal to be punished for whatever you did, and the cycle goes on and on until you finally reach a state of 0.000 karma owed or owed to you, which is why their monks sit around doing absolutely nothing for themselves or anyone else for that matter, out of fear of acquiring good or bad karma and being forced into another reincarnation cycle. Thus when you see a sick child dying of hunger, you don't dare feed them or cure them or even suggest someone else help them, because in their world of Hindu Karma, you then have incurred a karmic debt owed to you and given them a karmic debt they have to pay off. So people let people die in the streets every day, and society tries best not to interfere with helping or hurting anyone. You might as well not even be alive to start with to live like that. And what happens when after 1 million reincarnations finally result in a life you end with the magically yet near impossible empty karma bank account with no savings and no debt? You leave this realm of reincarnation in physical form, and are absorbed into the Atma-Brahma universal consciousness, losing all sense of self identify as your aura or being is merged like an atom into the universe and you cease to exist as an individual.

I find absolutely nothing appealing about karma or the Hindu religion. It is a very self centered, uncaring, unloving, unprincipled belief system. They are too afraid to eat a cow because that might be grandpa Joe who used to beat his son, having to pay his karmic debt off as a beast. Billions are starving over in India because of crazy ideas like this. And no the first books you read about this don't come out and tell you all this or else no one in their right mind would ever want to be a Hindu but as you study the deep secrets of their world religion as I once did years ago, you find out all this is true.

 

[GallagherM]

According to the Christian life; there are difficulties that come in having love for our neighbor. Telling the truth to others sometimes comes at a cost but should be told in love and in a gentle way towards other. Though if someone doesn't like that you may be persecuted for even saying such whatever it was that was said to them.

I do believe as human beings we reap what we sow, be it sowing to the flesh or sowing the spirit.

Luke 6:22 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

Matthew 5: 43“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you 45in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47“And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.


Galatians 6:
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Romans 5:5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

2 Corinthians 1:
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

 

[Sketcher]

Well, number one I have no desire in my spirit to do bad things, but I would think that if I were to do bad things then God will eventually have me have a taste of my own medicine to teach me something.

But I noticed, I can be seemingly good and do nothing wrong and yet have bad things happen or come my way and affect me negatively. This was happening before I became a believer. But after I became a believer after almost 3 years I actually noticed bad things stopped happening to me. But maybe because of quarantine and me not getting outside much anymore.

Is bad things happening a sign of a curse or we did something wrong? If I wake up in the morning blind, or end up dying a terrible way like getting eaten by a shark I would think for a moment that I've been cursed.

Short answer: No.

Jesus' take on such events in Luke 13:1-5:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."​

In other words, just because bad things happened to people, this doesn't mean that they are being judged by God. Likewise, in Mark 10:17-31, Jesus taught that just because God has blessed someone's life or allowed good things to happen to them, it doesn't mean that they are more righteous than other people who are not as blessed.

Now, we do have the law of sowing and reaping in Galatians 6:7-8:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.​

But this doesn't mean that every bad thing that happens is because of our sin, at all. In fact believers may be persecuted or otherwise victimized for doing nothing wrong because of others' sin.

Also, a bonus tidbit: Karma is different from the Christian teaching of sowing and reaping. Karma is a concept in Eastern faiths which is part and parcel with their Samsara wheel - the jist is that what you do in this life comes back to either bless you or bite you in the next life, because you keep getting reincarnated until you are essentially, good enough to get off the wheel. Christianity doesn't have that, or room for it. Since there is no Samsara wheel, there is no karma.

 

[Jeffwhosoever]

Short answer: No.

Also, a bonus tidbit: Karma is different from the Christian teaching of sowing and reaping. Karma is a concept in Eastern faiths which is part and parcel with their Samsara wheel - the jist is that what you do in this life comes back to either bless you or bite you in the next life, because you keep getting reincarnated until you are essentially, good enough to get off the wheel. Christianity doesn't have that, or room for it. Since there is no Samsara wheel, there is no karma.

AMEN!