have a question.

[singingintherain]

Where in the bible does it state about how God punishes us if he does. say for example this friend she has been sexually active and she goes to the doctor and finally it shows that she has some cancerous cells where she might not be able to get pregnant. would you say that God is punishing her for her sins? Does he punish that way? She was concerned. and I did not know how to answer her or to explain how that situation works because i wouldn't think God punishes us but then if I remember right he punished in the old testament right? please give an in depth answer. thank you. you can private message me also if you would like. Just want to know. again thank you.

 

[daveleau]

It doesn't say how. Hebrews 12 talks about the ministry of chastisement.

From the NIV:
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Heb 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
Heb 12:6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
Heb 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Heb 12:8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Heb 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Heb 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
Heb 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
Heb 12:13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

 

[Jesus1stKing]

I have my own opinion and beliefs in this matter, and from my perspective, God is a merciful God, I can reference many places in the bible, which demonstrates this. However, He is also capable of getting His fill (so to speak) and leaving sinners to their own resources. His desire is that we would confess our shortcomings and seek redemption and forgiveness, in so doing He is faithful and just to place us back in a position worthy of His grace.



That is NOT to say that there are NO consequences for our actions, for He is still the Good Father. Therefore, even though He restores the prodigal son, he still allows us to face the consequences of our actions and to learn there from.

[References and commentaries from www.biblegateway.com ]


​

[Proverbs 11:31] If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, How much more the ungodly and the sinner. <<Even the righteous, when they offend on earth, shall meet with sharp corrections; much more will the wicked meet the due reward of their sins. Let us then seek those blessings which our Surety purchased by his sufferings and death; let us seek to copy his example, and to keep his commandments.>>



[Proverbs 24:11] Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.



[Proverbs 24:12] If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds? << If a man know that his neighbor is in danger by any unjust proceeding, he is bound to do all in his power to deliver him. And what is it to suffer immortal souls to perish, when our persuasions and example may be the means of preventing it? >>



The sinfulness and misery of a wicked man, The ground and reason of both. [Ps 1:4-6]

The ungodly are the reverse of the righteous, both in character and condition. The ungodly are not so, ver. 4; they are led by the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, to the seat of the scornful; they have no delight in the law of God; they bring forth no fruit but what is evil. The righteous are like useful, fruitful trees: the ungodly are like the chaff, which the wind drives away: the dust, which the owner of the floor desires to have driven away, as not being of any use.

They are of no worth in God's account, how highly so ever they may value themselves. They are easily driven to and fro by every wind of temptation. The chaff may be, for a while, among the wheat, but He is coming, whose fan is in his hand, and who will thoroughly purge his floor. Those that, by their own sin and folly, make themselves as chaff, will be found so before the whirlwind and fire of Divine wrath. The doom of the ungodly is fixed, but whenever the sinner becomes sensible of this guilt and misery, he may be admitted into the company of the righteous by Christ the living way, and become in Christ a new creature. He has new desires, new pleasures, hopes, fears, sorrows, companions, and employments. His thoughts, words, and actions are changed. He enters on a new state, and bears a new character. Behold, all things are become new by Divine grace, which changes his soul into the image of the Redeemer. How different the character and end of the ungodly!

 

[depthdeception]

Where in the bible does it state about how God punishes us if he does. say for example this friend she has been sexually active and she goes to the doctor and finally it shows that she has some cancerous cells where she might not be able to get pregnant. would you say that God is punishing her for her sins? Does he punish that way? She was concerned. and I did not know how to answer her or to explain how that situation works because i wouldn't think God punishes us but then if I remember right he punished in the old testament right? please give an in depth answer. thank you. you can private message me also if you would like. Just want to know. again thank you.

I don't think God "punishes" us in the retributive way in which we think of "punishment," especially as we conceive of punishment within the legal framework of Western systems of political/societal justice. Is your friend being punished? I don't think so. There are consequences to actions that we commit that are not necessarily directed against us by God. Moreover, our bodies are prone to disease, decay and death--do we all die because God is punishing us? No, we die because we are human.

Above all, God is merciful to all that God has created. The natural consequences of the choices that we make are enough suffering for one lifetime--God has no need of adding divine punishment on top of it just to satisfy some divine desire for revenge or "justice" as some call it.

 

[Tenorvoice]

Where in the bible does it state about how God punishes us if he does. say for example this friend she has been sexually active and she goes to the doctor and finally it shows that she has some cancerous cells where she might not be able to get pregnant. would you say that God is punishing her for her sins? Does he punish that way? She was concerned. and I did not know how to answer her or to explain how that situation works because i wouldn't think God punishes us but then if I remember right he punished in the old testament right? please give an in depth answer. thank you. you can private message me also if you would like. Just want to know. again thank you.

Yes he does, if you remeber in the book of Acts, he punnished Ananias and Sapphira for lieing to God and to the Apostles' and struck them both dead on the spot for it. (read Acts Chapter 5, for the whole story on it.)

 

[Jesus1stKing]

There is a fine line between "punishment" and "CONSIQUENCES for our actions" so I guess what you call it is how you want to percieve it.
Also don't forget Lot's wife and the salt thing among many other examples.

 

[Dmckay]

Dave has already given you some great references which deal with your question. The only thing that I would add is to ask if this young woman is a professing believer? G-d's response to sin is different for one who is His child than for an unbeliever.

The fact that she is knowingly living in an immoral state without sign of conviction, I would seriously doubt her salvation if she were a member of my church. If she is a believer, and if this is commonly known publically as well as the fact that she is living in immorality, I would feel impelled to warn her that she is running a dangerous risk. I don't just mean the cells that might be cancerous. The sin unto death, for which we are instructed not to even pray for such a person is not a specific sin, but rather, a person who has publically made a stand for Christ and then proceeds to drag that relationship through the gutter of unrepentant sin. The longer, and stronger that the individual lived for the Lord, the less time that appears to elapse before the Lord is compelled to take an unrepentant believer home.

 

[depthdeception]

The longer, and stronger that the individual lived for the Lord, the less time that appears to elapse before the Lord is compelled to take an unrepentant believer home.

What are you talking about?

 

[Nazaroo]

What are you talking about?

He is trying to account for the differences in the length of peoples' lives (saints) by assuming a more rapid development in the direction of perfection.

I think however, the thought is precarious. It is like saying St Stephen needed to die at that precise moment, and so his stoning was 'okay', or that his stoning itself purified him and enabled him to immediately go to heaven.

These are suspicious and possibly dangerous ideas that could give false assent to unusual practices like the self-flagellation of monks, or B/D behaviours .(We can't discuss this here however: Rule 4 posting rules)

 

[depthdeception]

He is trying to account for the differences in the length of peoples' lives (saints) by assuming a more rapid development in the direction of perfection.

I think however, the thought is precarious. It is like saying St Stephen needed to die at that precise moment, and so his stoning was 'okay', or that his stoning itself purified him and enabled him to immediately go to heaven.

These are suspicious and possibly dangerous ideas that could give false assent to unusual practices like the self-flagellation of monks, or B/D behaviours .(We can't discuss this here however: Rule 4 posting rules)

I think he is also presenting the opinion that God "kills" Christians who are unrepentant and takes them to heaven so that they'll stop being bad examples.

 

[Tenorvoice]

I think he is also presenting the opinion that God "kills" Christians who are unrepentant and takes them to heaven so that they'll stop being bad examples.

What is to say that he doesn't??????

I personally belive that he can and sometimes even does this.

 

[depthdeception]

What is to say that he doesn't??????

I personally belive that he can and sometimes even does this.

Because God is not capricious.

 

[Tenorvoice]

how in the world can God be inconstat, because of this?

ok so He may not Take them home, but you have got to belive that He will chastise them for doing so, hence a form of punishment, I yet again urge you to read Acts Chapter5

 

[Dmckay]

I think he is also presenting the opinion that God "kills" Christians who are unrepentant and takes them to heaven so that they'll stop being bad examples.

Exactly right:

1 John 5:16-17 "16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death."

John couldn't make it any clearer.

 

[depthdeception]

Exactly right:

1 John 5:16-17 "16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death."

John couldn't make it any clearer.

Except for the fact that this is not what the writer of first John was talking about!

 

[Ih8s8n]

Singingintherain: Your original post didn't state if your friend was a professing Christian or not. Could you please tell me which one? Thanks.

 

[Dmckay]

Except for the fact that this is not what the writer of first John was talking about!

Thanks for clearing that up for everyone.

 

[visionary]

Folic acid deficiency will cause the cells in the female organs to mutate. Get her to take double the recommended dosage of folic acid for three months and the cancer will reverse itself.