If the Devil wrote a Bible, he'd say...

[The Times]

Rather the un-Godly from small to great should very much worry about what
God has install for them!

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea,
and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up,
says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Malachi 4:1
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2 Peter 3:7

Thank you brother, for those words are comforting.

 

[Ron Gurley]

All was created out of randomness and evolved naturally.

God is a figment of man's imagination. He died.

Lucifer/satan/devil/serpent/dragon and his followers control planet earth and the universe.

Man is an imprisoned slave to sin, the anti-God.

A God-Man is impossible.

Man should be graded on his good works.

The Bible is just another book.

Being a member of a specific denomination gains you brownie points.

Whatever occurs between consenting adults is OK.

Truth is relative and changing.

 

[Josephus]

Actually, since G-d is totally sovereign of all Creation, everything does happen for a reason. I would think the Adversary would actually try to get people to believe the opposite: that everything that happens is just random, and not related to any grand plan or any measure of G-d's attribute of Justice. One sounds purposeful, the other hopeless. I don't believe in a G-d of hopelessness.

 

[SummaScriptura]

Actually, since G-d is totally sovereign of all Creation, everything does happen for a reason. I would think the Adversary would actually try to get people to believe the opposite: that everything that happens is just random, and not related to any grand plan or any measure of G-d's attribute of Justice. One sounds purposeful, the other hopeless. I don't believe in a G-d of hopelessness.

Christians do not subscribe to the philosophy of determinism. The devil does. He says, "you will always be..." "you will never be....."

We can believe God is sovereign and that in his sovereignty he gives some portion to each one of us to use aright.

Everything happens for a reason is a glib, superficial way to escape from thinking through what is happening around us. A nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima for a reason. I ran into someone today who needed a word of encouragement for a reason. The reasons are different.

 

[Tom 1]

If it feels good, do it!

Yeah that one is a killer

 

[Josephus]

Christians do not subscribe to the philosophy of determinism. The devil does. He says, "you will always be..." "you will never be....."

We can believe God is sovereign and that in his sovereignty he gives some portion to each one of us to use aright.

Everything happens for a reason is a glib, superficial way to escape from thinking through what is happening around us. A nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima for a reason. I ran into someone today who needed a word of encouragement for a reason. The reasons are different.

Only G-d knows the future because he wills it. The Adversary can not, and thus can lie and say "you will never be..." but from Job, we can see that not even the Adversary can act without G-d's permission, and G-d doesn't give His permission without reason. The Adversary is G-d's agent sent to test us within the limits of what G-d knows we can handle, and with reasons that He Himself knows. To place anything outside of G-d's sovereign will, is to usurp G-d's authority.

Bear in mind that just because G-d allowed it to happen in accordance with His will, that we are still responsible for our choices. If our Father in Heaven allows us the choice of opening the cookie jar by putting it in arms reach, it's still our choice to open it without his permission. The test is there to refine and prove our character.

Determinism is a fallacy because it doesn't hold a person responsible for doing right or wrong. But G-d's authority is exercised with us every moment of every day to give us the choice to do right, and He will use us to test others, even if he knows we will choose wrong (and perhaps more so).

Jesus was right in implying that all are guilty in Luke 13. We all deserve death. Of those that remain alive, G-d, for His reasons, has given us a continued chance to repent and do right and complete the mission he created us for in this life - therefore if anything happens to you that you don't like, then look to G-d to see if you need to repent of something and thus change what you're doing, or if you're one of the extreme righteous few of our generation destined to suffer for the people's sins - in which case, as Paul says, accept it with joy. Do this, and you will see an amazing change in your life.

To believe things happen by random chance due to other people's choices alone, is to put on blinders to what G-d may be doing in our own lives to wake us up to change something. And last time I checked, helping us put on blinders to what G-d is doing or saying to us, is the goal of our Adversary. Thus I think the thinking and statement in your OP is a bit backwards. In fact, it's that kind of thinking that can get people killed - since it causes people to not seriously consider that the events in their lives happen because G-d might be trying to get their attention, thus leading to further events that could wind up with their own death, and removal from this World, G-d forbid.

 

[SummaScriptura]

Only G-d knows the future because he wills it.<snip>Determinism is a fallacy<snip>

I have no interest in debating you on this subject. Though I appreciate the disciplines of philosophy and systematic theology, I usually find them counterproductive on CF. So I will not be getting into this with you, especially since you evidence a problem in your thinking in the posts above.

 

[SummaScriptura]

Jesus was a community organizer.

 

[SummaScriptura]

Jesus was a communist.

 

[SummaScriptura]

All the Biblical prophecies are past.

 

[SummaScriptura]

The devil is bound in the Abyss.

 

[SummaScriptura]

God does not love you.

 

[SummaScriptura]

God does not hear you.

 

[SummaScriptura]

You've committed the unpardonable sin.

 

[SummaScriptura]

God's given up on you.

 

[JES1023]

"Oh really? Has God really said?"

That really wouldn't be anything new for him. He's done it from the beginning.

I can almost hear Adam's reasoning before the fall. My God is good. My God doesn't tempt people to do things which would hurt them. My God would not place me in a garden with a highly intelligent being who would tempt me to do something which would kill me. etc. Therefore, I must have heard God wrong. He just couldn't mean what He seemed to say.

Adam refused to believe what the Word of God said and acted accordingly. The rest, as they say, is history.

People tend to say things like, "That doctrine doesn't sound like something my God would do. It would be unfair for God to do that as I see it. That would infringe on my free will and He values that above all else. Surely He meant something other than what the scriptures seem to teach.

Therefore - the devil says - don't believe the doctrines concerning predestination, election, or any others which indicate the complete sovereignty to God in all that happens. In fact - you should teach against such doctrines - particularly against any which seem to make salvation solely of God's grace.

The better way is to first believe and confess what God teaches and then take the problems you have with what He said up with Him in a straight forward manner.

He's a big God and He can take questions and even criticisms if they are presented in a respectful manner.

But first we must believe Him. Then and only then will He field our objections.

To him who has - even more will be given. But to him who has not - even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.

Thank you, Marvin; being a TRO I was afraid I have to write that. But I think the devil is using this trick today making many Christian blot out several passages like Mark 16:9-20; John 7:53-8:11; and I John 5:7, just to name a few. Some of the most evil words ever spoken "... Yea, hath God said ..." Genesis 3:1

 

[SummaScriptura]

Don't preach the gospel, live the gospel.

 

[SummaScriptura]

Don't tell Muslims about the love of God in Christ, you'd be a bigot.

 

[SummaScriptura]

If you tell Jews about Jesus you're a hater.

 

[SummaScriptura]

Hindus and Budhists don't need to convert. They'll be judged according to the light they have.