Thread: Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
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Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 21 Apr, 2010 04:15 AM
�Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?� And He says, �I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.� So for us who know that God loves us, it is a great comfort to also �know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.� (Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7;Romans 8:28 �I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.� (Ecclesiastes 7:14; Job 42:2)
�What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?� , �In all this did not Job sin with his lips.�
�For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.� Knowing He is in control of ALL THINGS, we can easily believe �in all things God works for the good of those who love him.� And �He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?�
�So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-- all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.�
�For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.�
�And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.�
�He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.�
�And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.�
�We will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.�
�For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.�
�He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.�
�In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.�
�The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.�
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 22 Apr, 2010 08:41 AM
@Mark:
You are right in what you say, both extremes don't work, either having God as the absolute laissez faire type who wouldn't care and let people just do or having God controling every single thing I do so I cannot do anything myself.
Though, maybe it ony appears to me I do it myself and all I can do is agree with it afterwards or not... I'm not sure.
I like the image that Luther once brought up, that we are like horses that are ridden, either by God or by the devil. We might do things on our own, according to our own will, but we will be movin into the direction that God or Satan, whoever rides us, will guide us to.
So when God threw Satan out of the saddle and took over control, will maybe still do thing similar to what we did before, but we will see that the direction is changing. We still prefer to drink pepsi over coke (to have one decision we might be making into our consideration), but maybe, after a while we find that there are other lemonades that taste good and we might change even that.
When it comes to really bad deeds, still there can be change, even in small steps. We have to remember that no man will do a bad thing without lying to himself that it was in fact good or not so bad, he will lie himself into being not a bad guy. After God taking over as a rider and guiding this guy out of his falsities, he will more and more see how he lied to himself, he will maybe find it hard to break with old habits, maybe he fed his family on stealing for he had no job or had problems gettig one at least, maybe he is even so involved into crimes that his fellow criminals won't let him leave and thread to kill him or his family... he will make decisions, and he will maybe do things God doesn't want, and God lets him maybe do so because God knows about his problems. Plus, those harmed will also be sinners in any way, because we are all sinners, so no one can claim to be suffering being absolutely innocent.
But what about the devil riding us? Is God able to get the devil off of our backs? Are we able to get God as a rider on our own works, can we invite Him to ride us and thus cause a change in riders?
The only thing that can happen is that God throws Satan off and gets on Himself. We cannot shake Satan off, he is stronger than we are, only with God we are stronger than Satan. And once Satan is off, e have no choice about God getting on. Does a horse invite a rider to its back? Will the rider who is willing to ride it cease to get on its back after the horse refusing to invite him? What about if the horse is sick and needs to be ridden to a safe place? Will the rider who oves the horse leave it alone, because it doesn't see all the problem it got into?
The only one in control here is God. If God wasn't stronger than the devil, that is if God was not in control, the Satan would be equal to God, so there would be something like a second God, we'd have a good one and a bad one. But there is only one God, who has no problem to make Satan do what He wants. Why He doesn't chose to make Satan cease causing pain and all, I cannot tell, and maybe nobody but God can. What's not revealed is not revealed. But I wouldn't say God was not in control, that God was weak and could not defeat Satan completly this very moment if He wanted to.
Okay, again I wrote much more than I wanted to. God bless oyu all
Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 22 Apr, 2010 07:40 PM
If God actually stood powerless before the majesty of man�s lordly will, there would be but little use to pray for Him to convert any one. It would then be more reasonable for us to direct our petitions to the man himself. ~ Loraine Boettner
Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 23 Apr, 2010 03:50 AM
There is a difference in controlling and being in control
God is in control and that means that nothing is and ever will be out of His control.
We were granted a free will by Him. He does not come back on that as He is faithful and never breaks His word.
Here also comes in the "allowing it to happen" which so many people have problems with.
But free will of man is very simple. It works like this:
A man wants to abuse a child, the child gets abused, despite God�s Law
A man wants to kill another. The other gets killed, despite God�s Law
This is not God allowing it to happen. This is men�s free will to not obey God�s Law. And yes, actions of men have tremendous consequences. Men constantly decides to put God�s Laws aside and do his own will. And now we have exactly the world one gets by constantly doing so.
But in the very beginning, God had already full knowledge of all these events.
Be it by men or by satan, be it centuries ago or to happen centuries hereafter, He knew every thought and action of each individual, believer or nonbeliever, on the very first day when He started His creation.
There is nothing that can be done, be it by men, be it by satan, that He had not already foreseen to happen in the very beginning.
This is His divine Wisdom and Power. And it is exactly this that makes Him perfectly in control of everyting.
Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 23 Apr, 2010 04:19 AM
SOS....God doesnt allow evil to happen,methinks you not read the book of JOB very much eh!Sounds like thats exactly what happens,of course this is just one glimpse into something that we must assume is a perpetual state of events that we are not privy to,an example.
Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 23 Apr, 2010 07:32 AM
@Harriet:
Excuse me, I do not see how what Satan is doing to Job being chastity (guess I understood you wrong). But I like your posting about the difference on being in control and controlling.
@Dennis:
I think God does allow evil to happen. At least He doesn't stop it, otherwise there would be no evil, though He is not responsible for it.
The other question would be, if evil is really evil or whether we do just not see the whole picture...
I had once a prof who claimed to have found a way how there can be no free will (even in only worldly things, as we agree that there is no free will to be saved/to believe) and still man is responsible for what he's doing. So sad I had lectures with him at the beginning of my studies, and I hardly understood a word. Maybe I'm gonna read his book one day, but I still doubt I would understand it today... by the way, he isn't even Calvinist, he's Ltheran as far as I was told (we don't make a big difference between these in Germany).
Unhh....somebody said God is not in control of everything!
Posted : 23 Apr, 2010 07:32 AM
@Harriet:
Excuse me, I do not see how what Satan is doing to Job being chastity (guess I understood you wrong). But I like your posting about the difference on being in control and controlling.
@Dennis:
I think God does allow evil to happen. At least He doesn't stop it, otherwise there would be no evil, though He is not responsible for it.
The other question would be, if evil is really evil or whether we do just not see the whole picture...
I had once a prof who claimed to have found a way how there can be no free will (even in only worldly things, as we agree that there is no free will to be saved/to believe) and still man is responsible for what he's doing. So sad I had lectures with him at the beginning of my studies, and I hardly understood a word. Maybe I'm gonna read his book one day, but I still doubt I would understand it today... by the way, he isn't even Calvinist, he's Ltheran as far as I was told (we don't make a big difference between these in Germany).
