Another One Of My Unpopular Views

The issue was brought up about the girl who died from diabetes; she had no medical treatment because either the parents didn't know what was wrong and/or they were trusting God to heal her.
So many people have been incensed that they didn't speed the girl to the doctor and trust doctors and medicine over God. Totally understandable for non-believers but Christians are furious too. They say these parents were taking off on their own little track, not handling the Word of God accurately, other similar comments. They assume that because the child died, the parents are wrong and to blame; they should have counted on doctors instead of God. But if the child had died even under a doctor's care, then what? THEN it would have been God's will.

There are people who believe that there are too many risks with many of the medicines we use. There are rumors and articles about side effects and poor results being covered up so the drug companies can continue making money. There are questions about the logo used for the medical field; questions about terms in the bible that imply we should have nothing to do with pharmaceuticals.



What about all the verses that say not to love this life?
Seems that everyone believes that no measure should ever be spared to keep someone in this life. Why?
I assume the parents ARE devastated by their daughter's death, I would be too. But that would be because of MY loss, not hers. If you believe she went immediately to heaven, she's much better off now than she was here. If you think she's dead until the resurrection, she's still not suffering. Her next moment will be the resurrection.
Why do people believe they were wrong to leave it up to God?
That child could have had kidnapping, rape, and murder in her future but God, in His wonderful, infinite love, spared her that.
She may have had a wonderful life in store. We don't know. So why isn't it okay that she no longer suffers this life?

Obviously we have a built-in desire for survival - but isn't that so we leave it up to God when we die instead of "escaping" this life at our whim?

I sympathize with their loss, with their second-guessing, with the blame they'll have to deal with but there's even a verse about that: (paraphrased) Count it all joy when you are reviled and hated for my name's sake...

Bizarre "Promise"

This is what I just found online, very bizarre:

Wouldn't It Be Incredible To Have The Formula
to Allow You to Harness A Higher Power?

It's supposed to be about "God". My question is about there being a formula. At first it sounded incredibly insulting to our Creator, but if these people see God as a power, spiritual energy of the universe, it makes sense. I haven't looked through the site because I wasn't interested in such an odd view of using a formula to control God. But thinking a little further, I am curious to see if the author is referring to universal energy. Our very cells are made of atoms which are basically energy, right?

Nathan on his blog Stories Poetry Apologetics & Rants said:

I have felt the power of God sweep through my being
in a manner completely undeniable.

Three times I have gone back to that page just to read that line.
^

A Little More...
It was also mentioned in the site I was referred to, that avoiding pork was not intended by our Heavenly Father as a health measure. It was said that the laws were merely to keep the Israelites separate from other nations by their customs. But in Exodus 15:26, scripture states:
He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you."

And Leviticus 14 and 15 at least are clear in giving commands and regulations for quarantine, cleanliness, and health.

There also seems to be a difference in commands of which disobedience is punished, and others that are actually instruction, the ignorance or disobedience of which is followed by natural consequences.

Not Eating Pork - Reply To Comment

Acts 15:5-12 and Acts 15:19-29 (the whole chapter really)

A comment was left (for my previous post) that claims pork is not prohibited to Christians.
About eating pork according to Acts 15:
There are two things that are not usually taken into account when this passage is discussed to say the law is only for the Jews and not for Gentiles.
One is that these Pharisees were claiming that FOR SALVATION, the Gentiles must do these things; they claimed they had to do these things to be acceptable to the Father. Acts 15:10-11 says otherwise. It doesn't say they are to never do them, just that these things don't keep them from being accepted.
Two is that in verse 21, they state that Moses is preached in the synagogues every sabbath. Why would this be mentioned at all unless it's to point out that they will learn as they grow in the faith? These Gentiles didn't have a whole lifetime of being brought up in the law; they wouldn't be expected to suddenly be required to keep every bit. It seems to have been made clear that it was not to be required of them immediately, they would be given the chance to learn as every Jewish child had.

Acts 15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to YHWH:
Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.

What are we to make of the fact that Christians are considered grafted into natural Israel? If Christians become part of Israel, what part of "Jewish" law doesn't pertain to them? There was to be one law for the Jew and the strangers that live among them. And since the sacrificial death of Messiah, we are now to become one new man, no divisions.

Law Keeping and Green Earth

Many people seem to be quite concerned about health - theirs and that of the planet we depend on. This, to me, goes right to keeping the law of scripture and the whole question of whether or not to do so.
There are those who insist keeping ANY law means you're "under the law", that's directly from scripture. But really, it obviously doesn't mean what they're saying! This would mean that we are to refuse to keep all laws, I would have to marry my grandfather, find a few people to steal from and murder, make sure my yard is unsafe for people to walk through... Obviously the scripture is saying, If you're keeping the law to be justified, you have to keep all of it perfectly at all times, and that doesn't happen.

I don't see why everyone is so upset at being a "legalist, a law-keeper" anyway. I've never aspired to being a law-BREAKER.

Enough of that, here's the question about "being green". We are to be taking care of the earth; whatever we do toward that end is good and probably expected. But what about the food laws, health laws, all of those? It seems that if we seriously try to avoid all forbidden, unclean things, we'll fail miserably. I'm not sure there are even any things clean left! Recently I discovered even paper towels use pork fat in them - what the heck is that about? Our land is defiled from pollution and unclean things, is anything growing in it safe?
I can imagine getting so concerned about this whole "clean" concept, that there would be no time left for the greater matters of love and mercy.
But we can't ignore them either. Maybe this is what the Bible means when it talks about the Creator putting a curse on the land because of the sin of the inhabitants - our land is hardly fit and safe because we don't work and live in general the way we are intended to do.

I'm linking a few sites on my sidebar that have drawn my attention back to being more conscientious of the earth I should NOT be taking for granted. This physical world is not perfect so all we can do is our best and for the rest, rely on the promises of protection (like the one about picking up deadly snakes and not being hurt).

Ever Been Advised To Keep A Journal?

My prayer journal isn't quite like I expected. Have you ever been advised to keep one where you keep track of people, things, and situations you've prayed about? The idea seemed a bit too check-register-like to me but I thought it was worth a try. I ended up with something a little different.

At first I wrote about discovering that what I thought I knew about God and religion, Jesus, etc., probably wasn't true. I had been getting confused and started doubting a lot of things. Finally I stood in my bedroom, raised my head and my voice and demanded that if He expected me to tell anyone anything, He needed to let me know the truth!

I never hit the floor so fast in my life!!!

It's SO very different to "believe" than to have the very presence of the Almighty God right there in your face! Very different, way too intense, scared me almost to DEATH. He started pouring knowledge and understanding into my head, it took a second, one second, was it even that long?! before I was begging, Stop! Stop! I can't handle this!

You know the saying, "You couldn't handle the truth if I told you,"? That's what I discovered. It's true. HIS knowledge was way too much for me.

Then, to drive the point home I suppose, a song was on the radio that I had never heard before; Who Am I by Point of Grace. The lyrics I heard?

Who am I
To understand Your ways?
Who am I
To give You anything but praise?
Who am I
To try and solve the mystery
Behind the heart and soul of all that I believe?
Who am I?