Why questions:

[Gud4U]

Greetings all,

i've been reading the good book as carefully as my humble mind can take and that with trust in the Lord.

However, i cannot stop thinking about many things that come up and strike me as strange, maybe i have a misconception about many things, but better ask than go nuts.

Some of the questions that has occurred to me is as follows:

Why does God repent creating mankind? Isn't this against the thought that God is perfect?

Why does God get angry? Isn't this also against the perfectness of the Lord?

Why does God forget and has to do something, for example create a bow in the clouds, to remind him of something, namely his covenant with mankind, another example seems to me is when Noah is in the arc and God recalls that He needs to stop flooding the world.

i do apologise if my questions are stupid, but be patient with me and help me out, please.

Bless your hearts,

Totoo

[Baptist_Bible_Believer]

1) Repentance speaks of a change of mind. It isn't that God changed His mind as though He had made a mistake, but that man's actions caused Him to change His plan for man--which was to be good and blessing to a curse because they rejected Him. The same can be said toward you and I who are 'condemned already' according to John 3:18, but when we receive Christ His plan changes from eternal separation from Him to eternal salvation through His Son.

2) It would help if you give the address of your concern, but the one I am thinking of was when God told Moses He was going to destroy the stiff-necked children of Israel after they built their golden calf. In actuality, God knew how that would turn out as Moses interceded for the people and won their reprieve. It was more designed to strengthen Moses' faith--as the result shows..

3) The bow in the sky was a reminder to us of God's promise to never destroy the world in the same way again. God remembers not in the sense that He forgets, but that it ever speaks of the covenant between Him and Noah. As for my part, I am glad that He remembers the Blood that His Son shed for me.

"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth" (Genesis 9:13-17 KJV).
 

[Gud4U]

Thank you BBB for your kind reply, sorry for the late reply, i did not receive a notification and thought nobody has replied, i just happened to come back to my question and add some more when i saw your kind reply.

Well, i'm afraid i cannot agree with you:

On 1/7/2019 at 2:22 AM, Baptist_Bible_Believer said:

1) Repentance speaks of a change of mind.

It may be that the translations are not perfect and my knowledge of the English language is nowhere near good enough, but to my humble understanding 'repent' means you feel sorry and sad as a result of something you have done yourself. i cannot repent for you, can i? nor can i repent for something you have done. And isn't it the very word Preachers and Pastors as well as Ministers tell people do after they have committed a sin? Repent your sins and such like?

 

On 1/7/2019 at 2:22 AM, Baptist_Bible_Believer said:

2) It would help if you give the address of your concern

Well, didn't God get angry and cause the Flood?

 

On 1/7/2019 at 2:22 AM, Baptist_Bible_Believer said:

3) The bow in the sky was a reminder to us of God's promise to never destroy the world in the same way again.

Sorry, but no, it was not as a reminder to us, God wants to be reminded and that's why the bow is in the sky, no?

 

I also have more puzzling questions and i here you are:

 

God says, be kind to your enemies, love them, feed them if they are hungry and offer them water if they are thirsty, right?

Is the humankind worse than God's own enemy? Or is God feeding and watering Satan with humankind?

 

 

Unfortunately, there are more puzzles in religion than solutions for me, i think i will always respect Jesus as a man who brought the notion of Love among us, but i cannot understand the Bible and the contradictions that are all over the place. The more i read and try to understand, the worse i feel. i came with a heart full of respect and love for Jesus, and i still do respect Him and wear a cross round my neck, but i think the teachings of the Bible do not satisfy my needs.

 

Thank you so much for your kind time and patience.

 

[DaveW]

Eph 4:26
(26)  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
 

It is possible to be angry without sinning, but I doubt it is possible for me personally...……….

At least every time I have been angry, if I am honest I can find sin in my anger.

But if anyone could be angry and sin not it would be God.

And if you look at the situation of the flood:

Gen 6:5-6
(5)  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
(6)  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
 

God had every right to be angry because " the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Now we get into deeper theology when we are talking God repenting as mentioned in this passage. If God was the Calvinist God who absolutely determined that men would follow his will in a predeterministic way, then you would have a place to hold your argument.

However, if God had determined that men would be able to act according to their own will, then we have room for God to "repent". He was sorry that he made man, because man chose to sin - He therefore chose Noah and his sons, and their wives,  who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, to "restart things" (if you will allow that terminology). It was not God's direct will that man become wicked and evil continually - that was man's choice.

When man chose that way, God was sorry for it. God did not change, God's overall plan did not change, God's will did not change, but when man chose to sin, it made God sorry.

He was always God who wanted man to choose to love Him, and He still is. Just as a father is sorry when his child chooses to do wrong, so also God is sorry for it.

[Gud4U]

Dear Dave,

Thanks very much for your very kind reply.

i'm sorry i cannot agree with you.

From the very beginning, it was God Himself who started doing the wrong thing, no?

He told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of the good and evil, for if he ate, he would 'surely' die!#

He ate, it opened his eyes and achieved wisdom, and he did NOT die!

i'd also like to know, why did God want us not to eat of the tree of wisdom and the tree of life?

It seems to me, if there is a God as described in the Holy Bible, He is just someone having fun with his toys, us!

As for my part, i'm trying to make Him happy and make Him enjoy his games, but i cannot believe in Him, no matter how hard i try.

Cheers and thanks for your time.

[Salyan]

You are contradicting yourself, my friend.
 You say that you don't believe in God, but you are trying to make Him happy. Seems that if you truly did not believe in God, you would not care about making Him happy for you would not believe He existed.

There's a lot of questions in this thread, but I'd like to speak to just a few.

First, with what you were saying earlier about repentance... a common misunderstanding about repentance, even among English speaking people, is that it has the idea of being sorrowful and sorry.  You may find people with different definitions of this word. For my part, I agree with Baptist Bible Believer, who has a very good explanation of repentance. 

Secondly, I think you are struggling with an inherent misunderstanding of Who God is. 

Throughout history, whenever men invented their own gods, they made them after their (men's) image. The mythologies of Greece and Rome showed the gods as capricious, cruel beings who 'had fun with their toys', as you said. The Norse and American mythologies had trickster gods who played nasty tricks on men. These views of the gods were reflections of men's own behaviour. The religions that men invented also had one thing in common - man attempting to please the gods on their own merit. It is a fault of humanity that we think we are good enough to reach heaven on our own merit - just look at the builders of the Tower of Babel. We don't want to accept that we are not good enough to do so. We refuse to accept that we are truly the nasty, sinful beings that the mythologies made the gods out to be. Interesting, that, actually - I wonder if the capricious mythological gods were a reflection of men's subconscious effort to make divinity reachable. Their reasoning could have been that if the gods behaved in such a manner, surely man could behave similarly and still be as them.

Isn't that, after all, the oldest temptation in the Book? "Thou shalt be as gods."

The God of the Bible presents Himself completely differently than any man-made mythology or religion ever did. He does not attempt to convince us of His existence - He is the self existent one. When Moses asked Who it was that spoke to him in the burning bush, God only answered "I Am."  In stark contrast to the capricious, immoral behaviour of man's made up gods, He is pure. Holy. Good He does not and can not sin, nor can He abide sin in His presence. He can do no wrong. He created mankind, and set rules for man, which man disregarded and disobeyed. As God is also just, He cannot disregard sin, and thus man suffered the consequences of his sin - for true justice must punish wrongdoing. But God is also merciful. His plan to show mercy on disobedient mankind while also meeting the needs of justice became the great story of salvation through Jesus Christ. The God of the Bible does not 'have fun with His toys'. He is simply following through on what He said He would do.

You asked why God would not want man to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, and the Tree of Life. My thoughts are this:
a) Adam and Eve were innocent. They did not know evil. To understand good, you must also understand evil. I wonder if God was simply wanting to give them a happy life, free from any thought of sin and evil, and that is why He did not want them to eat from the first tree? (You should ask the pastors this question; I am not sure whether this is a correct interpretation.) God is good, and wants the best for His children. 

b) God had only one rule for mankind - not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.  When man disobeyed and ate the fruit, he sinned. What was the knowledge he obtained? He knew he was naked. His innocence was gone. Those of us with children want to protect them, and their innocence, for as long as possible. It seems God was protecting man in the same way as a father protects His children.

c) Man is more than just a physical being. He is also a spiritual being. There is more than one kind of life. There is the physical life, and there is a spiritual life - an eternal life - of being in close fellowship with God (this is described in the New Testament). So there is also more than one kind of death. At this point in time, man was physically and spiritually alive. As a result of his disobedience & sin, he lost his close fellowship with God. Although he remained physically alive, he died spiritually. This is what God was warning of when he said that man would die when he ate of the tree. Read John 3; in it Jesus is talking with Nicodemus and explaining to him the spiritual life, and how it is separate from physical life. He speaks also in this passage of spiritual death - John 3:16 mentions not perishing but having eternal life. It is not physical death that is referred to by 'perish', but spiritual death and separation from God forever in hell.

d) God did not, initially, forbid them from eating from the Tree of Life. At any time during their sojourn in the garden they could have eaten from that tree. It was only after they disobeyed Him, and sinned, that He prevented them from eating it. This was a mercy. To live forever as a miserable, unhappy, sinning human would be torture. Man was designed and created to be in close fellowship with God. To be without that fellowship is to forever feel like something is missing - for it is. That is why we humans are forever searching for the truth - because we know something is missing, and we are desperate to find it. That is why you are searching.  You must believe that God is Who He says He is in the Bible. To believe that is to trust Him, because He is Good. He is True. He is God. And trusting, obey. Believe what He says of you - that you are a sinner and deserving of hell. To acknowledge that truth is a kind of repentance. Believe what He says of His Son, Jesus, the Christ - that He is God and has taken the just punishment of your sin upon himself. Repent - change your mind - of your own efforts - acknowledge that you cannot make God happy in your own works - and trust only that Christ has done everything necessary for your salvation. And call upon His name to save you. 

For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. 

[Gud4U]

Dear Salyan,

Cheers and many thanks for your kind clarification.

i find your replies to my questions very satisfying and you have kindly cleared my mind and questions about many things.

Having said that, to believe in God as you do, i have been trying, but still i have my doubts and i pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit every day to help me out here and show me how to find honest belief and trust, but so far, only questions and doubts pile up.

i will carry on reading the Bible and try to understand the good book better.

Maybe my problem is that i have studied literature and in some approaches to literary criticism, we analyse a text and come to conclusions based on what is in the text apart from who wrote it and one cannot always find answers or come to conclusions without proof evident in the text itself, i guess this fact is what is driving me nuts about the text of the Holy Bible, i suppose i need help and grace from the Lord in order to comprehend the Bible better and get rid of my doubts.

Thanks again and i wish you a very pleasant time

[Miss Daisy]

If you're still unbelieving, ask God to prove himself to you. ( Mathew 7:7) 

[Gud4U]

Dear Miss Daisy,

Thanks for your kind reply, sorry for my late reply, I did not get a notification and I apologise.

As for my level of belief, well, I totally respect and honour Jesus Christ, as He has always loved and taught love in its fullest sense of the word. I feel I am getting better, it is not easy, I have been otherwise all my life of 50+ years, I want to be honest with myself and I really want to fully believe in God the Father, I need to pray more, I suppose.

Best wishes for you and your loved ones,

Totoo

[Martyr_4_FutureJoy]

In line with all Scripture,  it is not only possible to be angry and sin not as directed by God's Instructions, but it is required.

Jesus at some points told His Apostles and disciples - I know you don't know how,  come to Me and learn from Me and I Will disciple you , train you,  nurture you,  show you how to live, how to do what I tell you to do ,  by example, and by My Word.  If you trust yourself to accomplish this,  or think you already have it made because you are My disciples and Apostles,  then you have already failed.  If you trust your heavenly Father to accomplish all,  in this life and the next, for all time,  trusting Him with your whole life and everything,  then it is already accomplished.  (thus the importance of continually trusting the Father and not trying to work it out ,  trusting the Father the same as Jesus Shows us and them, and as Jesus teaches us and them. 

Question though - @DaveW,  where is it written that God was angry in the context and verses you posted ?   I do not believe being grieved and being angry are the same thing in the Scripture nor in life.

 

On 1/26/2019 at 7:11 PM, DaveW said:

Eph 4:26
(26)  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
 

It is possible to be angry without sinning, but I doubt it is possible for me personally...……….

At least every time I have been angry, if I am honest I can find sin in my anger.

But if anyone could be angry and sin not it would be God.

And if you look at the situation of the flood:

Gen 6:5-6
(5)  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
(6)  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
 

God had every right to be angry because " the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

 

 

[Bro. West]

After reading your comments of confusion. I do not know if your trying to be a philosopher,   sophist or what. If there are any contradictions it is the only contradictions are with you, Not God or the BOOK.

ANGER: God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry [with the wicked] every day. Psa 7:11

 39, ¶ See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.   40, For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. 
    41, If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. Deu. 32       Ps. 2 4, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.  5, Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 

  LOVE: He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1John 4:8  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Notice that is past tense (loved). God at one time for all eternality to see displayed his ultimate love at Calvary, if you reject that love you will go to hell with your arguments and all. God is a balanced being, he has a negative side and a positive side. I justly belong on the negative side, but because I trust his Son I am on the positive. QUITE playing fun and games. I do not know if you are saved or lost.

Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Job 40:4