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| Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > General Chat > Keep Doc and Denay in Prayer | Forum Quick Jump
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quest for truth
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 479
| Posted 2/14/2004 8:11 PM (GMT -6) |   | Feelinahole, I couldn't resist coming back on briefly because I felt this strong need to respond on another thread so since I came back on I want to say that I like your summary of deism. It makes so much sense. Thank you! 
God's blessings.
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1Heart
Registered Member
Date Joined Feb 2004
Total Posts : 1128
| Posted 2/23/2004 11:27 AM (GMT -6) | | Hi Quest & Others,
I'm just jumping in on the middle of this thread...reading it and waiting for a response on the thread about the problem of evil (carlie). There has been a lot of thought provoking discussion going on there and I have been challenged personally by what I've been reading. It has confirmed a lot of things that I believe about the Father in my heart and I'm thankful for that.
I just had a thought, skimming over the discussion here and your comment on the apparent arbitrariness of "blessing" I think I understand your question, so I will venture out here with a response.
Much of this comes back around to free will and to the complexity of creation. Sometimes we don't think that we're "blessed" because we forget that others (not to mention the free will that we have in our own choices...which lead to consequences) free will affects our lives - sometimes negatively and we think that we're not being blessed. Here's one example (not a free will example), a farmer in Saskatchewan (where I was raised) has a bumper crop for the first time in 5 years only to have it wiped out by a hail storm. He's a God fearing man and wonders why God hasn't blessed him. But really, it was the complexity of creation - not the arbitrariness of God's blessing.
Free will, creation, our own choices, the enemy...all enter it. As far as I can tell, there is only one blessing that we are promised and that is the blessing of His presence. Anything else (everything else) is "icing on the already fabulous dessert" as a friend of mine would say. Our daughter went with YWAM to South Africa for 6 months. Some of the most joyous believers were dirt poor (literally), didn't have shoes...amazing.
Perhaps I haven't read all of this to understand how you are defining blessing. I do know that we have an abundance of His presence with us.
God Bless,
Jo-Anne
"Sometimes all we can do is go back to the character of God, and drop anchor there."
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quest for truth
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 479
| Posted 2/24/2004 11:24 AM (GMT -6) | | Thank you Jo-Anne. I too am learning so much on that other thread. I have to say I tend to agree with Iconoclast's view. I agree with Mephi in that God, in his infinite wisdom, chooses all the time. God chooses to keep the evil and wicked actions of the world going because he knows what we in our finite minds cannot know. I have asked God before why he doesn't just end the world today but God knows infinitely.
Tigress, I laughed with you in your post. Ironically today I came across two things that went with what you shared.
I'd like to share these with you guys:
Be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with your possession; to despise nothing in the world except cowardice; to be governed by your admiration's rather than by your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often or your friends ... and to spend as much time as you can, with body and with spirit. These are little guideposts on your footpath of peace. -Henry Van Dyke-
ATTITUDE
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company....a church...a home.
The remarkable thing is we have choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past ... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have, and that is our attitude...
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you....we are in charge of our attitudes. -Chuck Swindoll- | | Back to Top | | |
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quest for truth
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 479
| Posted 2/24/2004 11:26 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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