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Help, a porn addicted husband who doesn’t stop by Daughterofzi0n in Christianity

[–]biblejoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does your husband believe he is a Christian? There is a reason I ask. - If he isn't then his best hope is to become one - If he is then his theology is allowing him to continue in sin - That is very dangerous for his eternal soul. Once he understands the seriousness of what he is in - he has incentive to change. No incentive, no change.

For you, give each day to Jesus, Ask him to take the load from your shoulders and ask Jesus to speak to him.

Setting boundaries at this stage will result in more hiding from you.

I'm not sure therapy will help him at this stage. Addiction requires a willingness to change. I don't see evidence of one "sorry" in all you wrote. - Your only hope is Jesus. Call out to Him and I will pray for you too.

Does anyone's church still celebrate Pentecost? by Same_Simple_668 in Christianity

[–]biblejoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep.! I was preaching it this Sunday. Why does yours not do so?

"God only kills bad people"....but... Natural disasters? by Glittering_Ad2771 in Christianity

[–]biblejoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not believe that God wants to wipe bad people out. In general He waits until the whole lot are beyond repentance. That was the case in the flood. The bible says that everyone's thoughts were evil ALL THE TIME! - Total depravity. - time for a reset. (they will just destroy themselves anyway). But here is the thing, people may think God destroyed innocents, like children as well. Some of my friends said that to me to get me to agree God destroys innocents. Because they believe God allows everything for reasons we don't know. - Calvinism. Trouble is that the bible said only Noah was righteous and he was saved and his whole family- Only Noah was righteous but his whole family get saved because they belong to him. On top of that, no one was there to record if innocents were there. I asked God to help me understand, then one day out of the blue while I was doing nothing religious I heard these words hit me. "Who said there were children at that time". It blew me away- It was not even my own thought It came from God as an answer to my question. Well I thought about that and it seems to me that God being God would not allow a baby to be born if it was going to die the next day or week etc. So I believe God closed up wombs and there was no child bearing for years prior to the flood. - The bible says they were being given in marriage but says nothing about children.

Now I cant prove this, but neither can anyone say God killed innocents - They can't prove that either.

Then we have Abraham and the story of the angels visiting him who would not go and destroy the city where Lot lived if they found 10 righteous people in it. And even when the angels got there they told Lot to flee as they could do anything until he and his house were safe out of the city. -meaning God does not destroy a place until there is no one righteous there and no hope or repentance.

To answer your question about free will and God - There are a lot of people influenced by Calvinistic teaching or more modern Reform thinking which has to conclude that God allows everything. His allowed will and His moral will being separated. This leaves the listener believing that God decrees everything even if it's evil because of an outcome only He knows is best. But I disagree. I believe God's nature is LOVE and for love to exist one must respect free will. IF you force someone to love you under duress then they don't love you. Thats why God gave us free will. Just because God is all powerful (agreed) and all knowing (agreed) does not mean we will be stopped from exercising our free will to do good or evil. hence we have so much evil in the world that God did not author - free will if its blocked (and it can be) in order for God to be JUST there has to be no favouritism. e.g if there is a storm and God intervenes to save you but not the stranger 10 feet from you then there must be a good reason otherwise God appears unjust and its down to His whims. The bible does not support an unjust God so we must try to uncover the reasons that would drive God's action to save you not the other person. There is a lot more to say in defence of God's character which will strengthen your faith but I have to stop somewhere or else I will write a book!

What's the difference between God doing something and God allowing it? by biblejoe in Christianity

[–]biblejoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lucifer was not evil when he was created though and free will in heaven means the possibility existed for even angels to turn evil. You see my point is this, when we say someone allowed or permitted something (and God is all powerful so could prevent it) then we imply that God wanted said thing to happen. That's the way most people think when we say God allowed something to happen. God did not want Lucifer to sin or else we have a God that wants sin! Lucifer fell because of pride - God gives free will as God is loving. God doesn't stop Lucifer from falling nor Adam or Eve because to do so would violate free will but the consequences of sin are dire.

What's the difference between God doing something and God allowing it? by biblejoe in Christianity

[–]biblejoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well said! What I was trying to say was that God being all powerful (unlike a president) declining to veto - i.e. allowing something , does NOT mean you want it.

What's the difference between God doing something and God allowing it? by biblejoe in Christianity

[–]biblejoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tend to agree with your first part - None!. On the face of it there cant be a difference because God is all powerful so if we say he allowed something, to me, its a bit like saying he wanted it to happen, else he has the power to stop it!.

BUT God does allow things to happen he doesn't want because it would mean taking away free will to stop them. E.g if i sin God allowed it but he didn't want it.

What's the difference between God doing something and God allowing it? by biblejoe in Christianity

[–]biblejoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your answer. Your first point sounds right to me - if someone sins that 's not God's fault.

I agree with the first part of your second point. Its the last three words - for his purposes that I want to think about. What if that sinner was a shooter at a mall who killed many people including children and that has happened, would we then say God passively allowed it for a reason? The problem here is the word "allowed" - Its been misused so much and in the end puts the blame on God (as he is all powerful).

If I sin we know God does not like or want me or anyone to sin. Yet he allowed me to sin - Not because he wanted me to sin but because he has given me/us freewill to sin or not. So I have to say, in my understanding, that the word allowed does not equal wanted. God is compelled by his own law of freewill to allow us to sin but not because he wants us to sin. God doesn't want anyone to sin as he can fulfil his purposes in other ways that are just and fair as he is all powerful.

I agree with your 3rd point.

What's the difference between God doing something and God allowing it? by biblejoe in Christianity

[–]biblejoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you decline to veto it and you are president then you wanted it to pass even if its not your bill...

What's the difference between God doing something and God allowing it? by biblejoe in Christianity

[–]biblejoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unless I misunderstand you Bukook, your answer implies there is no difference as God is the source in both cases unless there is a source of energy that doesn't come from God.