I have often wondered what all the struggles, lessons, pain is for. It seems like a waste of time if they are only of use here. I understand God has subjected us to all this for His purposes, but what is it for long term? Trying to find meaning to life has always puzzled me.
I think this is a great question. I'm not sure I can back up anything I believe with strong Biblical support. There is much God has not answered as of yet. But, I believe that the overcomers in this life...will be ministering to those in Gehenna in the next. I think what I get to do now in this life is merely training me to do it on another level in the next. I believe for the overcomers this life is about threshing wheat from chaff and training us to be used to help those who were not overcomers. Each in their own season, and I believe we will be a significant part of that.
Shawn,
While I agree with your answer I think it doesn't really answer the OP.
You are (fairly) wealthy person having access to all Bible material you want.
Many others have zero opportunities in their life and will be stoned for even having a single Christian thought.
If the ulitimate goal is knowing God why are the opportunities to do so, so vastly different?
THIS IS WHY WE HAVE TO BE EXERICIZED IN THIS GOOD/EVIL EXPIERENCE.
HE IS PERFECTING US'BE THOU PERFECT,AS THE FATHER IS"....OBEDIANCE THROUGH SUFFERING PERFECTS US.....IT IS EASIER TO OBEY
WHEN IT DOESN'T COST US ANYTHING.
EVIL WAS CREATED TO PROVIDE THE 'SUFFERING' PART........
THE FATHER WANTS ALL OF THE FRUIT......NOW..THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT ARE RIGHTEOUSNESS,PEACE,JOY....LONG-SUFFERING AND MERCY
TO GET ALL OF THE FRUIT[PERFECTION] EVIL HAD TO BE EXPIERENCE/SUFFERING HAD TO BE EXPIERENCED...ALSO HUMILITY
IF HE HAD NOT LET US EXPIERENCE 'WANT" WE WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHTEOUS AND NOT SIN...BUT THE FRUIT OF MERCY AND LONG-SUFFERING
COMES TO FULLNESS/RIPENESS THROUGH SUFFERING OF EVIL EXERCIZE. WE COULD HAVE BEEN ARROGANT AND THOUGHT OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
WAS OF OURSELVES. PRIDE.IF HE HAD NOT LET US EXPIERENCE THISS POVERTY
Quote from: sheila on September 13, 2012, 09:11:24 PMWAS OF OURSELVES. PRIDE.IF HE HAD NOT LET US EXPIERENCE THISS POVERTY
I think you are one of the millionaires on this forum.
:2c:
:iagree:
Rich with the Lord's wisdom. :) (Which is why I love reading her posts so much.)
I have read part of Fox's Book of Martyrs, and am currently reading a book titled Through Flood and Flame, which is about the lives and deaths of some Christian martyrs. You might question what good this reading could be, but I read what the OP said, and I remembered the last story I read in the book. An Italian, Bartolomeo Bartoccio was burned alive by the Inquisition, and as the fire was lit, he was praying. As he was engulfed by the fire, he cried, "Victory! Victory!" Others went to the gallows, the chopping block, the pyre, or drowning-place happily, and their lives and deaths both awe and humble me. Our end may not be as dramatic, but that is what all the work, sweat, and struggle are for - to perfect us so that we have personal victory in Jesus and are fit to live in His Kingdom. Our inheritance is more than worth the small price we pay in the here-and-now.
If everything was perfect and went along smoothly all the time what would we learn?
How could we learn forgivness if no one did us wrong?
How could we be thankful if no one helped us?
How could we learn to get along with others if no one disagreed?
How could we learn to stand if we never did fall?
How could we learn to love if there was no hate?
The list goes on and on. A negative happens so a positive can begin.
CHB
:goodpost:
When I peruse the book of Ecclesiastes, the most poignant chapter in the entire book is chapter 3. I read chapter 3 always with Ecc 1:13 as the context of the entire book. The Modern Languge translation gives a good rendering of 1:13 from the oldest original languges:
And I applied my heart to seek & to search for wisdom in all that is done under heaven. This is a trying task, which God gives to the sons of men to be afflicted in it.
A more literal version states:
I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: It is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
This contrasts nicely with Ecc 3:10-11
vs 10 KJ:
I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be excercised in it.
Another more literal version puts it:
I see the experience that Elohim gives to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
Living Bible nicely states verse 11:
Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity into the hearts of men even so man cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.
God allows evil to afflict us to give all humans the painful experience of what it means to be humble. If we never suffer the consequences of feeling pain we would spend a lifetime sticking our hands into the flames of fire never learning to stop doing that which sears the flesh.
All present earthly sons & daughters of God will one day join our brother Christ Jesus in heaven, where he will reveal more clearly to us the purpose for his father having created us with a central nervous system by which we were afflicted with so much pain.
God could have created us from the beginning as he did the angels, incapable of feeling pain, but he didn't, all for a good reason that we clearly do not understand as stated in Ecc 3:11.
It is the most difficult thing in the world to look into the face of a suffering & close friend & try to make them understand that God has a plan & purpose for the severe affliction they are undergoing. Today I had to experience that.....a close friend of my wife's; in a few weeks she'll be done with this life's travails, her pain will be over & done with, but she will carry the experience of it for eternity for a purpose presently known only to God.
Quote from: Paul L on September 14, 2012, 05:17:50 AM
When I peruse the book of Ecclesiastes, the most poignant chapter in the entire book is chapter 3. I read chapter 3 always with Ecc 1:13 as the context of the entire book. The Modern Languge translation gives a good rendering of 1:13 from the oldest original languges:
And I applied my heart to seek & to search for wisdom in all that is done under heaven. This is a trying task, which God gives to the sons of men to be afflicted in it.
A more literal version states:
I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: It is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
This contrasts nicely with Ecc 3:10-11
vs 10 KJ:
I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be excercised in it.
Another more literal version puts it:
I see the experience that Elohim gives to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
Living Bible nicely states verse 11:
Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity into the hearts of men even so man cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.
God allows evil to afflict us to give all humans the painful experience of what it means to be humble. If we never suffer the consequences of feeling pain we would spend a lifetime sticking our hands into the flames of fire never learning to stop doing that which sears the flesh.
All present earthly sons & daughters of God will one day join our brother Christ Jesus in heaven, where he will reveal more clearly to us the purpose for his father having created us with a central nervous system by which we were afflicted with so much pain.
God could have created us from the beginning as he did the angels, incapable of feeling pain, but he didn't, all for a good reason that we clearly do not understand as stated in Ecc 3:11.
It is the most difficult thing in the world to look into the face of a suffering & close friend & try to make them understand that God has a plan & purpose for the severe affliction they are undergoing. Today I had to experience that.....a close friend of my wife's; in a few weeks she'll be done with this life's travails, her pain will be over & done with, but she will carry the experience of it for eternity for a purpose presently known only to God.
:first:
amen
that got copied and went into my file
sorry, not paying you any royalties Paul :)
I agree...just beautiful Paul.
Deena,
I'm sure you have probably viewed photography of the vastness of the Universe & all the different types of galaxies of which it is composed. The uncountable numbers of stars contained therein is beyond the comprehension of human intellect. Each galaxy contains 100 billion or more stars. Within the range of our most powerful telescopes are at least a billion galaxies. Yet the Universe in which we live is of finite size, it is not endless, however what we can see is a mere fraction of its vastness. God's wisdom & knowledge dwarfs this vastness.
No life has ever been detected anywhere else in all this cosmos, the image of carbon based life-form such as we humans are is unique to one rocky planet in all the vastness of the cosmos. There appears to me to be a revealing in the pages of Holy Writ that our human life-form is indeed unique in all the vastness of the cosmos. When you consider that the numbers of the galaxies in the Universe outnumber the total numbers of human beings who have ever lived & died on earth, it then becomes unimaginable to human intellect how the vastness of this cosmos sustains itself, why it just never collapses & ceases to exist taking us with it. Those of us in the field of science will tell you it is the Laws of Conservation of Energy & the 1st & 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics whereby the universe sustains itself, but what is it that sustains those proven principles of science?
In the book of Psalms it is stated by God that he has given names to all the stars of the cosmos. Why would he give names to the stars? Are they created beings of a life-form different from ours? Job 25:5 also states that they are not "pure" in his sight & that he calls them all by name Ps 147:4. This is scriptural evidence to suggest that the stars of the morning (Job 38:7)who sang with God at the creation of the earth also have a complement of stars (created beings) who live under the heavens even as we humans live under heaven. These other stars who are presntly under God's heaven because they followed Satan in rebellion and were bound in place inside the galaxies of the universe until the time of their judgement comes as described in Jude verse 6, the environs of the galaxies of the universe beneath God's heavenly abode appears to be their present place of restraint.
Read Job chapters 38 - 41. It is Ecc 3:11 vastly expanded upon. These chapters are God's response to Job for the same questions you pose in this forum. Why?. If you notice he did not even answer Job's question of "Why?". In the previous paragraph I've pointed out that there are scriptural hints as to why the universe with all its galaxies contained therein is so big, it appears to contain populations of created beings much different from us. However the flames of the fires of their luminescent existence sears no flesh for the sensation of pain. These rebellious beings feel no sorrow for their rebellious nature, they also cannot procreate, we were made different, we are superior to them because we feel pain & sorrow & procreate, they cannot.
If God had not created us with the capacity to feel pain & sorrow, we could not become sons & daughters of a God who will one day qualify us to judge rebellious angelic beings, 1 Cor 6:3. Judges must have a capacity for empathy for those in whom they stand in judgement, that capacity of empathy cannot be found in those impervious to afflictions of pain & sorrowful feelings caused by pain we see in others. Remember the scripture in which Christ states that even the demons believe & repent not? Now maybe you can understand better why they don't repent, no pain, no gain.
THE wISDOM OF GOD.....EXPIERENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER...SO TOO...jESUS PARTOOK OF FLESH AND BLOOD..
BECAUSE THE LITTLE CHILDREN DID
Quote from: sheila on September 14, 2012, 08:54:41 PM
THE wISDOM OF GOD.....EXPIERENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER...SO TOO...jESUS PARTOOK OF FLESH AND BLOOD..
BECAUSE THE LITTLE CHILDREN DID
Right on the money Sheila....until you've actually done it, you can't point to a resume testifying you have the background to do it somewhere else. We are all here to spill our sweat & blood to qualify for what Christ will use us for in the future. Remember what Apostler Paul said in 1 Cor 13:12, we see only dimly now for all that the future holds.