When Jesus saw the great multitude he had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd If He provided Himself the great shepherd for that generation then He will also take care of the poor of this generation on no lesser terms for it is said He wills that none perish
When the people said when the Christ comes we will not know where He is from He cried out to them that's how He sought them He proved Himself to them to those who were confused for you see all those who want to know how to be saved will be sought after and will have their own conscience convicting them for you see the Protestants actually believe they are saved they do not know what they must do
I will tell all your praise in the great congregation
I would like to devote my time to serving God but the only thing on my mind at the moment is making a lot of money through which I suppose I can serve God
Some of you think just because I do not give a long reply back that I am speechless because I am absolutely wrong and foolish
I would like to give a detailed reply but I am busy and this obsession can become a sickness
Remember he has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame them which are wise
The problem with going after money is that you will not be able to increase your social life and serve the community in various ways such as revealing secrets that bless people's life and which make life easier which could be a deeper reason why Jesus said you can not serve God and mammon I do not have enough money for my wants and needs and also for my children a good man lays up for his children's children
I guess God could sent someone else to do what I want to do
Come now you who say tommorow we will do such and such and make a profit say if God wills for sickness is also appointed by God
Mission is something I think about but can no fulfill because of other obligations
I could speak a lot from the bible and hope to turn many unto righteousness but I am too busy
If I become a bible scholar I would not be able to make as much as I can and it perhaps is not a healthy thing to have this obsession for people like down to earth people and thinking a lot can disturb and confuse sometimes and make me not function properly
Comments
I think we agree that God will judge the world fairly in that many Copts and the church believes God has made enough room for everyone to be saved but He favors some people more in giving them more grace such as the miracles to the Jews and not to the sodomites so He is not altogether seeking to save the ones being lost but He will be kinder to then who were sought after less a lesser hell
I'm not sure I follow either your greatest proof or the need for it?
If you want to help other people the best way to do it is to be a better Christian. The main evangelical axiom is 'come and see' if they can see Christ in you then they will more likely to convinced if they cannot.
Please pray for me,
LiD
It is only from fullness that fullness can be shared.
The materialists ask for proofs within the framework of how they have already dimensioned the universe, what they need to learn is that they've dimensioned it wrong. They can only know the imminent God of all creation because He is imminent in the lives of the people they meet. The impact is not rational it; it is far deeper than the intellect and reminder to them that their are parts of their soul which they have intentionally cut off and tried to subjugate but we bring back in such an undeniable way.
It is beauty which people of all walks of life seek, and they will find it undeniably in the Christian soul, more than in any place on the earth. When people see beauty time stops, the mind ceases to function and something much deeper takes place and the soul of the person seeing it is humbled and wishes to venerate. This is why Mother Theresa used to say - preach the Gospel and use words if necessary because words must be preceded by the example of which they speak.
The power implicit in all of this is that while an atheist has an ideology which is centred on the fallen human ego we're speaking to a much deeper part of their consciousness which they try to suppress. In effect we're turning them against themselves and it is through this kind of conversion, the stirring of the conscience and the realisation that they've built for themselves houses of straw that they tumble down on themselves from the inside.
I speak however not of a psychological shift, though one certainly occurs in the heart of person moved to believe, but the inner transformation and enlightenment which comes from the Holy Spirit. The one Whom every atheist is terrified to meet and spends all their time running. His speech is a voice in the heart, a knocking on the door. What we have the power to do is to turn a knock into a meeting with someone who physically manifests the one who they're terrified to meet.
This is why all conversion stories are a narrative, they tell the story of the penitent coming out from the rock that their hiding under and finally coming into the light.
Here is a couple of my favourite videos on the conversion of CS Lewis in which you can see him as his progresses this difficult and painful journey from atheism to finally finding rest in Christ.
Here is another really beautify video on the converison of a KKK Grand Wizard because of his dealings with one of the remaining members of Martin Luther King Jnr, peaceful protest movement and his refusal to ever return evil for evil:
Please pray for me,
LiD
now compare that to being born as a jew or a muslim
we say the moral jew who does not make the effort to seek the truth and convert will go to a lesser hell than a bad christian but the christian with good upbringing had no obstacles for him being saved but himself so the christian had a higher chance of going to heaven because he has the hope that he will see his parents in heaven and wants to be with them
The psalms teach that God will judge the world with equity
Let me urge you again to stop going round and round in your mind on these subjects, and posting here about your concerns. They are not helping you. Please speak to your spiritual father about these things.
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko/does_god_play_favorites
Please pray for me,
LiD
Father Peter why do you say that I am trying to judge God? my dad says the same thing to me. I don't see that that is true at all.
I think what Fr. Peter is trying to say is that there are somethings where if we are able we should trustingly leave to God.
[quote=The Life of St Anthony]When the same Abba Anthony thought about the depth of the judgments of God, he asked, “Lord, how is it that some die when they are young, while others drag on to extreme old age? Why are there those who are poor and those who are rich? Why do wicked men proper and why are the just in need? He heard a voice answering him, “Anthony, keep your attention on yourself; these things are according to the judgment of God, and it is not to your advantage to known anything about them.”
[quote=The Grenotikon of Mt. Athos]Submit yourself to the will of God and do not pry too closely into God's judgments, for you can lose your mind. The judgments of God are innumerable and unfathomable.
A monk in the wilderness, imagining that he had attained perfection, prayed to God that He would reveal to him His various judgments in the lives of men. God put the thought in his mind to go to a distant place to inquire of a spiritual elder concerning this.
However, while the monk was on his way, an angel of God in the form of an ordinary man joined him, saying that he too wanted to go to that elder. Thus traveling together, they came upon the house of a God-fearing man, who treated them well, giving them to eat from a silver platter. When they had eaten, the angel took the platter and threw it into the sea. The monk found this both amazing and unjust, but he remained silent.
The second day they came upon the house of another hospitable man who cordially received and treated them as kinsmen. Before leaving, that man brought out his only son for the travelers to bless. The angel of God then took the child by the throat and strangled him.
The monk was greatly angered and asked the angel who he was, and why he had committed such misdeeds. The angel meekly replied to him: "The first man was pleasing to God in all things and had nothing in his house that was attained by injustice except that silver platter. By God's judgment, I threw that stolen platter away, so that the man would be righteous before God in all things. The other man was pleasing to God and had nothing in his house that would bring down the wrath of God except his son, who - had he matured - would have become a great criminal and a demonic vessel. Therefore, by God's judgment, I strangled that child in time to save his soul, for the sake of his father's goodness, and to save the father from many miseries. Behold, such are the mysteries and the unfathomable judgments of God. And you, elder, should return to your cell and not strive vainly by inquiring into that which is in the authority of the One God."