Columbia Catastrophe Stuff
The below referred to the Columbia Space Shuttle accident, but I think the same truths can apply to other "tragedies" too, like the 9-11 attacks, Tsunami/Hurricane disasters, etc....
2003.2.6, JuneTSaito wrote:
>And the only time man really looks Heavenward is to blame God for calamities like space shuttle Columbia (the more I think about it, the more I realize these incidents, referred to as "tragedies", are probably God's action of Protection; but that's subject for another letter.
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The end of my last letter to you hinted on the thought that what humans refer to as calamities may actually be actions of God's mercy and protection. I'd like to "expound" here...maybe "expunge" would be what you might want to do with it after you've heard it. Whatever. Here goes....
Remember Jim Berg's seminar, in which he spoke from Rom. 1, about man's heart being so toxic that, if left to itself, it would only DESTROY, and how God's greatest JUDGMENT was to let man have his own way, how in Rom. 1, God's judgment was NOT raining fire from Heaven but TURNING MAN OVER TO HIS OWN HEART? And in that video of the Silver Chalice you brought along this past Christmas vacation--the villain didn't go flying around that tower and be shot down with a bolt of lightning or something, like I'd rather imagined would happen; it didn't even take a little birdie pecking at him or anything; the foolish man actually believed himself to be God and JUMPED to his own death--not even a little push from God was needed! "Go ahead. Have it your way. I won't stop you."--if God really were to say that to man, mankind would be in real trouble; we'd keep jumping to our own death! Some may say not all people are that foolish; well, the "less foolish" of us follow our leaders, and the human heart, when given free rein, seems to run to power, haughtiness, self-sufficiency, and eventually, inevitably, ruin. The majority of mankind would take the lead from those "reining", so....
We discovered solar energy and learned how to heat our homes and water, but also how to power missiles. Laser technology gave us modern surgical techniques, granted, but also new means to sight, aim, fire.... Chemicals, electricity, telephone, automobile, audio recording, radar & sonar, TV, satellite, radioactivity, night vision, computer, nuclear energy...man HAS made leaps and bounds, but with every bound, there's been increased potential for destruction too. Maybe there is increased knowledge about medicine, fertilizer, hygiene, but there's also chemical warfare. A lot of convenience has been afforded by modern sources of power, phones, autos, recording, etc..., but tell me if there's one that hasn't been developed MUCH for use in killing too. "It's only natural," because that's the way man's heart is by nature! "If the other guy has more potent destructive force, well, I've got to protect myself" True, but that's just because we're still on earth where sin reins. Call it reasoning in circles. That'll all be gone in Heaven. There'll be perpetual "healing of the nations" there!
With new knowledge of genetics, man claims to have "cloned" human beings. Advances in space travel is shifting its focus from the moon to planets, actual transportation in space, unknown frontiers. Already there are people working on making this new technology work to advantage in weapons and warfare. Who KNOWS what kind of consequences would result if man were left unchecked? This is an exaggeration:
"The enemy nation thinks they can wipe us out because now they have the technology to get through our forcefields; well, we'll beam our country's leaders to genetic capsules and revive them after the smoke clears, andsurprise, surpise, the enemy will see they haven't managed even ONE strategic casualty--and they won't be able to do anything NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES THEY TRY because attacks will automatically initiate escape procedures. And they won't be able to destroy our ability to regenerate because the the capsules will be operated from the base we have on a top-secret planet which will activate the regeneration-reconstruction sequence of the nation's geological-biological-architectural form to its former state...for us, "war" is no longer synonymous with "destruction"; we are indestructible, immortal, truly independent entities!"
Just an imaginary scenario, but just to say man's "advances" seem to be bent to "ways of greater efficiency in destruction". Star Trek (TNG, I think) says man will evolve out of its violent ways to become a better man, but I can't see how that can possibly be anywhere near scientific in seeing the direction man has taken all history. If man were getting less destructive with greater development, I can kinda see how that might be a possibility for the future, but.... The "existence of evil in a world of good intentions" only says to me how sinful man has been implanted with a knowledge of potential for good...and technological attainment hasn't seemed to fill that void--the Bible says only God can fill it, and I think the history of mankind has more than supported that claim.
God's "Stop; you're going to hurt yourself." is probably only one aspect of things like what happened to the Columbia. I'd call that an act of God, but an act of MERCY, not JUDGMENT by any means! Wouldn't "judgment" be more like the way man is allowed to run to homosexuality, violence, materialism--and do it comfortably? When God decides to "step out of our way", we naturally end up going the way of AIDS, bitterness, confusion, crippling, murder, loneliness, distrust, shallow love, weakened capacity to really enjoy...and as long as people are at ease, no one looks up at God "blaming" Him for the destruction He's allowing us to wreak in our own lives.
"Don't you see what you're doing to yourselves? Stop! Look up here and listen to what I have to offer!" God sometimes steps in with things like the Los Angeles earthquake, Columbine High, 9-11.... Is that not an act of LOVE? And most Christians say things like: God didn't cause the evil; He just ALLOWED it for a greater good, and we need to trust His purpose. As if to say the incident was blameworthy, that God needs to be defended, and in the process, the Christian individual is praised for his unshakable faith!
Someone is walking into the street, Provi sees a car approaching; He dives at the person and knocks him back over to the side of the road so the car goes speeding by without hitting the person. But when he gets up, he says to Provi, "That HURT! Why'd you slam into me like that?" And Chris, standing nearby, says spiritually, "He didn't CAUSE the hurt; He just ALLOWED it for a greater good. We can't understand it, but we must be strong and believe in Him!" Wait a minute. Why does Provi's "pain-inflicting action" have to be justified, excused? Shouldn't that man be THANKING him for saving his life?
I'm not sure about sending this letter. Much of it sounds very much like what I can't endorse: using human reasoning to validate claims of truth in scripture rather than letting God tell me how things are and aligning myself to those declarations. Well, let me interject: this letter gives some of the thoughts that came AS A RESULT of first admitting the Sovereignty and Goodness of God; they weren't the REASON I believed, ok? I remember hearing once that we finite human beings can't read the Bible and tell God what the right way to run the universe is.
The Bible talks about beholding the goodness AND severity of God. But it also says it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It's when we bow the head to God and say, okay, I don't understand but WILL accept what You say as true that He lets us see truth and see how good it really is. We don't say I'll accept IF I UNDERSTAND AND APPROVE. We say I'll accept AND THEN YOU MAY LET ME UNDERSTAND AND APPROVE.
June, shut up. Satan is having a good time letting me spend bogs of time writing about abstract concepts--he knows one of my biggest weak points is my analytical bent, and I give him too much free playtime in my mind! I'm going to send this now and ask God to let it get lost in cyberspace or something if He doesn't want it sent...or,...God may allow all my letters to get through and let you hear all sorts of Junie's errors to drive home the truth that only God is truly reliable!
2003.2.6, JuneTSaito wrote:
>And the only time man really looks Heavenward is to blame God for calamities like space shuttle Columbia (the more I think about it, the more I realize these incidents, referred to as "tragedies", are probably God's action of Protection; but that's subject for another letter.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The end of my last letter to you hinted on the thought that what humans refer to as calamities may actually be actions of God's mercy and protection. I'd like to "expound" here...maybe "expunge" would be what you might want to do with it after you've heard it. Whatever. Here goes....
Remember Jim Berg's seminar, in which he spoke from Rom. 1, about man's heart being so toxic that, if left to itself, it would only DESTROY, and how God's greatest JUDGMENT was to let man have his own way, how in Rom. 1, God's judgment was NOT raining fire from Heaven but TURNING MAN OVER TO HIS OWN HEART? And in that video of the Silver Chalice you brought along this past Christmas vacation--the villain didn't go flying around that tower and be shot down with a bolt of lightning or something, like I'd rather imagined would happen; it didn't even take a little birdie pecking at him or anything; the foolish man actually believed himself to be God and JUMPED to his own death--not even a little push from God was needed! "Go ahead. Have it your way. I won't stop you."--if God really were to say that to man, mankind would be in real trouble; we'd keep jumping to our own death! Some may say not all people are that foolish; well, the "less foolish" of us follow our leaders, and the human heart, when given free rein, seems to run to power, haughtiness, self-sufficiency, and eventually, inevitably, ruin. The majority of mankind would take the lead from those "reining", so....
We discovered solar energy and learned how to heat our homes and water, but also how to power missiles. Laser technology gave us modern surgical techniques, granted, but also new means to sight, aim, fire.... Chemicals, electricity, telephone, automobile, audio recording, radar & sonar, TV, satellite, radioactivity, night vision, computer, nuclear energy...man HAS made leaps and bounds, but with every bound, there's been increased potential for destruction too. Maybe there is increased knowledge about medicine, fertilizer, hygiene, but there's also chemical warfare. A lot of convenience has been afforded by modern sources of power, phones, autos, recording, etc..., but tell me if there's one that hasn't been developed MUCH for use in killing too. "It's only natural," because that's the way man's heart is by nature! "If the other guy has more potent destructive force, well, I've got to protect myself" True, but that's just because we're still on earth where sin reins. Call it reasoning in circles. That'll all be gone in Heaven. There'll be perpetual "healing of the nations" there!
With new knowledge of genetics, man claims to have "cloned" human beings. Advances in space travel is shifting its focus from the moon to planets, actual transportation in space, unknown frontiers. Already there are people working on making this new technology work to advantage in weapons and warfare. Who KNOWS what kind of consequences would result if man were left unchecked? This is an exaggeration:
"The enemy nation thinks they can wipe us out because now they have the technology to get through our forcefields; well, we'll beam our country's leaders to genetic capsules and revive them after the smoke clears, andsurprise, surpise, the enemy will see they haven't managed even ONE strategic casualty--and they won't be able to do anything NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES THEY TRY because attacks will automatically initiate escape procedures. And they won't be able to destroy our ability to regenerate because the the capsules will be operated from the base we have on a top-secret planet which will activate the regeneration-reconstruction sequence of the nation's geological-biological-architectural form to its former state...for us, "war" is no longer synonymous with "destruction"; we are indestructible, immortal, truly independent entities!"
Just an imaginary scenario, but just to say man's "advances" seem to be bent to "ways of greater efficiency in destruction". Star Trek (TNG, I think) says man will evolve out of its violent ways to become a better man, but I can't see how that can possibly be anywhere near scientific in seeing the direction man has taken all history. If man were getting less destructive with greater development, I can kinda see how that might be a possibility for the future, but.... The "existence of evil in a world of good intentions" only says to me how sinful man has been implanted with a knowledge of potential for good...and technological attainment hasn't seemed to fill that void--the Bible says only God can fill it, and I think the history of mankind has more than supported that claim.
God's "Stop; you're going to hurt yourself." is probably only one aspect of things like what happened to the Columbia. I'd call that an act of God, but an act of MERCY, not JUDGMENT by any means! Wouldn't "judgment" be more like the way man is allowed to run to homosexuality, violence, materialism--and do it comfortably? When God decides to "step out of our way", we naturally end up going the way of AIDS, bitterness, confusion, crippling, murder, loneliness, distrust, shallow love, weakened capacity to really enjoy...and as long as people are at ease, no one looks up at God "blaming" Him for the destruction He's allowing us to wreak in our own lives.
"Don't you see what you're doing to yourselves? Stop! Look up here and listen to what I have to offer!" God sometimes steps in with things like the Los Angeles earthquake, Columbine High, 9-11.... Is that not an act of LOVE? And most Christians say things like: God didn't cause the evil; He just ALLOWED it for a greater good, and we need to trust His purpose. As if to say the incident was blameworthy, that God needs to be defended, and in the process, the Christian individual is praised for his unshakable faith!
Someone is walking into the street, Provi sees a car approaching; He dives at the person and knocks him back over to the side of the road so the car goes speeding by without hitting the person. But when he gets up, he says to Provi, "That HURT! Why'd you slam into me like that?" And Chris, standing nearby, says spiritually, "He didn't CAUSE the hurt; He just ALLOWED it for a greater good. We can't understand it, but we must be strong and believe in Him!" Wait a minute. Why does Provi's "pain-inflicting action" have to be justified, excused? Shouldn't that man be THANKING him for saving his life?
I'm not sure about sending this letter. Much of it sounds very much like what I can't endorse: using human reasoning to validate claims of truth in scripture rather than letting God tell me how things are and aligning myself to those declarations. Well, let me interject: this letter gives some of the thoughts that came AS A RESULT of first admitting the Sovereignty and Goodness of God; they weren't the REASON I believed, ok? I remember hearing once that we finite human beings can't read the Bible and tell God what the right way to run the universe is.
The Bible talks about beholding the goodness AND severity of God. But it also says it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It's when we bow the head to God and say, okay, I don't understand but WILL accept what You say as true that He lets us see truth and see how good it really is. We don't say I'll accept IF I UNDERSTAND AND APPROVE. We say I'll accept AND THEN YOU MAY LET ME UNDERSTAND AND APPROVE.
June, shut up. Satan is having a good time letting me spend bogs of time writing about abstract concepts--he knows one of my biggest weak points is my analytical bent, and I give him too much free playtime in my mind! I'm going to send this now and ask God to let it get lost in cyberspace or something if He doesn't want it sent...or,...God may allow all my letters to get through and let you hear all sorts of Junie's errors to drive home the truth that only God is truly reliable!
Labels: ...just thinking...
posted by Life in Koriyama @ 10:04 AM
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