God’s Will
Ezra Chapter 1
Chapter 1 begins wit the Lord “stirring up the spirit” of the king of Persia, Cyrus. This is interesting because Cyrus was a heathen king of a heathen nation. So God has power over even those who do not regard Him. That God can do tis indicates that He has absolute power over all humans and human actions.
Thus brings up an interesting issue. If God does have the power to make people do stuff, and does have the power to stop people from doing things, then why doesn’t He always exercise this power? Are the times where He does step in times where man no longer has free will? I think of a situation where two people are playing chess. Suddenly God swoops down and invisibly moves some of the pieces around without the players realizing. Then the people continue playing almost as if nothing had happened. I say “almost” because obviously the game did change but the players don’t realize it.
To me it seems as if humans are puppets who have a mind of their own. God can at any time take over and control the scene or let the puppets run free.
When I look at the Old Testament, at least the parts I have read so far, I see God as being almost devious. Either that or He does not know and plan everything that is to come. If He knew what was going to happen, and had the power to change it (as we know He does) then why would He allow all the death and destruction that has occurred throughout history?
I guess I am saying that to know something is going to happen when you have the power to change or stop it is the same as planning the action.
By Papa B, November 4, 2007 @ 6:00 pm
Excellent question, asked by deep thinking people throughout man’s history. Pain and suffering is a worthy study and never simple. Buddha struggled with this very question. His answer required some assumptions.
One of those assumptions is something like “pain is always bad”.
Garrett, keep asking and studying. Don’t accept easy answers. The book of Job, perhaps the oldest book in the Bible, asks about the reason for suffering.
God’s eternal purpose is not something man will completely understand without becoming equal to God. ( no, this is not a cop-out, as some have suggested). Man’s free will (part of us humans different from the rest of creation) must somehow fit into this purpose of His as well.
The Bible is voluminous, and rightly so. One read through, like anything worthwhile, won’t be sufficient for understanding. (In fact, because it does require much effort to study, the vast majority of people never really study it, hence have a lot of misunderstandings and may learn partial truthes. This is one of the reasons for so much “disagreement”.
Keep asking the hard questions and examine the evidence. God Bless You!