They say God never gives us more than we can handle. [Spirituality & Religion]

God needs our money? That's odd. I wasn't aware spirits need money. God is all-sufficient, not in need of anything material. @fddlpej:

@GraceFromEP: yes he does he gets to operate tax free and most churches want 10 percent of your pay. They definitely don't return it back to the poor and the needy. Most are wealthy organization and we have children going to bed hungry.

@fddlpej: Yes, we give a tithe to help pay for the church light bill, water, supplies, and more. Nothing wrong with that. Nobody forces the members to do that. It was where you said he can't help anything bad, that I disagree with. He's helped me and others plenty. Everyone wants something from him, but aren't willing to give back.

Well I have to pay for the fire department the police department and the road in front of your church that I don't go to. Also look at the preacher that makes $300000 a year and tell me that they should not pay taxes. Look at the wealth of the Catholic Church and there are many more like them. It is said that the churches together have enough money to eliminate poverty but they don't really care about the poor they want to do things to generate more money like the fight against abortion and the gay lifestyle. Makes more money for them and cost very little. Feeding the poor only cost money.

@fddlpej: My pastor takes no salary. He said he does not want one, but we give anyway, as God wants people to support their pastors. Why should he do it for nothing?

There's more to that road than a church on the side of it. It gets you where you're going. [u]Some[/u] churches do take advantage. They'll answer to God for that.

Look at the preachers that have the mega churches and how they live. As far as your church goes if it catches fire they will call the fire department or if they get robbed the police department both paid for by taxes that they pay none of. So I support your church even though I don't know anything about it.

@fddlpej: I don't make the rules on taxes. I can't help that. Yes, I've seen how some are taking advantage. It is a stench to the Lord's nostrils. Shame on them, and it turns souls away. They make a business out of it and live off people. It is an abomination to the Lord. Makes me sick. I'm glad not all are in that category.

You are right about that but if God is all powerful shouldn't he stop it from happening? Especially since it is in his name that they are doing it.

@fddlpej: God [i]is[/i] all powerful, but he gave people choices, and he knows they are responsible for their choices, good or bad. Bad choices result in bad results. Just like when I was a kid and did something wrong, I'd get disciplined for it. Because my parents loved me, they couldn't just let that go, but that didn't mean they didn't love me, just because they had to discipline me. I reaped what I sowed. They may have even seen I was doing wrong, yet didn't stop me, as they wanted me to learn an important lesson.

@fddlpej: The church of Laodecia was a prime example. They were doing things that were against God. They were warned about it. God said, "Your deeds are wrong. Because you are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth." In other words, their whole heart was not in their service to God. He doesn't want only half our hearts.... just like if we married, we wouldn't want a half-commitment from our spouse. Neither does God, from those who claim to love him.

Yes and if we are God's children he is not doing a very good job. If he had a family on earth the way he is doing it DCFS would take his children away from him and give him parenting classes.

But that's just it. Not all of us are God's children. He, being perfect, does a perfect job. It is us who are flawed. @fddlpej:

@GraceFromEP: that is an old example. Give me something that he has done in the last 100 years.

I am sorry but I know what I see. I am disappointed in his performance as a leader let alone a parent. I try to protect my children and make them be fair to others. I don't see him doing that.

@fddlpej: He does things for people today at various times. He answers prayers. Not according to our wants, as he is not a gift horse, but according to our needs. I know he saved me from death. He also healed me one time. It depends on the person and their relationship to him. The first step is to examine if one even knows God and what does that mean to that person, as each have their idea, but it sometimes doesn't match up to what really needs to take place. For example: some people believe going to church saves you. Nothing could be further from the truth. Neither does tithing, or long service, nor good works.

@fddlpej: Perhaps he does not meet your standards, but we must not judge a perfect God who cannot err. It is us who do not measure up to his standards. If we blame him, we're saying we're smarter and wiser than God, and that simply is not true. It is He who sets the standard, not us.

We plenty that don't do good work. Explain it to the children that have died in a war zone that they know nothing about but have to live in a terrible place

@fddlpej: I understand, but that is what you get when you live in a world dominated by sin, and man has sin in him. God did not force man to kill people. Responsibility.

@GraceFromEP: well I am not happy with his standards to have that much suffering and people say he is perfect. I just don't see it.

@GraceFromEP: killing children in war doesn't give them much of a chance to change things and most churches say very little about it. They will tell people about the sin of being gay though not much about how bad war is. What would the world be like if we took the money spent on wars and put it towards helping the world?

But there's nothing wrong with his standards. It is man that wants to bend God's standards to match his. That's backwards. God doesn't force people to kill. @fddlpej:

There is another side of that. It wasn't fair that Jesus had to suffer and die on the cross to pay for our sins, either. He didn't even destroy his enemies the day they hung Him on the cross. He could have, but instead, he forgave them, even after all that, and called his crucifiers his "friends", then asked his Father to forgive them, for they know not what they do. That doesn't sound like a ruthless God to me, nor one who doesn't care. He didn't have to die for us, but he did. He volunteered to lay down his life, because he is not willing that any should perish. We'd sure be in a mess, to say the least, had he not done that. Or would we like the alternative?

Jesus cares. What more could He have done? I'm grateful Jesus loved us enough to provide us a way to have eternal life in heaven with him. If it weren't for Him, we'd ALL miss heaven, because we were consumed with having all the answers, instead of how we can have eternal life.

@fddlpej:

No he might not. But at this point we have nothing to stop the scum that can't wait to go to war. And the ones who try to stop it a little get eliminated such as Lincoln Kennedy and king.

@GraceFromEP: God knew what was going to happen to Jesus. He is all knowing and knew that he would raise him back to life. So what was the sacrifice?

@fddlpej: Hold on, now. Don't go too fast. Let me answer these one step at a time, okay?

People say God is a killer, without knowing the story behind things. They take verses out of context, without reading the whole story and finding out what really went on there, so yes...it's not going to make sense.

God does things for a reason and we are not to judge him. He's perfect, so how can he make mistakes? He is love personified. He did not come to take life. He came to save it. There's always two sides to a story. Let's look at this. God is not willing that [b]any[/b] perish. What we have in these type verses is this, for example: The children of Moab comprised a smaller tribe within the larger federation of tribes referred to as Midianites, or simply Midian. Earlier in the book of Numbers, we learn that the Israelites "began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab" (25:1). Moreover, the Israelites attended the sacrifices of the Moabites, they ate among the Moabites (perhaps partaking of foods God had declared unclean), and they bowed down to the Moabites' gods, including Baal (25:2,3). God judged Israel for her harlotry, both spiritual and literal.