Thanks for your response.
What I am saying is this: the "chastening" of Hebrews 12 has nothing to do with punishment. What happened to Job is not quite same - but in Job's case, God allowed the circumstance to continue. And, although it is not commonly taught, Job did learn some very important lessons from this ordeal.
I think it was a natural event that God can and will use to build character and commitment -- ala Heb 12. It is our calling to learn lessons from the calamities of life. That is our assignment as I see it. What happens because of the truth of Romans 8:28 (God working for the good of the believer) can be lost if the believer does not see the benefit.
If it had been God's judgment against the wicked (a real possibility), it would have been surgical. But, instead, I think it possible that more God-fearing people died than bar owners. And the French Quarter survived in tact.
JD
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-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Clifton <wabbits1234@earthlink.net>
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Sent: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 07:20:50 -0500
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] ----- the chastening of the Lord -------
I take it, John, that you are saying that God allowed this storm but did not cause it. He knew it would happen but did not design it to punish sinners. We discussed that in home church last night and feelings were mixed.
God is omniscient, so there is no argument that He knew what would happen. God is omnipotent, so He could have stopped it or altered the course. Why did He not do that? Anyone's guess. I suspect that there was not enough prayer by righteous people for a starter. Could be that He has set the forces of nature long ago and programmed them to do certain things at certain seasons, and sees better reasons for letting nature run it's course than for interfering. I heard one preacher say that if God directed the storm to punish gangs and casinos and rampant sin then you also have to blame God for the churches in that area that were leveled. His feeling, evidently was that God would never deliberatel y destroy a church. Someone in our group suggested that maybe those churches were luke warm and needed destroying, but that was just a possibility.
I have no firm opinion either way, but Izzy gave a verse the other day in something she sent that sticks in my mind. Amos 3:6 where the prophet asks, "If there is calamity in a city, is it not God's doing?"
Terry
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
God is omniscient, so there is no argument that He knew what would happen. God is omnipotent, so He could have stopped it or altered the course. Why did He not do that? Anyone's guess. I suspect that there was not enough prayer by righteous people for a starter. Could be that He has set the forces of nature long ago and programmed them to do certain things at certain seasons, and sees better reasons for letting nature run it's course than for interfering. I heard one preacher say that if God directed the storm to punish gangs and casinos and rampant sin then you also have to blame God for the churches in that area that were leveled. His feeling, evidently was that God would never deliberatel y destroy a church. Someone in our group suggested that maybe those churches were luke warm and needed destroying, but that was just a possibility.
I have no firm opinion either way, but Izzy gave a verse the other day in something she sent that sticks in my mind. Amos 3:6 where the prophet asks, "If there is calamity in a city, is it not God's doing?"
Terry
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I was reading in Hebrews 12 and it occurred to me that "chastening" as in "the chastening of the Lord" is not about God providing events to do the work of slapping his children around and getting them to walk a tight line. Rather, "chastening" is more rooted in Romans 8:28 and the revelation that God works all things for the good. Stuff happens. God uses it to teach lessons.The storms in the Gulf Coast are not about an angry God teaching His people a lesson. Rather, it is about a loving Father who sits down with His children and says, "Now, what lessons can we learn from this disgusting disaster?"Look to Hebrews 12:3. This passage on "chantening" begins with chastening of Christ at the hands of sinners. God did not author this event -- He used it ------- for the good of His eternal Son and for us all. When bad things happens, it is our call -- per passages such as Heb 12 - to look for the benefit as we partner with a loving heavenly Father."Chastening" is not the bad that comes our way but what we make of that bad circumstance. When we learn this lesson, we begin to be partakers of His holiness (12:10).If there is a lesson in those storms on the Gulf Coast, it is a lesson for those who are in partnership with Him -------------------- not for the pagan minded.Just a thought.JD
