I have been going to seminary for a while, and Heyward is very knowledgeable as well. We want to answer any and all of your questions concerning the tenets and beliefs of Christianity: Who Christ is, why suffering exists, who God is, what is the nature of God, why Jesus had to die, is the Bible accurate, what does the Bible say, etc.
We want you to be comfortable with talking about Christianity, we will not try to argue our assert our beliefs upon you, we will just state them. Anything you want to ask, we will answer without judgement. If we don't hold up to our promises here, I am sorry.
How do you perceive god to be? Why do you think he allows evil to occur to the beings he created? Do you agree with it disregarding the fact you follow him no matter what he does?
He lies, kills, steals, and destroys everything good.
God has killed more people than Satan, no?
Yes. God knows what he's doing. The devil cannot comprehend God's work. Neither can we.
God has reasons, Satan has none. He kills for no reason--he kills the righteous. God judges the wicked--if that be by death, then that be by death. For a righteous (or redeemed--not by his works, but by the work of Christ alone, so he is not righteous because of himself but because he has been cleaned, and granted righteousness on an accord of grace only) person, death is good. God allows death for the righteous because it is sweet release. God judges a wicked person with death as a punishment. God knows who will repent and who will reject God's GRACE. It is not evil for him to allow death for a righteous person or kill an evil and wicked individual--because he knows everything: the past, the present, and the future. Satan is called the killer, the murderer, because he has no plan he kills without intent and does not hesitate to kill anyone only because he is blood-thirsty.
How do you perceive god to be? Why do you think he allows evil to occur to the beings he created? Do you agree with it disregarding the fact you follow him no matter what he does?
I perceive God to be nothing but good, just, and righteous. He willingly laid down his life for the entire world that they may receive eternal life. Not only for the world, but for me. How could I not call the God that ransomed me, freed me from bondage, and loves me with all his heart, eternally and wholly good?
God allows evil to occur to the righteous because their testimonies give glory to God. It be an honor for me to be killed by ISIS for preaching the good news about Jesus--I mean that in the utmost truth and respect. To die is gain. To be martyred is for others to gain. When evil happens to God's people and they hold-fast to God and trust him, the world cannot help to marvel at them--or call them idiots and insane. Look at this story of Perpetua and a few other Christians who willingly were led to be slaughtered in the Roman Colosseum by bears, boars, bulls, and centurions.
Spoiler: click to toggle
Quote:
[Vibia Perpetua was a young woman of noble birth. She was twenty-two, a wife, a mother of a young son and a Christian. In the city of Carthage in North Africa on March 7 of the year 203 she was put to death for her religious convictions. Her story comes to us from three eyewitness accounts written shortly after her death.]
[Perpetua said] "When I was in the hands of the persecutors, my father in his tender solicitude tried hard to pervert me from the faith.
'My father,' I said, 'you see this pitcher. Can we call it by any other name than what it is?'
'No,' he said.
'Nor can I' [I said], 'call myself by any other name than that of Christian.'
So he went away, but, on the rumor that we were to be tried, wasted away with anxiety.
'Daughter,' he said, 'have pity on my gray hairs; have pity on thy father. Do not give me over to disgrace. Behold thy brothers, thy mother, and thy aunt: behold thy child who cannot live without thee. Do not destroy us all.'
Thus spake my father, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet. And I wept because of my father, for he alone of all my family would not rejoice in my martyrdom. So I comforted him, saying:
'In this trial what God determines will take place. We are not in our own keeping, but in God's.' So he left me - weeping bitterly.
[transition to the original source's author's point of view]
The day of their victory dawned, and they marched from the prison to the amphitheatre joyfully as though they were going to heaven, with calm faces, trembling, if at all, with joy rather than fear. Perpetua went along with shining countenance and calm step, as the beloved of God, as a wife of Christ, putting down everyone's stare by her own intense gaze. With them also was Felicitas, glad that she had safely given birth so that now she could fight the beasts, going from one blood bath to another, from the midwife to the gladiator, ready to wash after childbirth in a second baptism.
They were then led up to the gates and the men were forced to put on the robes of priests of Saturn, the women the dress of the priestesses of Ceres. But the noble Perpetua strenuously resisted this to the end.
'We came to this of our own free will, that our freedom should not be violated. We agreed to pledge our lives provided that we would do no such thing. You agreed with us to do this.'
Even injustice recognized justice. The military tribune agreed. They were to be brought into the arena just as they were. Perpetua then began to sing a psalm: she was already treading on the head of the Egyptian. Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus began to warn the on looking mob. Then when they came within sight of Hilarianus, they suggested by their motions and gestures: 'You have condemned us, but God will condemn you' was what they were saying.
At this the crowds became enraged and demanded that they be scourged before a line of gladiators. And they rejoiced at this that they had obtained a share in the Lord's sufferings.
But he who said, Ask and you shall receive, answered their prayer by giving each one the death he had asked for. For whenever they would discuss among themselves their desire for martyrdom, Saturninus indeed insisted that he wanted to be exposed to all the different beasts, that his crown might be all the more glorious. And so at the outset of the contest he and Revocatus were matched with a leopard, and then while in the stocks they were attacked by a bear. As for Saturus, he dreaded nothing more than a bear, and he counted on being killed by one bite of a leopard. Then he was matched with a wild boar; but the gladiator who had tied him to the animal was gored by the boar and died a few days after the contest, whereas Saturus was only dragged along. Then when he was bound in the stocks awaiting the bear, the animal refused to come out of the cages, so that Saturus was called back once more unhurt.
For the young women, however, the Devil had prepared a mad heifer. This was an unusual animal, but it was chosen that their sex might be matched with that of the beast. So they were stripped naked, placed in nets and thus brought out into the arena. Even the crowd was horrified when they saw that one was a delicate young girl and the other was a woman fresh from childbirth with the milk still dripping from her breasts. And so they were brought back again and dressed in unbelted tunics.
First the heifer tossed Perpetua and she fell on her back. Then sitting up she pulled down the tunic that was ripped along the side so that it covered her thighs, thinking more of her modesty than of her pain. Next she asked for a pin to fasten her untidy hair: for it was not right that a martyr should die with her hair in disorder, lest she might seem to be mourning in her hour of triumph.
Then she got up. And seeing that Felicitas had been crushed to the ground, she went over to her, gave her hand, and lifted her up. Then the two stood side by side. But the cruelty of the mob was by now appeased, and so they were called back through the Gate of Life.
There Perpetua was held up by a man named Rusticus who was at the time a catechumen and kept close to her. She awoke from a kind of sleep (so absorbed had she been in ecstasy in the Spirit) and she began to look about her. Then to the amazement of all she said: 'When are we going to be thrown to that heifer or whatever it is?'
When told that this had already happened, she refused to believe it until she noticed the marks of her rough experience on her person and her dress. Then she called for her brother and spoke to him together with the catechumens and said: 'You must all stand fast in the faith and love one another, and do not be weakened by what we have gone through.'
At another gate Saturus was earnestly addressing the soldier Pudens. 'It is exactly', he said, 'as I foretold and predicted. So far not one animal has touched me. So now you may believe me with all your heart: I am going in there and I shall be finished off with one bite of the leopard.' And immediately as the contest was coming to a close a leopard was let loose, and after one bite Saturus was so drenched with blood that as he came away the mob roared in witness to his second baptism: 'Well washed! Well washed!' For well washed indeed was one who had been bathed in this manner.
Then he said to the soldier Pudens: 'Good-bye. Remember me, and remember the faith. These things should not disturb you but rather strengthen you.'
And with this he asked Pudens for a ring from his finger, and dipping it into his wound he gave it back to him again as a pledge and as a record of his bloodshed.
Shortly after he was thrown unconscious with the rest in the usual spot to have his throat cut. But the mob asked that their bodies be brought out into the open that their eyes might be the guilty witnesses of the sword that pierced their flesh. And so the martyrs got up and went to the spot of their own accord as the people wanted them to, and kissing one another they sealed their martyrdom with the ritual kiss of peace. The others took the sword in silence and without moving, especially Saturus, who being the first to climb the stairway was the first to die. For once again he was waiting for Perpetual Perpetua, however, had yet to taste more pain. She screamed as she was struck on the bone; then she took the trembling hand of the young gladiator and guided it to her throat. It was as though so great a woman, feared as she was by the unclean spirit, could not be dispatched unless she herself were willing.
More from the original source @http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/perpetua.html
How can you not marvel at their dedication. Either that, or they were insane. It is either that they are extremely correct in what they believe--to the point they are willing to die for the truth, or that they are insane, and deranged. I prefer the latter.
As for why God allows bad things to happen to the wicked? Well, they're wicked. Also, I guess I can plug this song in again:
The last section of your question makes no sense. It presupposes that I would be an atheist--if I were an atheist I would, in all aspects, disagree with God. But I'm not an atheist, I'm a follower of Jesus--so I do just that, follow.
i meant do you follow him because you agree with him or because you have to.
I follow him because I agree with him. I am seeking for him to obtain glory from all people(s). I follow him because I trust he has a plan, and I wholeheartedly agree with his plan, because his plan is the plan that saved me.
Clarification on the beginning of the story about Perpetua.
Her father was pleading for her to renounce her faith so he wouldn't have a Christian as a daughter. At that moment she had been in prison for almost a year, and having had many visits with her father, he was growing weary and worried. He was pleading for her not to accept the martyrdom, all she had to do was lie about her salvation from Christ--she would not do it.
i meant do you follow him because you agree with him or because you have to.
I follow him because I agree with him. I am seeking for him to obtain glory from all people(s). I follow him because I trust he has a plan, and I wholeheartedly agree with his plan, because his plan is the plan that saved me.
i meant do you follow him because you agree with him or because you have to.
I follow him because I agree with him. I am seeking for him to obtain glory from all people(s). I follow him because I trust he has a plan, and I wholeheartedly agree with his plan, because his plan is the plan that saved me.
Saved you from what?
From the effects of sin. Death, from his just punishment for the rebellion I constantly supply. This is the mystery of God--though I sin, as I still do everyday, God counts me as a perfect man who has never sinned nor ever even knew what it would be like to sin.
Somehow, in someway, Jesus' blood was enough to provide for me a cover, to hide my shame, to hide my sin, and to allow God to grant a sinner His love and presence for eternity.
This is a huge thing! For God cannot be in the presence of sin, he can never--or else the sin would be abolished. He is so perfect, that anything not perfect would cease to exist in his dwelling place (which is heaven). It is a mystery a GREAT mystery as to how God, with Jesus' sacrifice, can now be in the presence of a sinner--even dwell in him, as the Holy Spirit dwells in me.
He saved me from my destruction, he saved me from death, and he saved me from the absolute just punishment, torture in hell, which I deserved and still deserve to this day. But I do not have to worry about whether or not I sin, because I have hope that when I come to be judged, Jesus will be my advocate.