Be Courageous, Mr. President

I agree, we are often too smart for our own good, and sometimes our intellects will fail us. That's why I posted questions, not answers. Questions that for the most part I think I know the answer to, but answers that I don't know how to explain.

Please don't take anything I said as me trying to outsmart you, I am not that arrogant. And, I have learned that smart is not the same thing as wise. And Helen, your wisdom goes beyond the knowledge of many. I may be "smart" (although most people would debate that), but I pray often for wisdom.

Anytime you need a place to express what you think, or to wrestle with something, I hope that you feel welcomed here. You will find that most of my writing has more to do with me trying to understand what others are thinking and how I feel about them. But I'm wrong often. It is not my desire to prove someone wrong; only to have discussions about faith in an honest and open way, and that together we can sharpen each other in the faith. And it is my prayer that God would use these conversations to make me wise.

And for the record, I'm no Baptist. I don't have a denomination; I have a Savior who set me free from religion.

Hi,Dustin
You have a beautiful family, may God continue to bless all of you.
You pretty much responed as I expected you too. You are far more equiped than i, for me to even get into a discussion as to what Gods purpose may or may not be. However God clearly says His ways are not ours.I heard a speaker once say when the baptist get to heaven they are going to be surprised. I was just expressing how I feel about God and abortion. There is a lot of things wrong in our churches including the gift of gab which most peachers,teachers and those who feel God has lead them to speak for Him. The question I posted have been a part of my prayer to God. Asking Him why abortion GodAnd no man on this earth no matter how much they have studied Gods words can anserw that. You see Dustin I belive man has just gotten too smart for its own Good.

Hi Helen, it's great to hear from you. I hope all things are going well with you and your family. You raised some very deep issues that I wanted to respond to, but if I were to respond to all of them I might not ever get to work. So let me do this in two parts.

Part one is a post I wrote in response to something that you might or might not have suggested, but even if not it still requires a little clarification on my part, so go read that post here (You might want to read that first and then read the questions). In the post it is my purpose to give my opinion about something I sensed as a theme in your comment (I'm sorry if I read too far into it). What I believed I saw was the same thing I see more and more when talking with people about church. It is that many people have a frustration or sadness with the way that Christians (and more specifically, churches) today are dealing with the issue of abortion.

Part two is below. It is simply a number of questions that I thought of (for you, for me, or for anyone) while reading and thinking through your comment. They are just questions and I am not looking for answers to them because each of them is weighty and would take a substantial amount of time responding too (but you are surely welcome to answer them if you have the time). Over time I will take some of those questions and try, with my limited intellect, to answer them the best I can through future posts.

Anyway, here are my thoughts/questions...

Over two hundreds years ago, good God fearing christians believed the bible supported the brutle abduction and enslavement of African Americans.My family and I thank God people fought for our rights and our freedom.

1) Was it the Bible that supported slavery or bigots who forced interpretations on it that did?

2) Was it legit to believe that the bible condoned slavery?

3) Who where those who fought for and won the rights of blacks?

4) If there were no whites that fought to end slavery wouldn’t it still exist today (would blacks have been able to rise up against oppression and earn their rights by themselves, or was it necessary for others to fight for them? Like, unborn children.)

5) Blacks had no rights, no voting, no businesses to sway the economy or public opinion, yet God worked in the midst of rampant bigotry to give rights to those that had been denied rights by the people that claimed his name. (A lot like what is going on with unborn children)

I do not believe in abortion nor do I support it. However, I do believe if God has allowed people to make that choose, who am i to take that choice from them We are taught that God is or can be in control of everything in this world.

6) If God is sovereign, is he responsible when people choose to sin and He chooses to allow them?

7) If God allows people to make choices, does that mean He supports all the choices and outcomes of those choices (for example, God allows me to choose to purchase a gun and to choose to take it to the mall and shoot people, does that mean that 1) I should or 2) that God wants me to do it just because He allows me to do it), in other words just because God allows me to continue in sin, is it His desire for me to do so?

8.) If we can do something, does it mean we should do that thing?

God says do not murder but has allowed abortion to become legal. I wonder if God has allowed abortion to save the souls of those who may have died if they would have had an illegal in the dark basement ally abortion.

9) Wasn’t slavery at one time legal (did that make it right)? And if so, was it God’s desire for it to be (or as above, was it a bunch of bigots in positions of power in government and religion that made it legal)?

10) Is everything that is legal good? For example it is legal for me to have an affair, but do I honor Jesus by doing this?

11) Is it fair to argue that God might be sovereignly using abortion to accomplish His plans at the same time saying that he could not have been using slavery sovereingly to accomplish his plans? Doesn’t that show a certain moral bias on our part to argue that?

12) If God says something, such as, do not murder, do not commit adultery, or do not have any other gods, and the government says that it’s OK, does it mean that God submits his desires to the government and then approves?

13) If God allows a few sinners (government) to rule over a bunch of sinners (the people) will the result be a continued bettering of society or a bent toward sin?

14) Is it Gods fault that all sinners have a bent toward sin and seek justification in their laws in replacement for honoring Him with obedience to His desires and seeking justification in His son?

As christians we may just all be praying wrong.Maybe christians should have a day of prayer to pray for God to not change one mans heart or our goverment but to change the heart of every women or young girl not to have that abortion.

15) Is it wrong to pray that God would change the hearts of those who make the laws and set the example for our culture?

16) Is it wrong to pray that God would change the hearts of those men and women who support abortion or who must make the decision to have one or not?

17) Is it wrong to pray that God would give our little boys and girls a desire to see all life lived and none snuffed out because of sin?

Abortion is here to stay rather legal or not. I do have more to say but I have to go.

18) Why will abortion continue to exist? Why will murder, adultery, racism, homosexuality, or sin in general continue to exist?

19) If a sin will continue to exist, does that mean that as a culture we should embrace it? Does it mean that the church should just accept it or fight for Truth?

20) How should the church fight the onslaught of sin and its acceptance by the culture?

Over two hundreds years ago, good God fearing christians believed the bible supported the brutle abduction and enslavement of African Americans.My family and I thank God people fought for our rights and our freedom. I do not believe in abortion nor do I support it. However, I do believe if God has allowed pepole to make that choose, who am i to take that choice from them We are taught that God is or can be in control of everything in this world. God says do not murder but has allowed abortion to become legal. I wonder if God has allowed abortion to save the souls of those who may have died if they would have had an illegal in the dark basement ally abortion. As christians we may just all be praying wrong.Maybe christians should have a day of prayer to pray for God to not change one mans heart or our goverment but to change the heart of every women or young girl not to have that abortion. Abortion is here to stay rather legal or not. I do have more to say but I have to go.

When the world (in general) says it is okay to kill an unborn baby, but wrong to take the life of an animal has there priorities out of wack. Here is one man (John Piper) who as it states in Rom. 1:16 "for I am not ashamed of the gospel...," does not bend to the worldly acceptance of abortion, he stands firm showing that all life is a precious gift from God. People who agree with abortion say that it's not murder, but it is. It is the premeditated killing of the unborn. The plan comes to then it is executed. Many believe its okay to kill an unborn child but how DARE YOU harm or kill an animal. When did the rights of animals outweigh that of a human life? Human life is the second most precious gift God has given us (the first is His Son
Jesus Christ), who was at one point an unborn baby. I guess the point I am trying to make is that children are a true gift from God, why not let that gift have life!