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#Post#: 2056--------------------------------------------------
Prayer problem
By: Kerry Date: November 23, 2012, 6:14 am
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A very religious man lived right next door to an atheist. While
the religious one prayed day in, day out, and was constantly on
his knees in communion with his Lord, the atheist never even
looked twice at a church.
However, the atheist's life was good, he had a well-paying job
and a beautiful wife, and his children were healthy and good-
natured, whereas the pious man's job was strenuous and his wages
were low, his wife was getting fatter every day and his kids
wouldn't give him the time of the day.
So one day, deep in prayer as usual, he raised his eyes towards
heaven and asked:
"Oh God, I honour you every day, I ask your advice for every
problem and confess to you my every sin. Yet my neighbour, who
doesn't even believe in you and certainly never prays, seems
blessed with every happiness, while I go poor and suffer many an
indignity. Why is this?"
And a great voice was heard from above:
"BECAUSE HE DOESN'T BOTHER ME ALL THE TIME!"
#Post#: 2456--------------------------------------------------
Re: Prayer problem
By: Leaf Date: December 6, 2012, 12:05 pm
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GASP! :o
Lord forbid!
#Post#: 2461--------------------------------------------------
Re: Prayer problem
By: bənê hāʼĕlōhîm
Date: December 6, 2012, 1:13 pm
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[center]And that's the answer to the [size=14pt]BIG question...
Why do the good suffer and the evil prosper???
:-\[/size][/center]
#Post#: 2466--------------------------------------------------
Re: Prayer problem
By: Kerry Date: December 6, 2012, 5:14 pm
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^ Rabbi Mosheh Chaim Luzzatto gives the kabbalist view of it in
his book Derech Ha-Shem. It is sometimes God's Pleasure to
arrange things this way since it makes things simpler after the
person dies and the soul is judged.
First we should be believe that God's Justice is perfect. Every
good deed will have its reward and every evil deed its. The
Bible agrees with this view with many Scriptures supporting it.
A cup of water given with the right attitude will have its
reward; and we will have to answer for our idle words.
Every man, even the most righteous, commits some evil deeds; and
when God wishes to reward him as quickly as possible after he
dies, he receives all the rewards for his evil deeds while he is
alive. Likewise the most wicked of men do some good deeds, and
sometimes it is God's Pleasure to reward them fittingly in this
life for all their good deeds in this life while deferrring
dealing with the evil deeds. Jesus said something similar when
talking about Abraham and the afterlife.
Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil
things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
It seems to me that God would arrange matters so all men and
women had the best chance at reforming themselves. If troubles
or poverty were things which taught someone lessons he needed to
know, God would allow troubles or poverty to come to pass, thus
doing two things at the same time: Rewarding him for his own
evil deeds, and arranging for him to reform for the better. If
someone couldn't benefit from them, they can wait.
Poverty can be a blessing in disguise if you look at things. The
rich man given so many chances to do good in the world with his
money can fail time and again; and what excuse will he have
later? It is easier for a poor person to understand the
importance of sharing; and you often do find poor people with
very good attitudes about sharing what little they have.
Before we complain about how the evil prosper, I ask if we
ever stole anything or wanted to? Do we want a world where we
can steal and do other bad things to other people and get away
with it? When I look around, I'd say most people do want that
kind of world -- I'll admit I have at times -- and God lets us
have it so we can figure out if it's really what we want.
We seem to want a world where we don't have to obey the Golden
Rule, and then we complain about it when others don't obey it.
We say things aren't fair when things don't go our way; but we
don't care about being fair when things work to our advantage.
It's a little comical, but it's also tragic.
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