Posted by James 5:16 on September 17, 2001 at 22:24:58:
In Reply to: Re: Forsaken posted by Ezekiel 25:17 on September 16, 2001 at 22:37:05:
: I didn't say God had forsaken us.
: If there is one, I said I wouldn't be surprised if he just gave up in disgust.
: Free-will is good I suppose, but perhaps if God could spare perhaps just a little time in his busy schedule to clarify he is the true God, then perhaps we might be able to get along peacefully without all this religious turmoil.
: You believe in God. The terrorists believe in a God. You disagree. Fighting occurs. Go figure what's wrong. It's time to stop treating terrorists as evil incarnate and devils and begin to understand what motivates them and how to stop the fighting. I'm sure all your praying is going to make a big difference. If you really cared you would get off your ass and do something constructive for the victims or donate some money for aid.
I do many things for the people that are suffering, and financial aid is among them. I have no problems with my lack (or not in my case) of support and service for our country in our time of need.
However, I do believe that prayer is one of the essential parts to this issue. In the book of James, from which my online name is taken, James mentions that faith without works is empty. Quite honestly, I have no problems with the support I am giving, both financially and through other means. The other means here is prayer.
We can continue by praying for peace, and still contribute to solving the problem. It's kind of insulting that you would assume that I would spend all of my time on my knees. There is no place in the Bible that has us in prayer alone. We, as Christians, spend a lot of time dealing out solutions as well as prayers.
Prayers serve multiple roles to a Christian, but never by themselves.
Next, the cause of problems between Christians, Jews and Islams goes back centuries. In fact, all the way back in the Bible to Genesis! It's no big surprise that something like this might happen eventually. To be honest, the Bible records this type of event happening before.
From a motivational standpoint, we know why the terrorists do what they do.
The objection is the fact that they do it.
The terrorists killed many, many people. Ask them why they did not bring their grievances to us. I'd be curious to know what you discover.
We had better get used to terrorism. It's effective and for a while at least, it's here to stay. I'm not saying that it is the right way of doing things. Far from it. But it is the way they know.
Well, that's all for now.
Thanks,
James 5:16