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NASB | Matthew 6:9 ¶ "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 6:9 ¶ "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. [Luke 11:2-4] |
Subject: Thy will be done, statement or fact? |
Bible Note: Hi, Steve! Part 1 of 2 I know we’ve made strides… so it is with a heavy heart that I once again must disagree with you… “I would like to take specific words of God and Jesus and see if this is what they are implying.” I think that when we read Scripture and we speculate on its meaning we run the risk of seeing (discerning) values that are not coherent with Scripture… True Christ was led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan… this does not testifies to God’s leading us to temptation… Jesus, being God, could not be tempted by Satan who is a creature--Satan needed God’s Authority to come near Jesus! And while Jesus’ prayer seemingly implies that God can lead to temptation… it is requesting that He protect us from temptation, not that He protects us from His impulses to lead us to temptation! “In order for the book of revelation to come to fruition, God must make it happen, not us.” I agree with this statement 100 percent! We are insignificant when it comes to God’s Divine Plan… still, we are not mere puppets, mere play pieces on a board game… “Stratego,” if I remember the name correctly, is a strategy board game where pieces are placed and war is enacted in an attempt to capture/destroy the opponent army’s flag?… these pieces are completely inert and impotent! It is not so with God’s Divine Plan! True His Will is done and will accomplish His judgment, but we have been created in His image and likeness… we, humanity, has the potential of being His children, not just mere pawns on a predetermined cosmic campaign. Revelation 16:8-11 attests to humanity resolve not to submit to God’s Will--the wicked perish not because they have been coerced by God or Willed by God to perish, but because they reject His Authority and choose to curse Him rather than to serve Him! “Jesus would not tell us to ask God to lead us not into temptation if God is not leading us.” On the surface this statement seems logical and totally correct… but you yourself stated that we cannot resist Satan, a creature who is but insignificant in light of the Almighty’s Power! How could we resist God if He willed us to be saved or to be damned? How could God claim to be a God of Mercy and Love if He Willfully condemns humanity to a life of depravity only impart Judgment against them for being and doing exactly what He Willed them to be? True, this is said of Pharaoh and Israel and the old pagan world--the world under the Old Covenant… but this is said and these things are done because the Word had not become incarnate as of yet… once Jesus came onto the world, He gave humanity the ability to become sons (children) of God… and since He is God, in His Wisdom He also came to those who existed under the Old Covenant so that all, both the dead and the living, would see and benefit from God’s Mercy. (John 11:24-26; Romans 14:9; 1 Peter 3:18-22) As far as God having any part in our temptation Scripture is resolute on this matter: Never, when you are being put to the test, say, ‘God is tempting me’; God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the test. Everyone is put to the test by being attracted and seduced by that person’s own wrong desires. Then the desires conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin reaches full growth, it gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15) “All we do is God’s will.” If this were to be so, what gripe does God have with homosexuals and all other sexual immorality, murderers, thieves, liars, drunks… Does your statement not exonerate the villainous murderers of children and the innocent who wage terrorism on the least suspecting and undeserving? Does it not support organized crime, genocide, infanticide, and rampant corruption--in all scales (public and private realms)? After all, those who kill babies and wholesale/retail their parts for “the good of medical advancement” have only God to blame for giving them their skills, their status, their wealth, and their inclination to profit from the killing of our babies and from the marketing of the byproduct of their murderous trade! |