God's Will: The Virginia Tech Shootings

Unless you've been under a rock today, you know that a gunman shot and killed 33 people (and wounded 15) at Virginia Tech today before turning his gun on himself. Story with breaking news is here:
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/breaking/wb/113294

and also here:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html

Upset over being dumped by his girlfriend, this Godless loser (let's face it, nobody with God in his life would go about shooting people!) decided to go on a rampage and kill off as many of his fellow students as he could. At the moment, many are wondering how God could stand idly by and let such a thing happen.

I, for one, do not believe God stands idly by and lets anything happen. As it is written in Matthew 10:

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

What does the Bible tell us? God is omnipotent! God is omniscient! Nothing happens in this world without His knowledge and His direction!

Everything, including this shooting, is part of God's Plan.

Ah, you doubt this. It conflicts with Pastor Feelgood's lies; he tells you that God is all about peace and love, and wants everyone to be happy all the time. Doesn't he?

My Bible says, in Exodus 15:3, "The LORD is a man of war: The LORD is His name." But we'll save that discussion for another day.

Following Pastor Feelgood's lines, you say, "Surely God didn't intend for all these fine young people to be brutally slaughtered, even as they tried to better themselves! They had their whole lives ahead of them, with many future chances to be Saved!"

Let's examine this logically, shall we?

If God did not intend this result, then that means that some loser who got dumped by his girlfriend is capable of thwarting the Divine Will of the Creator of the Universe.

Does that make sense? Er, no. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Perhaps you say, "Oh, I don't believe that God takes an active role in human day-to-day life. I believe that God started the whole universe thing rolling along, then backed off and lets us find our own way. So humans make their own mess, without God's involvement."

Ok, let's examine that position!

If God started the universe and then stopped intervening and does not have a Divine Plan, then that means that all "miracles" are nonsense or demonic possession. You know, like when someone is "miraculously" cured of cancer, or "miraculously" survives a 10-story fall. Nothing to do with God, and not a miracle.

After all, you believe that God is not involved in human life. Miracles are divine intervention.

Sorry, friend. You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Either:

Option A: God IS involved in humans' daily lives, in which case the shootings at Virginia Tech (and the Holocaust, and Pol Pot's ethnic cleansing program, and the 9/11 attack, and the war in Iraq) are manifestations His Divine Will in accordance with His Plan, or

Option B: God IS NOT involved in humans' daily lives, in which case all "miracles" are not the work of God. This includes two miracles specific to Christianity: One of Virgin Birth, and one of Resurrection.

I'm forced to go with Option A. Aren't you?

Why did God want these 33 people dead, and 15 wounded? Is it because somebody else got an abortion, or because someone's a homosexual, or because there were female teachers?

If I were God, I could tell you. I'm not, the last time I checked. Therefore, I do not know His motives; neither do the people waiting to tell you this was God's Revenge for (fill-in-the-sin). Granted, He isn't a fan of homosexuals or female teachers, but He IS the most prolific abortionist of all time (20% of pregnancies fail after conception, most without the mother even knowing she's pregnant. It's called spontaneous abortion, look it up . . .).

The fact is, WE will not know why God wanted this to happen until we stand before Him and ask. All we do know, is that everything which happens is God's Will.

God knew when He formed the universe that the vast majority of the humans He was going to create would fall short of His requirements for eternal bliss in Heaven. Therefore, it is God's Will.

From the Roanoke paper:

Seth Terrell, Virginia Tech campus pastor at Blacksburg Church of Christ, says the congregation will hold a prayer vigil tonight at the church. The time is yet to be determined but will likely be 6 or 7, he said.

Do you think they'll give God the glory?

Welcome to The Feelgood Bible!

Feelgood Bible? What's that all about, you ask?

For years, since joining a Bible-believing Charismatic church, I've been increasingly shocked and dismayed by the arrogance of church leaders and nominal Christians everywhere. What do they do?

• Cherry-pick verses, like John 3:16a, and portray God and Jesus as some sort of free-love hippies.
• Interpret God's Word, twisting His Truth to mean what they want it to mean.
• Decide that parts are "out of date" or "for historical purposes only".

Who makes these choices? Pastors Feelgood, not God.

God gave us the Bible as His Complete and Perfect Word. It is not to be added to, nor removed from, nor altered. So doing is a direct disobedience of God's commandment!

When Pastors Feelgood are finished with the Bible, they've usually whittled it down to a pamphlet of happy verses of naive love, and treated the rest as so much toilet paper. That wee pamphlet is the foundation for their "Feelgood Bible".

Pastors Feelgood then elaborate upon the verses they've selected, building up the full "Feelgood Apocrypha"! The "prosperity evangelists" (think Joel Osteen) have developed an extensive Feelgood Apocrypha, writings which draw the reader away from God's core messages and into a Satanic world of greed-for-'God'. Heretical? I sure think so. Don't you?

If this isn't heretical, I don't know what is:

On Larry King Live, the following very disturbing conversation occurred with Larry King and Joel Osteen:

KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to Heaven. I don't know ...

At this point, even Larry King appears surprised by Osteen’s answer. Then Larry tosses Osteen a "soft-ball" to explain his previous answer. And again Osteen openly denies that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way of salvation.

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've
seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

[segment removed for brevity - MV]

KING: What about atheists?

OSTEEN: You know what, I'm going to let someone -- I'm going to let God be the judge of who goes to Heaven and Hell. I just -- again, I present the truth, and I say it every week. You know, I believe it's a relationship with Jesus. But you know what? I'm not going to go around telling everybody else if they don't want to believe that that's going to be their choice. God's got to look at your own heart. God's got to look at your heart, and only God knows that. - Quoted from http://www.av1611.org/osteen.html

This is what passes for Christianity today! No wonder faith is as strong in this country as the manufacturing sector!

This blog will explore what the Bible actually says about good, evil, natural disasters, sin, sex, Heaven, Hell, and everything else. Current events will also come into play, helping us see how God's Truth applies to here and now, not just what happened two to six thousand years ago.

I look forward to sharing with you, and some invigorating discussions about the Bible, God's Plans for humanity, and who God and Jesus really are!