Showing posts with label suffering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suffering. Show all posts

Thursday 9 March 2017

Praying to see troubles in the proper perspective


I pray to see my troubles in the proper perspective.
I know that, as I have suffered, others have suffered and still suffer more.
I pray that I may help to relieve their pain. Amen


Tuesday 2 February 2016

Evil in this world not bringing us down

 
Whilst evil threatens to overcome the world let us look for the Good and follow the Way.
We have been given God's Word to make us stronger and to be able to resit to evil.

By the Word of God we are given hope in which we can rejoice. By the message of the Holy Scriptures we can “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” Romans 5:2– and may this sustain us in “our sufferings”.

We may look ahead to Paul’s wonderful point in chapter 8,
 “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (verse 18).
May we, by God's grace, be a part of his kingdom age.

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Wednesday 5 October 2011

English texts update September 2011

In Christa-Delphos Welcome we brought a welcome to new visitors and mentioned also the news of us not going to bring so many articles any more on this platform.

We are pleased to find that the articles we now place on the WordPress pages are generating more visitors a day. And that is what we would love to see: more people reading about our ideas.

But we also notice that people do not dare to subscribe or do not want (yet) to receive updates so that they can know when a new article is published.
It does not harm to subscribe and it is free. At no cost or hidden agendas you can receive a notice in your mailbox when a new article is published. That is also for this site; By becoming a member you shall be able to get a notice by every new publication or to receive a rapport of what has been published in the past week.

On the other websites some article can be interesting to have a look at.
You shall be able to find:

Major points of Christadelphian belief

יהוה Creator of heaven and earth and everything around


A god between many gods


The wrong hero


God about His name “יהוה“

Posted on September 22, 2011. Filed under: Bible Study and Bible Reading, Jehovah God Elohim Yahweh | Tags: , , , , |

The Bible and names in it

Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #1 Suffering covered by Peace Offering

Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #2 What you must do

Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian

Self inflicted misery #1 The root by man

Self inflicted misery to bear 1.     The root by man For some the Book of Job offers no simple answer to the problem of suffering. But it should shed a light on how nobody can escape the problems of this world and shall be able to find himself confronted with misery at one or another [...]

Self inflicted misery #2 Weakness of human race

Self inflicted misery to bear 2.     Weakness of human race Man’s neglect and misuse of his own life has corrupted the stream of human life itself, and left evils which fall on succeeding generations. These, again as part of natural law, may manifest themselves as hereditary weaknesses and tendencies to disease. The very stuff of [...]

Self inflicted misery #3 A man given to suffer for us

Self inflicted misery to bear 3.     A man given to suffer for us About 2000 years ago a man named Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in the land of Israel. His birth, mission, death and resurrection were foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible and revealed to us [...]

Self inflicted misery #4 To whom to listen

Self inflicted misery to bear 4.     To whom to listen As Christians we better listen to the one whose title we use in our name: Christians. The Christ, Jesus or Yeshua, the Nazarene often talked about his Father who showed His love to the world. The master teacher knew that many people accused his loving [...]

Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him

Self inflicted misery to bear 5.     A prophet without a hedge around him Though God loved Jesus He did not put hedge about him. Perhaps we can say God had blessed the work of his hands but God had not put a wall round him and no protection when Jesus was in need not to [...]

Self inflicted misery #6 Paying by death

Posted on July 29, 2011. Filed under: Life and Death, Suffering, Thought | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
Self inflicted misery to bear 6.     Paying by death The people Jesus brought to live had to die again. As long as the world did not come to face the End of the Times, the world had to pay for her sins by death. You could say that is the penalty God has given us [...]

Self inflicted misery #7 Good news to our suffering

Self inflicted misery #8 Pruning to strengthen us

Self inflicted misery #9 Subject to worldly things

English Artticles from July-September 2011

In Christa-Delphos Welcome we brought a welcome to new visitors and mentioned also the news of us not going to bring so many articles any more on this platform.

We are pleased to find that the articles we now place on the WordPress pages are generating more visitors a day. And that is what we would love to see: more people reading about our ideas.

But we also notice that people do not dare to subscribe or do not want (yet) to receive updates so that they can know when a new article is published.
It does not harm to subscribe and it is free. At no cost or hidden agendas you can receive a notice in your mailbox when a new article is published. That is also for this site; By becoming a member you shall be able to get a notice by every new publication or to receive a rapport of what has been published in the past week.

On the other websites some article can be interesting to have a look at.
You shall be able to find:

Major points of Christadelphian belief

יהוה Creator of heaven and earth and everything around


A god between many gods


The wrong hero


God about His name “יהוה“

Posted on September 22, 2011. Filed under: Bible Study and Bible Reading, Jehovah God Elohim Yahweh | Tags: , , , , |

The Bible and names in it

Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #1 Suffering covered by Peace Offering

Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #2 What you must do

Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian

Self inflicted misery #1 The root by man

Self inflicted misery to bear 1.     The root by man For some the Book of Job offers no simple answer to the problem of suffering. But it should shed a light on how nobody can escape the problems of this world and shall be able to find himself confronted with misery at one or another [...]

Self inflicted misery #2 Weakness of human race

Self inflicted misery to bear 2.     Weakness of human race Man’s neglect and misuse of his own life has corrupted the stream of human life itself, and left evils which fall on succeeding generations. These, again as part of natural law, may manifest themselves as hereditary weaknesses and tendencies to disease. The very stuff of [...]

Self inflicted misery #3 A man given to suffer for us

Self inflicted misery to bear 3.     A man given to suffer for us About 2000 years ago a man named Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in the land of Israel. His birth, mission, death and resurrection were foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible and revealed to us [...]

Self inflicted misery #4 To whom to listen

Self inflicted misery to bear 4.     To whom to listen As Christians we better listen to the one whose title we use in our name: Christians. The Christ, Jesus or Yeshua, the Nazarene often talked about his Father who showed His love to the world. The master teacher knew that many people accused his loving [...]

Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him

Self inflicted misery to bear 5.     A prophet without a hedge around him Though God loved Jesus He did not put hedge about him. Perhaps we can say God had blessed the work of his hands but God had not put a wall round him and no protection when Jesus was in need not to [...]

Self inflicted misery #6 Paying by death

Posted on July 29, 2011. Filed under: Life and Death, Suffering, Thought | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
Self inflicted misery to bear 6.     Paying by death The people Jesus brought to live had to die again. As long as the world did not come to face the End of the Times, the world had to pay for her sins by death. You could say that is the penalty God has given us [...]

Self inflicted misery #7 Good news to our suffering

Self inflicted misery #8 Pruning to strengthen us

Self inflicted misery #9 Subject to worldly things


Wednesday 1 December 2010

You God hold the future

All About the Future
All About the Future (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"I don't know what the future holds;
but I do know who holds the future."
- Unknown

"And all these, having gained approval through their faith,
did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us,
so that apart from us they would not be made perfect."
Hebrews 11:39-40


Today's suffering has nothing in comparison with
the magnificence that
will become revealed in us.
Let me be able to
carry this
and let me full
hope look at the magnificence
that will become
reality for forever,
Your Kingdom.
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: U God houdt de toekomst in handen


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2016 linkupdate

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Dying or not

Are there people who have no death in them? According to Scriptures nobody is going to escape death. Since what happened in Eden we all have to face pain, ageing, deterioration, dying. Immortality is not given to us worldly people.

We are all going to die, which means that we are going to cease to exist until resurrected.  In death, the grave, there is no knowledge, no remembrance, no praise. There is no extra element of us, an extraordinary being or sort ghost which is going to live on. Man is dust and to dust he returns (see Genesis 3:19; Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3).
A separate soul was not joined to a prepared body when we came into existence on this earth. We were born by receiving the breath of life.  Man became a living soul (being RSV) when the breath of the spirit of life was breathed into his nostrils. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, KJV).


All our live we may have chosen to follow God, but this even lets us not live on after our death. Once we come to that point we also shall not be able to feel or do anything anymore. Even not praising God.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give you praise?" (Psalm 6:5)
"What profit will thee be in my blood when I go down to the pit?  Shall the dust praise thee?  Shall it declare thy truth?" (Psalm 30:9) "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (Psalm 115:17). We shall not be able to do anything, even not praise God. Because we would be like in a deep sleep. And we have to wait until we got woken up by Jesus like he called Lazarus (John 11:11). In "the last days", when God will show His power once more on the earth, at "a time of trouble such as never was "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1-2). Some people will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes and others will sleep forever in the dust of the ground.

We die and return to the earth. If we have died "in Christ" we have that marvellous hope that we will rise again to eternal life. But that is not going to happen straight ahead after our death. That's why believers who have died in the new testament are said to be "asleep" while those who "understand not" as the Psalmist puts it have been destroyed.
Subjectively the dead have no sense of time between the moment of death and that of the resurrection. Objectively, thousands of years may have passed before they shall get resurrected.

“If (God) should set his heart on it, if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath, All flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (Job 34:14,15) and stay dust, but He has given His promises and by those we do find life.

Whilst it is easy to focus on the mention of dust, and to think of the bodily corruption that occurs when anybody dies, think instead about what is being told us about life.
Life is a gift from God. He energised Adam in the Garden of Eden and made it possible for mankind to come into existence and He has perpetuated the race that Adam and Eve fathered.
Someone once said about God: “He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), and that generosity is evident all around us, all the time.  Life is the most marvellous thing we
possess: it is God’s free gift to all of us.

He gives and we receive. He is the source of life and we are creatures dependent upon Him. When our breath leaves the body, try as we might, we cannot get it back. Nobody can bring a dead body back to life: when it is dead it is dead. So here is a stark reminder of the difference
between God and mankind: He is immortal and we are not. The Bible often makes that  distinction and that is hard for some people to accept, but see for yourself.

It is our Almighty God who has given immortality to His angels and to only one man. Namely Jesus who at his return to earth will manifest in his own time.  It is this Jesus who shall appear "our Lord Yahshua the Messiah: Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting.  Amen." (1 Timothy 6:14-16 KJBPNV)

If we want it or not, we are the lesser one. We are always given up to death. “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11); “Here mortal men receive tithes…” (Hebrews 7:8).

God alone has inherent immortality. He is the only one who is eternal. Though certain Christian denominations proclaim that we become eternal, this shall always be impossible because we always had somewhere a beginning. And a person who had a beginning can not be eternal because that is one of the implications of eternity, having no beginning and no end.

We are mortal – dying creatures. But God, who first gave mankind the breath of life, can also give us life that lasts forever. The Bible calls this “eternal life” or “immortality” but there you have to be careful how you want to understand that immortality. Please do have before your eyes that you have two forms of immortality: 1. having no way to die or 2. the one (how I would put it and believe in) were we have the possibility in us to die but are give (by grace) the possibility to stay for ever, which is to stay a life in eternity. Here’s one of God’s promises about that wonderful
prospect: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It is that life for eternal what we can get, because Jesus brought his Ransom Offer. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concernmg them which are asleep (he means in death), that ye sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope .... For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven ... with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise . . ." (1 Thessalonians 4:13,16) Christ personally (note "himself") will descend from heaven; and the faithful dead will rise-from the grave of course. Here are basic teachings which are found throughout the New Testament. They are foundation truths of the Gospel. ". . . The hour is coming, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his (Jesus') voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).

The bad news is that we could earn death; the good news is that there is an alternative. We could be given eternal life: the chance to live forever in a perfect world. What a choice and
what an opportunity!

The reward of the righteous does not consist of some "spirit existence" somewhere; it will be the granting of an incorruptible body, one that will not waste away and perish as our present one does, but will no longer be subject to death.

Not having to endure pain or to be frightened to hurt ourselves or to die we shall be able to enter the "paradise" of the new Kingdom of peace and joy which Christ will establish when he returns to the earth.

Those who have listened to what God has to say, have taken the time to understand it, and who have made those promises their life’s aim, they shall, when they have repented and chosen to keep God's Commandments, be able to trust the Lord and shall receive the opportunity to live for eternal in God's Kingdom as true members of the family of God .

The Bible explains that we must be baptised if we want to enter the Kingdom of God and start to live with Him, here and now. It was the Lord himself who said: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and he went on to explain that this means that we must be born again “of water and the Spirit” (3:5). do not postpone it, because you never what tomorrow brings.

Dutch version / Nederlandstalige versie: Al of niet onsterfelijkheid

Thursday 10 June 2010

Separation from God in death, the antithesis of life


"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

We know the passages that describe death in the Old Testament. It is sleep (Dan 12:2). It is total unconsciousness (Eccl 9:5). Death is the antithesis of life.
But there is something else of the greatest importance that was central to the thinking of faithful men like David and Hezekiah:
"My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD — how long? Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?" (Psa 6:3-5).
"Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" (Psa 88:10-12).
"O LORD, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live! Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness" (Isa 38:16-19).
Death completely separates man from fellowship with God. For the faithful man or woman, this is the worst possible thing that could happen. Nothing is of greater consequence. Fellowship with God is the essence of life itself.
Life derives all its meaning from our relationship with God.
The faithful man or woman, for whom fellowship with God is life’s greatest joy, shrinks from anything that severs this holy relationship. Death is an enemy indeed.
No one knew this better than the Lord Jesus Christ. His life was fellowship with the Father in a degree that we can only try to contemplate. He walked with his Father every moment of every day. And His Father walked with him. It was an earnest of the eternal joy that God set before him.
Jesus knew, of course, that he must die to put away the sin of the world. He knew that the grave would not hold him; that he must rise to life again. But this did not diminish the full awfulness of death that loomed before his face.
His words as he entered Gethsemane were an echo of Psalm 6:
"Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’ " (Matt 26:38,39).
May I suggest that the cup that Jesus prayed might pass from him was not just the cup of physical suffering? It was the bitter cup of death that would separate him from his Father and his God.
Where now would be his remembrance of God? Where now would be his life of praise? Could not God transfigure him, as He had once done on the holy mount, and give him immortality without the horror of even a moment’s separation between them?
Do not holy men and women think this way?
Then the ninth hour of the next day drew near: the hour of his death on the cross, the end. Jesus must have felt the last vestiges of life slipping from him:
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ " (Matt 27:46).
Why have you abandoned me to this end? You are everything to me, even life itself!
Is it not possible that this cry of Jesus simply expressed the anguish of his soul as the darkness that had settled over the land turned into the reality of his death? Heaven must have cried, too. God derives no pleasure from the death of a sinner, let alone the death of the righteous man.
In Psalm 22, the opening words of which anticipated the anguish of Jesus’ soul, the immediate context is separation from God:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest" (vv 1,2).
In David’s case, the experience was some living death when he had sought but received no help from God; when he had prayed but gotten no answer. For Jesus, it was about to become the complete separation of death itself.
How thankful we can be that reassurance follows. God has saved the faithful before. He will do it again. He will yet be enthroned on the living praises of His people:
"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame" (Psa 22:3-5).
God is now forever enthroned in the praises of the Son whom He delivered from the darkness of death. But for a little while their fellowship was severed. The separation of the Father and the Son by his death was a tragedy of the ages. It was not because of anything he had done. Our sins made it happen. Hear his cry from the cross and be ashamed. God forgive us!
Jim Harper (Meriden, CT)
The Christadelphian
TIDINGS
OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD