Does God "TEST" us....?

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inHIMiTRUST85

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My co-worker is muslim, and sometimes we have discussions about God. When talking about life, daily events, and decisions, he mentions mostly that God tests us.
An example: Something did not work out as planned, so God is testing us to see our response. Do we thank Him anyways, or maybe become unhappy, or bitter.

So, does God test us? When bad things happen, is a test from God? Does God see it this way?

I feel like God ‘testing’ us, is an inappropriate view of God. I know God allows evil to bring Himself Glory, and that it can benefit us.

I am in RCIA, so very new to the Catholic faith- Your thoughts are appreciated., and if you can help me respond to the belief of ‘tests’ from God. Also, I know his view of God is very different than ours.
 
A warm welcome to the forum! 🙂

God didn’t create us to test us but to share with us His capacity for love. It depends on us how much we choose to love others. If we constantly put ourselves first we punish ourselves because we become isolated from God and everyone else. Jesus died to liberate us from our lack of love but we have to respond if we are to be with Him in heaven. Life is a test but its primary purpose is love…
 
inHIMiTRUST85 said:
So, does God test us? When bad things happen, is a test from God? Does God see it this way?
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To understand why God tests us read the story of Abraham, God’s “test”.

Abraham builds an altar on which to murder his son and burn his corpse.

He ties his son up and is about to slit his throat, when an angel tells him it was TEST of faith. He then kills a ram as God loves burning flesh. Abraham is rewarded and revered ever since as passing the test.

If Abraham pulled that stunt today he would be committed to a mental hospital for LIFE.

But we are told this is an example of God’s love. 🤷 You decide.
 
God tested Adam and Eve and God tested Abraham and Moses so why wouldn’t He test us?
 
Look at the major figures of the bible. You will see that many went through trials either before or during their ministry, including Jesus. Such trials are a crucible through which we are prepared to follow the Lord more deeply.
 
inHIMiTRUST85 said:
My co-worker is muslim, and sometimes we have discussions about God. When talking about life, daily events, and decisions, he mentions mostly that God tests us.
An example: Something did not work out as planned, so God is testing us to see our response. Do we thank Him anyways, or maybe become unhappy, or bitter.

So, does God test us? When bad things happen, is a test from God? Does God see it this way?

I feel like God ‘testing’ us, is an inappropriate view of God. I know God allows evil to bring Himself Glory, and that it can benefit us.

I am in RCIA, so very new to the Catholic faith- Your thoughts are appreciated., and if you can help me respond to the belief of ‘tests’ from God. Also, I know his view of God is very different than ours.
Click to expand...
God’s ways are not our ways - God’s thoughts are not our thoughts…
God is so far above us that we cannot really “know” how whether God “sees it this way”. So we are left with trying to explain these things in ways that we poor humans can understand.

That said - - I will put it this way - - -

Whether it is God who “tests us” or not - - Life is a test and it’s not just when things don’t turn out as we planned or hoped.

It does not matter whether it is good things or bad things that happen to us for each has it’s temptation. Indeed good things can be more dangerous than bad things many times.
Disasters, sorrow, war, death, injury - all these things can send us scurrying to God for comfort - but when things are going well - it’s easy to become complacent.
So we need to develop an attitude of thanksgiving for whatever we receive - good or bad.

Of course - these same things can be described in other ways. We can use different images than “test”. But it all boils down the same. What decisions will we make?

Peace
James
 
inHIMiTRUST85 said:
My co-worker is muslim, and sometimes we have discussions about God. When talking about life, daily events, and decisions, he mentions mostly that God tests us.
An example: Something did not work out as planned, so God is testing us to see our response. Do we thank Him anyways, or maybe become unhappy, or bitter.

So, does God test us? When bad things happen, is a test from God? Does God see it this way?

I feel like God ‘testing’ us, is an inappropriate view of God. I know God allows evil to bring Himself Glory, and that it can benefit us.

I am in RCIA, so very new to the Catholic faith- Your thoughts are appreciated., and if you can help me respond to the belief of ‘tests’ from God. Also, I know his view of God is very different than ours.
Click to expand...
Actually, I like the idea of God testing us. But I don’t think he tests us with anything we are unable to handle. The test is to see if you will still have faith in him no matter what happens. Many people fail this test.
 
inHIMiTRUST85 said:
My co-worker is muslim, and sometimes we have discussions about God. When talking about life, daily events, and decisions, he mentions mostly that God tests us.
An example: Something did not work out as planned, so God is testing us to see our response. Do we thank Him anyways, or maybe become unhappy, or bitter.

So, does God test us? When bad things happen, is a test from God? Does God see it this way?

I feel like God ‘testing’ us, is an inappropriate view of God. I know God allows evil to bring Himself Glory, and that it can benefit us.

I am in RCIA, so very new to the Catholic faith- Your thoughts are appreciated., and if you can help me respond to the belief of ‘tests’ from God. Also, I know his view of God is very different than ours.
Click to expand...
The parable: A king desired to test the moral strength of his only son. He had a most charming and clever woman brought before him. Explaining to her the purpose of the test, he ordered her to exert every effort to seduce the crown prince. For the test to be valid, the supposed harlot had to use all her charms and guile, without betraying her mission in the slightest way. Any imperfection on her part would mean disobedience, and the failure of her mission. However, while she uses all her seductive powers, she inwardly desires that the prince should not succumb to them.
chabad.org/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=1/1/2015&mobile=false

Yes, God tests us all the time.
 
Evil and pain is not caused by God, it is the consequences of sin that caused pain and evil, whether it was your own sin or someone else’s sin.

Examples:

Consequences of your own sin:

A child is fascinated by a Candle flame, he keeps getting very close to it and touches it and get burned, he runs to his father seeking comfort and healing. His father holds him but also admonishes him for touching the flame, and commands him not to do it again. After a while the child does it again! And then he runs to his father seeking to relieve the pain, his father does the same thing. The father loves his child and he’s deeply moved by his child’s pain. And he’s willing to hold his son and to try to comfort him as many times it takes.

Now thats how our heavenly Father loves us, he would never wants us to get hurt. But we do get hurt whether physically or emotionally in this world because it’s the consequences of sin.

As for the consequences of other people’s sins.

A man is smoking inside a building, he is very used to it although he knows better than to smoke indoors. One night at a very late hour he is lying on the sofa watching TV and smoking, he eventually fell asleep with the cigarette in his hand, which fell on the floor and started a fire. Now the apartment could’ve burned causing not only his own death but the death of others in the building. Or it could’ve only killed him but the firemen got in time to evacuate the rest of the building.

In both scenarios the guy’s sin caused other people harm whether their death or inhaling smoke and the trauma it must have caused them!

You see God does not cause any of bad things that happen in our lives. It is only the consequences of sin.

As for how God tests us, is how we react in these tough situations and trials. Are we going to turn around and blame him for everything or are we gonna go to him with great love and reverence and thank him for all the graces he has given us in our life?

I’ll give you another example.

A child is climbing a tree, his mother waits at the foot of the tree calling him to come down before he hurts himself. But he keeps climbing and his foot slips and he falls off of the tree, and he hurts himself, he starts to yell at his mom, telling her that it was because of her constant call for him he got distracted and fell. But the truth is as we know he fell because he wouldn’t listen to her.

So are we gonna blame God for every time we fall and get hurt, or are we gonna thank him for watching over us and taking care of us after every time we fall, and for staying with us even while we continue to sin and offend him?

As for God’s test to Abraham, which was totally deferent from the consequences of sin. God wanted to know how much Abraham trusted him, and Abraham trusted God to the point of obeying God when he commanded him to sacrifice his only son. Of course this shows that Abraham didn’t live for himself, he lived for God, he did exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, he denied his own will which is not sacrificing his only son and followed God’s will to sacrificing his son. Of course after God saw how much faith and trust Abraham had in him, he exalted him and made him the father of Israelites, It was just a test. God would’ve never really allowed for Isaac to be sacrificed.

Like every father or parent who is teaching his kid how to ride a bike. Of course the kid doesn’t want his father to let him go, for fear of falling and getting hurt. But the father knows best, he asks his kid to just trust him and to give up his own fear and will (which is to not allow his father to let go of him) cuz the father knows best.

So God wants from us what he wanted from Abraham, and that is to trust him with every single detail in our lives. And he tested Abraham on how much he trusted him. After that God gave Abraham not only his son back but also descendants as numerous as the stars.

God will not harm you to tests you. God will ask you to walk on water, get out of your comfort zone, and trust that he knows what’s best for you, and that he knows you more than you know yourself. Why do you think Jesus chose Judas as a disciple? Even though he saw the evil Judas can do he also saw the good he can do, and wanted him to deny himself and follow him. So Judas had a choice but he made the wrong one. Like the other 11 disciples, they had a choice, but they made the right one.

Peace
 
Dave_B said:
To understand why God tests us read the story of Abraham, God’s “test”.

Abraham builds an altar on which to murder his son and burn his corpse.

He ties his son up and is about to slit his throat, when an angel tells him it was TEST of faith. He then kills a ram as God loves burning flesh. Abraham is rewarded and revered ever since as passing the test.

If Abraham pulled that stunt today he would be committed to a mental hospital for LIFE.

But we are told this is an example of God’s love. 🤷 You decide.
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It is absurd to interpret all the stories in the Old Testament literally - like the Fundamentalists. The Jewish concept of God has to be modified in the light of Christ’s teaching that He is a loving Father. Abraham** believed** God wanted him to kill his son but he was obviously mistaken and prevented from committing an atrocity by the vision of an angel - as one would expect unless one is a cynical materialist. Many people think the Father commanded His Son to die as a sacrifice in atonement for the sins of others. The truth is that Jesus chose to let Himself be crucified of His own free will in unity with the Father’s Will. He was understandably tempted to avoid that fate but He knew the vicious spiral of evil and violence can be overcome only by love and forgiveness - regardless of the defeatism of sceptics.

The blood-stained history of mankind demonstrates that it is the only solution but the slaughter continues due to the insane lust for power and wealth on the part of a minority. Nevertheless there is hope for humanity because Christ’s teaching that we are brothers and sisters has finally led to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights based on the principles of liberty, equality and - above all - fraternity. Most people believe we are not related solely by an accident of birth, not merely naked apes that exist by chance, but all members of the same family intended to live in peace and harmony.
 
inHIMiTRUST85 said:
. . . I feel like God ‘testing’ us, is an inappropriate view of God. . .
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I would agree.

Recall the story of Cain: God is not testing him; quite the contrary, He warns Cain that sin is getting the better of him.

That said, how do we know love, but when we love our enemies.
Considering our wickedness, it is pretty clear that we are Christ’s enemies. Yet, He loved us to the point of dying for us that we might be saved.

We simply have to love one another as we love ourselves, as part of our loving God before all else.
You can look at those situations when you can demonstrate this love, as a test.
I tend to do this when I am reluctant.
 
Aloysium said:
I would agree.

Recall the story of Cain: God is not testing him; quite the contrary, He warns Cain that sin is getting the better of him.

That said, how do we know love, but when we love our enemies.
Considering our wickedness, it is pretty clear that we are Christ’s enemies. Yet, He loved us to the point of dying for us that we might be saved.

We simply have to love one another as we love ourselves, as part of our loving God before all else.
You can look at those situations when you can demonstrate this love, as a test.
I tend to do this when I am reluctant.
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God is not the Supreme Examiner!
 
Yes, God tests us. He does not trust us because he created us imperfect, so we make mistakes.
 
BobCatholic said:
. . . He created us imperfect, so we make mistakes.
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I’m not sure on what you base this view.
God saw that creation was good.
We are created possessing free will, which we have used for our own interests, appropriating what belongs to God.
Turning from God, not returning the love through which we are brought into existence, we fell.
And, the rest is history.
 
Aloysium said:
I’m not sure on what you base this view.
God saw that creation was good.
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I didn’t say God created us evil.
I said God created us imperfect.
We are created possessing free will, which we have used for our own interests, appropriating what belongs to God.
Turning from God, not returning the love through which we are brought into existence, we fell.
And, the rest is history.
Click to expand...
And since we are imperfect, how much of that free will is attributable to us actually knowing what we are doing? Or are we doing wrong because we are foolish and imperfect?
 
BobCatholic said:
Yes, God tests us. He does not trust us because he created us imperfect, so we make mistakes.
Click to expand...
If God didn’t trust us because He created us imperfect He would be unreasonable: He would be to blame for making us imperfect…
 
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