If we keep the Ten Commandments, should God protect us from harm?

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This question was posed at a service I was at once, and it sparked very interesting discussion. I was also a bit shocked by the results. I thought it might make for good conversation here.
 
Bad things happen to good people all the time. Why even our saints were martyred, our pope had his life threatened by an apparent assassin. God doesn’t promise a rose garden here on earth, but he promises to remain faithful to those who follow him. Their rewards will not be of this earth but in his heavenly kingdom.
 
This was posed in a service I was at some years ago. It caused interesting discussion.

I voted No. I think God’s laws are supposed to influence our behavior, and not Gods.

I also think it is somewhat insulting to the sick or hurt if we believe God should protect us from harm. It would be like saying that those who are hurt or ill or otherwise harmed must have broke their deal with God.

A proverb I heard once: Just because a man is righteous doesn’t mean that he can go in the cold without a jacket and not get sick.

I also remember a Christian comedian (i think it was Mark Lowry), who spoke of an entire summer of witnessing and preaching across the country that was canceled because they were in a serious car accident. Someone said “if God is so great, and what you were doing was so important, then why did God allow you to get in this car accident?” He simply said “Because our driver fell asleep at the wheel.”

I found it interesting conversation. Of course, i’m a lil’ strange. LOL

Blessings to all.
 
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stbruno:
Bad things happen to good people all the time. Why even our saints were martyred, our pope had his life threatened by an apparent assassin. God doesn’t promise a rose garden here on earth, but he promises to remain faithful to those who follow him. Their rewards will not be of this earth but in his heavenly kingdom.
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AMEN!!!
 
No.
  1. We are in a covenant relationship with God, where each party gives without regard to if the other party does.
  2. Other people have free will and can choose to hurt us either deliberately or in neglect.
  3. The laws of nature continue to go on, and we have to interact with them. Thus hurricanes, storms, etc. will continue to occur naturally and may do harm, particularly if we are not careful.
 
i didn’t vote, because i don’t think it’s a yes or no.

keeping the Ten Commandments IS God protecting us from harm. He gave us the Ten commandments, not as a set of hoops for us to jump through to prove our obedience to Him, but as guidelines for healthy and happy living.

to answer what your question, i think, is asking - no. bad things happen to everyone. the sun and the rain fall on the just and the unjust.

but.

God works EVERYTHING for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). so even when harm comes our way (and it will), He redeems it, and us, and works it all for our good.
 
God will protect you and me as he protected Jesus. So that should lead us, if we are obedient and keep the 10 Commandments, straight to the cross.
 
God protects us, but we by our nature are inclined to sin. This happens if we keep his commandments, avoid sin in general and live good christian lives. When we sin we damage our relationship with God. But when we fall into sin we ask for his forgiveness and return to God.

Padre Pio “Don’t worry, work and pray.”
 
In my oppinion I do believe if we kept his commandments we will be protected. The truth of the matter is that no one can.Thats why we need a savior. If we didnt sin there would be no need for a savior. Once we sin we allow a foothold for satan to come in and we loose Gods protection. :eek:
 
Keeping the Commandments is a bare minimum. If we do that God will help us to grow spiritually. Unfortunately spiritual growth usually requires adversity.

I was once told: * If God gives you a cross you must do your best to carry it well. If you succeed He will give you a heavier one. *

This sounded a little rough until I recalled my daughter who finally mastered fractions in the third grade. Her reward - a chance to work on decimals…

Even in Video games - Do we strive to win so we can move to an easier level?
 
correction - the sunSHINE and the rain fall on the just and the unjust…

not the sun.

that would hurt.
 
If we keep the Ten Commandments, should God protect us from harm?
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Depends on your definition of “harm.” If you mean the wordly view of harm, then you’re saying that God “owes” you something because of your faithfulness. That’s not the way it works.

If you mean “eternal harm,” then (provided the other requirements are met) He does!
 
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Timidity:
Depends on your definition of “harm.” If you mean the wordly view of harm, then you’re saying that God “owes” you something because of your faithfulness. That’s not the way it works.

If you mean “eternal harm,” then (provided the other requirements are met) He does!
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AMEN!

i’m so pleased to see the answers so overwhelmingly correct on this board. At a church i associated with years ago, the majority got it wrong.
 
Today’s Morning Prayer reading includes ** Judith 8:24-27 **:
Besides all this, we should be grateful to the Lord our God, for putting us to the test, as he did our forefathers.
26
Recall how he dealt with Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and all that happened to Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia while he was tending the flocks of Laban, his mother’s brother.
27
Not for vengeance did the Lord put them in the crucible to try their hearts, nor has he done so with us. It is by way of admonition that he chastises those who are close to him."
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The Protestants lost a lot when they omitted Judith.
 
‘i’m so pleased to see the answers so overwhelmingly correct on this board. At a church i associated with years ago, the majority got it wrong.’

i don’t know what church you went to before, but one of the reasons i became catholic was because of the holistic, wise, and balanced understanding of suffering taught by the church.
 
As my sainted grandmama once said, “One must never should on God.” :>)
 
Dear friend

How do you quantify harm? Physical harm? or spiritual harm? God does not make any harm happen to a soul. Only good proceeds from God.

We allow spiritual harm to happen to ourselves by partaking in anything that is against our Truine God, we also allow others to inflict harm upon us if we allow any physical suffering to lead to a negative outcome by our own actions and sins. If we hand everything to God, the outcome will always be good, however evil the beginning. Why does God permit evil?.. to sanctify our faith, how else will God make all evil attempts on humanity glorious in Himself if we do not purposefully INVITE God to do so? The simplicity of it is beautiful but we often in the midst of hardship and suffering do not see it, evil roams the earth and God permits it to do so, so that faith may be glorified in the death and ressurrection of Christ Jesus and evil may not win. If it was easy no-one would try, it is in hardship that evil is truly slain if we unite that hardship in Christ’s suffering. We do not go into suffering alone, as Christ entered there before us as His sufffering is Eternal not a suffering 2000 years ago but one that extends to the beginnings of time and to the end of time ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’

My personal prayer…

Spare me? who will you spare O Lord? Spare me not, so that You may have all glory forever and ever as You are so very very GOOD. Amen.

Love and trust the Lord.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
On June 19th-the 12th Sunday in Ordinary time- we will hear Matthew 10:26-33. (Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.) Sounds like this poll could produce a good homily.
 
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Jay74:
This question was posed at a service I was at once, and it sparked very interesting discussion. I was also a bit shocked by the results. I thought it might make for good conversation here.
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Jesus kept them, and then some - wasn’t He crucified 🙂 ?​

If He was - why should we be better off ? Christians are not above their Master (Who said something about taking up the Cross, and following Him)

Christianity is not based on Law - but on Love: which won’t be satisfied with mere commandments; any more than parents will think they have been perfect parents when they have fulfilled all laws sufficiently so as to avoid being sued for neglect. Love goes beyond law - mere law-keeping as such, like legalism, lacks the self-sacrificial generosity of love ##
 
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Jay74:
This question was posed at a service I was at once, and it sparked very interesting discussion. I .
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the person who posed the question has a very faulty understanding of the word Covenant as used in the biblical sense. I recommend any of Scott Hahn’s books treating the OT notion of covenant as an antidote
 
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