Unclear what comments like this mean

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A friend of a friend posts lots of ‘religious’ comments on facebook. During the recent hurricane, she wrote comments like, “God is faithful and protected you.” Or, “You had faith in His protection and He never fails.” “You are safe in the hands of Jesus, Ps 91.”

What does this mean for people who lost homes? The people in VT and NH who are flooded out? God did not protect them? God is not faithful?

I don’t understand . . .
 
KCT said:
A friend of a friend posts lots of ‘religious’ comments on facebook. During the recent hurricane, she wrote comments like, “God is faithful and protected you.” Or, “You had faith in His protection and He never fails.” “You are safe in the hands of Jesus, Ps 91.”

What does this mean for people who lost homes? The people in VT and NH who are flooded out? God did not protect them? God is not faithful?

I don’t understand . . .
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We are all just a vapor, it is by His Will, we are here. Although we may not understand why, we must have faith in God and He will protect you, If it is your time (to die) you have faith that the God will protect you in the afterlife.

The problem is too many of us think of only the here and now, but God is eternal, ever lasting.

Just because, one loses their home or even their life, hardly means that The Lord has failed them.
 
God protected THEM. They are still alive, yes? Have their family members with them?

Stuff is just stuff. Replaceable.

So if they are ALIVE, then God protected them.
 
Catholic90 said:
God protected THEM. They are still alive, yes? Have their family members with them?

Stuff is just stuff. Replaceable.

So if they are ALIVE, then God protected them.
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But your statement is also misleading, and may be hurtful to a person who lost a love one during this.

Those who lost their lives, may also be protected by God, in the afterlife. God will protect us from the fires of hell, through our faith in Him.

That is truly what this means.
 
Karen1960 said:
But your statement is also misleading, and may be hurtful to a person who lost a love one during this.

Those who lost their lives, may also be protected by God, in the afterlife. God will protect us from the fires of hell, through our faith in Him.

That is truly what this means.
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Yes! He is with us in life and in death, in peaceful times, and in troubled times. He is with us even in tragedy. He is there for us at all times.
 
Some people have a perception that if bad things happen God doesn’t love or isn’t supporting them, and that if good things happen, God loves and protects.
If that perception is true, how to explain this:

Unmarried Mary accepted the request to conceive her Child in a culture where her fiancé was forced to torture his mind as to how he could protect her…the child wasn’t his…or she could have been stoned to death.

Nine moths pregnant, journeying on the back of a donkey over stony roads.
Baby born away from relatives and friends, in an animal shelter.
Baby threatened with death. Escape as refugees to Egypt. Life as refugees with its uncertainties and fears.
Standing by seeing her son sticking his neck out and alienating authorities, but knowing He’s doing the right thing. Watchig Him die it agony as a condemned criminal

And Jesus, the most perfect, most loved, God’s Son:
Born into poverty, early life as a refugee, misunderstood, betrayed, deserted, tortured, murdered…

Therefore looking at their lives, these, the best of those who ever walked to earth…would we use such platitudes and perspective in relation to them?
 
KCT said:
A friend of a friend posts lots of ‘religious’ comments on facebook. During the recent hurricane, she wrote comments like, “God is faithful and protected you.” Or, “You had faith in His protection and He never fails.” “You are safe in the hands of Jesus, Ps 91.”

What does this mean for people who lost homes? The people in VT and NH who are flooded out? God did not protect them? God is not faithful?

I don’t understand . . .
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I believe that the simplest thing to do is to ask your friend this question and state that you don’t understand. You might get an answer.🙂
 
Maybe he did protect some of them by humbling them and waking them up from their materialism/worldly outlook. A hard lesson to learn for sure, I certainly would like to do without it.
 
Trishie said:
Some people have a perception that if bad things happen God doesn’t love or isn’t supporting them, and that if good things happen, God loves and protects.
If that perception is true, how to explain this:

Unmarried Mary accepted the request to conceive her Child in a culture where her fiancé was forced to torture his mind as to how he could protect her…the child wasn’t his…or she could have been stoned to death.

Nine moths pregnant, journeying on the back of a donkey over stony roads.
Baby born away from relatives and friends, in an animal shelter.
Baby threatened with death. Escape as refugees to Egypt. Life as refugees with its uncertainties and fears.
Standing by seeing her son sticking his neck out and alienating authorities, but knowing He’s doing the right thing. Watchig Him die it agony as a condemned criminal

And Jesus, the most perfect, most loved, God’s Son:
Born into poverty, early life as a refugee, misunderstood, betrayed, deserted, tortured, murdered…

Therefore looking at their lives, these, the best of those who ever walked to earth…would we use such platitudes and perspective in relation to them?
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what an excellent example. 👍
 
KCT said:
A friend of a friend posts lots of ‘religious’ comments on facebook. During the recent hurricane, she wrote comments like, “God is faithful and protected you.” Or, “You had faith in His protection and He never fails.” “You are safe in the hands of Jesus, Ps 91.”

What does this mean for people who lost homes? The people in VT and NH who are flooded out? God did not protect them? God is not faithful?

I don’t understand . . .
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IMO statements like this are meant to comfort the person they are being addressed to…but so often they are of no comfort…and in many ways cause bitterness and hurt.

My brother’s granddaughter was hit by a car and thrown 20 feet against a tree…she broke both her legs…one of her arms in several places and suffered a major concussion…and it was “touch and go” for a few days as she drifed in and out of consciousness…our cousin told him the “Thank God for the miracle of saving her life.”…my brother being my brother said “What a lame a-s-s miracle…if God wanted to perform a miracle…she would have gotten up unhurt…that’s the most stupid repsone anyone has given me.”…needless to say feelings were hurt all around.

God doesn’t protect us from life…this is the situation of our entering into mortality…this is what life entails…people get hurt…cities flood…volcanos blow and decimate viligaes and causes untold deaths…it is part of living in mortality…I don’t know there is immediate comfort for such things…

I think what the person was trying to convey…even in the depth of our hurt and despair…God is suffering along with us…willing to comfort us…WANTING to comfort us…God wants to help us bear this burden that sometimes seeks to crush us…Paul wrote something to the effect we “make up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ”…we share with Him in His suffering…whether it be an unfortuneate accident…or a natural disaster…“the rain falls on the good and the bad…”

Suffering is part of the price we bear to experience mortality…death and destruction sometimes have no meaning whatsoever…sometimes it seems mindless…but God is present with us in the midst of our suffering…offering comfort…mercy…grace…for in our suffering He can…can…work for His purposes…God’s People have a strenght to draw upon…a Hope that maybe…maybe…through us His Life can be seen in us…as we share in the suffering of this world…we share in Christ’s suffering…by this…we share in redemption…even Jesus plead with his Father…“let this cup pass from me…BUT…not as I will…but as You will.”

There’s a cross on Friday…but come Sunday…

There are no easy answers…sometimes no answers at all nor even a hint of a greater purpose…that is where our faith must come in…“Lord I believe…help my unbelief”…“His strength is made perfect in our weakness.”…sometimes that is small comfort…sometimes…it’s a very long dark night…“but joy comes in the morning.”

There are no easy answers…sometimes only grace remains. One of my favorite songs is by Casting Crowns…“Praise you in the storm”…always brings tears to my eyes.
 
Publisher said:
IMO statements like this are meant to comfort the person they are being addressed to…but so often they are of no comfort…and in many ways cause bitterness and hurt.

My brother’s granddaughter was hit by a car and thrown 20 feet against a tree…she broke both her legs…one of her arms in several places and suffered a major concussion…and it was “touch and go” for a few days as she drifed in and out of consciousness…our cousin told him the “Thank God for the miracle of saving her life.”…my brother being my brother said “What a lame a-s-s miracle…if God wanted to perform a miracle…she would have gotten up unhurt…that’s the most stupid repsone anyone has given me.”…needless to say feelings were hurt all around.

God doesn’t protect us from life…this is the situation of our entering into mortality…this is what life entails…people get hurt…cities flood…volcanos blow and decimate viligaes and causes untold deaths…it is part of living in mortality…I don’t know there is immediate comfort for such things…

I think what the person was trying to convey…even in the depth of our hurt and despair…God is suffering along with us…willing to comfort us…WANTING to comfort us…God wants to help us bear this burden that sometimes seeks to crush us…Paul wrote something to the effect we “make up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ”…we share with Him in His suffering…whether it be an unfortuneate accident…or a natural disaster…“the rain falls on the good and the bad…”

Suffering is part of the price we bear to experience mortality…death and destruction sometimes have no meaning whatsoever…sometimes it seems mindless…but God is present with us in the midst of our suffering…offering comfort…mercy…grace…for in our suffering He can…can…work for His purposes…God’s People have a strenght to draw upon…a Hope that maybe…maybe…through us His Life can be seen in us…as we share in the suffering of this world…we share in Christ’s suffering…by this…we share in redemption…even Jesus plead with his Father…“let this cup pass from me…BUT…not as I will…but as You will.”

There’s a cross on Friday…but come Sunday…

There are no easy answers…sometimes no answers at all nor even a hint of a greater purpose…that is where our faith must come in…“Lord I believe…help my unbelief”…“His strength is made perfect in our weakness.”…sometimes that is small comfort…sometimes…it’s a very long dark night…“but joy comes in the morning.”

There are no easy answers…sometimes only grace remains. One of my favorite songs is by Casting Crowns…“Praise you in the storm”…always brings tears to my eyes.
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Hi Publisher: Every time I read one of your posts I almost think you are a Hindu. 🙂 In this case the only difference is that we would say that in every case there is a reason for a particular calamity and the suffering that attends it. It’s all part of your growing process, which would sound cruel if our only objective was this life. We are drawn to a particular body with it’s particular ailments, strengths, proclivities and so on, in accordance with where we are in our journey back to God. In turn, we are born into a family and community that is well suited to what we need, and run into circumstances that are pretty much custom made for our needs. Sometimes a particular lifetime turns out to have little to do with you, but more to do with the people around you and what they needed this time around. So a person who was particularly proud, arrogant and vain in one life might spend the next life with a particular deformity, born to a couple that perhaps has progressed enough to show you kindness based on something other than how you look. And so it goes. For us, it’s not what you want but what you need. The people who learn to ride it like a wave rather than drown in it aren’t consigned to the same lesson again the next time. Eventually there comes a time when one learns to transcend the whole experience, bringing God’s love into view during any circumstance or twist of fate. Invariably the answer to “why did this happen to me” is something that indeed should be explored. I think that often enough, the worst things happen to the most advanced souls, in the same way that tests get more demanding as you progress through one grade to another. Perhaps truly advanced souls are ready for the hardest tests. Ever notice how the best people you know have the worst luck? I have. Perhaps the reason some people walk away from things like a train wreck unscathed is that they are not the ones who are ready. Perhaps it’s the guy who lost his arm that was more blessed.

Anyway, I liked your post.

Your friend
Sufjon
 
KCT said:
A friend of a friend posts lots of ‘religious’ comments on facebook. During the recent hurricane, she wrote comments like, “God is faithful and protected you.” Or, “You had faith in His protection and He never fails.” “You are safe in the hands of Jesus, Ps 91.”

What does this mean for people who lost homes? The people in VT and NH who are flooded out? God did not protect them? God is not faithful?

I don’t understand . . .
Click to expand...
I think I would respectfully disagree with your friend, saying God isn’t protecting us from calamity, that is part of life.
I believe what God is doing is offering us the opportunity to reach out to those in need, to let our actions reflect our faith, to let his grace shine through us.

Peace,

Seeker
 
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