Why does God allow us to be misled?

[DarkLight]

This is a question that has bothered me for a long time. Why does God allow people who are truly seeking him to be led away?

I grew up in a very twisted strain of protestantism. I really did want to follow God. But because of where I was I picked up a lot of beliefs that I needed to do a lot of things that weren’t Christian things at all. They were backed by Bible verses combined with twisted logic that made it look like the Bible supported things it didn’t support. I didn’t really question these beliefs because I’d been told that doubting was a sin and if you started to have doubts you needed to get them out of your head as fast as you could. I didn’t do a lot of research on things that were outside our group either, because they were of the devil and godly people didn’t read such things.

I ended up doing some things that I thought were what God wanted, even though I got hurt, because they were what I believed God wanted. I realized later that all I had actually done was enable and encourage sin, but at the time I didn’t know enough to recognize the sins for what they were. After all everyone around me said they were Godly behavior and not sinful. And of course as a godly young woman I had been told it would be utterly sinful to ask questions about such things, so I didn’t because I didn’t want to be an ungodly woman.

Why does God allow such things? Why does God allow people who want to do what’s right and to follow Him to be led astray? Why does God allow people’s good intentions that are formed with the best of what they have available to be used to support sins? Why does he let people be hurt pointlessly because they want to be Godly but they aren’t in the right situation to be able to do it right, because they don’t have access to the right knowledge?

 

[Seraphim73]

This is a question that has bothered me for a long time. Why does God allow people who are truly seeking him to be led away?

I grew up in a very twisted strain of protestantism. I really did want to follow God. But because of where I was I picked up a lot of beliefs that I needed to do a lot of things that weren’t Christian things at all. They were backed by Bible verses combined with twisted logic that made it look like the Bible supported things it didn’t support. I didn’t really question these beliefs because I’d been told that doubting was a sin and if you started to have doubts you needed to get them out of your head as fast as you could. I didn’t do a lot of research on things that were outside our group either, because they were of the devil and godly people didn’t read such things.

I ended up doing some things that I thought were what God wanted, even though I got hurt, because they were what I believed God wanted. I realized later that all I had actually done was enable and encourage sin, but at the time I didn’t know enough to recognize the sins for what they were. After all everyone around me said they were Godly behavior and not sinful. And of course as a godly young woman I had been told it would be utterly sinful to ask questions about such things, so I didn’t because I didn’t want to be an ungodly woman.

Why does God allow such things? Why does God allow people who want to do what’s right and to follow Him to be led astray? Why does God allow people’s good intentions that are formed with the best of what they have available to be used to support sins? Why does he let people be hurt pointlessly because they want to be Godly but they aren’t in the right situation to be able to do it right, because they don’t have access to the right knowledge?

How would He stop you?

 

[NoMondays]

Quite simply, God doesn’t allow it, it’s free will.

Much in the same way God “allows” horrible disasters, sins, terrorism, murder, injustice, etc…

it’s our free will and bad things happen, we cannot blame God.

 

[DarkLight]

How would He stop you?

Quite simply, God doesn’t allow it, it’s free will.

Much in the same way God “allows” horrible disasters, sins, terrorism, murder, injustice, etc…

it’s our free will and bad things happen, we cannot blame God.

It wasn’t my free will, is the thing that gets me. I wanted to be a godly young woman. I didn’t choose to be in a place where what was held up as Godly was actually sinful and where I was taught that certain sins were actually what God wanted me to do. I did the best I could with the information I had and ended up doing things that were wrong because I had no way to get any information otherwise.

How can we hold up “free will” when whether we do right or wrong, whether we develop true virtue or are led astray, is so very vulnerable to things we had no choice about?

My life is in many ways a paradox. I had to choose to take many actions that I believed at the time were ungodly, in order to reach a point where I could actually be what I now recognize as Godly. That is what I cannot understand. Had I chosen to continue trying to live a Godly life I would still be stuck in sin, because I would be unable to ask the questions that allowed me to realize what true virtue was. How can that be? How could it be that someone could be in a situation where consciously choosing to be ungodly was the only way to become godly? Where is the free will in that when our freedom is so muddled by our circumstances? It is like telling a blind man he is responsible for picking the right color, and expecting him to do so even with people telling him the red one is actually blue and the blue one is red.

 

[boomerang]

Sometimes God allows people to be dragged through dark places so they will recognize the Light when they finally find it.

 

[DarkLight]

Sometimes God allows people to be dragged through dark places so they will recognize the Light when they finally find it.

It is the choice I do not understand. It was as though I was blind and yet being told to go to the light. Only the light was in the opposite direction from where those around me said it was, and I had no reason to disbelieve them. How can it be good that I chose darkness? Yet had I not chosen darkness I would have remained in it, because all those around me called the darkness light and the light darkness.

So for example, I grew up believing that setting foot in a Catholic church was a grave sin. Even listening to the teachings of such people meant you were choosing Satan over God. Yet I made that choice in an environment where the best evidence I had was that I was sinning. And I had no way to get evidence otherwise without committing something I believed was a sin, because I had been taught that seeking out such evidence was ungodly. The only way for me to ever find the truth was to reject it. How can that be?

Is it better that I made the choice to be ungodly and found God, or would it have been better had I chosen to hang on to godliness and remained lost?

 

[captainrick]

It wasn’t my free will, is the thing that gets me. I wanted to be a godly young woman. I didn’t choose to be in a place where what was held up as Godly was actually sinful and where I was taught that certain sins were actually what God wanted me to do. I did the best I could with the information I had and ended up doing things that were wrong because I had no way to get any information otherwise.

How can we hold up “free will” when whether we do right or wrong, whether we develop true virtue or are led astray, is so very vulnerable to things we had no choice about?

My life is in many ways a paradox. I had to choose to take many actions that I believed at the time were ungodly, in order to reach a point where I could actually be what I now recognize as Godly. That is what I cannot understand. Had I chosen to continue trying to live a Godly life I would still be stuck in sin, because I would be unable to ask the questions that allowed me to realize what true virtue was. How can that be? How could it be that someone could be in a situation where consciously choosing to be ungodly was the only way to become godly? Where is the free will in that when our freedom is so muddled by our circumstances? It is like telling a blind man he is responsible for picking the right color, and expecting him to do so even with people telling him the red one is actually blue and the blue one is red.

It’s free will PLUS circumstance. God is not some big powerful person who micromanages our every move. Stuff happens, and we must deal with it, not blame God for everything bad that happens.

 

[DarkLight]

It’s free will PLUS circumstance. God is not some big powerful person who micromanages our every move. Stuff happens, and we must deal with it, not blame God for everything bad that happens.

It is not fundamentally a question of blame, but of free will. We put a high priority on free will and choosing to do what is right. How do we account within that framework that it is possible to inculpably believe what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong? How do we understand the teaching that we must be responsible for our actions when we are not all given the tools to know whether our actions are right or wrong? How do we praise the virtuous and blame the vicious when it is so easy for outside forces to make a person such?

We reject the calvinist doctrine that our free will has nothing to do with salvation (yes I know that’s oversimplified). But the cases I am putting forward it looks like someone’s exercising their free will in the way they ought, but the result is making them less godly and less virtuous because of factors outside of their control. How is that any better? Does it not lead to some being damned by chance alone, because they continued in sin believing they were practicing virtue?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Our entire life consists of a process of growth.

God calls us, but we must be open to the call.

You followed a path seeking God and God brought you to where you are now.

Don’t worry about the choices you made in the past, you can’t change the past.

You are here and now in the present moment, and this is where God is.

So, begin each moment as a new life experience, only now, you’re aware of being in God’s presence while doing it.

In Christ
Jim

 

[brigid12]

It may not have been your own free will. Maybe it was of your families or someone else important to you. Maybe it was your own but He wanted you to be able to decide what was sin or not on your own - so increase your free will.

 

[fred_conty]

By the fact that you found out the truth is testimony that God didn’t leave you in the darkness. He pushed you in the right direction, and his grace alone gave you the light you were looking for.

It may seem at times that you did all the work and God did nothing. But it always takes his grace to bring a person into the truth and the strength to follow it.

I believe you believe that it was all your doing. But rather God did give you help, and you chose to cooperate with the grace he gave you. Because you even said, you had to go against what you believed in order to climb out of the darkness. That is God’s power which overcomes anything.

I’m happy for you that God did see you thru to overcome the lies. Give him thanks and appreciation for what he did for you. And remember he is there for you at times he dosen’t seem to be.

The psalms are filled with these ideas.

May God bless and keep you. May God’s face shine on you. May God be kind to you and give you peace.

 

[DarkLight]

Here’s the dilemma:

We believe people ought to do what is right, they ought to seek out the truth.

We also believe that people ought not to act against their own consciences. We ought not to do things we believe are sins, even if we are wrong in thinking they are sins.

So what do we do with a case where the only way out is for someone to commit something they firmly believe is a sin and have good evidence to think it’s a sin?

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

Being wrong has value. A common theme of parables is being wrong and then being corrected. Sinful and repent. Lost and then found. Gone away and then returned.

Being wrong and then right, helps you understand both why being right is so great, and how to stay right. It also helps you empathize with and understand others who fall into the same error. Others who have never been there may know in their minds what it’s like, but not in their experience. So you can help those who are going through some of the same obstacles.

As to why God would allow it, I think God’s a whole lot more “hands off” than a lot of people seem to think. I think it’s just that we follow paths that seem right and now and then we find one that is wrong. We become stronger and wiser than if we had never made mistakes in the first place.

You were not trying to sin, but were misled. Now it may seem obvious to you, but right now there are others making that same error. This should give you a definite appreciation for Jesus on the cross saying “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” To us it was pretty obvious; they were sinfully killing an innocent man featuring all sorts of sinful anger. To Jesus they just didn’t quite understand – yet.

The Good News is that you are still alive now to enjoy this new way of seeing things. Hopefully it will be one of many times when you will notice there is a better way, and then go about enjoying living in it.

MS

 

[dreamfleur]

It sounds like you were in a place where you were “taught” something and followed blindly whatever that was. If you felt that maybe you were doing something that your group thought was “right” but felt “wrong” to you (the little voice inside), that was how “God” was slowly speaking to you. Unfortunately there are instances where certain groups teach error as truth and all that is questioned is “not allowed” because it means you don’t believe their version of the “truth”.

God allows us free will but he also is that still, small voice that helps us to question when things don’t seem “quite right”. The fact that you are posting this question shows that God has been slowly speaking to you and guiding you to the truth. Don’t worry about all the twists and turns it takes to get to the truth. God is ALL loving and ALL forgiving and he knows your heart.

 

[fred_conty]

Here’s the dilemma:

We believe people ought to do what is right, they ought to seek out the truth.

We also believe that people ought not to act against their own consciences. We ought not to do things we believe are sins, even if we are wrong in thinking they are sins.

So what do we do with a case where the only way out is for someone to commit something they firmly believe is a sin and have good evidence to think it’s a sin?

The Holy spirit was telling you that it was wrong…it is that simple. There is no other reason why you did what you did…except the Holy Spirit was guiding you and you listened.

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

 

[DarkLight]

The Holy spirit was telling you that it was wrong…it is that simple. There is no other reason why you did what you did…except the Holy Spirit was guiding you and you listened.

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

I’m not sure how much of it was the Holy Spirit and how much was the fact that I pretty much got kicked out for being a rape victim and decided at that point I might as well since by their lights I was pretty much damned either way.

 

[fred_conty]

I’m not sure how much of it was the Holy Spirit and how much was the fact that I pretty much got kicked out for being a rape victim and decided at that point I might as well since by their lights I was pretty much damned either way.

He works in mysterious ways, even ways we have to wonder about.

There may be times when an event seems evil, yet makes it turn out for our betterment.

May God grace you always.

 

[DarkLight]

If that is the case, what about people who never have that happen to them and spend their whole lives believing that it is a grave sin to investigate any other church or listen to anything that might disagree? I could hardly believe that I alone was lucky and my friends growing up would be condemned to a life of sin based on what was outside our control!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If that is the case, what about people who never have that happen to them and spend their whole lives believing that it is a grave sin to investigate any other church or listen to anything that might disagree? I could hardly believe that I alone was lucky and my friends growing up would be condemned to a life of sin based on what was outside our control!

What you or others believe is irrelevant to what is true.

Truth is given to us through the Church Jesus established and our conscience must be formed by truth, not what others choose to tell us, or what we are willing to accept or reject.

For a sin to be mortal, it has to be committed with a fully informed conscience to what is true and our willfully knowing we are offending God when we commit the act.

If a person’s conscience is not formed by truth, but some distorted upbringing by those who have taught them falsely, then the sin is not mortal.

That being said, God draws us to the truth and it’s up to us to seek it with sincere hearts and trust that He will bring us to the truth.

The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ and He promised that the Holy Spirit would guide her and the gates of hell would not prevail over her. That being such, her doctrines are true.

So, if you are seeking truth sincerely, learn what Christ teaches through His Church and do your best to follow it.

Keep this in mind, the actual definition for sin is to “miss the mark.” It was taught as being like an archer aiming for his target, but missing it.

In this light, whatever sin you committed was merely you missing the mark, but then, you may not have had a true target your were aiming for in the first place.

In all, follow God’s will and His will was revealed to us in the two commandments Jesus gave us. They are, to love the Lord God with all of your strength and all of your being, and love your neighbor as yourself.

If you try to follow these two commandments, you will be following God’s will and when you miss the mark, remember that God is a God of mercy and compassion. He forgives our sins, when we come to Him and ask for forgiveness.

Be in the peace of Jesus Christ

Jim

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

If that is the case, what about people who never have that happen to them and spend their whole lives believing that it is a grave sin to investigate any other church or listen to anything that might disagree? I could hardly believe that I alone was lucky and my friends growing up would be condemned to a life of sin based on what was outside our control!

This was what made my mother so sad. She would go home and cry every night because she was told all of her Protestant friends would go to hell. She never left the church, but she spent her entire life bitter because of the experience.

That was in the 1930’s, in Houston Texas.