Protestantism

» paper_turtle - Would we believe them?

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I wrote:
[People mistakenly believe] God is the grand puppetteer, and he is pulling the strings for everything that happens.
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Migisi responded:
Isn't this what the Bible says throughout (especially in the last chapters of Job)?
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But if you look at the Psalms, you see the psalmist conversing with a God who does not seem to be pulling all the strings.
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And I think the NT sends al altogether different message about the nature of God--a God who wants people to take responsibility for their own actions, and their own future. When God shifts from the OT external God with whom one relates externally, to the NT internal God with whom one relates internally, free will becomes crucial. We learn how to relate through relating, through our choices.
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What do you believe God is like?
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I believe he set the whole thing in motion, and then left it up to us. I believe he does intervene in some manner or other) in response to prayer, but I don't think he machinates what happens. *He* doesn't allow tragedy, we do.
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Smart or not, of what 'use' are we to God?
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I think that's a question each person has to answer for him-/herself. I think we're here because God wanted company, someone to share the experience of beingness with him.
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Interesting idea. God sent Jesus - often symbolized as bread - and a whole cult of people developed who worshiped the bread, claimed the bread was God himself, and prayed to the bread instead of the ONE who made and sent the bread. They claim to be more enlightened than those who do not worship the bread.
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Yup.
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peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle