THE "IF THERE IS A GOD" QUESTION

The age old question that atheist, agnostics and some that consider themselves "i don't believe in a "bearded guy in the sky"intellectuals .Others genuinely ask, If there is a God, why is there suffering ?

Now i am not a Pastor,preacher,philosopher or theologian, so i am going to answer the best way i know how. Some of you may disagree with my references to the Bible and GOD himself, but the fact is that i am a Christian. My Christianity is not a religion , and is not about "Thou Shalt" and "Thou Shalt not", but it is a faith that is about relationship, a one on one relationship with GOD and a lifestyle that i choose to live. You cannot separate me from my lifestyle, like you cannot separate a fish from water. With that said, let's get to why you are reading this, SO SIT BACK, THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE.

In the beginning God said "Let us create man in our own image after our own likeness . What this meant was that man was to be in the likeness of God. Just like many of us are in the likeness of our fathers and mothers, we are in the likeness of God. Like twins are the likeness of each other but are different from each other, so are you like God but not God himself. Just like we share genetic codes with our parents, or for some of us our grand parents ,and we look like them and sometimes even act exactly the same way they did when they were our age. We have many of their features , yet we are very distinct individuals.
When God made us like himself, he gave us many of his features, the power to think and create, as is shown in Adams' naming of the animals in the garden. The power to have a relationship, as Adam had a many conversations with God. He gave us the admire , as God made Eve and presented her to Adam, Adam was speechless. Above all GOD gave man free will and the power of choice,

GENESIS 2 vs 16- 17 ;You may freely eat ANY fruit in the garden, except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of it's fruit you will surely die.

Did you notice the key word ANY. Any by definition means some of a thing or number of things, no matter how much or many. This implies that there were many trees in the Garden, Its my belief that the garden must have gone on for several millions of acres. We know the wide range of fruit that we see in the supermarket. And what we see is what is local to the climate we live in. The garden must have had every fruit that is known to man, including those that are if there is such a fruit extinct. That is a choice of over 1,000 fruits. So why on earth , did they choose to eat the fruit that was forbidden ?

I am sure that the majority of those reading this article would admit to doing something that our parents or some form of authority told us not to do. Whether it , eating snacks before dinner, going over to a friends after school instead of coming home straight. Taking the car out despite the fact that you don't have a learners permit much more a drivers permit. I think you catch my drift .
They were given the choice of life and death, choose another fruit and live, eat this one and die. It all boils down to choice and we all know what choice that they took.

God gave us all free will, the power to make choices, without which, we would not be like him. He could have decided to program us all downloading into us whatever he wanted us to do, or make us into puppets that did his will, but he decided to give us free will and with that free will, that is why the world is in the state it is in.

Free will, ultimately translates to freedom. Freedom is the power or right to act ,speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Journalists love to claim, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Americans love to plea their various amendments and declaration of independence, oh how much they love it. Many from all around the world run to the United States because of this "freedom" .

But exactly how free is Freedom?
There is no freedom without restrictions, there is no freedom without discipline. We are free to eat what we want , but eat too many sweets and we rot our teeth. Eat too much cholesterol and we risk a lifetime of health complications.

It's all about choice. We are free to date who we choose but some ladies can testify what they have suffered at some of the men they have allowed into their lives. Some of the men paying alimony to women you took their hearts and put it through the grinder can testify to it, but it was their choice to get involved with that person.

What we should ask ourselves Freedom is the right to do as we ought to do, not as we want to do. Freedom comes with responsibility

John 8:36 Therefore,if the son makes you free you are free indeed.

Along with the responsibility of freedom come consequences. No man is an island, whatever we do affects those around us. There is no freedom without community. What you do affects you neighbors and your family. You don't think so!; Try playing you boom box at the highest volume at 2 O clock in the morning and see what happens. If you tell a lie, it affects those we lie to;You have an argument with your spouse, it affects your kids and your co-workers because your countenance has changed.

Many teenagers long for freedom. They want to have as much fun as they can while they are young vis a vis sleep with as many people before they are tied down by marriage . Now, if that young man gets an STD whose fault is it?, The girl for having the disease ? The condom for failing ? NO! , He made a choice to be promiscuous. Some of you will say that "it was just once" , yeah even if it was just once it was still a choice.It takes just once to be bitten by a poisonous snake or stung by jelly fish to die or become seriously paralyzed. He could have chosen chastity, or abstinence, he could have chosen monogamy too, it's all about choice.

The young girl that sleeps with her boyfriend because she doesn't want to lose him, gets pregnant and still loses him made a choice. LADIES , any man that wants to sleep with you and is not ready to make a life time commitment to you, can walk away at anytime after he's gotten what he wanted, many of you know this all too well.

Considering it's the 21st century , there are some ladies that want a no strings attached relationship. That is choice, and they should live with whatever consequences come with that.

Divorce is at a high rate all over the world because some people can not wrap their heads round the concept of monogamy and fidelity. Children are scattered and separated under the guise of "irreconcilable differences". Whatever happened to "for better or for worse, till death do us part.

Young women everyday decide on Abortion because they do not want to a baby inconvenience their lives. Why didn't they think of this when were spreading their legs for some guy !;Now an innocent life has to die because of the choice they made a few months ago.
They lie to themselves that a fetus is not a person yet, What a crock of nonsense! What then is it if it's not a life yet. Those of us that are reading this, when we were fetuses, what were we if not human ? It's all about choices.

Parents don't discipline their children and the call it the building of self esteem .They want to keep their kids happy and not hurt their feelings, so they let them do what they want, with no consequences attached. That is why shows like BRAT CAMP are in existence.Kids that tell their parents to shut up, hit them and slam the door in their face. Their parents made the choice not to discipline them, to play the "buddy" instead of being a leader and a parent. Never confuse discipline with abuse, or freedom with irresponsibility.

People become addicted to cigarettes, pornography, drugs and become obese by choice, you are what you are because you have chosen to be what you are.

So coming down to it IF THERE IS GOD . WHY IS THERE................

Due to the fact that God is not controlling us like puppets on strings, we can do what we want, when we want and how we want. God made laws in which the world runs, and after he made the world and those laws to run the world, he gave man DOMINION over the earth. This means he handed over authority of the earth to man, it became man's property and he was to run it as his own.

PICTURE THIS You are married with kids and you are doing quite well everything is going great and it could not be better, and it's the up bringing that your parents gave you that got you to were you are. What if one day, your dad comes to your house and tries to run your home for you. over riding all your decisions as the man of the house, and making you play second fiddle in your own home, would you be happy.

Ladies, would you appreciate it if your mother in law, came in to; run your house, your kids your kitchen and re arranged everything you have carefully organized to your specific taste. It's yours isn't it, what right does she have, who does she think she is. I thought so.

IMAGINE THIS
If you got an inheritance from your father, the villa in France, the country house, the 15 room mansion, the pent house in New York, along with a healthy trust fund whose interest alone is more than some brain surgeons earn annually.
What if a few years down the line he comes back to tell you that he wants it all back .Disappointment and out rage would be a few of the emotions that you would experience. Of the questions you would probably ask is "why did you give it to me if you were going to take it all away"

So why do we expect from God, after all he has given us the earth, and he can not go back on his word.Like a King that can not go back on the law of the land, God can not go back on the laws he created.

The laws that govern the earth and mankind One of them as we have already learned is free will, the power that man has to make choices. The law of gravity, the law of seed time and harvest, we plant a seed and we receive a harvest. The law of supply and demand. This law applies to our actions and decisions. We choose to sow alcohol , and you have a likelihood of reaping alcoholism, you read the right books you get the right knowledge. You choose not to get educated(formal and informal), you have embraced illiteracy.

Self Esteem and motivational speakers ,tell us that success is all about choice. There is the saying that no one can make us unhappy we choose to be. We can choose to let events of life hamper us or learn from them.

History has shown us numerous people that decided to make choices, both negative and positive.

HITLER & JERRY RAWLINGS - Decided on genocide
MANDELA & MARTIN LUTHER KING - Decided on racial unity

STALIN AND LENIN decided on economic and political Bondage of their people

ABRAHAM LINCOLN and WILLIAM WALLACE(Brave Heart)- Decided on Freedom for their people.

50 CENTS decided that he was going to get out of the ghetto and make something of himself,today he has a personal net worth of $100 million, the same goes for JAY Z who is worth over $300 million . They may not be great moral examples, but regardless they are examples of people that made a CHOICE. Many of the people they grew up with are either dead or in prison.

WHY DOESN'T GOD ANSWER CERTAIN PRAYERS
What if God decided to answer all our prayers, and get rid of all those that trouble us, and cause us trouble. Our neighbors will start dropping in their yards, kids in the playground and parents in the cars in traffic ad grandparents while applying Ben Gay. Each person on this planet has offended someone else at some point in their life time.Catch my drift?

If we never face adversity ,How then do we build character. If he gives us all we want, would we ever work for anything ? Remember the satisfaction you feel, when you have saved long and hard for something and you finally have enough to get it.

Remember the movie BRUCE ALMIGHTY!, I don't agree with everything in the movie, but it did show a very valid point. We point fingers at God and accuse him for everything going wrong in our lives, but given the chance we would not do much better. BRUCE when given the power of God, said yes to every body's prayers and we saw the extra ordinary consequences of such an action.

As a parent do you say yes to every single request that your child makes? Are you a genie that grants every wish of your child. For those that say a resounding yes "after all it is my child" I'm guessing that by now ,the child is out of control, along with ;your home finances and possibly sanity. To those that say NO. Well done, you know that there are some requests that your child makes on impulse and would forget about a few hours later.You know some requests are short sighted without the long term consequences taken into consideration. You know there are some choices that will ultimately cause more harm than good, and there are other choices that are god ,in their own right, but just are at the wrong time.

God answers prayers according to his word, which is the Bible. You pray according to his word and his will with faith, and you should not have a problem having your prayers answered.

WHY DOES GOD LET EVIL HAPPEN
So why does God let evil happen? Why can't he stop or kill these perpetrators of evil? Are you sure you really want that?

If God decided to judge all evil the very same way, he would have to repopulate the earth about every 10 seconds.None of us will be alive to read this write up,myself included.

Every time a teenager thinks of sex, he'd strike him down for LUST.

Every lie that a woman tells her husband about the credit card she'd be struck down for LIES AND DECEIT.

Every man that looks lustfully upon a woman would drop dead.

Every little kid that eats that cookie his mom told him not to, or rides his bicycle when he's not meant to will be struck down for DISOBEDIENCE.

When you pinch a piece of pie from the fridge that belongs to your sister, you would be struck down for STEALING.

The moment you roll your eyes when your dad is chastising you , you would be struck down for breaking the commandment HONOUR THY PARENTS.

Those that doubt or deny his existence ,the mere thought of it and you'd be worm food

Every time a person used the name of GOD or JESUS to swear ,that's an immediate death sentence

AND

Those that choose to mock GOD and Christ, i can't even imagine what would happen to such people. Jerry Springer the Opera,Fat Christ,Jesus Christ Super Star and Life of Brian would never have left the brains of their creators, much less made it to stage and screen.

Far fetched? Not really. If you read accounts in the old testament, particularly the books of DEUTERONOMY and LEVITICUS , you would thank God that we are living under the covenant of Grace. Back then even if you farted the wrong way it could get you killed (just Kidding).

God is a just God and will judge all sin the same way. He does not interfere in the affairs of earth unless we invite him to. Just like a father that is waiting for his son to ask for help in his home work or while assembling that first bicycle. He won't force himself on us. The earth is ours to do wit h as we please.WE , not GOD have made the choices that have gotten us were are today.

We choose to consider our fellow humans as less than human, and that is why there was slavery. We chose to invade other lands and that is why there were to world wars and numerous civil wars.
Dictators, and greedy,selfish politicians decide to line their pockets with billions from the state treasuries and that is why there are starving children everywhere.

We think strong arming is the only way to solve problems, that's why there is child abuse,wife beatings, gang wars and civil unrest.

We can't live with people that are a different race, tribe or ethnic group from us , that is why there is racism and genocide.

Everything that is happening on earth is happening as a result of choices human beings have made.

Some of the diseases in the world have not being cured because, the person whose destiny it was to bring that cure was aborted by someone's choice.

What if Thomas Edison(The Light Bulb),Ford(the automobile),Alexander Fleming (penicillin),Issac Newton(theory of gravity) ,Christopher Columbus(America), John Logie Biard(the television) The Wright Brothers(The Airplane) were aborted as babies, where would the world be today, What if their mothers decided they didn't need the hassle and aborted them , take a few minutes and THINK ABOUT IT.

It's time to stop taking the cowards way out and blaming God for everything that has gone wrong with the world. When things go right i our lives , many of us fail to acknowledge him, but when the world is going crazy , we yell out and blame him.

MAN is the cause of the world's problems, GOD has the desire to help out, he's just waiting for us to ask him to do so.

We have before us choices, it's up to us what we decide upon.