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Make Known His Deeds

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
I'd be interested to read testimonies from people who believe that they have God to thank for a changed situation.

I was watching a programme about the survival of a group of Chilean miners, men who were forced to live underground for weeks while help was organised above ground. All were eventually saved.

Prayer was an important part of their daily lives, as it was for many waiting patiently above ground.

Do you have a story of how God has helped you?
 

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I'd be interested to read testimonies from people who believe that they have God to thank for a changed situation.

I was watching a programme about the survival of a group of Chilean miners, men who were forced to live underground for weeks while help was organised above ground. All were eventually saved.

Prayer was an important part of their daily lives, as it was for many waiting patiently above ground.

Do you have a story of how God has helped you?

To me that would be each person's life story.

I see all of us are here because God is helping us.

Regards Tony
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Do you have a story of how God has helped you?
Yes, but mine takes too long to tell. Let me just say that it involved "premonitions" that lasted almost two years, and then a gang-buster one about a year after the others ended, as if to indicate that what I had come to conclude was real.

BTW, just to be clear, my main orientation and my occupation was in the area of science (now retired), so I'm not in the least superstitious or prone to having an "over-active imagination". What happened was very much real, and it really shook me up, let me tell ya.
 

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I was thinking particularly of prayers made to preserve, or prolong, life where there was a serious threat to life.

There is a great prayer for Natural Disaster to be said in times of natural events, like earthquakes, eclipses, and other such phenomena, which may cause fear and are taken to be signs or acts of God, it is;

"Dominion is God's, the Lord of the seen and the unseen, the Lord of creation,"

As for health of individuals, having worked in old age care home for a few years, I see many pray for those that should be let go, thus the best prayer for me, for others health, is "May Gods Will be Done", after we have done all we can do.

Regards Tony
 

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
Yes, but mine takes too long to tell. Let me just say that it involved "premonitions" that lasted almost two years, and then a gang-buster one about a year after the others ended, as if to indicate that what I had come to conclude was real.

BTW, just to be clear, my main orientation and my occupation was in the area of science (now retired), so I'm not in the least superstitious or prone to having an "over-active imagination". What happened was very much real, and it really shook me up, let me tell ya.

You know how to build suspense!
 

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
There is a great prayer for Natural Disaster to be said in times of natural events, like earthquakes, eclipses, and other such phenomena, which may cause fear and are taken to be signs or acts of God, it is;

"Dominion is God's, the Lord of the seen and the unseen, the Lord of creation,"

As for health of individuals, having worked in old age care home for a few years, I see many pray for those that should be let go, thus the best prayer for me, for others health, is "May Gods Will be Done", after we have done all we can do.

Regards Tony

I understand where you're coming from, but is fatalism a demonstration of faith? If you know that God loves you, why do you not demonstrate faith in God's goodness?

If prayers make no difference, why pray at all?
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
I'd be interested to read testimonies from people who believe that they have God to thank for a changed situation.

I was watching a programme about the survival of a group of Chilean miners, men who were forced to live underground for weeks while help was organised above ground. All were eventually saved.

Prayer was an important part of their daily lives, as it was for many waiting patiently above ground.

Do you have a story of how God has helped you?

I remember holding my daughter as a baby around midnight with a fever at 104. As I wiped her forehead, I said, "Lord, I can't stand that my daughter is suffering. I can't afford a hospital bill but if you don't do something now, I came going to have to take her to the emergency room".

Five minutes later she was perfectly normal.
 

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
I remember holding my daughter as a baby around midnight with a fever at 104. As I wiped her forehead, I said, "Lord, I can't stand that my daughter is suffering. I can't afford a hospital bill but if you don't do something now, I came going to have to take her to the emergency room".

Five minutes later she was perfectly normal.

That's great to hear!
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
I'd be interested to read testimonies from people who believe that they have God to thank for a changed situation.

I was watching a programme about the survival of a group of Chilean miners, men who were forced to live underground for weeks while help was organised above ground. All were eventually saved.

Prayer was an important part of their daily lives, as it was for many waiting patiently above ground.

Do you have a story of how God has helped you?
How did God help any of those miners?

Did God drill the boreholes to get them out?

Or maybe he drilled the first small borehole used to get them food and water. Is that it?

Prayer may have helped some of them as a coping mechanism, but prayer isn't God. Using prayer to overcome adversity like that is still a testament to hyman strength, nkt God's, and I think it's terribly ungrateful and short-sighted to credit God with anything here while ignoring the dedication, risk and hardship that a huge number of actual people went through to help their fellow humans.
 

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
How did God help any of those miners?

Did God drill the boreholes to get them out?

Or maybe he drilled the first small borehole used to get them food and water. Is that it?

Prayer may have helped some of them as a coping mechanism, but prayer isn't God. Using prayer to overcome adversity like that is still a testament to hyman strength, nkt God's, and I think it's terribly ungrateful and short-sighted to credit God with anything here while ignoring the dedication, risk and hardship that a huge number of actual people went through to help their fellow humans.

The Chilean miners were all thankful to the man who led them in prayer each day. They were also thankful to the people who made a huge effort to get them out.

This is not a question of either God or man. According to the scriptures, God always works with people who demonstrate faith. Why? Because faith, or trust, is a response to the love that God shows. If you believe God loves you, you show it through faith.

It's not possible to prove that God helped the miners. It is, however, possible to show that the miners, and others, demonstrated faith, hope, and love.

God tells people to act with love. Had an American not heard the news about the miners trapped in the mine, and had he not felt compassion for their plight, he would not have mounted a huge operation to send the necessary mining equipment to get the trapped miners out.

If they believe God was involved, and they demonstrate faith in God's goodness, should we dismiss their testimony?
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
The Chilean miners were all thankful to the man who led them in prayer each day. They were also thankful to the people who made a huge effort to get them out.
That's good, but I was talking about your attitude in the OP, not theirs.

This is not a question of either God or man.
Of course it is. You made a thread about "His deeds;" the question of which deeds were "His" and which were someone else's is entirely relevant.
According to the scriptures, God always works with people who demonstrate faith. Why? Because faith, or trust, is a response to the love that God shows. If you believe God loves you, you show it through faith.
Do you understand how a human being acting on the basis of faith is not the same thing as God acting?

It's not possible to prove that God helped the miners. It is, however, possible to show that the miners, and others, demonstrated faith, hope, and love.
If this is what you think, why did you give them as an example of God helping someone?

God tells people to act with love. Had an American not heard the news about the miners trapped in the mine, and had he not felt compassion for their plight, he would not have mounted a huge operation to send the necessary mining equipment to get the trapped miners out.
So God's mercy for those trapped miners was contingent on the compassion of one human being?

If they believe God was involved, and they demonstrate faith in God's goodness, should we dismiss their testimony?
We should take their testimony at face value: that men who were taught since birth to use religion as a coping mechanism used religion as a coping mechanism in a crisis.

What in their testimony do you think requires an actual god?
 

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
That's good, but I was talking about your attitude in the OP, not theirs.


Of course it is. You made a thread about "His deeds;" the question of which deeds were "His" and which were someone else's is entirely relevant.

Do you understand how a human being acting on the basis of faith is not the same thing as God acting?


If this is what you think, why did you give them as an example of God helping someone?


So God's mercy for those trapped miners was contingent on the compassion of one human being?


We should take their testimony at face value: that men who were taught since birth to use religion as a coping mechanism used religion as a coping mechanism in a crisis.

What in their testimony do you think requires an actual god?

The OP quotation, 'make known his deeds' comes from Psalm 105:1, which says 'O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.'

How can anyone prove that the events that take place in their life are as the result of God's deeds? It's not possible to prove. Sometimes there are compelling reasons to link a prayer to a healing or miracle, but absolute proof is not possible. It's ultimately a matter of faith. And, if I ask a question like, 'Do you have a story of how God has helped you?' there is, obviously, an assumption that the person being addressed has faith in the goodness of God, and believes that God is able to intervene.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
The OP quotation, 'make known his deeds' comes from Psalm 105:1, which says 'O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.'

How can anyone prove that the events that take place in their life are as the result of God's deeds? It's not possible to prove. Sometimes there are compelling reasons to link a prayer to a healing or miracle, but absolute proof is not possible. It's ultimately a matter of faith. And, if I ask a question like, 'Do you have a story of how God has helped you?' there is, obviously, an assumption that the person being addressed has faith in the goodness of God, and believes that God is able to intervene.
Since this thread has been moved to a discussion-only forum, I won't be able to debate this any further with you.
 
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