Does God play favourites?

[nashdude]

You're asking a lot of EXCELLENT QUESTIONS, Commodore. I'm sorry that I didn't run across this thread first, as today's my only off day and we got some cleaning around the house to do (the kids have DESTROYED it!). Let me field them as briefly as possible, and hopefully I'll have time to elaborate later...

Originally Posted by Commodore Angryy

As far as i have gathered from the bible, we are all God's children. And yet, Jesus is directly referred to as God's son. God gave him special powers and awesome stuff. Why don't we all have magic powers? What made God decide that only one person could do infinite good? Surely it would be sensible to make a couple more people like that. So why did he make Jesus special, and favour him? What gave Jesus the right to be at the right hand side of God, can someone take hs position if they do more good than Jesus? I just think there is a little more going on here. If God has infinite love for everyone, why did he love Jesus more? According to the trinity, God and Jesus are the same thing though. Does that mean God thinks he's better than us? But he created us in his own image, so we should be equal. I'm so confused.

First off, as I'm sure others have told you, God didn't "give" Jesus His power. Jesus is, in every respect, God in the flesh. Jesus is the "only begotten son of the father". "Begotten", meaning that Jesus is OF THE SAME ESSENSE as the Father. "Only", meaning that there is no one else besides Him that shares this "same essense" with the Father.

Conversely, we---humans, angels, Satan, his demons (angels who have chosen to follow Satan instead of God)---are all CREATED beings. While we are the PRODUCT of God's hand, we are not OF THE SAME ESSENSE as God. God alone---the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit---is preexisting and not created.

Now, to address your question, we BECOME the Children of God in every aspect when we claim Jesus' payment for our sin and accept His Lordship over our lives.

John 1:12-13 -- But as many as received him (Jesus), to them (those who received Him) gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

While we are the CREATIONS of God, we are not truly the CHILDREN of God until we receive His Son. When we receive Jesus, God ADOPTS us through His Son. Through this adoption, we are made heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus. With this adoption DOES come power similar to Jesus', but as with the adoption, it is not something inherent in us but something that comes from God Himself.

We ARE able to work miracles in this world, just as wonderous as anything that Jesus did in the flesh, but they are not miracles of OUR design but of God's. The reason that we are not seeing them today as we did in the past is that we are not giving of ourself the way those prophets of old did.

In short, God does NOT play favorites. In a way, He's very predictable with how He blesses folks. As much as you empty yourself of "self", He will fill with Godliness. And the more you rely upon Him, the stronger in faith and power you become. The relationship is kinda symbiotic. Basically, if you want to perform miracles on the scale of Moses, Elijah, or the twelve disciples, you've got to come to the place spiritually that they were.

Easy on paper, I know. Difficult in practice. None of us, myself included, really want to change, because deep down we tend to think we're good enough the way we are! That's human nature, but it's a nature that we have to overcome. As with anything, if you hold on to the old, you can never receive the new. Since becoming a Christian, and accepting Jesus' complete Lordship over my life, I've given a lot of myself over to God, and have witnessed many miracles both in my own life and in the lives of those I love. As I grow in Him, these miracles grow in frequency and power. But I'm no Moses, no Elijah. But that's not to say that Moses or Elijah cannot be achieved in this day and time. Just ask Jeff!

Originally Posted by Commodore Angryy

Instead i ask you this, why do bad things happen to children, who haven't done anything good or bad yet. Does he love pretty kids just a little bit more? Because physical unattractiveness would be a sure sign that god doesn't like you that much in my opinion. It's like spite from birth. Does God play favourites among mortals? And please, no 'God works in mysterious ways', or 'we cannot pretend to understand his plan'.

*SIGH*

I've gonna have to get to this one later. My wife just let me know in no uncertain terms that she will NOT be cleaning the house without my assistance

[Gray]

Originally Posted by krony

...normal for a (good) parent to allow some not so fun things in the life of their child so they can grow up to be a stronger adult?....
...So sometimes what we see as the 'bad' things in life (at the time) refine us and prepare us for the future. I mean sometimes you need to let your child screw up to realize how much they need the advice and guidance rather than keep them from all sorts of pain.

I'm pretty sure CA was referring the really bad stuff - cancer, debilitating deformities, death - rather than letting them fall off a chair or walk on the hot sand.

[Commodore Angryy]

Originally Posted by Gray

I'm pretty sure CA was referring the really bad stuff - cancer, debilitating deformities, death - rather than letting them fall off a chair or walk on the hot sand.

Good call there. You're both wrong though, i wasn't calling attention to the life experiences of a young child, nor was i pointing out the ultra-nasty stuff. I was just asking how, from birth, it is fair for God to make one person's life easier than another's.

[nashdude]

Originally Posted by nashdude

*SIGH*

I've gonna have to get to this one later. My wife just let me know in no uncertain terms that she will NOT be cleaning the house without my assistance

I only have a few minutes to post this, so I'll make it quick.

There are three main reasons that God allows bad stuff to happen to children...

1) Stuff Happens

Matthew 5:45 -- That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

2) Setting up for a miracle, both to glorify God and to bless the individual

John 9:2-3 -- And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

3) Why would God give advantages to others when He denied them from His own Son?

Isaiah 53:2-3 -- For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

We are natural beings, and we have a natural tendency to see the world from a certain perspective, giving admiration to beauty and wealth but looking DOWN upon those who lack. Darwin called that tendency "survival of the fittest", looking with favor upon those who are most likely to succeed at any given endeavour.

God, on the other hand, likes to work with LACK. He likes to work when something should be unlikely or even impossible. Why should He work within a situation that might otherwise have succeeded anyway, when due credit might be denied Him simply because people cannot see His hand at work? It makes more sense to work in difficult situations, to help the helpless, to support the underdog, if you will.

In the physical Jesus of Nazareth, you have a middle class kid, adopted by His mother's husband, living in a town that many in Judea considered "the wrong side of the tracks". He wasn't good looking or athletic, or in any way remarkable. In every way, Jesus was ORDINARY to the natural eye, with no talents or attributes that might in any way make Him stand out.

And yet, He changed the world. As I said, God loves to work with lack.

and boy am i glad that He does...

[SeekerSA]

Originally Posted by Commodore Angryy

Good call there. You're both wrong though, i wasn't calling attention to the life experiences of a young child, nor was i pointing out the ultra-nasty stuff. I was just asking how, from birth, it is fair for God to make one person's life easier than another's.

Hi Commodore

Pleased to meet you.

Let us look at a non biblical perspective.

We cannot all be rich and famous, good looking et al.

All societies have their well to do and the not so well to do. I am not American yet you have a statement in the bill all men are created equal.

And it is true.

God sets before us a path where we either find or miss our destiny. Granted some from the WTD families have an edge where the opposite can be said of the other side, yet how many great men have come out of the other side? No, God is no respecter of persons, you are dealt a hand and that is the hand you must play. Biblically we are taught not to desire what we do not have viz other's possessions yet nothing precludes us from setting goals of having dreams. How we pursue that depends largely on us but we can get help from above.

We do not have free will but our will is "free" in its nature, we do not get to choose where we are born the education we will have etc. What we have choice is is making the best of the hand dealt to us.

Why does God make ugly children?

By whose standards?

Ever heard of beauty is in the eye of the beholder? When you look carnally at people, you may weigh up beauty on a scale of -10 to +10, In God's eyes we are all +10.

How about a beautiful person that gets disfigured by some freak accident? Did God ordain that? Maybe, or maybe the circumstances were avoidable and by poor choice things happen.

You see sin has consequences in this life, sowing and reaping. Even if you do not believe in God, this holds true. Go around cussing people and see how many friends you will have? Same for a poor man. Give him $1M and within 2-3 years he will be poor again. Give the $1M to a rich man, in 2-3 years he will have doubled if not tripled it.

So blame shift does not work in the spiritual, that is carnal. There are different principles at work.

I posted on this elsewhere.

Seeking a sign is what Atheists want, guess what, this is no new thing, you are not now more super intelligent than the folk back in Jesus' day, they too sought a sign, only one was given. In spite of what He did, in spite of what must have been reported, nada, they still wanted a sign. Welcome to planet earth and the long line of skeptics.

And no, I am not a blind believer, read some of my posts. I am not a fundamentalist either. My IQ is up there with the geniuses, yet I am humbled to know that means absolutely nothing in the Spiritual, I still however use my logic. I use it to defend my gift of faith.

Blessings

[Grace]

Originally Posted by Christa

and boy am i glad that He does...

me too...and even more glad that He let me realize(an ongoing process...sigh) all my lackings...and, to see He was/is/will always be there.....waiting.

[krony]

Originally Posted by Commodore Angryy

Good call there. You're both wrong though, i wasn't calling attention to the life experiences of a young child, nor was i pointing out the ultra-nasty stuff. I was just asking how, from birth, it is fair for God to make one person's life easier than another's.

Hmmm...is one person's life easier than another's? I mean if you've ever changed jobs you go "darn this was tougher than I thought..."

I think all of us think others have it tougher than we do...usually it comes down to how we respond to what we are given. Are we thankful or are we bitter.

[Commodore Angryy]

Originally Posted by krony

Hmmm...is one person's life easier than another's? I mean if you've ever changed jobs you go "darn this was tougher than I thought..."

I think all of us think others have it tougher than we do...usually it comes down to how we respond to what we are given. Are we thankful or are we bitter.

I chose the name 'Commodore Angryy' for a reason, of course i'm bitter. so if God knows me as well as he's meant to, why won't he help me? I'm generally a good person

Originally Posted by Commodore Angryy

I chose the name 'Commodore Angryy' for a reason, of course i'm bitter. so if God knows me as well as he's meant to, why won't he help me? I'm generally a good person

Why do you believe He isn't helping you?