Re: Making money from Java

"Alistair" <alistair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Judson McClendon wrote:
>> I know people who have been miraculously healed, medical evidence
>> and all. One of my very oldest and dearest friends had stomach cancer.
>> They
>> did multiple CAT scans and x-rays, including the day before surgery, and
>> the
>> cancer was there. My friend was a minister (now retired), and his whole
>> church was praying for him. The surgeon said after surgery that when he
>> went
>> in, he saw lesions on the stomach wall where the cancer had been, but the
>> cancer was completely gone. Now, if my friend came and showed you those
>> medical records, would it make you a believer? :-)
>
> And how often do church congregations pray for those who subsequently
> die, without remark? I would like to see the x-rays, as I suspect that
> if the cancer had indeed gone then it was the scar tissue left behind
> which was on the scans and x-rays.

I do not know why God heals some and does not heal others. I do not know why
God heals a person of one thing, but does not heal the same person of
something else. I only know that He does heal prople, even miraculously. God
is not some "black box" that we can push button 'A' and always get response
'B'. God is a Person, and the Bible says God has feelings and emotions, and
He definitely has an agenda. But apart from what He tells us in the Bible,
or in direct revelation, we can only speculate about reality from God's
viewpoint.

If you email me, I will get you in contact with my friend. But I do not
think the surgeon would have told my friend "Well, you got your miracle"
when he woke after surgery, if what you suggest was a possibility. :-)

>> I believe the answer lies in
>> understanding three things, one that God decided to give man free will,
>
> But if God is all-knowing then he knows our futures and, by definition,
> free will does not exist.

Not so. There is a difference between *knowing* what will happen and
*making* it happen. But in one respect, I agree: our futures are fixed, not
because they are imposed on us by Divine fiat, but because we will make the
decisions we will make, and that goes for everybody, and God knows all this.
God does not force our decisions, but He does have the power to deal with
the decisions we do make.

>> Anyway, man has sinned against God
>
> Britain was condemned for the practice of deporting thieves to
> Australia. A punishment that did not fit the crime. God's punishment of
> Adam and Eve by banishment, does appear to be excessive.

Do you remember why God banished them?

"So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden
of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the
tree of life." (Genesis 3:24)

Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to keep them from eating from the tree
of life and living forever, here in this mortal life, as sinners, apart form
God. This was done in mercy, not as a judgment. From the beginning, God knew
that man would sin, and planned all along to prepare a way for men to be
reconciled to Him. If God had permitted Adam and Eve to live forever here,
they would never be able to live forever with God in Heaven. I don't know
about you, but I don't want to live in this corrupt, painful world forever.
If I had my preference, I would be outta here before lunch. :-)
--
Judson McClendon judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (remove zero)
Sun Valley Systems http://sunvaley.com
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."


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