No One To Blame But Yourself.

Be you Christian or Jew,are you to blame for the evil that befalls you?

This is a serious question prompted by my reading of the scriptures.

Throughout the OT/Tanakh the destructions,wars etc that the Hebrews face is caused by their own sin,their own transgression of God's covenants and their own lack of faith.

There are countless verses on this matter.For example,in Joshua Ch 7,just one man's sin brought disaster to 1000's people.


So,does this mean that an unbelievers sin has no effect on a believer?

The abundance of evidence tells us,yes.Even if some wicked/evil event touches a believers life,it is because he/she or another believer has sinned,not because the perpatrator is a sinner

Does this also mean that,even though the scriptures are to be spread throughout the world,that maybe those of the Jewish and Christian faiths should spend more time worrying about their own followers than worrying about the sins and evils committed by non-believers??

Not exactly, evil comes from satan. What happens when people turn their backs on God, He over time removes the hedge of protection He has over them. Satan has been trying to bring evil to ALL men since the garden, when people follow God He protects them, when they don't follow God, He removes His protecting hands.

Evil may come from some source not in this world but there are people who do evil themselves under the disguise as Satan or something else.

Sometimes it isn't the person's fault.

Sometimes it is.

first thing to remember is that noone is perfect. everyone sins. so there are no ¨innocent¨ people. so any blessings, hedges, protection we get from god is by its very nature limited.

there are 2 things that sin affects..

- it affects our relationship with god. it hurts him when we sin.
Psalms 78:40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert! 41 Again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel.

- it leads to bad consequences. like playing on a highway can be dangerous. nothing to do with god or satan, just the consequences of that sin.

we see the example of king david and bath´sheba. he committed fornication with her and then had her husband put to death. the prophet met him and exposed his sin. david weeped and begged forgiveness which god gave. this fixed the first part about his relationship with god, however god said he would not shield him from the consequences of his sin.

think of a man who never lies. he is very honest and because of this he has a good reputation. he even gets ¨blessings¨ (indirect) from his honesty. maybe he gets a nice job. one day he slips and lies and gets caught. the consequences can be profound. maybe he looses his job because of it. he wife would suffer too, and she didnt do anything.

point being, being alienated from god means we have to face the consequences of our sins.

does this mean that we should focus on ourselves? absolutely. jesus gave the parable or the 2 men, one with a piece of straw in his eye and the other with a rafter.

should we call attention to the sins of unbelievers? not really. our job is to preach the kingdom and let them choose. not to nitpick at their sins

[edit on 27-9-2008 by miriam0566]

im a christian and i honestly dont know why we suffer because of other's mistakes

God DID say however that He will punish some sins even to the 3-rd or 4-th generation of that person, i.e. his kids.

i dont know why but He must have a reason for it, its not totally ilogical, if your father was a murderer and you get cursed for that , in a way yes its unfair, but in another it makes sense. the Curse could be something like, you`re missing a leg an eye , who knows.

i guess its up to you to live with that curse instead of whining about it, thats just how things are, deal with it, nothing you can do about it anyway.

also , i do think God is mercyful and He will repay those who suffer, i.e. have troubles like being handicaped.

NOTurTypical

Not exactly, evil comes from satan. What happens when people turn their backs on God, He over time removes the hedge of protection He has over them. Satan has been trying to bring evil to ALL men since the garden, when people follow God He protects them, when they don't follow God, He removes His protecting hands.

Yes.And he removes it because of their sin,not because of a non-believer.



miriam0566

should we call attention to the sins of unbelievers? not really. our job is to preach the kingdom and let them choose. not to nitpick at their sins

If only more believers understood this!
Its seems to much of history has been lost on blaming the unbelievers for the wickedness in the world,when all the time it is their sin that brings their own downfall.

Originally posted by jakyll

If only more believers understood this!
Its seems to much of history has been lost on blaming the unbelievers for the wickedness in the world,when all the time it is their sin that brings their own downfall.

eccl also talks about time and chance.

9:[11] I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

without god´s protection, sometimes you can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. that of course is aside from the consequences of your actions.

in contrast, jesus (who actually deserved to live because of perfection) had gods full protection. in his second test, satan asked him to jump off the temple wall because the angels would catch him. jesus couldnt die until god released his protection hence why jesus called out why have you foresaken me?

it leads me to believe that any protection faithful people have in this world is nothing compared to the portection and blessings we will have in the new world

reply to post by jakyll

Yes.And he removes it because of their sin,not because of a non-believer.

Not exactly, Proverbs is FULL of verses that say a wicked man will have to lay in the bed he makes.

in contrast, jesus (who actually deserved to live because of perfection) had gods full protection. in his second test, satan asked him to jump off the temple wall because the angels would catch him. jesus couldnt die until god released his protection hence why jesus called out why have you foresaken me?

Always wondered why he said that.He knew what would happen to himself,he told his apostles about it and it was the fulfilling of prophecy.

Maybe it was a moment of weakness,or fear.

There are many things in the bible that seem to outwardly contradict other writings. To be honest, there are things in Christian history that contradict the bible. A good example is the Crusades, where even though God's word says "Thou shalt not kill" Christian soldiers killed thousands to control Jerusalem. Modern Christianity is really shaky on some of those formerly "set it stone" truths, mostly because many priests have deviated far from the path laid out for them by the books they're supposed to teach from. It's amazing just how many people still believe despite some obvious faults in the new line of preaching.

Instead of teaching from the Bible or other suplemental books, many preachers take one or two verses from the Bible and write an entire sermon around them. It's really weird to me that you can most times bore people to death and still be considered a man/woman of faith. Church isn't school, so maybe the preachers should start being more open and reading supplemental verses instead of picking two and lecturing about them for an hour. I for one am sick of those... I'm aware that I may or may not have stayed on topic, I'm sorry. Just kind lept out of me. It's the truth though, this is a real life look at my last five visits to church, and a good reason why I don't go as often as I should.

There are many things in the bible that seem to outwardly contradict other writings. To be honest, there are things in Christian history that contradict the bible. A good example is the Crusades, where even though God's word says "Thou shalt not kill" Christian soldiers killed thousands to control Jerusalem. Modern Christianity is really shaky on some of those formerly "set it stone" truths, mostly because many priests have deviated far from the path laid out for them by the books they're supposed to teach from. It's amazing just how many people still believe despite some obvious faults in the new line of preaching.

Well,they got round that easily when the infamous Pope Urban II declared that Jesus commanded they go to the Holy Land to fight,that the journey there would lead to a remission of sins and any sins committed whilst fighting would be forgiven.
www.fordham.edu...


Its not difficult to see why this was so readily accepted when you understand how the world viewed the position of the Pope for many centuries.

"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith,in morals over each and every pastor and his flock.He is the true vicar,the head of the entire church,the father and teacher of all Christians.He is the infallible ruler,the founder of dogmas,the author of and the judge of councils;the universal ruler of truth,the arbiter of the world,the supreme judge of heaven and earth,the judge of all,being judged by no one,God himself on earth." Quoted in the New York Catechism.

www.abovetopsecret.com...