In the beginning of Exodus, we start talking about Moses and the plagues. An amazing show of God's power that can easily be seen. But as I'm reading it, there's a couple of questions I noticed myself asking.

First, you see over and over that God was the one hardening Pharaoh's heart. Even when there was a slight moment where he might change his mind, it says that God is the one that hardened his heart and made him still not believe. So I start wondering, why is God doing this? Why is he intentionally making the struggle against Pharaoh so hard? I mean, God is all-powerful and even knows exactly what Pharaoh's going to say, so don't you think he could do something about his bad attitude? Well, I think part of it was for the Israelites. God wanted them to see his power, too. God wanted to show them that he still truly loved them and that they were his chosen people. Sure, Pharaoh and the Egyptians needed a little kick in the butt, but maybe the Israelites did too.

Secondly, this is something that kind of ties in with my life. And possibly even an older post. There are a few times where you see Pharaoh start to let the Egyptians go and change his mind. He lets Moses and Aaron pray and God takes the plague away. But then, right away, Pharaoh changes his mind because things are all back to normal again. And if you think about it, how often do we do that? How often do we fall on God when things aren't going so great, and call on him to help lift us up, but then as soon as things are good again, we forget about him. We think that the person that came into our lives, the event that happened, or what we were able to do for ourselves to pull us back up is what needs to be praised. But we don't get that God made all those things. So shouldn't he be praised?

I know I post fairly sporadically, and i'd be surprised if anyone even reads this, but I'm reading through the Bible in a year, and I'm hoping to get some more thoughts and posts down soon.

If God created everything, and he is omniscient meaning he knows everything that ever happened and ever will, and he is omnipotent, how does evil exist? Didn't he know when he created humans that he'd be sending them to hell? Is that not inhumane?

See, God may be omniscient and omnipotent, but humans still have some degree of free will, and in the very beginning of the Bible you see Adam and Eve choose to turn against God and sin. After that, they were cursed for turning away from God. After the original sin, humans were then destined to sin, which sinning itself is simply acting apart from God, or as though God doesn't exist. That is a choice of free will, to follow God or not.
Then, God send Jesus Christ to come down to earth, as a man, and die for the sins of all mankind, and because of this, no one HAS to go die, no one HAS to go to hell. Because of Jesus's death on the cross, anyone who believes in him and accepts him as their savior will have access to salvation, and to eternal life in heaven with God. That is more loving than anyone or anything on earth. And with such a gift of free salvation like that, it becomes free will to sin or to live without God, to decline the offer for free salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life. In the end that all comes down to believing in God strong enough and accepting him. Because he is a very loving God who WANTS to give us eternal life and have us in heaven with him forever.

Does god every speak directly to you in words? If not, how could you assume anyone at all has heard his voice? Who is to say that coincidences can be called divine?

To me? No. But back in the time when the Bible was written, God used to not only speak to people himself, such as Adam and Eve and Moses, but he also spoke directly through prophets. The reason people can safely assume this is because it is written in the Bible, which is the true word, and the Bible has been backed up by scientists to be true. Honestly, though, for people like me, who don't know much about anything, all we can do is have faith. Because without faith, there really is no religion at all.

How can you say the bible is backed by scientists when the bible makes claims like "the Earth is a circle" and that light was created before a sun was even created? The bible also claims the moon to be a source of light when we know otherwise...

Okay first, i'll admit, I haven't read the entire Bible cover-to-cover, i've only been a christian for about 2 years now. However, there's a book you can read called "A Case for a Creator" that has a lot of evidence to prove the existence of God and Jesus. You seem to have a lot of reason for what you believe, and I commend you for that. I don't plan to convert you or anything. I just know what I feel, what i've been taught, and what i've come to love and understand as a Christian.

Oh boy, it sure is a battle out there these days. I recently got a formspring, and in the last couple weeks have just been HAMMERED with questions testing my faith.

James 1:2-4, James 1:2-4, James 1:2-4. I can do this.
Just help me have the words to say, Lord. And thank you for the strength you have already given me.

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides is with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life" 1 Timothy 6:17-19

When most people think of the rich, they think of Oprah, Bill Gates, Kings and Queens, people that Robin Hood would have stolen from. However, what a lot of people don't realize is that the majority of America (pretty much, anyone above the poverty line, meaning you)makes up the top 5% of the richest people in the world. Shocking?

So, I urge anyone reading this to go and re-read that verse there. Because, believe it or not, you are "the rich".

"There's an imbalance in the world" says my friend Joey. Most of us walk around every day and either see or hear about people that are homeless, starving, and even orphaned, right here in America. But how often do we actually stop and do anything about it? How often do we say to ourselves "someone else will help them..."
But what if there is no one else?

There's two scenarios that play through our minds, two excuses. First, we say to ourselves, to our children, "oh, don't give them any money, they got themselves into that situation, they're probably alcoholics or drug addicts that are just going to go out and spend the money you give them on drugs and beer." well what if they aren't? do you know, did you talk to them? Maybe they lost their house in a fire, maybe their mom, dad, husband, or wife died and they no longer have enough money to support themselves? You don't know.
Secondly, we tell ourselves "I just don't have the money to give them, everyone's hurting these days, I'm in a recession too." But then, we go home and turn on the computer, plug in our iPod touch to charge. Then we go out for a movie the next day, and grab a bite to eat afterward. We all have a lot more money than we think. So why not cut back even more, don't go to the movies, or out to eat, and then see if you really don't have any money to give.

But as it says in Timothy, "command [the rich] to be good, to be rich in good deeds." Because the more we give up to those in need, it shows how much faith we place in God, and that is how we get eternal rewards. Because riches here on earth mean nothing, the ones with nothing in this world will be blessed with all of the eternal treasures of heaven.

We need to stop using people and loving things,
and start to love people, and use things.

Judges 10:6 "Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Phistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all"

In Judges, you see the same vicious cycle over and over and over and over again. The people of Israel feel peace, then when things are good they begin to abandon the Lord to worship idols, thus leading them to be oppressed. Finally, they cry out for God, and he delivers them, and then they go back to peace.
Isn't it weird that they abandon God when they are at peace? When things are going good, when life is plentiful and they are not being oppressed? Well, if you notice, in today's society we do the same thing.
It's always easy to cry out to God when things are hard, when you're faced with a mountain of troubles and you know that he's the only one that will ever be able to make sense of it all. It's easy for us to cry out to him and ask him for his help.
But when things are good, how much credit do you give to God?
When it's a sunny day, do you give credit to God, or just to the day? When you get 100 percent on your physics final, do you give credit to the teacher for making an easy test? Yourself for being smart? And when you have a great friend that always sticks with you through and through, or a great boyfriend that tells you how much he loves your heart and soul, do you give credit to them for being the great people?
What we fail to realize sometimes is that GOD GIVES US ALL OF THIS. All of the people in our lives, all of the money we have, all of our successes. So where do we get off falling in love with these things, and not even giving credit to the wonderful God who made them?

To think about...
What if you thought about God as much as you thought about your boyfriend?
What if you talked to God as much as you talked to your best friend every day?
What if you read God's word as much as you read Facebook statuses and text messages from your friends?
What is you spent as much time in fellowship with your youth group or other christians as you do at parties or other events with non-christians?
How much would life change?

God never abandons you. You only abandon him.

so someone asked me:
"Who do bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people?"
and this is what i had to say:

"well, i hope you don't mind, but i'm gonna go all Jesus on this one.
in James 1, it says "when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow" pretty much, what James is saying is that God puts difficult situations into our lives to test our faith in him, and that we should take those opportunities to grow. It goes on to say in verse 4: "For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing". So just think of it this way, every time something bad happens to a good person, it's God trying to make them into a more perfect person.
now, as for good things happening to bad people, you have to think with the perspective "what makes a bad person?" is it bad choices, bad attitude, what? see, in Romans, there's a list of many different sins, and included in almost the same sentence are murder, homosexuality, and disobedience to parents. and i know that we're all guilty of the last one. so we're all "bad people" in God's eyes, but either way, he's forgiven each and every one of us. Maybe bad people were born into or raised into a bad mindset, God still forgives them and gives them a chance at happiness, because he loves every single person on the planet equally. which is pretty much like dividing infinity equally. So he certainly has enough love and forgiveness to go around.
And good things still happen to good people, and bad things still happen to bad people. It just depends on what God things they need."