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Cross Words: Some Difficult Doctrine
The Bible is without question the most misquoted, misinterpreted, misunderstood book that has ever been written.  And with all due respect to it’s author there is a good reason for this.  On the surface the Bible contradicts itself.  Not once, but repeatedly.
James says that healing is guaranteed for the sick if we arrange a godly prayer group armed with a jar of oil (5: 14-15).  Yet the Apostle Paul, who by God’s power healed hundreds, found no relief for his undisclosed lifelong affliction (2 Cor 12: 7-9).
Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, and seek no retaliation against those who have wronged us (Matthew 5).  God however ordered the Israelites to wage bloody warfare against neighboring tribes and nations, at times demanding the death of women and children (1 Samuel through 2 Chronicles).
     Peter tells us that God wants all men to be saved (2 Peter 3:9).  But Jesus said that Judas’ fate was decided before he was even born (John 17:12).
God’s people are promised long life and prosperity (various Proverbs).  Jesus owned no home and never made it to the age of 34.
Outside the Bible believers lives are filled with inconsistencies as well. One person may be miraculously healed from cancer while a group of missionaries is gunned down in a foreign country.  A tornado may pass over one church members house only to decimate another’s.  Some saints live to the age of 100 while millions of children fail to reach puberty. God doesn’t always follow a set pattern.
God told the prophet Isaiah, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (55:8).  He would tell us the same today because we will never be able to fully understand the mind of God while we are equipped with the minds of men.
To be perfectly honest, the more I study the less I seem to know.  So I’ve come to the conclusion that since I can’t fully understand God, I must simply trust Him.  And maybe that’s the lesson we are supposed to learn all along.

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