Jeremy said: Do you think we should still have military bases in Germany?
Adam said: Yes. From a military stand point it is beneficial to have bases in strategic locations around the globe. So if someone goes nuts in Turkey we will have soldiers we can move to that location within hours.
Jeremy said: Are you cool with keeping permanent bases in Iraq?
Adam said: Yep. It makes sense to have a base of operations in the middle east… especially since we are so close to Iran there.
Jeremy said: We were studying Genesis this past Sunday and i was reminded about how all this started in the first place. Imagine if Abraham had just chilled and waited a little longer for his wife to conceive before knockin' up that other chick. Arabs would technically not exist.
Adam said: But sin would, so it would have happened some how. I was talking about this last night, so often we try to explain why it's not okay to steal and why you shouldn't kill by just saying God says so… but when it comes to God the same rules don’t apply… God sees our sins and the sins of others and allows them to happen so that he can be glorified. So God knew Abraham would mess up and he knew Arabs and Jews would hate each other and he let it happen so he could be glorified… how all that works I don’t know but I do know it does.
Jeremy said: I know God wants to be glorified, but don't you think he would rather us glorify Him through our holiness than our sin. I know he will use both, but you would think if he had a preference between the two, he would choose holiness. Sure he allows us to sin, but I don't think he prefers that. But you would think if there was a better way he would obviously know how to do that, and thus do it.
Adam said: I think that God is beyond our minds… and so when we think of things in a logical way we are not even coming close to understanding Gods purpose. Human values are not Gods values… human values are a representation of Gods values.
Jeremy said: so when we think of a "loving God", that's different that what God thinks of a "loving God?"
Adam said: Sure, here is something I can grasp. As a husband and eventually future parent I often feel like I know what is best, but it is better sometimes to let people figure that out for themselves… of course I intervene when letting someone do something goes from learning a tough lesson to putting their life in danger… but for God he actually knows everything… so he has no shortcomings in judgment, and better still he can let someone learn a lesson that is life threatening because he ultimately controls everything. So metaphorically God can let us learn that guns can kill because even if the gun kills you or someone he can bring them back from the dead. You and I could not risk letting a child learn that but because God is God he can.
Jeremy said: Right on. Are you up for posting this to the blog even though we basically said an entire people group exists only because of sin, or did we justify the point that they don't necessarily exist because of sin, but because God has a plan to glorify himself regardless of how we see things?
Adam said: I am cool with it… I do think we started kind of negative, but I think we explained it well… and if people don’t read far enough to have it explained, it is on them in my mind.
Adam said: Yes. From a military stand point it is beneficial to have bases in strategic locations around the globe. So if someone goes nuts in Turkey we will have soldiers we can move to that location within hours.
Jeremy said: Are you cool with keeping permanent bases in Iraq?
Adam said: Yep. It makes sense to have a base of operations in the middle east… especially since we are so close to Iran there.
Jeremy said: We were studying Genesis this past Sunday and i was reminded about how all this started in the first place. Imagine if Abraham had just chilled and waited a little longer for his wife to conceive before knockin' up that other chick. Arabs would technically not exist.
Adam said: But sin would, so it would have happened some how. I was talking about this last night, so often we try to explain why it's not okay to steal and why you shouldn't kill by just saying God says so… but when it comes to God the same rules don’t apply… God sees our sins and the sins of others and allows them to happen so that he can be glorified. So God knew Abraham would mess up and he knew Arabs and Jews would hate each other and he let it happen so he could be glorified… how all that works I don’t know but I do know it does.
Jeremy said: I know God wants to be glorified, but don't you think he would rather us glorify Him through our holiness than our sin. I know he will use both, but you would think if he had a preference between the two, he would choose holiness. Sure he allows us to sin, but I don't think he prefers that. But you would think if there was a better way he would obviously know how to do that, and thus do it.
Adam said: I think that God is beyond our minds… and so when we think of things in a logical way we are not even coming close to understanding Gods purpose. Human values are not Gods values… human values are a representation of Gods values.
Jeremy said: so when we think of a "loving God", that's different that what God thinks of a "loving God?"
Adam said: Sure, here is something I can grasp. As a husband and eventually future parent I often feel like I know what is best, but it is better sometimes to let people figure that out for themselves… of course I intervene when letting someone do something goes from learning a tough lesson to putting their life in danger… but for God he actually knows everything… so he has no shortcomings in judgment, and better still he can let someone learn a lesson that is life threatening because he ultimately controls everything. So metaphorically God can let us learn that guns can kill because even if the gun kills you or someone he can bring them back from the dead. You and I could not risk letting a child learn that but because God is God he can.
Jeremy said: Right on. Are you up for posting this to the blog even though we basically said an entire people group exists only because of sin, or did we justify the point that they don't necessarily exist because of sin, but because God has a plan to glorify himself regardless of how we see things?
Adam said: I am cool with it… I do think we started kind of negative, but I think we explained it well… and if people don’t read far enough to have it explained, it is on them in my mind.
Great discussion! You guys crack me up.
ReplyDeleteI like this post. Really points to the circles our mind can go in when trying to truly understand God's ways.
ReplyDelete