“Leave it to God’s plan.�

[Zzyzx]

.
Today I encountered a religious commercial that said, “Leave it to God’s plan.�

What the heck is that advising people to do?

Is ‘whatever happens’ supposed to be ‘God’s plan’?

Does God plan human lives?

[JehovahsWitness]

.
Is ‘whatever happens’ supposed to be ‘God’s plan’?

Does God plan human lives?

I cannot comment on the commercial, as I have no idea what it's intended purpose was. As one of Jehovah's Witnesses I can say I don't believe in predestination in the sense that God has predetermended the details of each individuals life and fixed their ultimate destiny. I believe while God is attentive to those he loves he doesn't allow is care to override our free will.

God has, according to scripture, a purpose for mankind as group (see post #3 below) that is indeed fixed and which will be fulfilled. How we individually fit in to that purpose depends on the wise exercise of our free will.

JW



RELATED POSTS

Does Romans 9 support the teaching of predestination?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 42#p388142

What is the difference between a plan and a purpose?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 91#p836491

Why would and omnipotent God choose to be flexible?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 07#p836607

Go to other posts related to...

FREE WILL, PREDESTINATION and ...THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]

QUESTION What his God's purpose for mankind?

God's original purpose for humans was simple, his purpose was that all the human desendants of Adam live happilly forever on this our planet earth as one united family. In short, why did God create us? To be happy and enjoy life.

Sadly, the first human couple rebelled against God and that original purpose was "delayed". Happily we have His (Almighty God's) assurance that his purposes will always ultimately be realized. Nothing can stop what he wants finally coming to pass. This our planet earth will be a paradise. That Paradise will last forever. Jehovah swears by his own name, the highest existing authority, that this purpose will be realized (see Isaiah 55:11).

JW







RELATED POSTS

Why do humans seek purpose in life?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 42#p955342

*IS* there a purpose of life?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 55#p334055

What his God's purpose for mankind? (this post)
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 14#p967714

What is the difference between a plan and a purpose?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 91#p836491

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

.THE PURPOSE OF LIFE, ANIMALS and ... THE EARTHLY PARSDISE

[JJ50]

[Replying to post 1 by Zzyzx]

If god planned human nature it screwed up very badly!

[Zzyzx]

.

I believe while God is attentive to those he loves he doesn't allow is care to override our free will.

Does God love only some humans and not others?

If someone claims that God has a plan for them (or any person), would that imply a violation of 'free will'?

[JJ50]

The god featured in the Bible doesn't know the meaning of the word 'love', its actions are those of a psychopath.

[Divine Insight]

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]

QUESTION What his God's purpose for mankind?

God's original purpose for humans was simple, his purpose was that all the human desendants of Adam live happilly forever on this our planet earth as one united family. In short, why did God create us? To be happy and enjoy life.

Sadly, the first human couple rebelled against God and that original purpose was "delayed".

So, in other words, JehovahsWitnesses believe in an inept God who couldn't even create decent humans on his first try.

This doesn't make any sense. If you want to claim that nothing can stop God's purpose from coming to pass, then you'd need to concede that it was indeed God's purpose for humans to rebel against him. Otherwise they couldn't have done it.

How can you not see the blatant self-contradictory nature of these ancient myths?

Pin all the blame on humans. God is not responsible for anything that goes wrong.

And you must believe in this on pure faith.

Why in the world would you do such a thing?

Why would I want to believe that humans are responsible for everything that goes wrong and never responsible for anything that goes right. In fact, you are aware that no human can earn their own salvation, right? If that were the case there would b e no need for Jesus.

This religion basically amounts to spiritual masochism. Seriously. It requires that you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong in your life. And it's not even possible for you to redeem yourself on your own merit. How is that not a sick religion?

It's spiritual masochism. It truly is. It seems to me that once a person realizes this truth they could never go back to supporting this religious mythology ever again. Apparently the only people who can buy into it are those who haven't yet realized how utterly absurd it truly is. Either that, or they are really down on themselves and believe that they have indeed rebelled against this God or deserve to have bad things happen to them because other humans have rebelled against this God.

But again, why believe such a masochistic character assassination of yourself on pure faith?

The only rational answer is that these people have been convinced that if they buy into the accusations made against them by this religion they will somehow become eligible eternal life. This idea must be what overrides reason.

Just keep the faith that you are innately an evil person and deserve damnation and you'll qualify for eternal life by simply confessing that you are indeed an evil person deserving of condemnation.

And that ironically means that you'll be given undeserved amnesty in a system that could never be said to be about justice, or anything righteous. Evil people go to heaven by simply confessing that they are indeed evil and deserve damnation.

How does that make any sense at all?

And you can never earn your own salvation lest you make Jesus totally irrelevant. This religion won't even allow for you to be responsible for your own salvation. That's taboo in this religion. Only the guilty will be "saved".

A religion could hardly be more self-contradictory if it tried.

[JehovahsWitness]

ORIGINAL SIN



If Adam and Eve were perfect, how could they sin? CAN a perfect being, sin?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 03#p873903


PROHIBITION

Why did God have a law in the first place?
viewtopic.php?p=389911#p389911

Was the Edenic Law absurd or unreasonable?
viewtopic.php?p=390066#p390066

Did God know Adam and Eve would sin?
viewtopic.php?p=967763#p967763

Would God not EXPECT his law to be broken ? ("set up To fail")
viewtopic.php?p=1089025#p1089025

Did Adam and Eve understand the punishment (notion of death)?
viewtopic.php?p=849053#p849053

Was Adam created with enough common sense to avoid sinning?
viewtopic.php?p=1084533#p1084533

Does Genesis indicate Adam and Eve literally had no way of grasping what the Word "good" meant?
viewtopic.php?p=1040394#p1040394

Why was the tree in the middle of the garden referred to as "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil"?
viewtopic.php?p=849045#p849045

Were Adam and Eve being tested?
viewtopic.php?p=1092257#p1092257

ORIGINAL SIN

Who sinned first? Adam or Eve?[Gen 3:6]
viewtopic.php?p=1029137#p1029137

Was sexual intercourse the "original sin"?
viewtopic.php?p=954188#p954188

Was the "original sin" NAKEDNESS ?
viewtopic.php?p=997976#p997976

Was it reasonable that Eve BELIEVE the snake?
viewtopic.php?p=1040358#p1040358

How could Eve have known who to obey?
viewtopic.php?p=1040358#p1040358

Was ADAM responsible for keeping SNAKES out of the garden?
viewtopic.php?p=1029136#p1029136

Is God responsible for the original sin?
viewtopic.php?p=967524#p967524

Was the original sin not a GOOD thing?
viewtopic.php?p=959989#p959989

CONSEQUENCES

Did Adam and Eve understand the punishment (notion of death)?
viewtopic.php?p=849053#p849053

Why did Adam and Eve become ashamed of their nudity?
viewtopic.php?p=997976#p997976

Whose fault was it Adam and Eve grew ashamed of their own naked bodies?
viewtopic.php?p=1019568#p1019568

What is the link between sin and it's effects and cause and consequence ?
viewtopic.php?p=381640#p381640

WHO determined that Adam's children would inherit a sinful condition?
viewtopic.php?p=960001#p960001

Who did Adam kill?
viewtopic.php?p=909905#p909905

JUDGEMENT

Why did God ask Adam and Eve what they had done? Didn't he already know?
viewtopic.php?p=1052715#p1052715

Why did God not just ignore the original sin?
viewtopic.php?p=848933#p848933

Are Adams children being punished for HIS Sin?
viewtopic.php?p=381280#p381280

Why did Eves punishment involve increased birth pains?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 03#p801703

Did the punishment fit the crime?
viewtopic.php?p=848992#p848992

Did Adam and Eve really die the day they are from the forbidden tree?
viewtopic.php?p=886229#p886229

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

FREE WILL, THE ORIGINAL SIN and ...THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND BAD

[JJ50]

The Biblical god, if it exists and created everything, is totally responsible for all that goes wrong with its creation.

[JehovahsWitness]

If you want to claim that nothing can stop God's purpose from coming to pass, then you'd need to concede that it was indeed God's purpose for humans to rebel against him. Otherwise they couldn't have done it.

QUESTION Is there a difference between purposing something to happen and allowing it to happen?

• Biblically when we speak of God's PURPOSE, we are speaking about the final conditions God desires to exist, what he wants to see when his plans are completed.
  

  To illustrate: Imagine a man contracts a builder to build him a house. The finshed house would be the PURPOSE (what he, the man wants in the end). Although he may expect a guarantee that the design, material and deadline be respected, the man may not choose to control every aspect of every life connected (or indeed unconnectdd) to the project. He may, for example choose not to dictate what the builders have for breakfast, what they listen to on the way to work, how many times they hit a nail into a plank of wood, what time they break for lunch etc. So the man may be ALLOWING the builders a certain amount of freedom, (not controlling everything they do) as long as the final result is, the house is built as stipulated.

  In a similar way God guarantees that his purpose for mankind (life in a paradise "house") will happen according to his design and within his time frame. So while he has and will, intervene to ensure his purpose, this does not mean that God has chosen to micro-manage the life and actions of every human on earth while progress is being made. In other words, most of the things that happen on planet earth are not what he wants or desires but what he is ALLOWING while his plans progress.

WAS THE REBELLION IN EDEN PART OF GOD'S PLAN?

• Absolutely not, it was contrary to his express will and purpose but he saw fit to allow it, confident that his purpose (the house) would still be built in the end.

CONCLUSION: Nothing can change God's purpose but this does not mean nothing that is not Gods purpose can happen. God has accorded humans free will which means that he has given them the freedom to do things he does not desire and that are contrary to his will and purpose, for them and for the planet. Those that opposed Jehovah God are entirely responsible for their actions.


JW



NOTE All posts I write represent my personal faith based beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses



RELATED POSTS

What is the difference between a plan and a purpose?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 91#p836491

Go to other posts related to...

LIFE, HUMAN SUFFERING and ...THE PURPOSE OF LIFE