How do you know if God’s testing you, or,

[moobu2]

That it’s simply the Devil attempting to trick you into thinking Gods trying to test you?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. "God" doesn't test anybody. There is no "devil." Nothing to worry about.

[HereSince1628]

2. Don't tell Job that, it'll set him back years in his therapy n/t.

[murielm99]

4. Don't tell Dick Clark, either.

If anybody ever sold his soul to the devil, it was Dick Clark.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Two interesting verses.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

Sons of Gods? So he had other sons besides Jesus. And I wonder if anyone has asked where is God's wife?

The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."

I was taught that God was all knowing. Guess he didn't here.

[notadmblnd]

9. or Abraham. Meber his test? You member.

God told Abraham to tie his only son to an alter and sacrifice him? This so called loving god, he likes to test people.

[Demeter]

3. But PEOPLE Will Fuck with Your Minds Every Chance They Get

Some of them anyway. the Psychopaths, for example.

[marylanddem]

5. Whatever God is, God is not "testing" us & there is no devil.

[elleng]

6. Its life;

that's NATURE!

[izquierdista]

7. He may not test you, but He wants you to wear a hat

Or maybe he doesn't want you to wear a hat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FKOVFyd3nc

[Waiting For Everyman]

10. My "take" on it...

In all cases God uses whatever the devil's doing for His own good purpose (or outcome, or use), and it's all factored into His plan which is always right in the end... so it's "six of one, and half-a-dozen of the other".

But I see His "good end of it" more often as a character-building or educational event, rather than as "testing". If it's testing, it's more for us to know ourselves better, I think.

Lots of times I've gone through some very nasty stuff which seemed pointless, but had a very fortunate use later (much later), which I couldn't have learned any other way. And the outcome of THAT was very good. I see it as being very lucky while being very unlucky. But of course realizing that luck isn't luck.

[MADem]

11. Why would an almighty being be so insecure as to "test" the creatures he or she creates?

That whole "test" meme is bullshit.

This god is supposed to be all powerful, almighty, all knowing.

Why "test?"

He should already know how his testing effort would turn out, if he's so frigging powerful.

What, he's bored? Naaah--because even if he's bored, he already knows how it's going to work out. So, then, is he a cat playing with a wounded mouse?

The logic doesn't hold up.

Perhaps this "almighty" isn't a thing unto itself, but we're all a little piece of it?

Gee, that way, the responsibility is on...US! And there's no real need for men in dresses, telling us all what to do!

[classof56]

12. I highly recommend "God's Problem" by Bart Ehrman.

Ehrman was a lifelong evangelical Christian whose other books include "Misquoting Jesus", a detailed account of how the New Testament came to be. He's now an agnostic as am I, a lifelong evangelical Christian who spent far too many years fearing God, and I do mean fear. Life's much less stressful now!

Blessings!

[Silent3]

13. I just do what the voices tell me to do...

...and try not to worry about it too much. :)

[rrneck]

14. I say lets test god for a while.

If god wants me to play, then god needs to come up with some evidence. How about a miracle here. And I don't mean an image of the BVM on a fucking cheese sandwich. I want to see unicorns dancing in the streets. I want to see pots of gold at the end of rainbows. I want to see lions cohabiting with lambs.

If god can test me, I want to see some results right here on earth where I can measure his success or failure; none of this I get to hang out with him for all eternity after I die crap. What if god's an asshole?

The issue here is not whether or not god is testing us. The issue is the self appointed proctors of god's tests. All the guys with the special hats who get to decide what's a test and what is not. The guys who make big money deciding who passes and who fails the tests they wrote because they say they know the mind of god. If they get to decide who passes and who fails, they need to start handing out more than a few fancy hand waves and unintelligible babbling. Put up or shut up.

As for the devil? Notice that throughout history, while the big payoff for right behaivor as defined by the guys in funny hats were always to be had after you die, the liabilities of wrong behaivor were pretty easy to produce right here on earth. They could take care of that just fine themselves.

Fuck 'em and their funny hats.

[Why Syzygy]

15. Since your profile comment says,

"Not a Christian", may I ask, what is your interest? Is this your test for Christians?

[moobu2]

16. It was a question that I read in my local news paper yesterday

I guess I was just curious.

[beam me up scottie]

17. Holy crap.

That was in your paper? Where do you live? :yoiks:

[moobu2]

19. Southern Alabama

[beam me up scottie]

20. You're worse off than I am.

I thought our local paper's christian slant was bad.

[Occam Bandage]

18. What is the difference?

I cannot think of a situation in which one would act differently whether it was God attempting to test your faith, or whether it was the Devil attempting to seduce/harass you into abandoning your faith. Not that it particularly matters; I think anyone who takes the concept of "temptation by the Devil" literally is a bit childish.

[Why Syzygy]

21. That would be my answer ..

.even though testing is not part of my spiritual experience. I have choices. Not tests.

eta: I might go so far as to say, that if some *spirit* is requiring a *test*, it can't be assumed benevolent.
I reserve the right, in this case, to have an inadequate understanding.

[saltpoint]

22. I urge you to contact Gov. Jindal's office at once in Baton Rouge.

He has truck with exorcisms and might be just the guy to ask.