GOD'S LOVE The "unknown purpose of God" is often used to explain what I now understand to be victories of Satan.
This whole concept became clear to me one day at a church softball season.
Andy was an architect and had a teenage son who was playing outfield.
I knew he was planning to go to college.
His father was well off enough to let him go to just about any college he wanted.
Like out of the blue the thought came to me: "God loves his children just like Andy loves his son.
"Andy would not force his son into poverty, he would send him to college.
Andy would not wish cancer or some other deadly disease on his son to "teach him something".
Andy loves his son and if he became ill, he would spare no expense for the best medical care available.
Why do we let ourselves be lied to that God's love is not just as strong as Andy's? My wife and I agree.
We lost a son and had a daughter born with a birth defect.
Somehow we missed it for them.
We can accept that and live with that knowledge.
That is much more reasonable than the idea that those two personal tragedies were God's way of letting us know how much he loved us.
I understand that the Faith teaching does not always bring positive results to everyone.
But our experience is that it helped us.
The baby lived that day.
When my wife came out from the anesthetic we talked and decided not to name the baby any of the names we previously talked about.
We named her Faith.
Faith now is married and has two sons of her own.
I remember hearing a well know Christian leader who was afflicted with a paralysis from and accident of many years prior.
This person said she prayed earnestly for God to heal her but she did not receive healing.
She said that her not receiving healing was evidence that God does not always heal.
To me that is basing belief on experience.
I choose to base my belief on God's written word.