Why Bad Things Happen To “Good” People
This is a reply to a comment on Gretawire. It turned out to be so long, that I have posted it here. It was in response to some comments about the Joran van der Sloot case.
I do believe the scriptures show that all deeds are rewarded in kind, if not now and immediately, then in due season.
There are natural laws, there are spiritual laws.
For example, consider the law of gravity. Drop an apple, it will fall.
If someone understands the law of aerodynamics, a plane can be engineered to overcome the law of gravity.
The Bible also explains spiritual laws. This is where society, as a whole, has gone off track. While individuals may believe in spiritual law, the general consensus of secular society at this general period of time is that anyone can do what they want and it doesn’t matter and there are no consequences, provided you can get away with it.
That is contrary to spiritual law. There are many spiritual laws we are under. Jesus taught them, as well as them being taught in the Old Testament. I will give just a couple of possibilities of why things can happen to what we call “good people” though Jesus, speaking as the son of man, did not even call himself good and said, there is none good but one, that is God, (recognizing he was the Son of God as well as the son of man).
One possibility…not tithing…Malachi 3:9-12 “Ye are cursed with a curse…” People can be otherwise doing good works yet not tithing and it brings a curse upon them. It’s the law.
Another possibility…curses carry on within family generations until they are broken… for example…Haiti. Pat Robertson was correct in his statement regarding Haiti and witchcraft. These things are real. He was ridiculed in the press.
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2010/01/13/pat-robertson-haiti-cursed-by-pact-to-the-devil/
People may ridicule spiritual law and state that only natural scientific laws are recognized. God has a way of dealing with people like that and bringing them to their knees eventually. God has a way of allowing situations where everything that used to work for the person…connections, money, power, influence, family, job, whatever…stops working until a person acknowledges the reality of God. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
That is a place of great arrogance in mankind. “If I can’t see it, I don’t believe it.” X-rays existed before X-ray machines were invented to see the effects of x-rays.
Obviously, this discussion could go on for pages, but I’ve taken enough space and hope I’ve given some food for thought about why bad things happen to good people.
Here is a link back to the original post.
bad people – Google News
Malachi 3:7 (KJV) “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ORDINANCES, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”
NO CURSE TODAY:
Galatians 3:13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…”
ORDINANCES NAILED TO THE CROSS:
Colossians 2:14 (KJV) “Blotting out the handwriting of ORDINANCES that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”
NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE pays the Biblical tithe today.
THE FIRST TITHE
Leviticus 27:30-33 defines this tithe as a tenth of crops and animals in herds and flocks.
Numbers 18 gives the ordinances, or instructions, for this tithe, and commands this tithe be taken to the Levites.
Purpose of this tithe: to support the Levitical Priesthood.
SECOND TITHE
Deuteronomy 14:22-27: aka The Festival Tithe – a tenth of crops, plus add to that the firstborn animals, and take for the yearly feast.
Purpose of this tithe: “that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always”
THIRD TITHE
Deuteronomy 14:28-29: aka The Three-Year Tithe aka The Poor Tithe – a tenth of crops, kept at home, and invite the Levites, widows, orphans, stranger to eat.
Purpose of this tithe: to feed the poor.
Now, tell me. Which of the above three tithes commanded by God does anyone follow today?
The ONLY people in the Old Testament that were commanded to tithe were those who INHERITED THE PROMISED LAND WITH EVERYTHING ON IT. They got the land, house, animals, crops, etc. ALL FREE AND CLEAR. No mortgage payment or rent to pay. And THEY were commanded to tithe on the crops and animals and take it to the Levites who INHERITED the tithe INSTEAD OF the promised land with everything on it. No one else tithed. Wage earners did not tithe. Jesus did not tithe as a carpenter. Paul did not tithe as a tent maker. Peter did not tithe as a fisherman.
You don’t follow a “Spiritual law” with material things. Therefore, IF tithing is a spiritual law, then we must tithe spiritually.
First of all, I disagree about the thought that no one pays the Biblical tithe today.
I do, and I know a lot of other people who do as well.
The only law the Christ ended were the ordinances, which pertained to temple sacrifices for sin. Christ is the last lamb, he is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, for the redemption of mankind. We do not bring lambs as sacrifices for sin. Christ was the last Lamb slain for all who choose to receive that gift from God of redemption and reconciliation to God.
Not only did he not negate other laws, such as the Ten Commandments, He took them to a higher level, as mankind now has available, through the acceptance of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, access to forgiveness, the power of God, and the Holy Spirit. For example, he said if you look on a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery in your heart. This is up a notch from the commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. As for tithing, he told the Pharisees this, in relation to the tithe, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and dummibn, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done , and not to leave the other undone.” In other words, don’t leave the tithe undone.
A lot of Christians wonder what hinders answers to their prayers. I would start by asking, are you tithing? If not, start.
Tithing is fair for all. A person who makes a dollar tithes 10 cents. A person who makes a million tithes $100,000. God is just. A child who makes a dime tithes a penny.
As a matter of fact, the tithe is in no sense any kind of gift from man to God. The Bible says “the tithe is the Lord’s”. It is like your electric bill. You use the electricity, you pay the bill. You are not giving a gift to the electric company. The tithe is not a gift to God, it is His due for all He has given. God gives us all we have, body, breath, housing, job, food, everything, and asks for 10% back to His house, wherever we get our spiritual food, to help increase His Kingdom on the earth.
“Where your treaasure is, there will your heart be also.”
You can’t quote even one tithing verse that you follow because the tithe could NOT be money, nor could it be on income. It always came from God’s increase of food from crops and animals.
Malachi 3:7 tells us that tithing was an ORDINANCE, and you agree the ordinances ended at the cross.
The New Covenant starts AFTER Jesus died on the cross.
Every single instance of a tithe in the Bible was on the NET and never on the gross. Abraham tithe on the net war spoils. The farmers tithed on the net crops. The herdsmen tithed on the net increase of animals. NEVER the gross. Why don’t you follow that? You aren’t following ANY of the Biblical verses on the tithe. You certainly aren’t fooling God, and you aren’t fooling me. You are only fooling yourself.
Being Spirit led, I find myself giving far more than a tenth of my income.
You need to do a little research on the history of tithing in the Christian Church. No Christian Church ever taught anyone to tithe on their income before 1870, and it all started in the US.
I’m not going to try to convince you of the value of tithing.
Look at it this way. If I were hoping to save 10%, if I were secretly unsure about the value of tithing, don’t you think that I would be really happy to hear what you are saying? I would say, wow, I can save 10%. I mean, everyone has some place to put a little extra money, whether for a need or saving or whatever. However, that is not my reaction.
For myself, I’m not interested in changing to not tithing. It’s proved its worth to me, I consider that I have proved the scripture valid in my own life multiple times, and in the long run, a theological discussion is not what feeds the soul. It is the actual experience that works in everyday life, where the rubber meets the road. Did tithing work for me? Did/does the scripture prove itself true? Yes, is my answer.
Tithing, and giving beyond tithing, has proved itself as a valid law for today in my life. If you do not feel you should follow it, I will not try to convince you otherwise.
As for me, I prefer to give my first 10% of each paycheck to the Lord. He gets paid first. Bills get paid second.
And the fact is, you do tithe, though you don’t call it that. You say you give far more than 10 percent to the Lord. I am sure you are blessed for so doing.
You are using man’s definition of tithing, not God’s. God defined His tithe in Leviticus 27:30-33 and what you do have absolutely nothing to do with the Biblical tithe.
I don’t tithe, and you don’t tithe, by scripture definition. If you wish to go outside the scriptures and use man’s definition, we both tithe.
Bottom line – we both give, and that is good.