Originally Posted by
tankgunner59
God is Triune. Three in one. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Think of it like this, we humans have a mind, body and a spirit, and we are made in His image. So with God it is, God the Father is the mind element since He is the all knowing part, not physically touchable. God the Son is the body element since He became flesh and dwelt here on earth with us. God the Holy Spirit is self explanatory being the spirit element. Nothing in Gods word is wrong, period. First,the problem is with humans being able to accept the answers we receive. Second, doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong can be a nice epitaph, but it won't get me into heaven. No one can "earn" his way to salvation, because it comes by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ. "No one comes to the Father, but by me" (Jesus). We can not get to our salvation by anything we can do in our own strength, it is a gift from God through His Son, period. Third, does God answer prayer, absolutely! WE have to accept the fact that sometimes, and for our own good, the answer is NO. Look back at your childhood, or your children's, did your dad give you everything you asked for? Or did you give your children everything they asked for? No, they didn't and we didn't. Why? Because they and we felt we knew best for them because we/they were immature. As Paul said, we did not run right away, we had to crawl, learn to walk and then learn to run and it is the same with Christianity. (Paraphrase) We question God's answers to our prayers because we expect to get what we want, because we, as Christians are immature and need to grow.
I too am an immature Christian and I have been a practicing Christian for more than 30 years. It is hard for all of us to accept an answer we don't want, I'm no different.
My suggestion for you Tim, and anyone else who has questions, is to find a local church and speak to the clergyman there. Ask him your questions, you won't have to join their church or contribute financially if you don't want to, and he or she will be more than happy to answer your questions and pray with you if you so choose. Whatever you do, don't shut God out, get to know Him. He wants to know you. Oh, and why pray since He already knows your wants, hurts and dreams? Because He simply wants to hear from us! I pray at least once every day, not bragging just an example, and sometimes it's just to say thank you God for the simple things. I pray right now that our heavenly Father would reach out and bless each and every one of you right now, even if just to tell you He loves you. YMMV God bless.