passages where God does something nice

[1over137]

Dear people.

I was asked:

Please find me some passages where God does something nice for people just because he wants to, and not because he wants something from them in return (praise, thanks, worship, etc.) Make sure that the passages do not portray God making threats against anyone, or killing people.

Your help would be much appreciated.

[Byblos]

Dear people.

I was asked:

Please find me some passages where God does something nice for people just because he wants to, and not because he wants something from them in return (praise, thanks, worship, etc.) Make sure that the passages do not portray God making threats against anyone, or killing people.

Your help would be much appreciated.

John 3:16

[MarcusOfLycia]

Actually, the entire chapter of John 3 - a conversation with a very interested Jewish leader where Christ pretty much explains everything - is probably worth quoting.

[PaulSacramento]

Well, there is the whole act of creation and making Us in His image and of course that small section called the New Testament.

[PaulSacramento]

I think that the issue for many is that God wants worship and that is an issue because people seem to not understand what that is.
Worship of God is not like the worship of an idol, it is an act of togetherness with God, it does nothing for God per say, but brings US back to the state that we SHOULD be in, Oneness with God.
When we speak of worshiping God we speak of returning to what makes us complete and full of love and grace.
God requires this of us, just as God requires that we breath to stay alive.
While the ancient writers of the OT used the "language of the day" to say things and that language may mean something different to us, we need to remember that it was what it meant TO THEM that matters.
Some may find God demanding worship as an ego trip of God, but what would a person in 1500BC or 1000bc or 500 BS, think when he read that passage(s)?

[CeT-To]

I think that the issue for many is that God wants worship and that is an issue because people seem to not understand what that is.
Worship of God is not like the worship of an idol, it is an act of togetherness with God, it does nothing for God per say, but brings US back to the state that we SHOULD be in, Oneness with God.
When we speak of worshiping God we speak of returning to what makes us complete and full of love and grace.
God requires this of us, just as God requires that we breath to stay alive.
While the ancient writers of the OT used the "language of the day" to say things and that language may mean something different to us, we need to remember that it was what it meant TO THEM that matters.
Some may find God demanding worship as an ego trip of God, but what would a person in 1500BC or 1000bc or 500 BS, think when he read that passage(s)?

When God asks us to glorify him its not cause he is tooting his own horn, its cause God himself and his will is the greatest good possible.

[Silvertusk]

Dear people.

I was asked:

Please find me some passages where God does something nice for people just because he wants to, and not because he wants something from them in return (praise, thanks, worship, etc.) Make sure that the passages do not portray God making threats against anyone, or killing people.

Your help would be much appreciated.

John 3:16

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Silvertusk]

Also when you are properly worshipping God with all your heart soul and mind - I guarantee you, you will experience such joy and wonder.

[1over137]

When I read the verse John 3:36
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him"

Isn't this a threat?

[PaulSacramento]

When I read the verse John 3:36
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him"

Isn't this a threat?

What does believe in the son man?
Eternal life and love and God's grace.
What does NOT obey the son mean?
Hate, violence, destruction, oppression, all that we know is wrong.
God's wraith on such a person is not a threat, it is justice.
Are not atheists the first to bich and complain when God does nothing in regards to evil? but when he does all of a sudden its is wrong, immoral and threathening ??

[MarcusOfLycia]

When I read the verse John 3:36
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him"

Isn't this a threat?

If you want to take this to its ultimate extreme, I'd recommend some good 'ol CS Lewis on the topic. It boils down to the problem of pain, hell, eternity, and meaning. You can't take 'love' and 'niceness' out of those topics, as tempting as it is.

Human beings are creatures designed to worship. Just as a car is most a car when it drives and a bird most a bird when it flies, humans are at their most human- the best state possible for them- in humble submission and worship. Some people define 'worship' as falling to your knees and praying for hours on end. That is a type of worship, but remember the Garden, where living in paradise, walking with God, living, learning, loving, and spending time stewarding God's Creation was man's calling. I consider all of those things, in that context, to be worship.

So, first of all, worship may seem all about God (and well, it fundamentally is), but we are creatures designed to worship, so it is of the utmost benefit for us.

Secondly, your question about that verse points mainly to the problem of evil, suffering, and hell. It very much is a threat, but only to those who would rather spend eternity worshiping God than themselves. As the end of John 3 suggests, those who do not believe 'are already condemned'. Christ offers us Salvation, which is a pretty nice thing, considering how much it cost Him. Salvation implies we are in a bad spot ourselves already.

[Canuckster1127]

The wrath of God is greatly misunderstood I think.

The wrath of God is not the opposite of God's love, it is a part of it. God is Love. There is nothing of God's attributes and characteristics that do not tie to and complement His love.

All analogies fall short in the end but often what we interpret as God's Wrath turned toward us is like a Father viewing a child who has pushed over a bee hive and the bees are released and swarming around the child. The Father rushes toward the child seeking to save him and pull him from the swarm. At the time the child looks toward the Father coming toward him full of wrath and anger toward the bees, it's easy for the child to assume that the Father is angry and wrathful with him as the Father charges toward him. That wrath however is an expression of God's love toward the child as He seeks to rescue him from the danger he has unleashed upon himself.

Greek Philosophy and Western mentality has done a great many things both positive and negative in terms of how we see God. Turning God into a wrathful, Zeus-like figure who is jealous for His own glory and worship like the pagan Gods of Greece and Rome does a disservice to God and God's character. We don't live in a syncretic universe where God relies upon our performance to complete Him through meeting His needs. God's creation of us is an expression of His Love, not any need He has on his part. I believe in fact that just as God is perfect in Love, He is also perfect in community within His being within the Trinity. Our creation is an extension and expression of who He is, and He desires us to enter into a level of fellowship, (obviously not completely) with Him as an expression of His Love based upon our own free will and Love for Him. In the end the fulfillment of that relationship is for our benefit, not any need God has.

[Jonouchi Katsuya]

Isn't Wrath a sin in Christianity?

[neo-x]

hmmm it is...but not for God, God's wrath is not meaning less. it has meaning and purpose which sometimes we do not understand

[Jonouchi Katsuya]

hmmm it is...but not for God, God's wrath is not meaning less. it has meaning and purpose which sometimes we do not understand

"Do as I say not as I do" ?

It is OK if this is the case. Kinda like... Dogs can't get up on the couch or sleep on my bed.