Posted by rayww on September 8, 2003, at 18:27:50
In reply to Re: miracle healing » rayww, posted by Dena on September 5, 2003, at 19:30:33
> Let me see if I can catch your runaway train of thought...
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> If it's true that our earthly father represents to us (in our childhood) our heavenly Father, then what a tragedy befalls the children who have no father, whether by death, divorce, abandonment or choice (such as when the mother elects to have a baby without a father).True, but that's where surrogate fathers come in. We should always be on the watch for a child in need, for a moment to share, or an opportunity to offer appropriate support. I am always taken by surprise as I try to visualize what my own deceased father would want for me. Father, God, husband are one in caring for my best good. I can talk to my dad, but it just ends up a prayer, as though they are in the same place, which I guess they are. As soon as I think "Father in Heaven" I realize I have two.
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> I make no judgements here. I understand that divorce happens. I applaud the mothers who adopt children who would otherwise grow up in foster homes or institutions. (I suppose I do hold judgement against any parent, father or mother, who would abandon their own child.) Death, of course, requires no explanation.yes, and the child's safety should certainly be a priority.
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> But, I do believe that God established the family as the first & primary istitution. I do believe that a child grows up best with both a father & a mother who love & respect each other first, and who unconditionally love that child. That is the ideal. I believe that children do suffer if they don't get the whole picture. Of course, they survive regardless of what hand they're dealt. But they thrive when the family operates as God designed it to. I also believe that God will have mercy on the fatherless, the widows & the orphans, because He promised to.Exactly. God tries so hard to show us what it is like in heaven. The closest thing to his love is Father's love. Men and women have the opportunity to be parents and have children after the pattern established in heaven, where we were all spirit sons and daughters of God and mother in heaven. Cummon, why would the woman/mother be left out of the family in heaven? Women are equal, but reverenced by God, and that is why he doesn't want it known among men, to protect her name and be the tough guy.
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> I wonder if it's perhaps more difficult for fatherless children to have a relationship with God - perhaps they would tend to transfer their own father's shortcomings onto God.
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It is difficult for motherless or fatherless children to become fathers or mothers because they haven't been shown the appropriate pattern. Learned behaviors coupled with instinct will suffice. God is there for everyone, and can be found through the sincere search in any situation.> Did I at least grab ahold of your train's caboose, Ray?
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Dena, sometimes you crack me up.My thoughts were very simplistic, What if Earth life is patterned after the order of heaven, with family and religion at its center. The family organization is meant to continue beyond the grave, and could possibly be the government organization of the eternities, the head being God the Father, the heart, God the mother (they're one of course), and all of us down the row from there. Just a pleasant thought. Maybe "family search" has a valid reason after all. We are still important even after we die. here's a link to find your family:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
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poster:rayww
thread:256228
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20030908/msgs/258156.html