You can often hear people invoke the benediction; “May God bless you”.  The phrase is a petition, which implies a request & the possibility that God may not bless.

The subject of this article is a difficult matter, which may frighten or repulse some readers – it is the idea that sometimes God may curse us rather than bless.

At the outset we must determine if the premise is even true.  Does God ever curse people…even Christians? Secondly, how would a person know they are under the curse of God & not just victim to some random misfortune?

I would like to share a very special family with my readers.  This family at first appears to be not much different than any other family.  I am sure they go through the same life struggles as we all.  I'm sure they have times of joy & times of sorrow.  Times of frustration & times of peace.  But what makes them different is something I hope you the readers will be part of.  This family doesn't have to experience the struggles alone.  This family doesn't want to keep the blessings to themselves, but rather share them with others.

They have people praying with & for them.

Now, more specifically at this present time this family has a very younger daughter who has just faced transplant surgery of most of her digestive system, a case so dire that without it she would have been poisoned by her own body.

The Father who's name is Dallas Crist especially wanted us to consider that his daughter was able to have this potentially life saving operation because some other family lost a child.  A life given for a life is one of the most noble of things. (Rom 5:6-8)

UPDATE: Follow Audrey's story at this website: web.mac.com/dordtrecht5

In the previous parts of this series we interacted with various notions of what it means to be “in the world but not of the world”, though all of these notions manifested themselves usually against material or temporal aspects – be it against government or against technology, or against entertainment.  We also looked at how this concept of being “in the world but not of the world” has often been abused to facilitate cultic movements & leaders.

In this concluding part we want to explore the claim that the concept is merely an eschatological concept that has been fulfilled by the first-century destruction of the Jewish system – since as evidenced by many passages, the “coming out from among them” was often a call to come out from among the Jewish system before it was too late.

In politics you often hear the phrase “bi-partisan”, such as “We need a bi-partisan approach to this issue”.  The phrase is supposed to convey a sense of cooperation & compromise so that the end-goal can be achieved without impasse.  Anyone not submitting to this bi-partisanship is labeled “extremists” or inflexible. Those who are always seeking this bi-partisan support are typically called “moderates”.  Moderates are middle grounders that supposedly do not lean to one extreme or the other.

I’ve seen many folks that try to bring this bi-partisan approach into religion & even more specifically into Christianity.  In the various theological debates, be it over the supposed neutral freewill of mankind versus the complete sovereignty of God or the nature of the end of world versus the end of age there is always someone trying to advocate for the moderate bi-partisan position. (see molinism)

Bi-partisanship may work to some degree in politics because the debates are merely over man-made opinions which are never finite but does it work in religion & especially in Christianity?  Is it really possible to advocate a “halt between two opinions” positions in regards to biblical teaching?

As we continue to explore how God behaves and how we react, or even as some people would say how we behave and how God reacts I pose this question -- WHY DO WE PRAY?

An interesting side thought came to mind. What was/is the purpose of prayer? I mean wouldn't a Sovereign God do whatever He wants even without the appeals of people? The most poignant example of this would be Christ's prayer in the Garden (Mt 26:42 & Lk 22:42) that the "cup" or task of His crucifixion pass from Him, but if it were not possible then God's will be done.

Why would we pray to change things that are unchangeable, and certainly the death of Christ was the plan before the foundation of the world. And He certainly knew why it had to be done, even rebuking Peter for desiring it NOT be so. (Mt 16:22-24) If it was ok for Jesus to appear to desire against the crucifixion then why was it wrong for Peter?

Anyhow, we can consider prayer as a few things: