President especially enjoys sweeping approval ratings and strong support from white evangelicals, who make up a significant part of his MAGA base, new polling shows
To play devil’s advocate (or perhaps God’s advocate?) if you leave behind the relatively recent “God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving” thing, then bad things happening would be part of even a benevolent deity’s plan. That is to say, bad things are going to happen, working to find a balance that works out well in the long run would be the goal.
“God works all things together for the good of those who love and trust in Him” is a commonly misunderstood doctrine. It isn’t that nothing will ever be bad. It’s that even bad things are included in the plan.
(The Mistborn series, especially the third book in the first era and the books in the second era, does a good job with this concept. Also the final book in The Wheel of Time touches on it during the confrontation with the Dark One.)
So theoretically, even a Christian who despises Trump could say Trump’s presidency is “part of God’s plan.”
(But I’m guessing that’s not what most people mean when they say something like this.)
Yeah, and for the benefit of the many people who didn’t read the article, it says this further down:
overall, 4 percent believed God chose Trump because He believes in his policies, while another 32 percent think Trump’s election is part of God’s plan, although God may not necessarily agree with his program.
To put it into perspective, anything less than 5% on the extreme end of a survey is generally treated as the “nonsense response” or “straight-line response” effect, i.e. you can put the most ridiculous thing imaginable on a survey and reliably get 5% positive responses on it. 4% means that the notion was too spicy even for a lot of the usual loonies.
Audio book is my preferred, I can’t do all the names in my head. Or Jess of the Shire’s fabulous 30 minute retelling on a whiteboard, really impressive.
relatively recent “God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving” thing
So recent that checks notes voltaire wrote an entire book lampooning the idea. And the lambasting of the idea of god who would allow people to suffer is best done by christians themselves: the idea of such a god, a “moral monster,” was argued against very well in against calvinism by roger olson.
To play devil’s advocate (or perhaps God’s advocate?) if you leave behind the relatively recent “God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving” thing, then bad things happening would be part of even a benevolent deity’s plan. That is to say, bad things are going to happen, working to find a balance that works out well in the long run would be the goal.
“God works all things together for the good of those who love and trust in Him” is a commonly misunderstood doctrine. It isn’t that nothing will ever be bad. It’s that even bad things are included in the plan.
(The Mistborn series, especially the third book in the first era and the books in the second era, does a good job with this concept. Also the final book in The Wheel of Time touches on it during the confrontation with the Dark One.)
So theoretically, even a Christian who despises Trump could say Trump’s presidency is “part of God’s plan.”
(But I’m guessing that’s not what most people mean when they say something like this.)
Yeah, and for the benefit of the many people who didn’t read the article, it says this further down:
To put it into perspective, anything less than 5% on the extreme end of a survey is generally treated as the “nonsense response” or “straight-line response” effect, i.e. you can put the most ridiculous thing imaginable on a survey and reliably get 5% positive responses on it. 4% means that the notion was too spicy even for a lot of the usual loonies.
Also Melkor’s chaotic role in Eru Iluvatar’s grand song.
Yes! I really need to read The Silmarillion again.
Audio book is my preferred, I can’t do all the names in my head. Or Jess of the Shire’s fabulous 30 minute retelling on a whiteboard, really impressive.
I agree, the first time I finally made it through was when I rented it on cassette tape from my local library back in high school.
I’ll have to look up the retelling!
Or the book of Job.
They wouldn’t say Biden or Obama is part of God’s plan unless they were honest with themselves
So recent that checks notes voltaire wrote an entire book lampooning the idea. And the lambasting of the idea of god who would allow people to suffer is best done by christians themselves: the idea of such a god, a “moral monster,” was argued against very well in against calvinism by roger olson.
I used the phrase “relatively recent” on purpose. It’s not a new idea, but it also isn’t ancient.