Does God withhold blessings from Christians who are living in disobedience?

[Jewcy]

I am a Christian but my husband is not. I am desperate to be a better person in God's eyes but can not escape the instruction in 2 Corinth ch 6 re being unequally yoked to non-believers. I am nearly 42 and desperately trying to start a family (I mc'd last year). We are due to fly to the Czech Republic in June for donor egg IVF but I can't help worrying that God will not bless me with a child whilst I continue to willfully live a disobedient life. I entered into a relationship with my husband knowing that it is not God's will for me to be with a non-Christian. Am I to be forever outside of God's will? My prayer life has become almost non-existent as I don't feel I can appeal to the Lord for his blessings re a baby and yet it is all I can think about.

I guess the real problem here is that my obsession with starting a family has superceded my devotion and surrender to God's will. Please help me

the old testament is quite brutal and a bit of a stumbling block. God does seem very harsh. At the moment I am reading a book about Samsom by Jeff Lucas which is quite interesting. I, too am a christian but somewhat backslidden.

*I don't want to mock or deride anyone who doesn't think what I think. But nor do I think I should absent myself from threads about religion - even though I don't have a faith, I find it very interesting because of course so many people do believe in so many different kinds of gods and I am interested in why and how they have faith.

I joined this thread because I thought it sad the op was not finding comfort in her faith and I still struggle to understand why if god is love any of his followers should be so scared and so unsure of his love.*

What a crock of shit.

There..I've said it. No, not very Christian but I'm sure the atheists will be rejoicing at my demonstrable frustration. I would like to know why the likes of brux (you sound very bitter, by-the-way) et al feel the need - yes, need - to come to these threads to tear me - yes, me- apart. I came here because my heart was heavy about my disobedience. My heart is heavy because I love God and know - yes, know - there are decisions I am making/have made/will probably continue to make - which actually feel wrong as someone who is supposed to trust her God and His word.

Some of you have come hear with not kindness or words of hope for me (or anyone else here), no words of comfort (I don't necessarily mean spiritual; I mean from woman to woman perhaps). You have come instead bearing gifts of derision, hopelessness, cynicism, and outrage.

Do you see that your rhetoric and Hitchen-esque soundbites are as tedious and predictable and as empty of hope as you claim my God to be? I have no problem with Leviticus or any other part of the bible. Neither do I understand God's ways; if I did I would be equal to him.

I can only imagine the horror you inflict upon muslims..

...so scared and so unsure of his love.

Are you deliberately being disingenuous (that's a rhetorical question, by-the-way; every single one of the haters who have come to this thread survive on disingenuity)? Do you think your questions and liberal outrage are something new? Jesus himself faced such diatribes every day of his ministry. Scholars and mockers like you were forever trying to catch him out by setting His teachings against those of the OT. Read what Jesus says if you want the definitive answers.

Brux, I'd like to ask you something: when you practised what you were going to say in front of the mirror before parachuting into the thread like a deranged servant of Dawkins, did you stop to consider that, actually, you might just come across as a stroppy knob?

Hmm. Stroppy or bigoted. Let's play Mornington Crescent with the Bible until god tells us which is best!

I have a better idea. Let's play Slaughter The Atheist.

...which reminds me, it's BH tomorrow and I will be mind-numbingly bored. Brux, I think you should come round to my gaff to play this Mornington thing. What is it, by-the-way?

Why do I feel like all you atheists are far more 'religious' than I'll ever be?

I'm off to look for the prayer thread...

Jewcy, are you perhaps a tiny bit pissed?

Ha! Raven, if only you knew...I'm teetotal, my love.

Well, I'm a believer and sometimes I do feel afraid and unsure of His love. That doesnt have to be because God isn't there, or isn't loving. It's probably because I'm a human, who has human, messy feelings. And there's no way that I live up to Christian ideals so I'm not in the least offended at that being pointed out to me .

The various well-known saints were acutely aware that only God can drag anyone towards that miraculous standard of living up to ideals (and the clue is in the name: they were saints ie not simple, narky, lazy, chocolate-addicted types like me).

So, to summarise:
Wobbly-emotions (mine or other peopl's) neither prove nor disprove God's existence.
The existence of failng / sinful / distressed Christians is also not proof either way.
Certified saints (speaking for themselves) stated they needed God in order to become good, and couldn't do it unaided.

OP I am desperate to become a better person in God's eyes is sort of missing the point, I think. You don't have to be a full-on Calvinist predestination-elect type to note that He wouldn't have bothered with the Cross if He was planning to dump you at the first opportunity

I love how you insult other posters on MN they get affronted when someone challenges you and your beliefs, excusing your behaviour by hiding behind all this 'God is angry and I must seek forgiveness' bollocks.

Sorry you feel what I say is 'a crock of shit'

I am not setting out to be disingenuous.

I am genuinely curious about why you - who professes to have faith in a loving god - seem so bitter and full of hate whereas I, who has no faith is (on the evidence of this thread anyway) much happier and at peace with myself.

Fair enough.

We'll cross that excuse off the list, then...

Mareeya, you seem to have it all worked out. You seem happy.

Gerard, if you have no time to read the thread in its entirety (including my feelings about being unkind to the other OP) then I have no time for your 'bollocks' either.

Raven, don't be shy..spit it out.

... seem so bitter and full of hate whereas I, who has no faith is (on the evidence of this thread anyway) much happier and at peace with myself.

Wrestling with myself and the deeper tenets of the Christian faith makes me bitter and full of hate because...?

..Spero, it's much easier to come across as the 'happier and more peaceful' one on a thread where the OP is wrestling with aspects of her faith, no? Give yourself a great big pat on the back, old girl.

I think Spero's covered it, tbh. You do seem to be spoiling for a fight.

I can see you are wrestling with your faith, and I hope you make it through. All this stress can't be helping with your plans to conceive.

But I am sure when you think about it you will accept that wrestling with your faith is no excuse for such gratuitous and unpleasant insults to another human being.

I have only wished you well and continue to do so.

I'm off to bed. I'll see you all in the morning. Sleep well, all..

Jewcy Sun 05-May-13 23:52:45

I have a better idea. Let's play Slaughter The Atheist

Spoken like a true monotheist. It's usually only Moslem countries that allow atheists to be persecuted though, so maybe you need to change gods. HTH.

DaftDame I don't gamble, therefore Ellsbergs Paradox has as much meaning to me as Pascals Wager: none. When I die I die. That is it. If you want to give comfort to a bereaved family you need a physicist at your funeral to explain energy. It's wonderful. And beautiful. And so much more comforting than being told that I'll burn for eternity for not loving a man made construct.

I'll take atheism, rationalism, science, reality and freethinking over religion every time.

To those who worry or question how us atheists live a moral life without a god. It's easy. From my perspective anyway. I kill all I want. Which is not at all. I rape all I want. Which is not at all. I'm nice to people and animals without a god. To be honest, if you need a god to tell you how to behave you've got bigger problems and should probably be locked up for the public safety. :o

Crossed posts, sorry. Raven, my back is up, certainly - I feel sad that atheists have come here not to help or clarify or comfort - just to disparage. Why not simply start an athiests thread where you can all be derisory en masse? Oh, wait, no need...you all just come over here.

Spero, don't concern yourself with my stress and its potential impact on my fertility. I doubt I have ever come across a woman quite as passive- aggressive as yourself (and no, that really isn't me being nasty or bitter).

Good night all.

Good idea to go to bed. Thought I had learned my lesson last night after staying up really late to watch The Premonition - surely more proof that either god doesn't exist or if He does, He hates us by visiting such films on an innocent world.

So there you go Jewcy, I am not so well balanced after all as will feel like crap again come 8am when dog whines to go out.

Sleep well all!