The Seventy of Sevens from the book of Daniel

Did you know that I am a Preterit? (that's right not a Preterist))
Well, according to those who like to put names on everything, I am a card carrying Preterit

I think that we feel a lot safer or maybe even superior if we can put things into tiny boxes. We can say, “There, I’ve categorized that, I know where it belongs.”
So anyway I’m a Preterit apparently because I believe (presently) that Jesus came to judge people in AD70 among other things.
So I’m going to try to explain why I believe this in a few short or not too short blogs.

I’m not going to do much in the way of discussion.

I believe that we need to look at some important things which are found in Daniel and the first one that I'd like to look at is:
What the “Seventy of Sevens” were. (Daniel 9:20ff)

Daniel was a prophet and he knew his scriptures Dan9:2.

He knew that the end of the captivity was at hand.

The captivity had lasted 70 years (Jer 25) so this gives us a starting date.

There are three dates given (536 BC 457 BC and 444 BC) the principle one being 457 BC.
Dan 9:25 “
Read the rest of Daniel 9.
Ok now what are the Seventy of Sevens? The accepted explanation is 7 times 70 years and if you calculate that you will see it comes to 490 years.

The decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given in 457 BC.

If we subtract 457 years (that's the date we start)

from 490 (thats the seventy of sevens)

We arrive at the figure of 33.

When was the anointed one cut off? 33

or to be a little clearer when did Jesus die on the cross? 33AD
Pretty accurate wasn’t it.

Next week I'll do a little more on the weeks and some about the end times

Ok more next week.

I'm damaged

I had one comment on my last blog but I got a few by email. I don't intend to argue the point because what I write is my opinion and what you write is your opinion but I thank those who took the time make a comment.

I do read the comments and sometimes I read things which make me re look at what I have written.

But, so far, nothing has made me change my views

My week!

I don't know if you will be interested in this next bit but last week I think it was Tuesday or maybe Wednesday, I felt a twinge (interesting word "Twinge" I wonder where it came from and even more intriguing is where is it going to go?)

Anyway I was out the front of my unit watering the new trees that my landlord had planted for me (I told him that I would water them) when I felt that terrible "twinge" down the right side of my back.

Well I won't say that I wasn't a little concerned because I was. And by Friday I'd decided that I needed to see a Dr. Well I couldn't see any around my area so I grabbed my hat and decided to walk to my Dr. in Salisbury, after all it's only one bus stop to Salisbury. By the time I got there I could hardly walk and the spasms in my back were really strong and frequent. Some one said to me later that that's what labour is like and I wondered why a political party would have spasms in the back. I'll have to think about that later.

The Dr.sent me to have my back xrayed at Bensons (No not the cigarette company) Come on people concentrate, focus ok?

I was led into a little cubicle where I was told to take off all my clothes but I could leave my underwear on. Have you noticed that one always has to take ones clothes off no matter what one is having x rayed? I wonder if Michalangelo told his clients to take all their clothes off because he couldn't see what he was painting? Mmm that's not a bad line is it? Anyway they had those white gowns that only a contortionist is able to tie up provided they don't have spasms in the lower back. There was a sign in the cubical which, by the way, had suddenly got a lot smaller, and the sign said remove all jewelry, watches, keys etc.. Well now I got my jewelery off but then I reread the notice and it said DO NOT leave valuables in the cubicle. So leaving them in my trouser pocket meant carrying my trousers with me. So I thought Ok, do not leave the valuables in the cubical, where then was I to leave the valuables? l asked the x-ray operator she said you need to bring them with you . How? How does one, with a back going into never ending spasms, try to hold jewelery, a watch and various coins and paper money and walk into a room in front of a girl who is younger than my daughter and try to look dignified. How does one hold the gaping back of the "gown" together while using both hands to hold all your worldly goods. Those gowns are designed to fall open while one is holding them together with two hands. Or whenever one is bending over or in some other position which one doesn't want to be seen in. Well I got into the x ray room. Dumped all my valuable on to the x ray table, removed my glasses and put them with my valuables on the end of the x ray table right where my feet could kick them into kingdom come when another spasm caused my body to straighten out. You see they tell you not to leave them but they don't give you anywhere to put them when you are laying almost naked on a cold stainless steel table. Why can't they have a table in the room where all our worldly goods can be placed.

I now know what it's like to be a corpse just before the Goroner starts his/her work. The x ray table is just a cold stainless steel slab with little grooves on it, I think the grooves are where the body fluids drain away when the Coroner is doing his / her Coroner work thingy.

Then the torture starts. Why is it that the part that hurts the most or the position which is most likely to start another spasm, is the position they want you to hold the most? And why is it that the only film that they can't get a good picture of is the position which causes the most discomfort?

The x ray operator was very understanding she got all the pictures she needed and then she told me that I could get dressed. Well I didn't think about that did I? I'm in a very tiny box about 1 foot by 1 foot and about 5 foot high, I'm not exaggerating. It had shrunk since I was in there last. that was about 15 minutes before. I had my valuables with me and I found that I was unable to manouver my body without a spasm taking me by surprise and straightening me out thus jamming me in to a corner. Eventually I was able to get dressed.

Then I realized I still had my shoes to put on.

I'm going to make a bold statement at this point I don't believe that it is possible to put on a firmly fitting shoe with one hand while your back is constantly trying to straighten your body out. I say again "It's impossible".

Every time I had the shoe in the right position, my body flipped it off my foot and dumped it into an inaccessible space in the 1 foot square room.

But all good thing need to come to an end and I eventually got my shoes on. But the powers that rule the X-ray cubicles had not finished with me yet. You see I couldn't do up my laces on my snuggly fitting sneakers so, I had to swallow what little pride I had left at that time and I had to call on the nice lady who was younger than my daughter and she did my laces up like I was a little schoolboy who hadn't learned to do his shoe laces up.

But I'm not going to bore you anymore. My back is still bad. I'm still getting straightened out every now and then.

And it's painful

I can now empathize with those who suffer from chronic back pain.

See ya

Terry

Listening or hearing

Hi People

Did you notice that you can listen to the music I have written and recorded for your pleasure. Well I don't sing on them but Sharon Engel and David Mardisich do. Just click on the link on the title page up the top of this whole thing. I hope you enjoy it.

I haven't tended to my Blog since I don't when "I'm stuck in Folsom prison and time keep rollin' on". Sorry about that I just started typing then those words popped into my head. They must have been hiding in their for a long time because I used to play that song in my early days of playing in a band.

Anyway here I am (Woops nearly broke into a song again)

I'm here and ready to share with you some of my thoughts on.... ... Taaa taaa taaa

"Listening or Hearing"

I was on facebook this morning and I did one of those silly test that one tends to do when on facebook. It was one about "What Beatles song are you. When you answer all the questions it tells you what Beatles song you are. Then it goes on to tell you what kind of person you are, I don't believe it usually but this one said that "I rely on religion". Well that got me thinking and I realized that I don't rely on religion. I used to rely on Christianity.

Do I rely on Christianity now. Well the answer to that is No. Let me hear a Politician say that.

If you have been reading my blogs then you will know that I ask a lot of questions and I expect answers. You will know that I have moved away from my early beliefs into something quite different.

Well nothing has changed. I still ask questions.

I have added to my repert... report... List of things that I do. I have taken to doing what Sienfeld says he does in his stand up comedy routine. Now don't get me started on the comedy of Sienfeld. He has redefined comedy. His definition of comedy is that it's not funny.

Anyway I digress. Sienfeld says he does observational comedy. In other words he observes people and situations and then he presents it as comedy. I don't think he's funny but a lot of people do so....

I've taken to observing what religious people say. It is my opinion (remember the title of my blog? These are only my opinions) that religious (and a lot of nonreligious) people don't listen to what they are saying nor are they listening to what their preachers, priests, ministers etc. are saying either. How do I know this? Because I've been there.

So what do I mean?

Every Sunday or Saturday morning if you are an Adventist. And every Wednesday or Thursday evening you will see congregations of people listening intently to what the person at the front of the room is telling them. But are they listening? I say No! Yes they are listening but NO! they are not hearing. They may be able to quote everything that the person down the front had said but that doesn't mean they heard him or her. I believe there is a difference between listening and hearing. My Funk and Wagnalls' defines listening as 1 To make conscious use of the sense of hearing; be attentive in order to hear. then it defines hear as to perceive by means of the ear. I wonder what perceive means; Perceive means; to become aware of something through the senses such as hearing.... Too many times I've seen congregations fall apart or go along a path that they didn't want to walk because they listened but they did not hear.

We all need to learn to ask. What's behind the words. How many of us have heard the politician speak to us and we know that they are saying all the right things but we also know that they are not telling us something. And if you listen carefully you can read between the lines. They don't want us to know so they don't actually lie they just weave the truth or forget to tell us that bit. When you are buying a car and you ask the salesman. "Has it been in an accident"? If the Salesman says "no, not an accident" then you might ask him another question such as well if it wasn't an accident what would you call it. Then you have him on the ropes.

We do it everyday all day without knowing that we do it. We check things when they don't ring true Yet when it comes to religion we suspend our natural instinct for hearing the truth and we believe anything. That may be a little harsh but I'm going to share with you some things that may make you listen to the man/woman down the front in a different way I hope as they tell you what they want you to know this week.

This is what I've learned since I started listening,. I'm not sure whether to dot point it or not. So I'll just start and see what happens.

A good friend of mine believes prayer works in healing people. Yet the record shows that he has never seen any one healed in the nearly thirty five years that I've known him. He has prayed for me constantly for the last sixteen years for God to heal the Parkinsons Syndrome that I have. I still have Parkinsons'. He has been praying for a revival for about ten years and still no revival and still he continues on. Let's look at this in a different light for a minute. Let's swap God for a Doctor.

A very powerful Doctor who had the power to heal immediately, has come to Adelaide. Let's say that my friend went up to him during one of his very successful book signing tours and said to him. "I have a friend who has believed in your power to heal him as I have done for the last thirty-five years but for the last sixteen years he has had Parkinsons' please will you heal him?" The Doctor turns away from him and continues to sign books and ignores him. How long will my good friend stand near this Doctor who ignores him. How long would you stand there?

Ok that might be one incident. But what if he said to the Doctor. "I know that you do great things because I read one of your books which said you can do great things. I have another friend who is sick please heal her" And once again the Doctor doesn't acknowledge him. Then others start saying "Yes I have been asking this Doctor to heal me and my family and he doesn't even answer us. I have never seen him heal anyone although I have heard people say that he helped them find a band-aid in a cupboard when they cut their finger. So he must be great." How long would you keep asking the Doctor before 1. You realized that he was a fraud and couldn't do the things he claimed he could or 2. Realized that you had made a mistake when reading the book?

I suppose you might last a week and then you would slowly drift away.

Why then do we insist on saying God will do it in his own time at his own rate. If it's his will?

That my friend is not a God of love or of compassion. It isn't the God that I read of in the Bible. Didn't Jesus say that God is the loving Father?

What kind of father would you be if you had the power to heal your son and / or daughter but you made your sons and daughters wait for years while you took your time to heal them. And that was if you felt like it. Don't you think it's time we stopped making excuses for God? God doesn't need us to make excuses he wants us to listen I believe he is shouting at us to take our blinkers off and see the truth.

God put man on this earth to look after it. Not to run to him every time we want something. He set the world in motion. He set the natural laws in motion..

Ok that's enough for today. Why don't you check in again for more exciting tales of those who

"listen and those who hear"

If you want to comment then please do.

Terry

My Music

If you would like to hear a portion of the music I have written and Sharon has recorded for me under the name Silkwood then click here http://www.carbonlogic.co.uk/artist/silkwood-1 or to listen to David singing with silkwood then click here http://www.carbonlogic.co.uk/artist/silkwood-2/brown-bottle-blues

Hi everybody this entry is a little different to my usual entry, well I think it is anyway.

You may or may not have heard that the Christian world believes that Jesus will return one day. They are almost all in agreement that Jesus will return.

Where the Christian world disagree is what will Jesus do when he returns.

Will Jesus' return bring an end to this world as we know it. Will he create some kind of Utopia that will last a thousand years then at the end of the thousand years all those who believe in him wil be lifted up to be with him in heaven. And all the sinners will go to hell or some other vile place. Or will he come to reign on the earth for evermore and the earth will be this wonderful place remade to be just like God intended it to be. where the lion will lie down with the lamb and as the old song goes "they aint gonna make war no more." Or are you one of the believers that believes that when Jesus returns he is going bring this old earth to an end. He will destroy the whole earth and the believers will be raised from the dead and be with the lord forever.

There is no way of me knowing which one you believe. Then again you might have a different theory as to what will happen when Jesus returns.

A common theme running through all these theories is that they know it will be in the last days. Now most Christians (And I'm not included in this last bit) believe that we are in the last days and most believe that Jesus will return soon ad a good many believe Jesus will return in their life time.

Now I'd like to change tack a little bit.

What do you believe about climate change?

Is it real or is it a conspiracy by the government to sell more solar power cells. Or is the earth really warming and are we in danger of running out of water. Are we, in Australia really moving in to a period of famine or at least into a period where food will become increasingly harder to grow?

Are we in danger of destroying this earth that we call home, because we are over mining its' minerals?

Are we in danger of destroying this planet we live on with the emmissions we spew out of our chimneys and are car exausts?

Are we doing enough to stop ourselves from destroying this world?

I once asked a class I was teaching this question "If you had been at the foot of the cross on the day they crucified Jesus and you realized that you had the power to get him down from the cross and save him and nobody could stop you. Would you have done it?" You know that about two thirds of the class said the would". I said "your kindness would have cost humanity its' salvation."

Now I ask this question "If God has said that Jesus will return to destroy the planet or to refresh the planet or what ever he's going to do to the planet. Do we have the right to interfere?"



Cheers

Terry

What's happened this month

I'm not sure if you want to read this but I wanted to write it. You see I've had a mixed bag of a month. Some things were just right, some things were just wrong and somethings were neither right nor wrong. Those things just were.
A good friend of mine (Ern) who shall remain nameless and I were talking on the phone today Thurs 19th March and somehow it came up in the conversation as to whether I was happy with my life. Well it made me think and you know, I am very happy with my life. Sure there are things I'd like to change but am unable to at this time. Things such as Parkinson's Syndrome. I can't change the fact that I have it but what I can change is how I deal with it. I don't let it rule my life, sure it limits some of the things I'd like to do. But then again having PS made me realize some things that I might not have thought about if I hadn't had it, such as becoming a song writer and I would never have thought about putting my works onto disc and selling them.
I would never have met and worked with some of the finest vocalist in South Australia and I would never have worked with some of the best musicians in South Australia.

Have I made any mistakes? Yes I have. Some of them because I pressed a wrong button on my PC. Some of them because of poor judgment. And some I've still to hear about, I'm sure there is some one out there who would like to remind me of some thing I shoulda coulda aughta have done.

So what makes me like my life today?
When:
There are wars and rumours of wars. (that sounds very biblical doesn't it?)
There is famine in third world countries
Children go to bed hungry
Wives are being beaten by their husbands
When people in our own country (Australia) don't have any place to sleep at night

The list could go on and when you get to the end there will be more to add to it and as you add to it more will be added to it.
I could live my life trying to solve all these problems but the reality of it all is that I can't solve all the problems of the world. Neither can you. Neither can the organization or church that you are connected to. In fact no-one can.
What I'm saying is that no-one person is able to save the world from it's self. What I am also saying is that no organization, no matter how large or universal it may be is able to solve the problems of the world. How does knowing this help me be happy with my life? For a start it takes away the guilt that is forced upon us by those ads containing under fed children staring at us as we get stuck into our meals in the evening.

I supported a child in Africa for a year (I did this while trying to survive on a disability pension) but had to give up the support so that I could pay my bills. During the year however, I got, almost weekly, reams of paper asking me to give more and more and always the picture of the cute little girl or boy staring me down daring me to say no. I knew they were hungry but what could I do? I didn't have the means to give any more. Then it hit me why don't I write to the organization and see what they thought of this idea. So I wrote to them and said paraphrased. "Instead of sending me those begging letter why don't you take the money you spend on postage and the money you spend printing those pamphlets and the money that you spend on a person to compile the whole kit and kaboodle who possibly earns about $30.000+ a year or around $11 per hour or 19cents a minute. You could send an extra $10.76 a month to some other family and if you did that for all the people who currently support families your organization could do about 25% more than what you currently do.
They wrote back a very nice letter which basically said pull your head in and that was that.

If you are a Christian or a believer and you believe the bible to be the word of God then you need to know that God doesn't feel guilty about how the world has turned out. In-fact it's man's fault that the world is in the condition it is today. Genesis says that God saw everything was good.
It was man that sinned and consequently I sinned, then Jesus came and took away my sin so now I don't feel guilty.
But there are those who need us to feel guilty. Yes I said "Need us to feel guilty". You see most organizations work on the premise that if you feel guilty for such and such then you will work for them in a volunteer capacity.
The Church is good at having us do things by guilt. From the pulpit they say God has taken away our guilt. While saying, away from the pulpit, it is our duty to save all those who haven't heard the word. Now I'm not going to get into a discussion on the Great commission other than o say I don't believe in the Great commission (See my blog on The Great Commission) or to be more precise. I don't believe that the Great Commission can be applied to us today. But members of Churches are told over and over again that "The workers are few and the harvest is great" If that's not a guilt trip then what is. By the way I believe that to be one of the most misquoted passages in the new testament as well. Especially when it is applied to church goers today.

Guilt keeps the masses under control.

If you as a believer become what I'll call here a free thinker. That is, that you question the structure of the Organization that you are with. Then you'll feel the pressure of those who want you to conform and it will come to you in the guise of "Don't you think that what you are saying /promoting etc is going to cause some of the weaker members of the organization/group to stumble? That is called guilt.

How did I get onto this: Oh yes I was talking about why I feel happy with my life.
Well, since I still believe in the creator, I no longer depend on him to heal me of all my little and big ailments and, by the way, there is no proof of God healing anyone since the New Testament was closed off.
Since I no longer depend on God for my happiness. (See my bog on "The Secret")
And since I came to the realization that it isn't God who created the mess we now call earth and God isn't going to get us out of it by some war called Armageddon in the near future.
And since I realized that the Creator sent Jesus to die for all mankind and womankind and that when he said "it is finished" It was finished.
Well since I realized all that I became content because the power had been put back into my hands.
If I was going to be healed I would have to find the cure.
If I was going to be happy. I would have to initiate my happiness.
If I was going to live on this earth i would have to look after it.
And if God sent his son to take away my sin and set me free from guilt then "Why should I feel guilty?"
I'm content.
One more thing. When God said "I will remember their sins no more". Why do we insist on reminding him constantly that we have sinned?

See ya

I need to have answers

Glad you could make it back to my blog.
One of my many faults which seems to irritate people is that I don't accept anything I'm told just because I've been told it.
It doesn't matter who tells it to me whether they be a minister of religion or a minister in government. Whether they be a high school teacher or a University lecturer, it makes no difference who they are or where they work or what their qualifications are. If they can't show me how they have arrived at a certain answer or opinion then I don't accept it until they or I can prove it to be correct or incorrect.

Over the years that I was an agnostic, then a Christian and now a believer, this attitude has been seen as arrogance, trouble making, etc. I think the reason people don't like my asking questions is the following
1. It puts the one being questioned on the defensive.
2. It makes the one being questioned look at what they are teaching
3, It brings into question the teachers' authority
4, It makes the one being questioned discover for themselves what they are teaching.
There are many more reasons but these will stop you from getting board.
I was an agnostic until May 2nd 1972 when I became a member of the Church of Christ (Non Denominational) as it was called back then. I let my guard down and allowed them to get away with teaching me stuff that I just accepted. I'm not picking on the C of C here because back in the 70's we were all looking for a place to find rest. And I believed at the time that this was the place. Just as those who sought out the Catholic Church or Baptist church you name a church and you'll find that in the 70s it grew. I thought that it was the Jesus revolution which was about to commence. 

Then after a number of years I started to ask questions. I remember one particular incident which I will relate here: I was in my office at work when a younger member of the congregation made an appointment to see me and is query was this. Why does the church teach that it is wrong to use musical instruments in our whorship?  He asked me where it said that we couldn't use musical instruments in the Bible.  This man was a music teacher and was very good on the instruments he chose to play.  I played in a band with him for some time.  However, back to the story, I believed that it was wrong because I had been taught that musical instruments were wrong if used when worshipping God.   So rather condescendingly I told him that I would help him see that the church was right and that would put him back in his place.  So I went home that night and read the scriptures that I had been told, taught that musical instruments were wrong and I couldn't prove it from there.  So I went outside the things I had been taught and still I couldn't prove it.  

I remembered we used to say to others who were not of our group "We spreak where the Bible speaks and we are silent where the Bible is silent" and I realised that we weren't "silent where the bible was siilent...".  So I called a meeting of the men (That's another story) to tell them that we had got something wrong.  I knew that when the leaders heard that we were not teaching the right thing about musical instruments, they would rectify it right away.  So I stood up in the meeting and got about halfway through my account when one of the most influenial men in the group stood up and said we don't want to hear anymore I say it's right so it's right.  And I stood there with my mouth open, not because of what was said but becauae all the rest of those men who were their were nodding in agreement.  From that day on I never accepted anything that the leaders taught.  I always checked it out.  And I became a pain in the neck.  You might be asking why didn't I leave? Well, where could I go?  I had studied the major churches and none of them taught what I thought was the truth.  It took a few years before the cracks began to show. 

Eventually I left the Church altogether but I never left God.   I went back to the church after about five years because a good friend of mine (who had kept in touch) convinced me that things were different now.  But they weren't.  People still didn't want to know what I believed the bible said to us.  I didn't want them to change (well it would have been nice if they did see what I saw) I just wanted them to hear me out and then show me where I was wrong.  It was and still is lonely when you're the only one that sees things differently, or should I say you think you're the only one who sees things that way.  When we used to have Elders I approached the Elders of the church, very early in my quest not one of them had an answer for me.  but one member, another friend of mine, came to see me about the issue but he used the same old arguments that I had been using and it told me that he hadn't looked at the problem but that he already had the answer and that was the official line of the church.

Well that's enough history.  

Now I have some questions for you, should you choose to take them.
1. If God expects me to forgve my enemies.  Why is this same God going to create a place where his enemies are going to be tormented forever?
2. If God has forgiven all men through Jesus.  How can there be a judgment day?
3. If Jesus died for all men doesn't it stand to reason that all men are saved?
4. If the Bible says that God will write his laws on our hearts and that no more will man teach his neighour.  By who's authority do we teach our neighbour today.
5. The bible says quite clearly  that Jesus says "I came only to the hebrews...".  Why do we still believe that he came for us as well.  Note Jesus doesn't say "I came to the Hebrews he says I came only to the hebrews
6. When Jesus says I come to bring judgement on the Hebrews.  Why do we think he meant us as well?

That's enough.

If you want to look at the questions go ahead but here's what I want you to do (that's if you want to) 

1st you need to recognise what the queston made you feel when you first read it. 

2nd you need to recognise that you felt that way because you have already decided what the answer will be.

3rd  And this is the hardest thing to do.  (I know because I still have to go through this excercise every time I start to question something)  You need to say to youself "What do I believe right now about this question? (write down your answer) Am I prepared to change my view? 

Ok.

Go ahead Make my bed

Terry   

How do we know it's God answering the prayer?

It’s been a long time since I last wrote on my blog. But here I am again.
I was watching a program last Sunday morning on the ABC that’s our government backed TV station. It’s like the BBC in England. Anyway I was watching this program all about the Mormon Church when I heard an interesting story. It was the account of two devout Mormons, I say devout because they allowed God into their decision making at all times. It appeared, from what they were saying that they didn’t make any decisions with in their lives without asking God first.
They were the parents of seven children and they cherished each one of them. Then one day they felt that there was one child that hadn’t arrived yet. Apparently they both felt it very strongly, that they had room for just one more child.
Well they didn’t want to make this decision on their own and so they asked God if they should have an eighth child. They prayed for quite some time about this and finally they got their answer. I’m not sure how they got their answer but they were quite certain that God had said yes. So they planned for their new addition to the family and soon his wife was pregnant again. Then came the day when she went into the hospital to deliver the child and shortly after that a healthy boy was born. Unfortunately the mother developed a blood clot on the brain and was dead within minutes of the birth.
The program went on to tell how the husband felt about what had happened and I couldn’t help feeling for his loss, for not only the loss of his wife but also his loss of confidence in his God. He was still grieving for his wife and he was grieving over his God as well.
When the interviewer asked him if he would do the same thing again, that is, ask God for directions. He was visibly shaken, as if he hadn’t considered the question before, His answer caused him a problem too because he said. “Some days I would but then on others I wouldn’t”
That is a true account. No doubt some readers of this blog might be saying “Mormons aren’t Christians “. I’m not going to get into theological arguments right now but I’m sure you can relate that account to something that has happened in your life. Maybe not as dramatic, maybe not has harrowing but I’m sure you have seen people who have prayed for things or for illnesses and you believe God has answered their prayer but then it seems He hasn’t answered it.
The account of this Mormon family got me thinking about when we pray. How do we know God has answered the prayer and it isn’t just our minds wanting it?
Actually I’d like you to answer my question by using my comment box at the end of this article.
I would also appreciate it if you would consider the following:
Did God know that the woman was going to die if she had the child? If He did why didn’t He warn them? Why wasn't His answer NO don’t have a child because it will kill you?
Was it the fault of the couple? Did they misunderstand the answer? If that is the case then why didn’t God make it clearer?
One thing I would ask you not to do. Please don’t fob me off with answers that don’t answer the question. An example of this is “We need faith”. That is not an answer. It is the lazy persons way of saying “I can’t be bothered finding the answer”. Why don’t you read the last prophet in the Old Testament “Malachi” and see what God things of that answer
I’m not a person who hasn’t read his bible. I have read the New Testament from cover to cover over 100 times in the last few years. That’s not boasting, it is my way of letting you know not take these questions lightly.

Ok I’ll leave it there
Hope to hear from you soon