Funny though.

 

But never NEVER EVER Devil's Food cake

 

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God."  Amen.  However, the priest's problem was that his faith was not even the size of a mustard seed: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

 

As for those who do not believe that the miracles of Jesus - and other mircales - could be done, consider: "He that believeth on me, the works [incl. miracles] that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do." (Emphasis mine)

 

The priest failed because (i) his faith was not as great as he thought, and (ii) without being facetious, he did not know when to accept this, and return.

 

Peace.

 

this reminds me of a joke:

 

there was once a very religious man living in a town that had flooded. the waters had risen so he had to take shelter upon his roof. one of his neighbors paddled by in a canoe and called to him, "Hey, Frank! Why don't I come over and pick you up and take you to dry land?"

The man waved him away with a smile, "No thanks, friend! I appreciate the offer, but I believe God will take care of me!"

So the guy paddled off.

The waters had rose to where Frank was sitting in water and another man was riding along in a boat with a small motor. Seeing Frank's plight, he called out, "Hey, mister! I'll be right over to get you and take you to dry land!"

Frank again declined with a smile, "No thanks, friend! I appreciate the offer, but I believe God will take care of me!"

So the man wished Frank luck and left.

Soon the waters were up to Frank's chest and some emergency personnel in a motorised raft spotted him, "Sir! It is not safe for you to be here! We will take you to dry land where you can get some shelter and food!"

Frank again smiled and waved them off, "Go rescue a soul in more trouble than me! I appreciate the offer, but I believe God will take care of me!"

So the emergency raft headed off to find other victims of the flood.

The water reached was up to Frank's chin when a rescue helicopter spotted him and a man called to him with a bullhorn, "We'll throw you a rope, mister, and get you out of there in a jiffy!"

Frank again smiling as he declind, "No thanks, friend! I appreciate the offer, but I believe God will take care of me!"

So, the helicopter crew reluctantly left.

Finally, Frank drowned.

He found himself in the peaceful realms of heaven and there he met God face to face.

"God," Frank asked sadly, "All of my life, I did my best to follow your word and live the life that your Son Jesus had preached to mankind. I prayed and was charitable and believed strongly that in times of trouble, you would take care of me. Why did you let me drown?"

To which God responded, "Look, Frank-I sent you a canoe, two boats and a helicopter! You turned them down! Wtf?"

 

Like this guy:

 

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/chamber/61659 - http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/chamber/61659

 

 

 

i would think that was the only way god would want to work.

 

It was a miracle that happened

Nobody noticed it though

Not that it mattered

They were doomed by great blindness

By their obsession with the mundane

By those silly nonsense things that,

When all is said and done,

Meant nothing at all

Some were offended by the miracle

Trying to claim it wasn’t a miracle

For saying it was implied a god

And God implied religion

And religion is something that

Made people feel inferior to other people

So they tried to rewrite things to say

The miracle never really happened

That it was made up to oppress somebody

Someplace

It did not change that the miracle did occur

But it left no history or a name

It left no trace of itself

And nobody noticed it happened

 

-Jen Williams, 2005

 

Re your joke, I have been using that one for years, and even got into the sermons of some colleagues.  As KAS notes, that is exactly the way God works much of the time - but we are too blinded by our own "view" - as well as our fears, disappointments and, yes, arrogance - to see it.  I cannot tell you how many canoes, yachts and helicopters have assisted me...LOL.

 

Peace.

 

 

it's one of my fav jokes actually. i agree it's also a great lesson. miracles and divine assistance do not always appear as some great wonderous thing. a great movie on this line is "the bishop's wife" with david niven and clark gable (i refuse to see the politically correct remake "the preacher's wife"). niven is a bishop of a protestant sect (anglican or episcopalian?) who prays when for help when having problems with his life, although he thinks it's for his dream cathedral. enter clark gable as dudley the angel. near the end, niven tells gable he did not get his wish, which gable corrects him, "you did not pray for a cathedral...you prayed for guidance". just because it is not a big to do with a glowing halo and a choir of angels does not make it any less a miracle.

 

I'm still new around here, but have been reading a lot in this forum. I've been impressed with most people's good natured rants and civil trades of comments. This topic peaked my interest because it served as the ultimate test to see if we've just been lucky thus far to have great users respecting each opinion, etc - because if any topic will quickly show someone's true colors and drive them to get a little too hot under the collar, it's a topic like this one! Which is why the old adage remains true about Politics, Religion and taxes...

 

That being said, I'd like to democratically point something out that Maani said a few posts back about the priest failing because of a lack of faith.

Unfortunately this is a fundamental mis-understanding of faith.

While it's true individuals hold personal responsibility for their actions (like the idiot in the story here), or lack thereof, the question of faith takes on a completely different characteristic...

Surely you've heard of being "clothed in Righteousness" and Christ standing in your stead - etc.

 

the same holds true for faith - the only faith you have is the one granted to you - and that is saving Faith - To adopt the mindset that a person can somehow achieve enough faith to literally move a mountain or heal the blind is faulty on several points (thinking of oneself as better than the other with less faith, being one of them).

You may also note the Biblical passage relating to each believer being given a "measure of faith" - does a believer thinking he or she is more worth shout to God "Hey! Where is my bigger measure!?" of "I want a double scoop please".

 

By the way - I love DarkSinger's practical apporoach - and surprisingly Biblical (even if it did reference a classic movie lol)

 

God is God - and that is the reason we are not

 

thanks

 

i strongly believe that things that have true power do not have to prove that they have it. i tend to believe that god, in referencing another movie, is closer to the one portrayed in the first "oh, god"-sans the fishing hat and flannel shirt-a benevolent creator who wants his creations to "figure it out" on their own.