Why is faith important?

[jstrodel]

Kinda makes me wonder if god plays favourites. I mean, did you need that car particularly badly? Surely there's kids in Africa to feed, or Mexican people getting massacred by drug cartels who need saving?

Also getting a car off someone doesn't seem like much of a miracle if you think about it. Getting a flying car, maybe. Or receiving a car with a note on the dashboard saying "Heard your prayer, keep up the good word - Your ever loving Creator,God".
That's kind of in the same league as walking on water and curing people of blindness, if you see where I'm coming from. Getting a car seems a little mundane in comparison. Could be misconstrued by the casual observer as a bit of a coincidence, you know?

I did need the car badly. I had to get back and forth to work. That of course does not deal with the issue you raise, of why God helps some people and not others. The issue of the Mexican drug cartels can be reduced much easier to free will. The freedom of peoples will implies that others could be hurt - without having this freedom human nature would substantially change. God does help people in emergency situations though.

The kids in Africa to feed is a tough one. I don't know why God doesn't feed children in Africa. It could be because of curses on specific nations - in the Bible God judges entire nations for their crimes and their sins go up to heaven so God does not hear there prayers. If he heard there prayers and showed mercy on one individual inside of the nation and blessed them, that would affect the course of that nation, for instance, if he gave them a farm.

In the end, I believe that God will give justice to all people and there will be provision for all who have repented of their sins. Children will be included in that, so children dying of hunger will not be a huge concern. Of course that does not mean that Christians should not be concerned about it, and many are working hard right now and giving and serving to eliminate poverty.

Having a relationship with God though is like you have these sorts of things happen to you all the time and they add up. I have not only had that, I have had people prophesy to me details of my life such as that I "knew how to take a computer apart and put it back together" when I was a computer technician or that "The LORD was contending with me over the issue of food" while I was having trouble controlling my eating. People did not know in either case. I have had hundreds of experiences like this. This is typical for Christians.

I would write it off as a coincidence if I heard someone else talk about it. I am a very skeptical person. But I have had that sort of thing happen to me over and over and over again. Praying, asking God for things, receiving them. It happens all the time. Recieving answers in the Bible. It is real. It is possible to be skeptical when it does not happen to you, but when it happens to you, you cannot interpret in any other way.