God helps those who need his help the most....

India
June 17, 2010 9:51pm CST
Abraham is the patriarch of Jews and Muslims all over the world. Bible and Koran both say that God asked Abraham to leave his home in Ur Kasdim and Haran to Canaan where He promised him a land. It is written, "The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Once Abraham entered into Canaan God entered into a covenant with Abraham in exchange of recognition of Yahweh as God. God had promised to Abraham that through his offspring all the nations of the world would come to be blessed. Christians interpret this as a particular reference to Christ. The Book of Genesis (see 11:27-32) describes Ur as the starting point of the migration westward to Palestine of the family of Abraham about 1900 B.C. My question is, "why God chose Hebrew race particularly, while there were other prosperous civilizations such as Minoan civilization, Indus valley civilization, Babylonian civilization and Middle kingdom of Egypt". I feel that God chose Hebrew race because it was on a verge of extinction. The males particularly were unable to produce offspring and Abraham had solved that problem by resorting to circumcision. Abraham came closer to God than anyone else did because God helps those who need his help the most. God is a good shepherd. If one sheep is lost God goes to search it. Hebrew race was the sheep God was about to lose and God had saved it. Now do you believe in Ben Franklin's quote, "God helps those who help themselves" or you believe in the example I gave here to show, "God helps those who need his help the most"?
1 person likes this
9 responses
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
18 Jun 10
achilles2010, I am sorry to stop you here and ask that you recall a significant verse in the Bible where it is and I quote: "I will make you into a great nation And I will bless you; I will make your name great, and You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And whoever curses you I will curse; And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:2-3 I think you will know what this verse is and the significance of it - it is the promise of God, to Abraham. Hence, it is already indicative that since the beginning the Hebrews were the chosen lot and with it came God's promise. There is nothing indicative of whatever lessons you have brought up here. However, I have one simple lesson here and that is the lesson on promise. I think it is clearly indicative that God takes a serious view on promises and as you can see no matter how imperfect His chosen race was - He is always there to fulfill His promise made and till today has not become extinct. Likewise, it is also teaching us about the way we choose our spouses and living the marriage vows that we made to each other at the alter or church or even at the solemnization office. “One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises that one makes” - Friedrich Nietzsche.
• Singapore
18 Jun 10
P.S. The Promise was made before there was any indicative verge of extinction of the Hebrews.
• Singapore
18 Jun 10
achilles2010, I beg your pardon, but please check through your text before you hit the post button. Kindly clarify what you mean with the following sentences: Para 2: "He knew Satan will tempt Satan and they would succumb." Kindly explain what in the world are you talking about and getting to. Last Para: "You said his promises have not become extinct because he does not want us to be extinct. " Excuse me, where in my post did I mention this? On the contrary, you mentioned in your original post and I quote: "I feel that God chose Hebrew race because it was on a verge of extinction. " Para 6 I hope YOU do not ADD your words and make that into mine. Let's be clear here. Also please do not think that God is premeditating when in the first place He is PUNISHING His people for disobeying and committing grave sins like murder and worshiping other gods. Simply, please reread my response again. You are really missing the whole picture as you have with the Bible and all that has been said. Use a dictionary or better a concourse for the Bible - it will help everyone especially yourself.
• India
18 Jun 10
Through the verse, you quoted God had revealed to Abraham His only intention that He Himself would come to abide in His generation as His own Son. This one verse constitutes the 'Word of God', which John echoed at chapter 1, verse one, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". It means in the beginning God gave his word, God kept his word and He came to abide amongst men as His own Son. Now if you say since the beginning the Hebrew were God's chosen one then it means God also knew that after God created Adam he knew he will have to remove one of his ribs to create Eve. He knew Satan will tempt Satan and they would succumb. He knew He would banish them; then He knew they will beget Cain and Abel and Cain would kill Abel. God knew that there would be great deluge and He created Noah so he would save a sample of each species; He knew about Israelite wandering in the desert. He created prophets to make prophecy. It means that we are mere puppets in God's hands. You must know why God had created us. He created us so that he may become stronger in our weakness. We are here to make God Stronger. He needs as much as we need him. That is the reason He made covenant with men. He needs us because in us He lives. You said his promises have not become extinct because he does not want us to be extinct. God has to reveal Himself in us. If we will not be there then in whom God would reveal himself.
• India
18 Jun 10
I guess God chose the Israelites , because they were a continuity of the descendants of Adam and Eve, who were loyally following God. He did not choose Cain coz' he sinned and disobeyed God. He chose virtuous people who choose t carry in the requirements of him and so to fulfill his promise. He did promise the faithful ones that he will be with them and the promised seed would be their descendant(Jesus). All the other mentioned civilizations, did not worship the true God, but made their own Gods. As far as circumcision is concerned, we see that God protected the Jews from any kind of contamination of defilement, he wanted the race to be as better as possible for the arrival of the promised seed.
• India
18 Jun 10
Thank you keep_onwatch for your response. If Adam and Eve are the first parents of all humankind then the whole world is their descendants and not just the Israelite. From what you wrote further, you are insinuating that only Israelites are the descendants of Children Eve bore after Cain had killed Abel. Then we will have to conclude that all the rest of the people of the world are Cain's descendants because God did not consider them worthy. From your post, it appears that only Israelite are virtuous and rest of the world is unrighteous and they are the better race. If that were the case then Jesus would have been born in Herod's palace and not the manger. Christ had to be born among the downtrodden and not in the palaces of the affluent. God chose Hebrews because they were the most neglected race.
• India
18 Jun 10
NO.. you didn't understand my point! I wasn't saying they were they are the only descendants of Adam and eve, as all of us are their descendants and are inherited sinners. I meant the followers of the true God! I mentioned Cain sinned and so he wasn't chosen. I mentioned that these were the people who worshiped the true God in the whole truth and with the whole faith. The Babylonians and all others mentioned were definitely wealthy, but weren't worshipers of the God who created their descendants- Adam and ever. Well as considered among the descendants were King David, Solomon and Joseph, who were mighty powerful in their appointed times too, but as said earlier, they were faithful worshipers of the true God!
• India
18 Jun 10
Thanks for your comment. That is one of the reason besides, the reason I have mentioned. My point here is Christ was born as a descendant to the poor amongst the poorest. He is never born in the palaces of the rich, affluent, and the kings as is mentioned in so many other mythological scriptures.
• India
18 Jun 10
God did not come down to help the Hebrews…they helped themselves to become a strong widespread clan and from them came the Christians and Muslims who further spread and consolidated this story of Genesis. There were definitely more advanced ancient civilizations though none of them managed to survive in their original form due to various natural and man-made factors. How and why did the Hebrew patriarch choose that particular land is not clear to me though I certainly don’t believe in any God coming down and guiding Abraham towards it. Maybe he was just way too wise and a visionary…certainly if we look at the Jews, they do come across as more intelligent and accomplished than most races on the earth. So to answer your question, I certainly believe that God helps those who help themselves… in other words, we devise ways of helping ourselves and labour hard to achieve success and then thank God for just that little push in the right direction.
• India
22 Jun 10
actually, I don’t really think I should carry this discussion further coz fundamentally, I don’t believe in any God coming down to help people, while you do so…however, I find this topic quite interesting so I would just like to add that even in our worst helpless condition, if we just sit with our hands folded in prayer and do nothing about it, no God will ever help us…God (if there really be a personification of it) has already helped mankind by making him the most intelligent animal on planet…its now up to us to make the best use of that gift.
• India
18 Jun 10
Conversely, does it mean God does not help those who cannot help themselves? I know you would say, "No, God helps all, i.e., those who help themselves and those who cannot help themselves." I know God is benevolent. However, my question now is whom God helps the most, the ones who help themselves or the one who cannot help themselves. Therefore, I said God had helped Abraham the most because he found Abraham helpless; more than the others were.
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
20 Jun 10
God didn't choose the Hebrews because they were on the verge of extinction. God chose Abraham because he believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. In Matthew 13:12 Jesus said, "For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
21 Jun 10
God blessed not only the Hebrews through Abraham but the whole world. http://www.gotquestions.org/Abrahamic-covenant.html http://www.rbc.org/questionsDetail.aspx?id=45996 http://www.kingdomready.org/topics/pdfs/GodsPromiseToAbraham.pdf
• India
21 Jun 10
I wonder why Yahweh did not do the same to Noah. Only Noah being pious finds favor with Yahweh, who instructs him to build an ark to preserve both human posterity and other creatures. Genesis at chapter 7:15 -17. Why did God use two different yardstick to judge the world. I however, do not believe that Abraham was the only righteous person in the whole world. Besides, God does not take just one individual into consideration. Whatever God does he does, it is always for the universal goodness. Whatever God was doing He was doing for the entire Hebrew race and not just for Abraham.
• India
1 Jul 10
Para1: Was abraham the patriarch of Jews and Muslims ONLY? What about christians? Para2: Why god has to curse all those who curse abraham? Isn't that a very silly on the part of god of bible to stoop down to such a human level? Doesn't that make him just like any other common men of abraham's time? Para3: "God entered into a covenant with Abraham in exchange of recognition of Yahweh as God." Really strange thing happening here! God needs recognition? That is a ridiculous request from God to a human being. Also it is an open admission there were other Gods. They are still around. Para 4: Is the date/period of BCE 1900 true? Is there any valid proof to substantiate that date/period? Is it a date that is mentioned in bible? If not how did you arrive at that date/period during which this migration took place? Para 5: Now I understand why christians are moving into poor third world countries? god does not like wealthy people? but why does then church goes on accumulating so much wealth while god chooses only poor? Para 6: So circumcision can solve the problem of production of offspring? What do you mean by "on the verge of extinction"? But what happened to 'those chosen people' till about 65 years back is still fresh in the memory. They were being hunted down through out the last 2000 years, the last being millions ordered to be killed by Hitler. Hitler clarified to the Vatican that he is just speeding up things which the church always wanted to. Para 7: God was about to lose? Wow! I thought this can happen to us human only! Para 8: we are misusing god for all petty things while we can help each other. Are you trying to say god has kept a board outside his office like those Lions Club / Rotary Club kind "We Help" or "May I Help You?" I prefer to go with Ben Franklin as that recognizes our effort also. My stand is God cannot be partial. His help is always around, only thing is that we should recognize that presence of him and accept whatever he gives. in the case you mentioned, he helped hebrews only because abraham entered in to a covenant with him to accept him as god. else he did not have any other motive to help them, whatever be their condition or situation.
• India
1 Jul 10
You have attempted to discredit my post through silly arguments. As I said before that to explain to you the tenets of Christianity would be an exercise in futility. Dogmas of your of your own religion influence you much. You have your own preconceived notions. Please understand that this board is a place for discussion. It is not a place for argument. You are trying to argue by finding faults in every paragraph I have written. There are more Christians in the world than Hindus and they could not be all wrong. This does not make a handful of Hindus wiser than they do. You are free to believe in Ben Franklin's phrase, "God Helps those who help themselves". Just use the logic, if you have two sons. One is doing well and other is not able to help himself, then whom do you think you would go to help. I am sure you will help the one who is doing well because he is the one who can pamper you and take care of your needs. The one who needs help would starve you. Am I right?
• Indonesia
19 Jun 10
God helps people who need help, not because he/she has money or some nationality
• Indonesia
19 Jun 10
Yes..I agree with you.
@veejay19 (3589)
• India
18 Jun 10
I think both aphomorisms are correct. God does not want us to sit doing nothing and wait for his help to come.He wants us to act in a proper manner and the fruits of our actions are given by him.Now this does not mean that a man commits a crime and expects God to help him in doing it successfully.We do not get what we want but what we deserve.Secondly God comes to the aid of those who have been abandoned by others and have nowhere to go to.When such people pray to God then he comes to their help by showing them the right path.God always gives us what we need and not what we want.
• India
18 Jun 10
I see you have correctly understood what I mean to say. Thanks for your response.
@ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
18 Jun 10
For me yes specially you call his name Jehovah God his holy spirit immediately would be in you so try it.
• Indonesia
19 Jun 10
God will help those who ask for help to her and tried in his life. To be sure, give all your life to god.