pick4,
(1) God does speak to those who belong to him, to those who play the game of life by his rules. and yes he uses many means by which he does that to get his point across. knowing how God works, i always question someone when they say that God told them thru another when he usually always tells that person first.
(2) i used to wonder about the superbowl thing, that was until i read the kurt warner story. read it and it will get your attention. same thing with payne stewart. he won the US open one month prior to his death and that helped to set the stage for how much God used him to get the attention of others. there is no way that was a coincedence. i believe that God does intervene for his purpose, and his purposes always supercedes ours.
(3) why does it tweak you so that God would let jack whittaker win? you think that just because someone else could have used it more that proves that God wasn't involved? on that line of thinking you would have to explain why people are born handicappped or people born in other countries that don't have the same opportunities as we do. God made those decisions and they would seem unfair for face value. remember that when God decides to do something, he "sees" not only the peripheral but the end result. information that we are not privy to. you are only seeing the intial part of that decision. God does things ALOT that initially makes no sense to us. despite jack being a "goof", there are still many good things that God can bring out of that decision despite "jack" and that would include if he squandered every cent away. ever hear of soloman in the old testament? he was the wisest and richest man of his time - gifts that were purposefully bestowed upon him by God. he was a major squanderer. would you like me to list all the things that God still did thru his life despite soloman? here's a mind blower.....God knew that soloman would squander his wealth and mis-use his wisdom before he ever gave it to soloman and he still gave it to him. you would be one of those people back in the life of soloman who looked at solomans life and said that either God didn't have a hand in it, or flat out made a mistake. God still uses solomans "wisdom" as a benchmark for you and me to follow. his recorded "wisdom" can be found in the psalms and the book of proverbs. i love it.....God using the foolishness of the world to confound the wise. God didn't stop at the imperfections of a soloman and used him. the same goes for "jack".
(4) i need to rephrase something you misread me on. i didn't mean that a person shouldn't play if they didn't know if they were "meant to". what i meant is that people shouldn't be wasting their hope if they don't know. if your conscience doesn't bother you about it, then pursue it. but not to the detriment of your spiritual health and alot of people compromise that because they falsely equate money with security and happiness. i don't have a problem when somebody doesn't know and plays to find out. but i am concerned when they cross the line of finding out, into falsely believing that they will when they are not meant to. for them it is a waste of time, effort and especially hope.
(5) i was just curious as to why you would think as a believer in God that one can know "too much" about God/bible (or other religions and their practices)? seems to me a person that makes that their priority in life, they will be able to differentiate between what comes from God and what are the machinations of man. the more one knows about the things of God, the more you will have a sense of your purpose for being here in the first place.
(6) so whats this special "gift" you say you have? how do you know you will have a daughter in 5 years? what are these "special means" that you use to aquire knowledge about future dvents in your life? how did you discover this supposed "gift"?
20/20
"i am .........."meant to"
P.S., that RJoH is a stand up guy. thanks, vision
until further notice, it's france everyday