The Lord Only Gives You As Much As You Can Handle - biblical basis?

Great Debates
21

[QUOTE=fatgail]
Well, I am a christian, but I get a little oogy when other Christians misinterpret the Bible or flat out make things up like “God helps those who help themselves” which is pretty much exactly the opposite of what God wants which is to “bring everything to God in prayer.”

It does sort of boil down to “why do bad things happen to good people”, but the answer I usually get is “to make you a stronger person”. For what? So when I’m ninety on my deathbed I can say “man, I got real strong.” You don’t need, according to Christianity, to pass a series of trials to get into heaven or be loved by God, so what’s the point?

And I wanted desperately to beg people not to come in and just say “THIS IS WHY I HATE RELIGION GUYS”, because it’s obvious that that wasn’t my point. Or so i thought.
[/QUOTE]

I have always liked Ecclesiastes. Solomon (one can only assume he’s the author) was asking many of the same questions. It’s light, but GOOD reading, and can easily be polished off in an evening.

I particularly liked the “rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous” and such. Some see it as depressing. I always saw it as honest, yearning, and ending in a positive and balanced message.

22

[QUOTE=fatgail]
See, that’s my main problem. People say it sort of a compliment like ‘look how strong you are! God gave you cancer to prove it!’ If my life were perfect with no problems would someone say “God must think you’re a weakling”.
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And beyond that, those who falter - even a little - can end up feeling judged for being “morally” weak.

A balanced look at why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people can be hard to find in some places.

If it helps… there is no prohibition against working as hard as you can to ensure the greatest amount of health - including surgery, meds, etc… assuming you aren’t Seventh Day or Jehovah’s Witness.

23

[QUOTE=Shodan]
The Biblical basis is 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
[/QUOTE]
FWIW, the New English Bible uses ‘tested’ where the linked translation uses ‘tempted.’ Maybe the original Greek has overtones of both, but that’s strictly a WAG.

24

You are correct - the Greek includes both senses.

Regards,
Shodan

25

[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
I always heard it as “God never gives you more than you can handle until he kills you.”

And frankly I always interpreted the saying as “if you survived the situation, no matter how terrible, there’s probably some useful lesson in it somewhere.” Not that the lesson was worth the ordeal, necessarily.
[/QUOTE]
Which is at least a little reminiscent of the Nietzsche quote: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

26

[QUOTE=fatgail]
My largest struggle with Christianity as I grow older is how I’m supposed to be friggin EXCITED to die and go to heaven.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know of anybody who says you’re supposed to be excited to die. Look, if I were moving to someplace completely different, even if it were someplace way better than where I’m leaving now, I’d still be sad about everything and everyone I was leaving behind.

Well, if you see someone struggling or suffering, there’s several ways you can respond:

You can go out of your way to try to help them, to do whatever you can to lighten their burden. But that might be difficult; it might cost you something.

You can empathize with them and share their pain. But then you’d feel bad.

Or you can say to them, “The Lord only gives you as much as you can handle.” That way you don’t have to do anything to help them, because it’s nothing they can’t handle on their own. You don’t have to feel bad for them, because, hey, they can handle it.

Which is the more Christian response?

27

[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink]
Which is at least a little reminiscent of the Nietzsche quote: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
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Funny…My Despair.com Demotivators calendar page for January says: “That which does not kill us postpones the inevitable.”

28

[QUOTE=Liberal]
For people who claim not to believe in God…
[/QUOTE]

Just out of curiosity, do you perceive a difference between this phrasing and “For people who don’t believe in God…” ?

29

Looked at in one light, it seems to make some sort of coherent sense, especially as he follows it up with an observation that such people appear to manifest an unusual amount of anger towards an entity that supposedly does not exist.

I mean, how angry are you at Voldemort?

30

[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
Just out of curiosity, do you perceive a difference between this phrasing and “For people who don’t believe in God…” ?
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Yes, I do. If I claim I don’t believe there are ghosts in my house, but I spend a good deal of my time complaining about them, it is different from not believing there are ghosts in my house.

31

[QUOTE=Liberal]
Yes, I do. If I claim I don’t believe there are ghosts in my house, but I spend a good deal of my time complaining about them, it is different from not believing there are ghosts in my house.
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Ah, then I see the problem. Your analogy must be modified so it’s not the fictional ghosts that anger you, but the people around you who talk about ghosts, who want to teach ghost facts in schools and who want laws passed based on common beliefs about ghosts. This would be a more accurate reflection of atheists and atheism. While they’d be happy to never have to talk about ghosts again, the ghost-boosters are prevalent and aggressive and eternally keeping an eye on them is the cost of liberty.

Anyway, it’s unclear that God, assuming he exists, ever said anything along the lines of “I only give you what you can handle.” Certainly some people like to say God said this but surely this has to be viewed with the same suspicion as any hearsay evidence - even more so since the original speaker is not known to exist.

As with “God works in mysterious ways”, I see it as an attempt to reconcile claims of an all-powerful, all-loving diety with a world where a lot of painful and nasty crap does and always has existed. For Biblical justification, I’d suggest the OP is pretty much bang-on when invoking the Book of Job. Verse 40:14 seems relevant.

32

[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
Ah, then I see the problem. Your analogy must be modified so it’s not the fictional ghosts that anger you, but the people around you who talk about ghosts, who want to teach ghost facts in schools and who want laws passed based on common beliefs about ghosts. This would be a more accurate reflection of atheists and atheism. While they’d be happy to never have to talk about ghosts again, the ghost-boosters are prevalent and aggressive and eternally keeping an eye on them is the cost of liberty.
[/QUOTE]
I understand that. But if they’re in my house and they bother me, I can kick them out. What’s the point in arguing with them? And if they’re gathered somewhere yacking, what a dumbass I would be to saunter up to them and open my mouth. If you want to be free to pursue your own happiness in your own way, then stop supporting either left-leaning or right-leaning authoritarianism.

ETA:

Incidentally, there are plenty of people who fit the analogy I gave, though I also understand yours.

33

[QUOTE=Liberal]
I understand that. But if they’re in my house and they bother me, I can kick them out. What’s the point in arguing with them? And if they’re gathered somewhere yacking, what a dumbass I would be to saunter up to them and open my mouth.
[/quote]

Oh, please don’t feed me straight lines like that.

34

Once when I was going through a rough patch a neopagan-witch assured me, “The Goddess never gives you more than you can handle.” Not based on any scripture (there is none in Wicca), but it was still good to hear.

35

[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink]
I don’t know of anybody who says you’re supposed to be excited to die. Look, if I were moving to someplace completely different, even if it were someplace way better than where I’m leaving now, I’d still be sad about everything and everyone I was leaving behind.

Well, if you see someone struggling or suffering, there’s several ways you can respond:

You can go out of your way to try to help them, to do whatever you can to lighten their burden. But that might be difficult; it might cost you something.

You can empathize with them and share their pain. But then you’d feel bad.

Or you can say to them, “The Lord only gives you as much as you can handle.” That way you don’t have to do anything to help them, because it’s nothing they can’t handle on their own. You don’t have to feel bad for them, because, hey, they can handle it.

Which is the more Christian response?
[/QUOTE]

The more Christian response would be the first one. If someone is hungry, you feed them. If they’re cold, you clothe them. If they’re sick, you try to heal them. If they’re lonely, you befriend them. What you don’t do is give them empty platitudes that only sound good when you aren’t the one who is suffering.

That’s the lesson I take away from Job. In addition to blaming him for his problems (and giving him bad advice), Job’s friends were only interested in hearing themselves speak rather than helping him feel better. That’s why they were bad friends.

Another reason why I don’t think the bromide is very Christian is because it presumes that God is the one who gives us our problems. I thought he was supposed to be the problem-solver, not the problem-maker.

36

“Life’s rough, wear a helmet” makes as much sense as any of these other platitudes. It’s all bullshit designed to try to let us rationalize the terrible things that happen. I have no idea why shit happens, I have to assume there really is no point, it’s just random. I have seen way too many bad things happen to good people, and way too many bad people seemingly skating through life.

Makes no sense to me.

37

[QUOTE=FarmerChick]
I have seen way too many bad things happen to good people, and way too many bad people seemingly skating through life.

Makes no sense to me.
[/QUOTE]

Which is why I’m having a faith struggle lately. The meek inherit the earth but I guess we’re supposed to get walked all over and crapped on in the mean time :slight_smile:

38

[QUOTE=fatgail]
The meek inherit the earth but I guess we’re supposed to get walked all over and crapped on in the mean time :slight_smile:
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Pun intended?

(bolding mine)

39

[QUOTE=Anomalous Reading]
Pun intended?

(bolding mine)
[/QUOTE]

I..of…why yes! I’m really quite pithy!

40

[QUOTE=fatgail]
Which is why I’m having a faith struggle lately. The meek inherit the earth but I guess we’re supposed to get walked all over and crapped on in the mean time :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

I stopped struggling long ago. I have faith in myself and I can count on myself to be there when I need me! I know I’m real. I’m able to look at myself in the mirror everyday.

Good enough for me.