Genesis 1:22 and Mark 11:22-25

Tonight, while I was browsing through a Christian forum, I encountered two posts that I found intriguing. One concerns Genesis 1:22 and the other concerns Mark 11:22-25.

Genesis 1:22
God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."

Here's the first post concerning this verse:

"Be fruitful and multiply."

Just an observation - but we have problems with famine, war, disease, drought, population explosion, etc.

I believe these problems can all be traced back to the "be fruitful and multiply" command. But that's just human instinct / nature / as well as God's command to us as a creation.

OF COURSE He knew this would result and we would decay or deteriorate as time goes by, and His provisions are what would keep us safe if we would all keep them, but apparently - we can't.

So, what do you think, is Gen 1:22 a command with some deeper meaning to it (the culmination of it leading to the 2nd coming of Christ and Armageddon). Creating something that can and will multiply has its limit and God has a solution for eternal life and preservation and that's only in the Son and through the Cross.

So, looks kind of bad that we have to face problems but who's to blame?

God commanded us to multiply...

We multiply (some w/out caring what God thinks)...

Now we have problems but we couldn't keep the planet in order. Eh I think we're to blame.

What am I getting at here... mmmm... that "Be Fruitful And Multiply" is foreshadowing what we'll be needing before we leave earth - Jesus. :)



Here's my reply:

This thesis is based on a flawed assumption: It assumes that the world's major problems are the result of over-population. More particularly, they resulted from the lack of resources necessary to support the population.

This assumption is simply not true.

If one looks at how much food is produced and how many people live on earth, one will see that there is more than enough food for everybody. The problem is a matter of distribution (or rather the unwillingness to distribute).

Consider this: Americans compose of less than 20% (very liberal estimate) of the world population yet we consume more than 65% (very conservative estimate) of resources consumed by the world (in dollars).

The main problem is greed not over-population. And that has to do with sin.


Here's the other post:

What do these scriptures mean?

Mark 11:22-25
22"Have[f] faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Matt 21:22
22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Someone responded with the following:

I kind of think "Who can honestly ask a mountain to move into the sea without any doubt"? Because of what we know and what we've experienced, it's impossible to believe.

For that reason, I think it means don't pray for stuff outside of what you believe, because if you doubt you wont receive because you don't really believe you will. With the measure you use you will be measured (hence why you should forgive others if you're asking God to forgive you).

But we shouldn't be limited in prayer forever because of our limited experience. We should constantly be seeking to grow in our knowledge and understanding that God can do the impossible if only we would just ask.

So yeah, I try not to pray for something I don't believe that God would do, but I also try to mature and see God can do all things... so eventually I hope to pray for the impossible knowing full well God can do it.

Hope that makes sense/is not too heretical :)


Here's my reply:

huh?

Are you saying that we should only pray for things that we know would happen?

So if someone is on a ledge on a mountain and you see an avalanche coming towards this person and you know that the only way this can end is this person being creamed by the avalanche, you would pray that this person be creamed by the avalanche?


OK, let's start with the first verse:

"Have faith in God, " Jesus answered.

That's the main point of the passage: Have faith in God.

It, of course, begs the question: "Have faith in God to do what?"

The implicit answer is: To do what He promises to do.

So, if the Lord asks you to cause the mountain to crumb to the sea by saying to the mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea", have faith in the Lord and do it while believing the mountain would crumb to the sea.

For example, the Lord told the Israelites to march around Jericho, blowing trumpets and yelling; then, the wall would crumble. The Israelites did it while believing that the walls would crumble. And because they believed, the wall crumbled.

Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

The last sentence is a qualification of "receiving whatever you ask".

God promises that you'd be forgiven if you ask for forgiveness.

However, for this special case, just asking is not enough.

To receive forgiveness, you must not only ask for forgiveness, you must also give it.