Ezekiel 14:9

[Rob McNair]

"If a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel."

Man that is something to chew on! At first I was like, "WHAT!??!" God causes a person to say something bad and then punishes that person for saying the bad thing??? Doesn't sound very fair to me. But then I thought maybe the point is that everything, even the things we say, are under God's control. That while we may think we are acting on our own, God is really there. Any thoughts on that verse?

[Abby Kalina]

hmmm...
i don't really know. maybe it means that God said something to the prophet but the prophet didn't say it exactly how God said it but twisted it into something not what God was trying to get across??

[Amber Kalina]

Yeah, that's kinda what I thought, too. Perhaps the prophet didn't exactly say God's word. Or, maybe it was the way that the prophet said it. Maybe he was really snoody and acted like he was all important when he said the message, rather than giving the glory to God that he would choose to bless us with his knowledge.

[Rob McNair]

I just listened to a podcast and the guy addressed this issue. Basically his point was that God is soverign and can do whatever he wants. Plus God has the power to use strife and tragedy as a means to accomplish something far greater than otherwise possible. Sacrifice is always a part of gain, which sounds paradoxical.

[Amber Kalina]

Yeah. It's kinda like what my spanish teacher keeps on telling us when we ask why spanish has such weird translations and ways of saying things, "Spanish is a different language." So, the way us people translate God's word and try to interpret how God is saying things, just to be confused in the end, is just showing us one thing. "God is God."