Are Believers to Blame?

I'm curious as to people's thoughts on this. I asked God how he felt today and I think he said "grieved". I asked why and these verses came to mind:Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. " If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron 7:12-14 NASUSo I had these thoughts:Why should we blame the godless for our country’s condition? If the ‘godly’ (‘My people’) would humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways – then society couldn’t help but change. ‘Christians’ who often live as godlessly and powerlessly as atheists, yet claim to know the truth, are largely responsible for the degradation of society and the dishonor of God’s name.This proud, easy conversion, sports crazy, “do-it-yourself”, unbelieving, health and wealth American Christianity is nauseating. Unbelievers who see no difference between themselves and their ‘Christian’ associates have been given no convincing reason to change their ways (in their minds).Perhaps it boils down to pride. If we will truly humble ourselves and wholeheartedly surrender ourselves and interests to God, then he will forgive sin and heal our land. I’m assuming part of ‘healing a land’ involves reforming society through the power of the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers will either be drawn to or flee from the light and power of the Holy Spirit which emanates from a believer in proper submission to God.I'm not asserting that God necessarily did speak to me - but those things came to mind. Any thoughts?

Why should we blame the godless for our country’s condition? If the ‘godly’ (‘My people’) would humble themselves In this case, "My People" were NOT godly. Solomon seemed to know, even in that exciting moment of manifested glory in the temple, that Israel COULD NOT keep their promise to remain faithful. Even Solomon himself strayed away. But the beauty of it all is this: God's mercy. He allowed Solomon to experience the misery of a life apart from God, and he allowed Israel to fall quite far. But God was merciful to Solomon, who then wrote Ecclesiastes as a warning to many. God showed his mercy by offering his mercy to a much wider scope - far beyond Israel to the whole world. So when we look at the world, and see it in such bad shape, i think we have to remember what Solomon and Joshua (earlier) knew: That man is prone to stray and cannot remain faithful even if he promises to do so. We shouldn't be surprised either at what we see I think we need to look to God's mercy - embrace it for ourselves, and offer ourselves on the altar - whatever that may imply. As we offer ourselves to God, then he will use us as he sees fit. Laying blame anywhere is not helpful, I'd say. People do this all the time as a way of explaining our troubles. But this never fixed anything. One more comment: "God's people" is not synonymous with "godly" people. There can be a vast difference. In the same way professing "Christians" is not synonymous with "followers of Christ, or true believers". Am I tracking with you?Diane

Maybe I'm confusing 'godly' with 'believers'. As far as I can tell and Hebrews seems to indicate, God was often furious with Israelites who would be the equivalent of modern day believers. They knew God, had seen him work, obeyed Him sometimes but ultimately became so disobedient and unbelieving that they couldn't enter the promised land. I'm not sure if 'carnal Christianity' is biblical but it would seem to be possible. Those who believe in Christ but are walking in the flesh and not the Spirit. roadsign wrote:So when we look at the world, and see it in such bad shape, i think we have to remember what Solomon and Joshua (earlier) knew: That man is prone to stray and cannot remain faithful even if he promises to do so. I agree, and humility would cause us to trust in God rather than our own efforts - producing fruit in our lives. Could this not heal our land?'Blame' was a wrong word. 'Obligation, duty, responsibility' may have been better choices. I'm no optimist when it comes to society but if it could be reformed, wouldn't it be by God through His yielded people?This may have been a useless post. Perhaps my interest is in regards to society and if reform is possible or should even be a goal at this point.Thanks Diane,Brian

I don't have time right now to write everything that I want to right now so for now I'll just add something that I wrote in my blog last year. I hope it's useful. Here it is:What if I were a salesman going door to door selling the best stain remover in the world. What if it really was the best in the world, able to completely remove blood stains, grass stains, and grease, no matter how old and set in. What if it left clothes looking brand new. What if I came to your door in nasty stain covered clothes and offered this amazing cleaner? Would you buy it? What if I offered it for free? After seeing my badly stained clothes would you want to even try it? Or would you think it was probably a waste of your time? We have the best news in the world. Jesus is able to wash away sin and leave us looking completely clean, able to stand in the presence of the Father. When I tell someone about the sin cleansing power of Jesus, can they only see dirty rags. Do I say that there is victory over sin and show the world only horrible defeat? Do I sing, "Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever" and then say, "But I'm only human"?Has the blood of Jesus lost it's cleaning abilities? How good is the Good News I offer to people if I have not allowed it to do any good in my life? Jesus has conquered sin and death once and for all. Let there be no mistake about that. The reason America is dark and is becoming darker every day is because they don't see victory among God's people. God intended for us to be living proof of the life changing reality of the Good News of Jesus Christ. When people meet us, they should be seeing Jesus, not a defeated people waiting to be raptured out.