"What would you ask of God?"

By Paul Dion, STL

Be careful what you ask for. This is the kind of question that everyone likes. There is no wrong answer. Or so we think.

Let's start with the saying, "Be careful what you ask for."

That having been said, there is a story in the bible about a young man who was destined to be king of his country some day. He knew it ahead of time because God had promised his father that his first son would inherit the throne. It is to be supposed that this young man knew many things about the world. His father was a rough and tumble man who had won many a battle in his day. At one point, when he was quite young, he had killed the one person who was the largest threat to the nation. He had been chosen by God to be king and God made a promise to him that his son would also be king and the son would some day build God a house, fit for God and not for humans.

One night the son got a vision that most of us dream of at least once in our life. God appeared to him and asked: "Ask something of me and I will give it to you."

Are you ready for this? What would you answer? Think about it a moment, and talk to yourself with the request that you would make and what you would do with the grant. Think about what would make you happy.

You may think that there is no wrong answer to this question. That may be true, but there are some that are better than others. Go ahead, tell yourself what your answer is to God's question: "Ask something of me and I will give it to you."

Before you click to compare your answer to that of the young man try to think of the name of the King and the name of the Son. Hint: They were distant relatives of Jesus. Now you can compare your answer to the young man's by clicking below.

Click here to view the answer to this Burning Question.

Is it OK for God to get angry?

It sure looks that way.
By Paul Dion, STL

So often in our culture, as children we are reprimanded by our parents when we get angry because it isn't "nice." We are trained as we grow up that anger is not a "nice" emotion. We are so often told to "control ourselves" rather than to show anger.

OK, so what about God? He doesn't seem to have any problem with anger.

He sure took care of His Adam and Eve problem nicely. He wasn't afraid to use the old 40 day rain trick at one point. Fire and brimstone worked rather well against Sodom and Gomorrha. Turning a woman into a salt statue sure taught her a lesson, didn't it?

When God saw humans building a tower in Babel, He came and visited the project, didn't like what He saw and so dispersed everyone by giving them each a different language. Ten plagues against Egyptians sure made life rough on them for a while.

Jesus had his moments too. He had a pretty sharp tongue that shows that He had no fear of showing His inner heat.

God has a history of getting angry. Is this wrong? How can God get away with it and I can't? I get angry, I hit someone and I go to jail. Are we missing something?

Try your hand at this one. There is more than just a lesson of disobedience and punishment. So, what is in it for us when God gets angry?

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