Christian Viewer Expresses Disappointment in God, Wants To Know Why, In Spite of Years of Service, God is Not Helping Him
I almost forgot to blog about this. I really related to this guy’s letter (which I’ve included much farther below, both in text and video format – I’ve embedded the video that contains the letter at the bottom).
This guy wrote this question to the hosts of The 700 Club – Gordon Robertson was the host.
I wasn’t too impressed by Gordon’s response – I felt his reply was just “meh” or “so-so.” It was not an awful response, but I didn’t feel it was great and really answered the guy’s concern.
My interest, though, is not in Gordon’s reply, but in the guy’s question (or maybe it was a lady). This letter resonates with me so much. Sometimes I don’t know if God exists or not, and on some days, I skip praying, because some of the same 3 or 4 things I’ve been praying for over a period of ten or more years now have not been answered.
Either there is no God to hear my prayers, or he doesn’t keep the promises he makes in the Bible about meeting our needs and so on.
I have felt let down and abandoned by God for a long time now. (And it also doesn’t help that most Christians I’ve gone to in real life, including family members and people I’ve met at churches, aren’t helpful or sympathetic – about any thing.)
I also don’t feel as though I ever had the “abundant life,” in spite of the fact Jesus Christ said he came to give that very thing to any one who believes him or follows him. (I used to be a very devout Christian, for years.)
I too, (like the letter author), have experienced many disappointments over the years. And God is no where to be found or heard from.
One reason I am hesitant to mention these issues to Christians, whether online or in person, is that most of the time, they will shame and scold you over this.
I have frequently had Christians bark at me that I must be a “Word of Faither” and they proceed to lecture me and scream at me at how I am selfish for expecting God’s help with anything. Some of them will chew me out and say God owes me nothing, God is not a genie in a bottle whom I can demand things from, and so forth.
First of all, I am not, nor have I ever, been a Word of Faither. I don’t agree with WoF. Secondly, it’s not selfish to feel or believe God “owes” a person something, not in the face of prayer. Jesus and God both make numerous promises in the Bible, that if you believe, have faith, pray, God will eventually grant you the very thing you are requesting.
Those types of promises are through-out the New Testament, no matter how badly certain types of Christians try to explain them away. It beats me why, even though I’ve had faith and prayed about this, that, and the other, God has not sent me those things I’ve frequently asked for.
Here is the person’s letter to the show:
[Dear 700 Club],
I have been a Christian for 41 years. I have spent countless hours serving and have invested thousands of dollars into different ministries.
Yet, I do not have “life more abundantly.”
Rather, my life has been one big disappointment after another, and I am still worrying about where my next dollar is going to come from.
Because of this, I am having a crisis of faith. I know I am here to serve God, and not the other way around, but I simply do not see His “faithfulness” in my life. I’m old and tired of working so hard for nothing. Please explain before I give up on God.
[Signed] Viewer
The letter is in this video:
Related Posts:
(Link): One Foot in Christianity, One Foot in Agnosticism – In a Faith Crisis
(Link): How to Deal with Unanswered Prayers via Pastor Bil Cornelius
(Link): Gallup: Record Low 24% Believe Bible Is Literal Word of God (May 2017)
(Link): Being Bitter and Blaming Others Can Ruin Your Health by Elizabeth Cohen
(Link): Are You Stuck in the “I’ll Feel Better When” Cycle? by Diana Hill, phD
(Link): Christmas Morning House Fire Leaves Father and Two Children Dead, Wife and Oldest Child Injured
(Link): Bride Battling Cancer Dies 18 Hours After Exchanging Vows
(Link): Joanne The Widow Lady Wants to Know Why God Didn’t Answer Her Prayer to Keep her Husband With Her
(Link): Christian Couple Dies in Helicopter Crash Hours After ‘Fairytale’ Wedding
(Link): On Prayer and Christ’s Comment to Grant You Anything You Ask in His Name
(Link): Critique of Pastor Groeschel’s “I Want to Believe But…” Sermon Series (Re: Unanswered Prayer, etc)
(Link): Unanswered Prayer and Diversity of Doctrine and Interpretation (podcasts)
(Link): Blaming the Christian for His or Her Own Problem or Unanswered Prayer / Christian Codependency
(Link): Celibate Christian Woman Asks Christian Host Why God Will Not Send Her a Husband
(Link): Depressing Testimony: “I Was A Stripper but Jesus Sent Me A Great Christian Husband”
Christian Pundit 
Wonder what the viewer meant by “abundant life.” It’s right and proper to ask God for this since He promised this to His children. But it must be on His terms. Not our own.
First, Don’t Watch The 700 Club! Their take on Life is that they can be representatives for The Deity! WRONG!
Then yes, this preacher got his message all twisted into a silly response!
The one response that makes any sense is to study the relationship each of us has with Life, as Y’suah says he alone IS Life – our Life – then we have to simply see our Being as a purpose and design that does not include our understanding of it.
Who ordered our being conceived? We sure did not!
Who gives us every breath we draw? We sure do not!
Who makes our heart beat? We don’t!
Who designed s in His Own image? We didn’t!
Then in the Last Analysis, is there some reason to be against the way our living goes as it is just a living, not an end? This small exercise in focus on our individual reality aligns our focus on our existence with the design that Father made us to live in. Once we see that our feelings are simply feelings and NOT the purpose of our Being, then we can manage these feelings from a position of understanding that Life is our purpose and selfless care for others is our design.
In fact, Y’suah illustrated this fact all His walk with man. His entire Living clearly defines our own living in the design He purposed for each of us – selfless care for others. How much more can there be to encourage our heart than to understand our design and purpose in this light?
@ crystalnpapa.
I can’t tell if you are for real or are trolling – some of your comments are way long, contain lots of links, and are only tangentially related to the original post.