help themselves." If someone can help themselves why would they need God to help them and if God helps them, then where is the need to help ones self? I guess what I am asking is that if someone prays for God's help it can happen at a time of crisis when they are not able to help themselves. So, if they aren't helping themselves, does that mean praying is useless because God won't help them since they aren't helping themselves? I don't know, it just sounds annoying that god only would help those that help themselves when it is those who are unable to help themselves that really are in need of God's help the most, don't you think.
2007-09-07 20:34:41 · 15 answers · asked by Eggplant 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I'm driving down the road and I see hitchhiker #1. He or she is young and healthy and standing still. I drive by. Hitchhiker #2 has the thumb out but is walking in the direction they want to go. They need help, but they're doing what they can on their own to deal with the situation. If I could provide a ride, I would.
You do what you can and if you believe you need help from God too, ask.
2007-09-08 01:52:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imagine three boats in a stormy sea. Each boats spring a leak.
Boat #1 Gives up and figures there is nothing to be done to save self.
Boat #2 The person in this boat, just sits there and prays to God for a miricle.
Boat #3 the person is praying to God for help and meanwhile ..with a pail is taking water from the bottom of the boat and dumping it back in the sea.
Which person has the better chance to be sucessful.
I would say #3 He is praying to God and he is proatvie considering the issue at hand.
Thus...God takes care of those who are in motion. This isn't to say that God can't help a paralyzed person because they can't move. In this case the help would be more mental and emotional. Choice #1 to Pray for help, but not want out of bed or unwilling to participate in Physical Therapy.
Choice #2 The other choice is to be willing to be open & cooperative even willing to make an effort to do as the doctors recommend. Also praying to God. Godd may give a gift of joy and take away the fear of physical therapy. The joy is a progressive thing. With the help of God, this person just might experience miricles in the future.
I hope that makes sense
2007-09-07 20:52:27 · answer #2 · answered by clcalifornia 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
"God helps those who help themselves". This is a good saying which we are hearing from our childhood. There is also another saying that "even mother does not feed unless the child crys" which means that action is expected even from innocent infant. Both the sayings are almost similar in meaning.
The real and inherent meaning is that every one has to do his duty to the best of his capacity and result will automatically follow. Even philosophical scriptures like Bhagavad gita preaches that every one has to perform his duty to get the results and help from God.
Human being must do his job but still he needs the help of God to be successful in his efforts. Many times it may so happen that after sincere efforts also one may not succeed. Therefore to be successful two things are necessary.
1 Our efforts
2 God's help.
Whether we accept or not this is the reality of life.
2007-09-07 21:20:58 · answer #3 · answered by lakshmikant a 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My understanding is that God helps those who make an effort to make things right. Say you have a problem. You can sometimes find creative ways to solve them.
If you are in need. It's okay to say I need help. I look at that is helping yourself. It can mean a lot of things. It can also stand for working hard. Say you were a farmer. Well, that phrase could mean that the farmer that works extra hard. May have better results. And, that God would look well upon those that try very hard to take care of themselves.
2007-09-07 20:57:59 · answer #4 · answered by 354gr 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not think that these are all earth shaking philosophical statements. There are , generally , meant as morale boosters and nothing more than that . Broadly we can accept these statements and they are not like the ten commandments etc.
What this statement could mean is that it is not correct to expect any results , in any action, without putting our efforts in it. We should not expect others to do everything for you and that others include God also.
In the same vein , if you put in efforts in what you do you get internally motivated and charged to succeed . This internal charging or empowerment is something not describable or tangible. Thus we assign this to the unseen , unknown power that is god. This is what meant by "god helping"
2007-09-07 20:48:40 · answer #5 · answered by YD 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, let's unpack this and understand its context. This is Isaiah of Babylon (Isaiah 40-53). His historical prophetic mission was to persuade the exiles to return. That is, the people of Judea (the area near Jerusalem) had been hauled off to Babylon as slaves, but the coming of the Persian king Cyrus (see Isaiah 45) has started a new regime without slavery. So, the whole thrust of this part of Isaiah is to get the descendants (the seed) of the ones carried into exile to go home to Jerusalem. There's another similar theme going on: the ingathering of the diaspora. The people of Judea were scattered all over the world at the time of the Babylonian captivity, and this passage is about getting them back together. A third theme, which fills much of the Hebrew Bible's prophetic literature, is the yearning for the end of tribalism (the "nations" are the tribes of the Levant in Isaiah's usage) and the gathering of all peoples before the holy One. We can see this on the focus on "no other Gods;" the various tribes had their own deities. How can this be meaningful to us today? How can we reinterpret this historical material to show us how we might live faithfully? Do we, like Isaiah's people, need to be prodded and begged to claim abundant life as free people? Do we need to be booted out of our comfort zones? Well, yes. Are we stuck in tribalism and division? Do we need the prophet to remind us that the way of tribalism and false gods isn't the best way? Do we have something we can learn from strangers ("their witnesses?") Well, yes. Does the global internet serve the cause of getting us out of our comfort zones and our tribalism? Does it bring the nations together? Does it "prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God?" Is this electronic highway a highway to bring us together? I think so. But it's possible to exaggerate this. Radio and television are pretty much the same deal. It seems to me that God keeps throwing us ways of bringing the nations together, and we often misuse them. Grace and peace to you.
2016-04-03 10:24:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When we find our selves in times of crisis we better think of what we did to allow this crisis to take place. Circumstances in our lives don’t just happen out of the blue; they imply actions that we failed to take or things we neglect to attend to. If I drink too much sooner or later I will develop liver cancer and it will be late when I ask God’s help to cure my liver. If I choose not to listen to friends, family and doctors when they warn me about the consequences been certain that no such thing would ever happen to me. Isn’t these warnings God’s way to help me? Since I’ve done nothing to help my self to avoid this illness how can I blame God for doing nothing to help me when I refused to listen to reason and continued on my self-destructive addictions?
2007-09-07 21:15:29 · answer #7 · answered by MARY B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As we understand or perceive or believe, the World is Created by God. But finding the livelihood, feeding our home, procreation, and all that stuff is done by Humans. They do it keep the Creation lively and inhabitants Joyous
In doing so the efforts are needed. the resultant atmosphere is competitive. and the most successful one gets maximum gains in terms of money, power, love depending upon his direction/field he worked upon.
After doing the efforts the Grace is offered to God as thanks for Win.
If there is not win, the losers are not discouraged that you are worthless, or idiot, or good for nothing. but encouraged to perform better, so that positive results are gained to his/her advantages and one sentence is told GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES.
2007-09-07 21:49:20 · answer #8 · answered by krishprud@yahoo.co.in_KISHORLAL 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the idea is that you can't just sit around and expect GOD to take care of all your problems - you have to give it your honest effort before you can expect GOD to have your back as well and lead you to victory. But I am curious, does that statement appear anywhere in the bible at all? I've red the bible and don't seem to remember coming across it anywhere.
2007-09-07 20:40:07 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know I'm a little bit off-topic here but whenever I hear that saying I am reminded of a sign in a local shop that said
God helps those who help themselves but God help anybody caught helping themselves without paying. :)
2007-09-07 22:53:04 · answer #10 · answered by John R 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋