Something for Rue and Honesty
Submitted by Chris on September 21 1999 at 20:39:14
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Hi Rue and Honesty, First of all, Rue, I would like to thank you for being so vry patient with me on this. I have had quite a lot of things going on in my life and sometimes I find it difficult to get the time to do my own e-mail. But I am back now and I believe I have some answers for both yourself and Honesty. The reason I am addressing both of you with this post is because, at different times, you have both asked me very simmilar questions, mostly reguarding the topic,"Why does a loving God allow pain and suffering in a world that He loves so much?". So, Iwill attempt to answer this very difficult question. I believe that most of the time, people are concerned about why the "innocent" have to suffer in this world. We think that it is fairly obvious why the evil people have to suffer, but why the innocent? The Bible tells us, however, that noone is actually, truly innocent. Read Romans 3:23, it says that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And when God's word says "all" it means just that, ALL. Everyone who was ever born, who is alive today, and who will be born in the future. All! Well then, what about babies and younger children and (I personally hate this phrase because it sounds so mean and negative but I could not think of a better one right now) the mentally incompetant? Well, the Bible is clear that, until these persons become sinners BY CHOICE, they are still sinners BY NATURE. In other words, all of us are "born into" sin or inherit our sinful nature. Our world is under God's curse because of man's rebellion against God's word. Read Genesis 3:17 and even Romans 8:21-22. We live in a world under God's curse because of sin but the Bible promises us that one day God will return to set it right again. Read Rev. 21:14 (Just a note: It is a common Christian belief, and can be proven Biblicly, that the very young and "mentally incompetant" certainly go to Heaven should they die. I, myself, also believe this.) Yes, we humans do suffer and die because of our sins, but what will God do about this? If He loves us so much, what will he do to save us from all of this? The question isn,t so much,"What will He do?", but, "What DID He do?". God has provided a "way out" of this curse of sin we are all under! And it came from the one and only truly innocent man to have ever lived: Jesus Christ, His own Son. He died so that anyone who believes in Him shall have eternal life. And this is the ONLY way out of sin and eventual death. God has not provided any other way. So, ok, then why do saved Christians still suffer? While the suffering of the unsaved can be and is used by the Holy Spirit to help or even cause them to realise thier need for God and salvation, the suffering of Christians serves another purpose. God uses a Christian's sufferings as a means to develope a stronger dependance upon Him. Read Hebrews 12:11. In this way, God is still loving and merciful, even though "for the present" He allows trials and sufferings to come into our lives. I hope this will help both of you guys out. I had to do a little "digging" to find this info, because to tell you the truth, I really didn't know the answer to this question right off the top of my head. Take care, Rue and Honesty, and God bless both of you! Your's in Christ's Love, Chris |