Re: Something for Rue and Honesty
Submitted by Brian on September 22 1999 at 16:45:26
In reply to Something for Rue and Honesty Submitted by Chris on September 21 1999 at 20:39:14
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I would like to say "bravo" to all your points. You mentioned that "Our world is under God's curse because of man's rebellion against God's word." This is true in how it is worded in Gen. 3:17, but I would prefer to think of God's statement in a different way. Because of our rebelliousness to His Word, "we" have cursed the earth, as well as our own being and that of all of the universe. God spoke the words of cursing, but He would never have done so if it wasn't for our action. You are getting at this point, but I wanted to push it farther. The innocent suffer as well as the evil in the present because the ground that was cursed is a common factor in all of our lives: "from dust, man, you were created, and to dust you will return." Because of the actions of our first parents, we are all connected to the suffering that they imposed upon almost all of humankind in their wanting to be god's themselves. However, we do have hope. Our hope is in Jesus Christ because of his suffering and death on the cross. Because the Son, who was himself innocent, suffered on the cross, suffering now becomes a link to salvation. We are redeemed precisely through the suffering that we endure when we bring that suffering to the cross of Jesus. Why do the innocent suffer, or even the Christian? Yes, because we are sinful in our nature, but also to remind us of our connection to the One who suffered for all of humanity. Each Christian becomes adopted by Christ, and in as much as he suffered and died, so must we suffer and die. Suffering is no longer a curse, even though it might seem so to us as we endure it, but an avenue to eternal life. To watch the innocent suffer so greatly is heart-breaking, but if we can see Jesus working in and through the suffering we can see some kind of eternal happiness become available to the sufferer, and some kind of reward in eternity made to us if we allow it to bring us closer to God in the end. I know that this is much like your answer, but I hope that my words could add some light on the subject. It is not complete in thinking, as I am really wrestling with this myself, but I hope that others can fill in some of the gaps. |