stion of faith that really matters. That is, if there is a loving God, then why does He cause or allow serious pain (P) and suffering (S) given that He is the creator of all? To come up with an individual answer or come to a place when you no longer need to ask the question is when you can finally be at peace with your faith for the rest of your life.--
I have read a number of books on God's purposes in P & S and all fall flat in addressing how serious this question is for the professing Christian. We are told that there is so much suffering because of man sinning, with suffering a causal result. But that is too vague and general for me. We learn that P & S can be a test of faith. If so, I think it would be limited in scope and time, when many suffer all life long.
--Another argument suggests that if God intervenes on one persons behalf but not on others, even if they are a Christian, would suggest that He is a respecter of persons, in contradiction to His Word. But the opposite is that He never intervenes. This would negate all those marvelous testimonies of miraculous healing, etc. We recoil at these notions at times by asking "why me" or "why not me?" All I can conclude from experience is that when things are going well, it's not necessarily an indication of God's pleasure. And, when things are not going well, it is not necessarily an indication of God's dis-favor.
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I argue that if there were no pain and suffering in the world then there would either be many more Christians because this group can't reconcile P & S with the existence of a loving God, and now that obstacle has been removed. Or there would be even fewer Christians because many would no longer have need of Him to endure. However, most likely, there would be about the same number of Christians because of the remaining need for confession, repentance and discipleship with or without P & S, "narrow is the way leading to life and few there be that find it."
--In Scripture we are given many lasting examples of unmerited suffering such as Jesus, Job and the persecution of the early church. Imagine, God did not forbid His only Son to suffer in Jesus' case. Job was the most faithful person living at the time and his suffering was indescribable. And the disciples had a profound mission of spreading the Gospel and making disciples, so they needed a long life and good health. But all suffered greatly and many died terribly painful deaths.
--The answer is that there is no answer, just shallow attempts at human reasoning. In this case, the wisdom of man is foolishness to God. The only relief from the doubt this question raises, is to stop seeking a neat and tidy answer. All we can conclude is what Job concluded, "Though He slay me, yet shall I trust Him!" This is hard and heavy. We have to consider that most religions ask, at some point, total abdication, and blindly adhering to some tenet. The difference in Christianity is that we are not blinded but illuminated by a personal experience so strong that it eliminates the need to even ask some questions. Severe pain & suffering are too tough a road to also have to be tormented by an unanswerable question. Any empty answer just deepens the wounds of the experience.
--What makes the suffering experience worse is that, from a quick reading, the Bible is full of promises and blessings to those who obey. And we often ignore that the Bible also promises that we will suffer. But the underlying truth is that Christianity is not a bag of ever increasing pleasantries. Christianity is about a person. If I have a real friend, I don't need to ask him if he is really my friend. I just know it. If I have known love such as of a spouse, I don't need to repeatably ask the question just to be sure. I know it by how the relationship plays out over a lifetime. But when you're suffering, it serves as little consolation that this life is really so short by comparison to eternity. It is only consoling if we really believe that our eternity is not in doubt.
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In closing, If you have been struggling with a question of faith, go back to where your faith started and revitalize your personal relationship with Christ. If you are in pain, then rest assured that He will never leave you or forsake you in the depths of your experience or diminish your struggle by a trite response. He will be there to the "better" end.
--P.s if reading this blog was painful, then you might be on the right track.
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