Suffering and death

The problem of pain and suffering is one that thinking people, not just Christians, have struggled over for centuries. I do not know if there is a really satisfactory answer.

Two books come to mind that have been helpful to readers:

1. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
2. When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner

 

It is a result of the fall. Sin is just that terrible and destructive. And you and I nor anyone else deserves anything more than all the evil that you see around you. It took very little time after the fall of Adam for murder to come along. If you are going to focus more on the sinfulness of this world, see those who suffer from it as victims, then that is where you will stay.

But according to scripture no one is a victim. Romans 1 makes this abundantly clear. Until you can come to grips with that you will struggle.


(Just a side note: if you believe that the Native Americans were nothing but innocent victims then you do not know history.)

 

Thomas, try also Making Sense of Suffering by Peter Kreeft.

 

Randy Alcorn has a book out;
"If God is Good Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil", so many of us have picked up the liberal deal of it just isn't far. Good people due suffer today, in the past and in the future. Just look at the NT and Christians from there on.

 

Thomas, I understand what you are saying. Death is a very horrible, final thing. It HURTS. It is not normal or natural to enjoy suffering and death of animals or people.

The book of Genesis shows us that death came into the world when Adam sinned. The curse of pain and death came over everything, even the innocent as a result of ONE MAN'S sin. That gives us a look at how horrible sin is to God. One little bite of forbidden fruit caused doom, pain, suffering, horror and death. The fall of mankind and the resulting carnage is a disturbing, heartbreaking thing.

Seeing how awful sin's results are, I cannot imagine how greatly it must have pained God to send His own son to suffer and experience death just to redeem us. By one man, sin entered the world, and death as a result of that sin--but by one man, Jesus Christ, death is conquered. I believe that's why for the Christian, death has lost it's sting. Jesus already conquered death for us. He himself had to go through great suffering to do so, but HE DID IT.

Yes, in the world we will have suffering and death, but with Jesus we can have HOPE. He is the only one who can beat death and heartache. That's why he is God, and why we can trust him.

 

Interesting, she said the same thing I did.

 

Why should it? It is no sin to have a tender heart! Having the ability to kill does not make a person more of a "man" (or woman.) Some of us are just more sensitive to death and suffering. There's no need to feel guilty over it. (On a side note, this is why I believe God never wanted women to serve in active combat. We ladies tend to be more affected by death, emotionally.)

Now, I don't think God would have us to all become vegetarians and never eat meat because something died so we could have food. I do think, though, that being sensitive to suffering and death makes us more appreciative of the sacrifices made on our behalf--sacrifices on the part of our military in keeping us free and safe, sacrifices of an animal's life so that we might eat and live, and especially the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross so that we could escape death and hell.

 

Don't want to put words in your mouth, but you seem to be saying if you were God, you would intervene and do things differently. I understand where you are coming from, but we are not omniscient, and we are not holy. We don't know the beginning from the end, nor much in between. If I had my way, would my mama have died when I was 6? No way. But I accept God's will in my life and know that this life down here is just like a vapor of breath on a cold morning that appears and is gone just as quick. The sufferings of this world can't be compared with what is to come for a Christian.

The problem is that we think no one deserves to suffer, or die. Yet it is part of life, and God allows it to happen to us all, just as He allows it to rain on the just and the unjust. I surely don't fully understand it all, but what has caused me to weep more than a baby being killed is when I think about how God's Son, who has done no evil whatsoever, and always did those things that please the Father, was tortured so bad He didn't even look like a man, and he was mocked unmercifully, spit upon, and every joint was out of place, yet He said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." We look for heroes in this world in athletes, etc, but Jesus is mine, for He suffered the death that I deserved.

 

Uh, I know so.

 

I gave you a detailed response to your op. All you said was you didn't believe it.

You could not give a reasonable answer why. I realize it is difficult to refute facts.

Then someone else posts the same thing I did just worded differently and you are now confused about it so let me help you out:

I said:

She said :

The same thing

I said:

She said:

Again the same thing

 

You really need to go back and reread what I posted. And consider every word as a whole and in context not just a few.