THE ARMINIAN/PELAGIANS ON THIS FORUM MISS THE BEST PART OF BEING A CHRISTIAN

Or I should say the toughest part.

Knowing God is sovereign over all, and then go into grave suffering knowing it's from the Lord, I must confess, is the hardest test of faith I've ever had, we all go through it, but the pagan misses the point, does not show faith nor have their faith strengthened, it's sad.

Scripture is full of examples of God's chastising, from David stating that "It was good that I suffered", to Job "Shall we receive good from the Lord and not evil", to Revelation "I rebuke all I accept, so repent".

Hebrews 12 has the best, detailed explanation in my opinion, for it even gives us instructions. We are not to "Shrink", nor "Despise", each are a thought away and it's very tough to stay right in the middle, shoot the pagans don't even believe God affects our wills!!

Heb 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

It shakes our faith to the core, a child lost to sin or death, financial loss, it's in my opinion THE hardest thing to reconcile, that God loves me like He loves His Son but then brutalizes me. Oh the faith God gave Job!

Job is not just some book in the bible, he was a real human like you and I. He was Godly, prayed and sacrificed for his beloved children, had wealth, "had it all", can you imagine how you'd feel about God with this series of events; His children die, the grief cannot be measured, then his wealth for any comfort it could have gave, gone, then sores from his feet to the top of his head, so large that maggots swam in them, and nightmares we can only imagine. Yet God also gave Job the faith to say "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord".

In his despair he said to God "You have become like an enemy unto me", and "I pray and you just look at me". I understand what he felt, God knows how to hurt us best, how to make it so we can barely stand it, and we ask "Why". Many commentators say Job eventually got an answer to "Why", but the great majority say he never did, I'm with them, I see no answer as to his suffering. I try, but I think it a fools errand to do so.

The Arminian/Pelagian never gets his faith tried this way, they either despise it or faint which is the natural response, but they never assign to God what God takes credit for, which is a pity, we deserve MUCH WORSE, so we can't find fault with God. I love what Pink said "If we faint the first time we are chastised, it will continue until we get it right", God will never give up.

I see it as a father spanking a child to keep him away from say a light socket, we have no pleasure in that act, but that act brings pleasure in that we know our child won't be shocked. Same thing with God, the bible says "He does not afflict WILLFULLY", what this means is that He does do it, but it's not His primary purpose, just like spanking a child we do not willfully".

It's at these times it's good to equip ourselves with the truth, CS Lewis, although his theology was way off, had some great one liners, "I don't worry about the Godly man who suffers, however I do worry about the so called Godly man who does NOT suffer". If we go through life without suffering, we are illegitimate and not children, so those of you suffering try to rejoice, you are being treated as children, don't faint as I did, and don't despise it as I did.