Topical Index

Suffering on Earth

Yes, God does expect us to be willing to accept His will ...
The basic problem is to understand how the world got into the condition it is in.
This present world that we live in is not the kingdom of God. It is a world ruled by fallen creatures who have rebelled against God.
Believing that evil is the absence of good is not a way of trying to make evil appear to be not as bad as it really is.
... what you have suffered was never God's fault ...
There are many things that happen on earth today that are contrary to God's will, but that does not mean that He isn't omnipotent.
Jesus promised to give his followers joy, both on earth and in heaven, but he did NOT promise that those who follow him will never have to suffer while we are on earth.
No one would want to worship a god who lacked either the ability or the willingness to overcome all evil completely.
... even if the suffering is in accord with God's will ...
Of course we are not supposed to stop giving food to the hungry
Satan does do a great deal of evil, but we can't blame the suffering on earth only on him. Humans are responsible for it, too.
You seem to have the idea that if someone has suffered greatly then it is ok for that person to believe in something that provides comfort in sorrow, even if the belief is false. I don't agree ...
I do recognize that God is presently tolerating evil on earth, but He is not going to continue to tolerate it forever.
Consider the idea that God, who is spiritual, created the earth and maintains it. He also gave humans dominion over it.
It's a little bit like trying to skip dinner without feeling hungry.
In Genesis 3: 17 - 19, after the description of the fall of the human race into sin ...
Remember that before they fell into sin, Adam and Eve had no evil tendencies in their nature.
If you won't let me talk about original sin, then I can't answer your question, because that is the only answer I have for why evil exists in the world.
You were quite right when you said, in an earlier posting, that it seemed to you that neither Christianity nor any other way of life could guarantee prosperity on earth.
You said you've known some Christians in the past who put their caring about you into action.
If Jesus had healed all of the sick people at the pool of Bethesda ...
Christianity teaches us that we should be willing to suffer, but it doesn't say we should want to suffer.
... God does still heal sickness in today's world ...
... a question about why the perfect world that God created didn't remain perfect ...
Christians don't expect God to stop all of the evil on earth immediately.
Don't get the idea that when someone is sick that person is being punished for some particular thing that he or she has done wrong. It doesn't work that way.
The fall into sin did affect the physical world.
When we surrender our lives to Christ, we do not become empty shells, because the Holy Spirit fills our emptiness.
God does not beat up on us.
... What you need is friends who can share your pain, but all you can get in a newsgroup is words written by people who don't even know you.
Of course Christians are subject to suffering.
... there is pain in the world because the world is no longer in perfect harmony with God.
... the reason why God allows evil to exist in the world ...
When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, both their souls and their bodies were corrupted as a result.
... how we can believe that Jesus saves us from evil when there is still so much evil around in the world.
"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth..."
As I understand it, the world that God originally created was free from evil.
A single bacterium does not make a person sick by itself.
I didn't mean that we should want to suffer.
Of course natural disasters hurt good people as well as bad people.
When I said that God is right there with us in the midst of our pain, that does not mean that He is watching us suffer and cruelly refusing to do anything about it.
... God does not abandon us when we are suffering ...
God has the power to end all of the suffering on earth, and He will do so when Jesus returns.
... before Adam and Eve committed the first sin, the world was not only morally perfect but free from physical evils as well.
Suffering is easier to bear when we know what it leads to.

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