It is plain to see we live in a world with much suffering. This suffering seems rather random - the atheists, Christian, or Buddhist all have chances of developing cancer, losing a loved one, or experiencing any other tragedy. As evidenced in the early church, the Christian is certainly not exempt from earthly suffering. Sure, some suffering may be directly attributed to free will, but this is not the case with natural disaster or disease. It is the old question: if God is all-powerful, and all-loving, why does suffering exist? To me, the only logical answers to this question imply that (just maybe) modern, popular Christianity has largely misunderstood God in one way or another.
I completely disagree. Man was given dominion over the earth in the Garden. When he fell creation itself fell. Man has been given a path to restoration and redemption but creation itself has NOT been restored and will not until ALL has been fulfilled according to scripture. Because we live in a fallen creation it is assumed by most that its always been like this. Rain, water falling from the sky did not occur until the flood.
We are so accustomed to thinking our understanding and our world and our view of things is the right way that we usually miss that we are backwards in our thinking about things in comparison to what G-d says is right, normal and good.
Let me cite some examples. In our way of thinking, time revolves around the sun. A year is marked by how long it takes the earth to revolve around the sun. A Day starts at sunrise.
G-d's view is VERY different. A day starts when the sun sets. Genesis tells us there was an evening and a morning, the first day. G-d's calendar revolves around the lunar cycle. It may seem sublet but it reality it's not. If something as simple as when a day starts is counter to what G-d says how much more so on more complex questions?
(1). First, it is possible that God is not the extremely personally, all-loving being we imagine Him to be. Instead, He is personal and loving in that He provided the sacrifice (Jesus) that made a blissful eternity possible, but, is not really involved in the "physical" areas of this present life. Obviously, one problem with this is that God did (and likely still does) perform miracles. But why are they seemingly random? After all, Jesus did not heal every blind man on earth, nor cleanse all lepers. Is it possible that such healings are more of a sign of God's power than for the purpose of relieving earthly suffering?
Messiah's ministry shows quite the contrary view. It shows an unmistakably PERSONAL approach to sin, healing and his ministry. Adonai Elohim is a very personal G-d.
(2). The second possibility is that we, perhaps, are misunderstanding the omnipotence of God. For example, can God lie? Could God forgive the sins of man without the sacrifice of Jesus? Can God create a rock that is too heavy for Him to lift (a tired question, I know)? Is it possible that, in a way that is beyond our comprehension and perhaps as a factor of another one of His attributes (such as holiness or justice), that God is limited by how He interacts with this physical world (and that is why He resorted to sending Jesus to die)?
Scripture answers your question.
I know this is a very old debate, and I certainly do not have the answers, but I am curious what others think. Surely, isn't possible that perhaps many Christians (or at least the average, modern Protestant Christian) are misunderstanding God? If not, how would you explain natural suffering?
I am not trying to argue a point, just trying to get some insight into a difficult subject.
Thanks![/QUOTE]
firstly, life's a circle, at the beginning it is concentrated around this world, so God created this world as a place of paradisaical life in order to give certain souls to live paradisiacally here, but in principle the "darkness" could reign over this world (much) easier than over the higher one(s), because it is bounded by the so-called "sea" under which is the "darkness", after God made the universal creation in six days He fell against His will into a state of half-sleep/half-wakefulness, sometimes He was (also against His will) in a deeper stage of half-sleep, which is called "sabbath" in Matthew 24:20, and this is due to the cyclic nature of the eternity, the clash between the true God and the "darkness" (because they divide one universe), and the existence of spiritual iniquity in the form of human religion/spirituality
the true God is absolutely good, which also means (He is) even not a bit evil, but the circumstances around the manifestation of the "darkness" in the beginning of the eternity may more or less stop Him from providing all human and other be souled beings of the universe with abundant and everlasting life, and unfortunately He has really turned out to be more or less hampered since the day of the original sin(fall), that is why only the show of love for the neighbor on the part of as many people as possible may speed up the overall salvation in Him, because it, as well as the right exercise of faith in Him, wakes Him (up), which is explained in the fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11), but He is of course always awake enough to maintain/sustain the integrity of His creature and creation so that it may not disintegrate/collapse, because He apportions all the universal resources in the most rational way, however, He is always most (and even fully) awake for His true Saints
the show of love and good treatment as well as the making of good prayer and, in general, the doing of good for the neighbor wake Him (up)
Blessings
Ps 144:4 Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
Being that we are human and our understanding of time is firmly locked in our own existence we cannot truly conceive time from G-d's perspective. G-d is looking beyond the 70 years we have.
Ps 90:10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.
G-d is looking at what will produce holiness which sometimes means suffering is allowed to occur in our lives as it reveals our character. It proves our faith is not based upon the condition our life happens to be experience at any given moment. Job is about this concept and Paul speaks about being content in your current circumstance. It is the unstable believer who is tossed about by the storms life that crosses our path.
This is of particular importance in today's world as the message coming out of much of the evangelical movement is that the Law is done away with that we live by grace and that today's believe is to be "led by the spirit" Like most strong delusion and deception there IS much truth to this lie.
As I posted elsewhere Scripture tells us that G-d does NOTHING without first having revealed it to his prophets. This is a reassuring truth against deception as if the doctrine being taught IS NOT found in the OT scripture it is deception and not truth.
Consider carefully that G-d tells us that in the end it is his ekklesia he is speaking to when he declares "Come out of her MY PEOPLE....."
