{"id":5819,"date":"2010-10-27T13:47:22","date_gmt":"2010-10-27T02:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2010-10-27T13:47:22","modified_gmt":"2010-10-27T02:47:22","slug":"christians-respond-to-suffering-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2010\/10\/27\/christians-respond-to-suffering-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians respond to suffering #1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>\u201c\u2026 Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?&#8230;\u201d Job 2:10<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>In a recent post, <a href=\"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2010\/10\/25\/answering-the-problem-of-suffering\/\">Answering the Problem of Suffering<\/a>, I looked at the two most common questions I am asked, <strong>why is there suffering?<\/strong> And, if there is a God who is supposed to be loving and all-powerful, <strong>then why does He allow suffering?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0I have asked some friends for their thoughts to these questions which will be posted in a series of blogs entitled <strong>Christians responding to suffering.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Some thoughts from James Veltmeyer<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00a0<\/em>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When people ask about suffering, think why they are asking, e.g. \u201cWhy does God let people die of cancer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That is, \u201cWhy did God let my dad die of cancer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People understand that people die of things like cancer and they want to know why a certain person they love has it.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I say no matter what answer I give it won\u2019t fix their problem of suffering. But I can be there for them and just listen.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is suffering because we live in a fallen &amp; broken world.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We suffer because of people\u2019s sin.<\/p>\n<p>If a person who is drunk drives a car and hits my brother and kills him then it was the person\u2019s choice or sin that caused my suffering.<\/p>\n<p>God gave us free will, a choice to live for Him or live for ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a04.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Suffering shows there is a God<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Haiti \u2013 \u201cHow can God allow this?\u201d \u2013 see point 2.<\/p>\n<p>For the atheist it\u2019s just the way life is they can\u2019t give a person who is suffering any comfort. Atheism doesn\u2019t answer the problem of suffering.<\/p>\n<p>When we cry out \u201cWhy\u201d \u2013 who are we crying out to??? Maybe God<\/p>\n<p>When we want someone to do something \u2013 maybe it\u2019s God that we want to do something<\/p>\n<p>Also maybe God is restraining or holding back suffering, the suffering could have been worse but in God\u2019s mercy it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a05.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Suffering causes us to repent and trust Jesus \u2013 see Luke 13:1-9<\/p>\n<p>\u00a06.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God understands our suffering, He sent His Son Jesus to suffer, die on a cross and rise again.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a07.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Suffering will one day stop. The hope of Heaven \u2013 see Revelation 21:4, no more suffering. A great promise for Christians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201c\u2026 Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?&#8230;\u201d Job 2:10 \u00a0In a recent post, Answering the Problem of Suffering, I looked at the two most common questions I am asked, why is there suffering? &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2010\/10\/27\/christians-respond-to-suffering-1\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5819"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5910,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions\/5910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}