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Showing posts with the label suffering

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Despite doctors’ differing opinions, the controversies and conspiracy theories, and the differing stories fed us by our governments and media, we can all agree on one thing: because of COVID-19, many people are suffering. For many, their suffering is caused directly by the virus. They’ve lost friends and family to it, or have seen their loved ones get ill, or have contracted the virus themselves. For many, their suffering is caused indirectly by the virus. They’ve lost jobs, had to postpone weddings, weren’t able to attend funerals, had graduations canceled, because of government policies enacted in response to the virus. For most of us on this earth, our lives have been affected in some way, ranging from inconveniences to devastation. There’s an old question, asked by many before, and I’m sure many are asking it even as I type these words. It’s a question which many people, not getting the answer they want, have used as an excuse to turn away from God, or doubt His e...

Does True Love Allow Pain?

I've been thinking again about how much God loves us. His love is so strong, so pure, He's willing to watch us suffer. Let me explain what I mean. When things happen to us which are painful, we tend to beg and pray that God will resolve the problem quickly, or make it go away. The situation will be really difficult.  Someone we love will be dying.  We'll be down to our last ten dollars, our last rent money.  We'll be struggling with a health issue. We'll be in agony over it, and we let our human perspective blind us. We begin to doubt God, that He is good, that He cares about us or our situation. But the amazing thing, if we take the time to consider, is that God never stopped loving us, or caring about what we're going through.  The Bible is full of verses declaring His love for us. God loved us so much: 1. He sent Jesus to die for us ( John 3:16 ; 1 John 3:16 ).* 2. He calls us who have accepted Christ's sacrifice and Lordship His child...

In Control

I just finished reading a novel that was really good but extremely sad. In it, the main character and her family were in a horrible car crash, her parents dead on the scene, and her little brother and herself seriously wounded. As the novel plays out, her brother dies as well. As she is in a coma, the novel is told through her eyes first as herself and then as she sees things in her comatose state. Stricken with grief over her family's passing, and in such bad shape herself that she would need quite a few reconstructive surgeries, the girl battles between whether she wants to fight for life anymore, or whether she wants to give up and die. Because according to one nurse, it is the girl's choice whether she lives or dies. While the author did a beautiful job writing the story (except for the swear words, that is), there were a couple of things I disagreed with her on. One of them was this idea, that we get to choose our own destiny. Because although we choose several thing...