Where Does Suffering Come From? (By Barry Bennett
Where Does Suffering Come From?
Jesus is not allowing suffering. Man is. God gave the earth to man and man gave it to the devil through sin. Jesus came to save men, not destroy them. He is not allowing or sending destructive natural disasters or viruses. They are a result of sin in the earth. He has empowered the church to stand against the works of nature and the enemy. Sadly, only a small percentage of believers really believe this. Most believe in a distorted view of God that lays human suffering and tragedy at His feet. That is NOT the gospel.
“For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:56)
The heart of God for humanity is abundant life, not death and destruction. Until we understand this, we will misrepresent the nature of God and make Him a perpetrator of evil and suffering.
“The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
The Father is judging NO ONE. Suffering is not God’s judgment. Sin carries its own corruption, but the consequence of sin is not divine judgment.
“The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” (Jn. 5:22)
Judgment has been given to Jesus, and only His Word will judge in the last day, not before.
“If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12:47-48)
We are in a time of grace in which sin is NOT being imputed against mankind. Judgment preachers say that God IS imputing sin and judging. This is a lie. We have a message of reconciliation, not judgement.
“That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, NOT counting their sins against them, and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:19)
God has sent His church into all the world to proclaim the Good News of reconciliation. It would make no sense for God to bring destruction to the very people to whom we are sent with the gospel.
I copied this from Face Book.
One person commentened: "I have set before you, life and death, blessing and curses: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live." (Deut. 30:19). We do have to obey YHVH! If He saves us and we continue to still live the same life as we lived before, we are going to "reap what we are sowing!" Read also Deut. 4:28-31, 35, 39-40.
My response: You have to have an understanding of the difference in covenants. The covenant God made with Israel was one of blessing and curses, and they agreed to those curses. Galatians 3:13 tells us that Jesus took all of those curses on Himself, and He became a curse for us, so we could have the blessings of Abraham. Abraham had no curses in his covenant, and we don't either. Will we reap what we sow? Yes, but it is not God that is cursing us, as was the case with Israel in Deuteronomy under the Mosaic Law. Jesus fulfilled that law, and we have a better covenant based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6). That covenant is now obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). God's wrath was satisfied in Jesus' sacrifice and we have been reconciled to Him. He is no longer imputing our sins to us, “That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, NOT counting their sins against them, and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:19)
They responded: "We don't have a lisense to sin!..."
My Response: I didn't say we had a licese to sin. If we understand grace, it empowers us to overcome sin and no longer be a slave to it. No where did I say it is o.k. to sin. What I said was it is not God that is cursing us for our sin. He is not the one that sent us this virus as a punishment for our sins, nor did He put His stamp of approval on it. We no longer have the curses mentioned in Deuteronomy chapter 28. We should be repentant of our sins. But I also believe that it is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4 KJV). I believe our approach should be to spread the Gospel of good news. When people understand the goodness of God, and what Jesus did for us, that is what opens their hearts to want to please Him. Blessings to you!"
Replies
This is a very odd post for me so maybe I am missing something.
Jesus does allow suffering and if He doesn't why do we all have pain, regret, sadness and lost.
He over rides Man so He could stop all things bad. I am sure that nothing will change your way of thinking. But maybe be a bit open to other opinions.....as I am trying with you my friend.
Many people believe that God controls all things. They believe that nothing can ever happen on the earth unless God puts His stamp of approval on it first. God told Adam and Eve in the garden not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In fact, He forbade them to eat from it, and if they did, then they would surely die. God did not allow them to do it, "allow" means to give permission. God did not give them permission to eat from that tree, yet they did it anyway. And when they did, Satan entered into the world through their sin, and that unleashed all kinds of corruption: sickness, natural disasters, and evil of every kind. God never intended for people to die, get sick, or suffer in any way. God created a perfect paradise for people in the Garden of Eden, and if Adam and Eve had heeded God's instructions, then suffering would not have taken place. Suffering happens because Satan entered the earth. Jesus came to redeem mankind from suffering. John 10:10 tells us that Jesus came to give us a more abundant life, and Satan is the thief that steals, kills, and destroys. Jesus body was beaten, whipped, and tortured so that by the stripes He bore on His back, our bodies could be healed. (Isaiah 53:5). I can give you links to videos of testimonies of people being healed from all sorts of ailments in you are interested. Healing was paid for in Jesus' atonement. God doesn't want anyone sick, Jesus healed every person that came to Him for healing when He was on the earth. Acts 10:38 says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him:" and if we understand what Jesus did for us, and how to receive healing, people are still healed to today, as I said, I can give you hundreds of videos you can watch that testify to that. God doesn't want us to be sick and suffering. Jesus paid for us to be healed, but we have to believe it and receive it in order for the healing to manifest in our bodies.
Just to be clear, there are many verses that tell us that as Christians we will suffer persecution at the hands of evil people that hate God. So there will be suffering, Jesus told us that the world hated Him, and it will hate us also. He also said that in this world we will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, he has overcome the world. (John 16:33). This post is not say that there won't be any suffering, the point of the post is that suffering is not FROM God, . God is not the source of our suffering, He sent His Son into the world to save us, not to destroy us. God is not giving people permission to rape, murder, steal, or do any other evil that takes place. That is what allow means, to give permission. God gave us laws against these things. God forbids evil, and evil is what causes suffering. God gave us a free will, and in that sense God allows evil because He allows us to exercise our free will, but God does not put His stamp of approval on practicing evil. I hope that helps clarify what this post is about, and what "allow" means. God governs Himself through laws. Once God gave the earth to mankind and said they could have dominion over it, He won't go back on His Word. God can't lie. God had to uphold His word and if mankind wanted to allow Satan into the earth God gave them dominion over, by listening to Satan instead of God, then God had to allow them to exercise their free will, not because He approve of it, but because God chose to give humans free will. He won't say it, and then go back on it.
One day Jesus will return and take the earth back, He will establish His Kingdom. The evil people who don't have their names written in the Lamb's book of life (those that didn't accept Jesus and their Lord and Savior) will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his demons. Jesus' followers will rule in the earth along with Jesus, and all suffering will end. But until that time, since God gave the earth to mankind, and we allowed Satan to enter through sin, suffering will continue to happen because of sin. But God is not the author of suffering, nor did He approve of sin that causes it. I hope that clarifies things. Blessing to you!
Humans have free will as I understand to chose life or satan. I want to chose life. I feel bad for those who don't to a point. It is each person choice and we cannot chose for someone else. The best part of this is we can make a mistake and be sorry and forgiven. We can start fresh every day.
Thank you so much for your comment MaryContrary. I appreciate it. Blessings to you!