Bible Question:
John9:1-12 and Job 1-2, what situations might blindness at birth be due to the sins of the parents, God do not punish us by making us sick? |
Bible Answer: We want life to be simple, and we want to have easy answers that give meaning to life. We want life to be black and white where the good guys are escaping suffering, and the bad guys are getting their due reward of judgment. If life was only like the movies, but it is not, and often the real life story has the bad guys getting by with murder, and the good guys being the ones getting murdered. So it was with Able, John the Baptist, Stephen, and on and on. Simple answers are not always false, but they are so often foolish and cruel when applied to specific situations. Do people go blind because they mix up a pile of gun powder and then light it? Of course they do. Do they go blind because they stare at the Sun too long? Yes they do. People go blind for all kinds of foolish things they do. They cause their blindness by the choices they make. But to take what we know to be true and make it the truth, and apply it to every blind person, is to be cruel. If we see a blind child and say, I wonder what stupid thing this kid did to become blind, then we are the ones being foolish. There are hundreds of reasons for why people are blind. Those who assume that there is only one reason, and that is that they did something evil or stupid, are a part of the problem in the suffering of the world. The fact is, the godly often suffer even more than the ungodly. The poet put it; The rain falls on the just and unjust fella, And sometimes more on the just, for the unjust Steals the just's umbrella. There is no promise that life will be fair, but only that God will. Jesus says in Luke 21:16-17, "You will be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me." That is not much of a promise of a fair life. But then in the next verse Jesus says, "But not a hair of your head will parish." This is His way of saying that its an unfair world, and unjust suffering is inevitable, but in God's ultimate plan no child of His will lose one minute thing because of the power of evil. Jesus says in John 16:2, "A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God." Jesus did not hold back any punches. He told His disciples there were no guarantees that they would escape anything by following Him. He ends the chapter by saying in verse 33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus was so realistic about life, and that is why He promised trouble. But He was also reassuring, for He promised final victory and present peace in Him. God Bless |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 1 | Author | ||
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dat | ||
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dat | ||
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justme | ||
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justme | ||
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Makarios | ||
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slarty | ||
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slarty | ||
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TTCG | ||
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sweet | ||
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inmyheart | ||
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itiswritten | ||
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YouthP |