Questions on Pain and Suffering

I recently had these two questions asked of me from a friend of mine that has come to know Christ during this past year. I feel these two questions are pretty popular questions so I figured I would share them with ya'll (waino) to work out as well so we can be equipped whenever someone comes at us with these questions again.

1. Why are some people born in extreme poverty and sickness and others born healthy and prosperous?

2. Is death by warfare, sickness, or by accident predetermined by God?

*** To answer your first two questions I want to change our perspective on things such as poverty, warfare, and sickness. The popular question is how could a loving God allow such terrible things to happen to people here on earth, but when we ask this question we are thinking of God's love as something that is only concerned with our happiness and comfort here on earth. Here's the problem with that way of thinking. We were created to be in a certain relationship to God. Christ said it was difficult for the "rich" to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:23) referring no doubt to "riches" in the ordinary sense but also this could cover "riches" in every sense - good fortune, health, popularity, and all the things one wants to have. All these things for some people can be dangerous because these things tend to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and content with your life. This could lead to feelings of not needing anything else let alone God. Consequently, because God loves us so much, He may have to take all these riches away from you because if He doesn't you will go on relying on them. This at first may seem cruel, but who wouldn't trade a short life span of pain here on earth for an eternity of happiness with our Lord who loves us enough to save us from ourselves no matter what the cost! So we must change our perspective of what true love really is and what it is not. Paul talks about this a little further in 1 Corinthians 5 when he describes a situation going on in the church there. Apparently, some member of the church in Corinth was having an affair with his step-mom (straight off the Jerry Springer show I know). Paul addresses this issue because apparently the other members of the church were not addressing the man caught up in this terrible affair. They were just letting this man get away with his double life without any acknowledgment whatsoever. Paul demands that the members of the church address the man and throw him out of the church which again seems like a very unloving and cruel thing to do but Paul explains why in verse 5. Paul says that they are to throw him out so that hopefully he will hit a point of extreme brokenness in his life and recognize his sin therefore leading to repentance and saving his life. So what is true love? Is it allowing someone to continue down a path of self destruction just as long as they are content and happy? Or is true love, a tough love that seeks to save a person's life no matter how uncomfortable the costs or pains may be?

I like an illustration used by CS Lewis on this topic. He says, "If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad. Imagine a set of people all living in the same building. Half of them think it is a hotel, the other half think it is a prison. Those who think it a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable, and those who thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly comfortable."

A quick opinion on warfare.... I often wonder how many young men out on a battlefield with their lives on the line have searched out and found their Creator because of their heightened awareness of death? Personally, I have to think that war can sometimes lead a person closer to God than a normal content everyday lifestyle but that might be just me.

-TEvans