Wiregrass Church
Christians have never believed in a God who doesn’t allow bad things to happen to good people. Christians believe the worst possible thing happened to the best possible person.
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain." - C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world" - C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain
Isn't it interesting that people with identical experiences or near-identical experiences can arrive at different conclusions about faith and God when it comes to their experience with pain?
Admiral Jim Stockdale
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Highest ranking United States military officer to be imprisoned in the "Hanoi Hilton" prisoner-of-war camp during the Vietnam War.
"I never lost faith in the end of the story." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"I never doubted not only that I would get out but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life which in retrospect I would not trade." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"Oh, that's easy, the optimists. - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"They were the ones who said, 'We're going be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"They died of a broken heart." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - ." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
"with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
Christian Paradox: We have a future hope and it is tethered to a brutal
fact.
A Brutal Fact
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There is a cause and effect relationship between sin and suffering.
A Brutal Fact
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There is a global relationship between sin and suffering.
When sin entered the world, it held the door for sorrow, death, illness, and despair.
John 9:1-2 NIV
Assumption
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Good things happen to good people. Bad things happen to sinners.
John 9:3 NIV
Jesus said, "The purpose for this blindness, that was caused by the global effects of sin, it's gonna turn into an illustration of the fact that I, the Son of God, have power over the global consequences of sin, which infers that I have power over sin. That I am the solution to the world's greatest problem."
John 9:4 NIV
John 9:5 NIV
Mark 2:5 NIV
Mark 2:7 NIV
Mark 2:9 NIV
Mark 2:10-11 NIV
Someone more powerful than the global consequences of sin had arrived.
Romans 5:12 NIV
The Apostle Paul talks about sin as an entity, he personifies it. He treats sin like we talk about energy or information.
You can't pray it away,
faith it away,
or obey it away.
We want good things to happen to good people, and we want bad things to happen to not so good people so they will become good people.
Jesus taught that's not how the world works.
Cling to that myth and your faith will eventually be ground into dust.
Christians believe the worst possible thing happened to the best possible person.
Romans 5:17 NIV
We do not reign in life by devoting our lives to preserving our lives.
We reign in life by following the one who offered real life and the ultimate and final solution for sin.
John 1:14 NIV
Philippians 2:6 NIV
Philippians 2:8 NIV
Hebrews 4:15 NIV
Here is God's promise to you:
Hebrews 4:16 NIV
Romans 8:18 NIV
Romans 8:22 NIV
Romans 8:23 NIV
Romans 8:24 NIV
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." - C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity
"Never lose faith in the end of the story." - Admiral Jim Stockdale
We can have confidence in God, we can have confidence that God loves us, that God is for us, that God cares for us. And that God will judge sin, but He loves those of us left in the wake of his judgment on sin.
Our present sufferings are nothing to be compared with our future hope.
