4d ago

The Struggle Brings Holiness

7 comments

People: God, please stop giving children leukemia.
God: Well now I'm gonna do it harder.
- Someone who dies in childhood would never have to worry about employment, finding food, stress over politics, etc. It's quite merciful.
- Simple question: is an eternity of joy worth some years of suffering?
  Another simple question: is a year of suffering not also pierced through with joy on occasion? Do we not also grow accustomed to what suffering occurs, and thus have moments of liberation from the pain?
  Of course, you have to judge Christianity based on the internal logic of the faith... I feel like you are shortsighted here, simply coming up with this idea in your head that kids suffer and then
  <nothing>
  , when in reality every innocent kid inherits the Kingdom of God.
  I'd also just refer you back to this:
  "Every trial and temptation is permitted by God as a cure for some sick person's soul. Indeed, such trials not only confer on us forgiveness of our past and present sins, but also act as a check on sins not yet committed." (in the Philokalia)
  Source
  
  Very interesting choice of analogy in the blog.
  The man who loses a leg in a drunken motorcycle accident experiences excruciating pain, and then all sorts of subsequent emotional and mental pain from the loss of his leg. Yet, he has the power to make this a tool for change in his life to save himself from alcoholism and mortal sin.
  So we've shifted from supposedly blameless babies being chainsawed by a maniac through no fault of their own to an alcoholic losing a leg resulting directly from his own actions. The argument being that suffering is a way to turn your life around and receive forgiveness for sins.
  What sins does a 2 year old need forgiven of? Or did God know they were going to be a sinner in the future and decide to nip that in the bud early? Either way it sounds like that blog is trying to assign moral culpability to literal children for their own sickness, and that's reprehensible.
  
  So suffering is good actually? What about children suffering from leukemia in India or Egypt, where chrisitanity isn't all that popular are they going to inherit kingdom of god?

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