Who’s Fault Is It? – Part III

 

Let’s look at where suffering comes from. Is it a result of our own sin, the result of the sin of others or can we say we experience suffering as a result of a fallen world. Maybe suffering is a result of all three. Maybe all three can be blamed for why bad things happen to good people.

First, let’s examine suffering we experience as a result of our own sin. Suffering, sometimes, is the inevitable consequence of breaking God’s commandments. There are physical laws of nature such as the one that says if you put your hand in fire you will get burned. The pain of the burn acts as a warning when we exercise the wrong choice concerning fire. God has created a world based upon moral foundations, or moral laws, and there is a natural connection between sin and it’s consequences. If a person abuses drugs, addiction will be the consequence. If a person drinks excessively they may eventually suffer the consequences of alcoholism. If a person drinks and then climbs behind the wheel of a car, gets in an accident and injures them self, the injuries are a consequence of the person’s choice or we might say they are the consequence of the person’s sin. Similarly, selfishness, greed, lust, arrogance, and bad temper often lead to broken relationships and unhappiness that once again can be citied as consequences of our actions.

I think that what some call God’s punishment is a law of nature that God created. God gave us a free will, and we have the right to make our own choice, and as a result of our choice we experience the consequences. When we make a bad choice we suffer a bad consequence. It is just a fact of life, a rule of nature, a way God has created to let us know when our free will is violating what He wills for us.

Now let’s look at suffering as a result of other’s sin. First, it is important to note that not all suffering is a direct result of our sin. Much of the suffering in this world can be contributed to the sins of others. Look at global and community disasters. So much suffering is caused by war and in most cases it is the result of human sin. In many countries the suffering experienced is starvation which is the unequal distribution of the world’s resources or some other human sin. It is easy to see how individual suffering is often caused by others and sin such as – murder, adultery, theft, sexual abuse, unloving parents, reckless or drunken driving, slander, unkindness, or selfishness or self-centeredness. Some estimate that it could be as much as ninety-five percent of the world’s suffering can be accounted for by the sin’s of others.

Looking at the previous two reasons for suffering that leaves a very small portion that can be attributed to the fact that we live in a fallen world; a world in which all creation has been affected by the sin of man. It is a result of the original sin of man, the sin of Adam and Eve, that suffering (thorns and thistles) entered the world (Genesis 3:18). Ever since that first sin ‘the creation has been subjected to frustration’ (Romans 8:20). Natural disasters are a result of a disorder in creation. The freedom that God gave to man does not always the answer as to why a particular individual or nation is subjected to suffering, but it does help us to explain the origin of suffering. All suffering is the result of sin, either directly as a result of my own sin, or as a result of some other person’s sin, or indirectly, as a result of living in a fallen world.

Suffering is a result of evil, of sin, in this world. Bad things happen to good people as a result of evil, of sin.

If, as they say, God is love, where is God ….

(To Be Continued)