They say in Christianity that God is loving and merciful.How can He love us and yet hurt us, giving us a good spanking like little children who never grew up. Isn't that too elementary? When you do something good you will be rewarded and when you do something bad you will be punished?
2007-01-05 04:44:28 · 15 answers · asked by Isis 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
in Christianity pain is a way of testing.... for example. the angel of the lord came to abraham and commanded him to offer Issac his one and only son as saccrifice to God.. if u read on it is said that when abraham was about to stike his son the angel said to him do not strike the child for the lord tested you and you have passed (real world language not direct translation)... When u suffer turn to God and tell him of ur pain relie on him to lift up ur problems... "When the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life,
there was only one set of footprints. I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life. This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you would walk with me all the way,
but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life
there is only one set of footprints.
"I don't understand why in times when I needed you most,
you should leave me."
The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child,
I love you and I would never, never leave you
during your times of trial and suffering.
"When you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."
...Mary Stevenson in her poem Footprints...
God is a God of love yet do we really trust in Him or do we look for ways to prove he doesn't excist?
2007-01-05 05:19:24 · answer #1 · answered by MiLaGrItA 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Usually it is not God who hurts us. We usually do things that hurt ourselves. Does God allow that? Yes. Why? For a number of reasons. Just a few are Free will/ freedom of choice. The constitution didn't invent that, God did. Also, all things are realized through comparison, therefore if you had no pain, you could not possibly understand pleasure. Learning, is of great importance. That is why God gave us the most capacity for learning of any creature on the planet. We must learn what is good for us and what is bad for us, so we can make our decisions accordingly. Unfortunately, when we make our decisions out of ignorance, selfishness, greed, or any other reason other than for good, we put ourselves in a position to get hurt. Sometimes God allows us our wishes, to be in that position. I am sure that God is wanting us to learn and choose better next time.
2007-01-05 05:01:11 · answer #2 · answered by hikerboy3 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i tihnk the first thing to think of is that if god is really god he operates in different ways than we think - if u look at the bible it says that free will and the choices we make mean that we must go down the paths are choices take us - if we make bad choices we may end up hurt if we make god choices we may end up ok -
suffering and pain - theres no where in the bible that says it wont happen - it even says that if u belive in god lifw ill be harder for u - maybe a case where tryin to do the right thing is always more testing than the wrong thing -
the mercy comes in in what happens after our choices - the help we may get the second chances the forgiveness and ability to start over in the eyes of god. -
a good parent realises that sometimes a child has to fall to learn not to jump, also to learn that even if they do fall they will be able to get up, also that if they do fall then they will be helped up, also patience - when to jump and when not to - there are so many things we can learn from our bad choices - it seems that most people dont learn from their good choices they jus take it as thats how it is
its a massive question - at the end of the day - two places to look for answers - the bible - and god
2007-01-05 05:01:43 · answer #3 · answered by killa melody 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God is ever merciful. Alluding to the child/parent reference you made, he does reward us for our good behavior, and punish for the bad. That is simply because he loves us. Sometimes we need to be disciplined for the overall good. A parent might not want to punish their children, but if they truly love them, they would punish them anyway. God allows us to go through trails and hardships, so that we can grow and learn from them. I would have never known God was a healer, if I was never sick. I would have never known God was merciful, if I hadn't sinned. I would have never known God was a comforter, if I had never needed to be comforted in a time sorrow. So you see, this is why we say the Lord works in mysterious ways.
2007-01-05 04:56:50 · answer #4 · answered by Simone E 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a mother I cannot prevent pain happening in my childrens lives I can only comfort them when it occurs.........and I can validate that they do not deserve it and sometimes I can defend them and create justice....but I have not been a punishing parent, because the God of my understanding is not punishing.....Sometimes the reward of doing good is simply the good feeling we got from doing it....and lots of people do bad things all the time and get away with it.(except for the misery they live in)...at least in this world, lets see about the next.
2007-01-07 02:26:27 · answer #5 · answered by cherry 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was once told/heard that if there is a god he is a spiteful child on an ant hill with a magnifying glass and we are the ants.
Doing good is it's own reward the pleasure it brings to others will reward you.
Doing bad will only bring bad thoughts and feelings your way (at times through those you care about) thus punishing you.
2007-01-08 17:09:05 · answer #6 · answered by funcplinvic 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe that God inflicts pain on us or allows it to happen. Because this is a fallen world, circumstances such as tragedies sometimes happen that are uncontrollable by us.
Since we have free will also, we make our own choices and bring on much of our own pain by the decisions we make and regret later in retrospect.
There is a good, small paperback book on this written several years ago called, 'Why Bad Things Happen To Good People", by Harold Kushner. It's probably available from your local library or amazon.com. It explains a lot of what we don't understand of things that are allowed to happen in this world.
2007-01-05 05:03:11 · answer #7 · answered by Big Bear 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is not God who punishes us, but us ourselves. He wishes for us to be happy, but sin gets in the way of our happiness. And bad things happen because of our choices, however indirectly. He does not control us; if everything we did was on his order, would we truly be free, like he wishes us to be? If you sin, your ultimate reward is eternal pain. But you can remedy this by asking forgivness. Do so, and God will reward you. Turn from God, and he will have no way of helping you when trouble comes. God has accepted us into our hearts long before we even existed; his love embraces us, but he can only protect us if we turn to him. And there is only one sin that God cannot forgive; turning away, and never coming back. If you ask, it shall be given; but if you hide and ignore God, he can't help. This the Bible says over and over- God can do nothing without you letting him help.
-Zeldafreak
2007-01-05 04:59:58 · answer #8 · answered by zeldafreak1027 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You cannot grow without facing life and you cannot fully appreciate joy unless you have experienced sadness and pain. God knows this. Sometimes you think you are being unfairly punished, but there is a reason and growth in every pain you experience.
You referred to the carrot and the stick training method. It works. It's elementary, but it works even on adults.
2007-01-05 05:12:59 · answer #9 · answered by loryntoo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How is being rewarded for being good, and being punished for being bad "elementary"? Its a fact of life. God is merciful, and God is good, but He is also righteous, and just. God does not want any person to suffer, but He gave us free will, to choose our own paths in life. And, while we walk these paths, sometimes we will encounter pain, and anguish, and fear, and anger, and suffering. It is all a part of being, of living. To know no fear, or hurt, is to know no life at all, to experience none of the joys, and thrills that life has in store for us. It is all a part of this thing we call life.
2007-01-05 04:55:48 · answer #10 · answered by dkiller88 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes, God hurts us to make us close or closer to him. God does not actually hurt us, he gives us obstacles in order to be stronger and those obstacles remind us that there is GOD. The more obstacles he give, the more he loves you. It is the time when people seek God's help and ask for forgiveness.
That is why he gives us pain in order to learn and to remind us that he is the GREAT DOCTOR of our hearts and every little thing.
2007-01-05 06:19:24 · answer #11 · answered by ruby f 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋