Posted by rayww on July 30, 2005, at 12:14:28
Why do bad things happen to good people? I heard this yesterday and it made sense to me.
"If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency. . . ."
The question that follows, is naturally "why" does it matter if I develop character and test my strength, if I'm just going to die and end it all eventually? There has to be more purpose to life than that.
I know that God lives and sustains us through life, whether we are suffering or doing well. He has purpose in our living, and believes in us....meaning He believes we can all do better. But, he allows us to choose for ourselves.
I wish we knew just how much he has done for us, and continues to do. We generally have no concept of that.
poster:rayww
thread:535622
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20050510/msgs/535622.html