Day Of Tough Questions
I have been faced with two questions.Maybe some of my readers can help.
Yesterday I preached on Romans 1:18-32 and got into the fact everyone is without excuse and the question of those who haven’t heard the gospel, what will happen to them? After my sermon I was pointed by two wonderful women who were trying to help me to Matthew 24:14 and Mark 13:10 which says basicly that Christ won’t return until the message has been preached to all nations. Which I lovingly pointed out that these passages say to every nation not to every individual. So,this doesn’t answer the question about those who die before they hear or those who are born into a post gospel message country that never hear. What happens to them? Are they held to a different standard? My thought was I’m really not sure, and that God will do the right thing, but we need to be motivated because I am sure that anyone who has heard, and placed their life in God’s hands through Jesus will be saved. Give me your thoughts.
Also, Had a lengthy conversation (I may have exagerated a little on my twitter/facebook status) with a Grandfather and Father about their 3 year old daughter who has terminal cancer. Their question which is one we are all faced with daily is Why do innocent people sufffer? And Why is God allowing this? I admitted I didn’t know and then I gave them my best comforting words, I talked to them about the sinful world we live in and how it wasn’t the life God wanted for us, I told them how the rain falls on the just and the unjust, I told them about the day coming when Christ will return and death will be no more, I told them that their girl is going to be done with the pain and suffering of this world and that the seperation is hard and she can’t come back to us but we can go to her through a faithful relationship with Christ, I talked for over an hour and a half, but you know I’m not sure why God is allowing it to happen to them or to their little girl. The grandfather told me he had been asking God why, since she was diagnosed and God had never answered him, he had never heard his voice. So, I told them both to continue asking the questions they have and that God speak through His people and His word. Maybe you guys can help me out with this.
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Tough stuff, isn’t it? Based on Matthew 11:20-24 along with the passage that says speaks of the extra blessing for those who believe without seeing Jesus’s miracles (don’t have that reference at my finger tips–maybe you have a better concordance handy) I have come to believe that there are “customized” standards based on what an individual knows–basically, that our accountability is proportionate to what we’ve learned. C.S. Lewis proposes an interesting theory in The Last Battle (the final book in The Chronicles of Narnia series) that even misdirected worship of a false god might be credited as worship of our God in the final judgment.
I struggle mighty with the questions of suffering, too. The only thing I can come up with is that if we truly understood eternity perhaps we’d have a better grasp on the significance of what happens to us here. Unfortunately we understand so little about eternity, it can sometimes be difficult to find comfort in a concept that is so abstract for us to comprehend.
Thanks for being willing to raise and examine the tough issues. Perhaps more people will join the conversation to offer additional perspective.
Cynthia Davis - April 13, 2009 at 3:17 pm