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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Why Is There Suffering If God Loves Us? ...

 

  1. We are not called to live for the “here and now.”
  2. We are to grow in faith through adversity, knowing there is an Adversary.
  3. Even Jesus learned obedience through suffering (cf. Heb. 5:8).
  4. God tests our motives by withdrawing temporarily from us (cf. 2 Chron. 32:31).
  5. God gets our attention via suffering and adversity (cf. Job 36:15).
  6. Adversity, not prosperity, builds character; it either makes us bitter or better.
  7. God has not promised a rose garden or a bed of roses to anyone.
  8. God blesses everyone in some ways, but is not obliged to bless equally; inequity isn’t necessarily injustice (cf. Psalm 145:9).
  9. God is unjust to no one; He will have mercy on whom He will (cf. Romans 9:15).
  10. Man ruined his own world by introducing sin into it.
  11. Jesus suffered in all ways as us yet without sin (cf. Heb. 2:18; 4:15).
  12. Our faith is no Pollyanna or without problems (cf. Romans 5:5).
  13. Our reward is in heaven, not on earth.
  14. God is just and His justice will not sleep.
  15. Justice delayed is not justice denied.
  16. God will make up to us for all our suffering which isn’t worthy of our reward (cf. Romans 8:18).
  17. It is an honor to suffer for the sake of the Name and counted worthy (cf. Acts 5:41).
  18. Jesus doesn’t call us to suffer anything He didn’t (cf. Heb. 4:15).
  19. Jesus truly understands and feels our pains (“was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”—cf. Isaiah 53:3).
  20. We can know the “fellowship of suffering” filling up Christ’s  sufferings (cf. Phil. 3:10)

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