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Date:         Thu, 9 Apr 1992 10:55:00 EDT
From:         Jeff Shirton <SHIRTON@MCMASTER.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Innocent Suffering (Was: No Subject)

Brenda,

> I have struggled with this for a very long time.  My sister has suffered
> cancer and the results of cancer treatments for 12 years, and she received
> hepatitis that nearly killed her through a blood transfusion she had to have
> as part of her cancer treatments.  She is a wonderful Christian, has lived
> a wonderful example of a life to others, and is in my opinion completely
> undeserving of what has happened to her.

Forgive me for sharing some idle thoughts, but I'm thinking that maybe your
sister is in some ways, a martyr, in her own right.  Her condition, and
spiritual reaction to it, can be considered a testimony to the truth of
Christianity, in some way.

Since she has suffered for such a long time, and for no apparent reason,
and is still a strong and wonderful Christian, what does this say about
Christianity, when most people would react with, "Christianity can't be
true, for if it were, God wouldn't let me suffer so unjustly!".  Her
continued faith in God is a powerful testimony, IMO (cf Job).

(Brenda, I hope you don't in any way find anything offensive in what I've
written.  I feel compassion and admiration for your sister.)

In fact, despite the extent to which Job suffered (and he suffered a _lot_!)
it was through no fault of his own, as the Lord describes him thusly:

        "Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant
         Job?  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and
         upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.  And he still
         maintains his integrity, though you incited Me against him
         to ruin him WITHOUT ANY REASON."  -- Job 2:3 (NIV)

I think this passage actually pokes a hole in the argument that all disease
is caused by sinning.

Job had a really good attitude about this, which your sister seems to
share:

        "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10)

Also, another one of my favourite of his statements is:

        "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.
         The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away:
                may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21)

Most of us take our good health for granted, but it is a gift of God,
just as is everything else we have.  If He gives it to us, it is for
a purpose.  If He takes it away, it is also for some purpose.

It reminds me of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt. 20).
Some were hired early in the day to work, and others were hired at the
eleventh hour, and at the end of the day they were all paid the same
wage.  The workers who had been working there all day got angry because
they had to work longer for the same pay, even though that's what they
agreed to.  At the start of the day, they were happy to get work to make
some money, but by the end of the day, they had already taken the job for
granted.

I know I'm starting to babble, but I saw the same message in the Prodigal
Son the other day.  For the first time, I thought about how the son who
stayed home with his father must have really felt, when his wayward brother
came home and got a feast and a party.  I would have been just as envious.
But again, he was just taking what he already had for granted.  As his
father told him, everything his father has is his.

I think the moral is about taking gifts of God for granted.  In the abortion
thread, some people don't agree that life is a gift of God, although I think
most realize this.  In the same way, good health is also a gift of God.

In Christ,
.------------------------v----------------------------------------------------.
| Jeff Shirton           | "Now it is God that has...given us the Spirit as a |
| shirton@McMaster.CA    |  deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."  2Cor.5:5 |
`------------------------^----------------------------------------------------'
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