Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Thu, 9 Apr 1992 09:14:48 EDT
Comments:     Converted from PROFS to RFC822 format by PUMP V2.2X
From:         Brenda Curry-White <BSCURR01@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
Subject:      Innocent Suffering (Was: No Subject)

Urban Research Institute
Phone: 502-588-6626

Sorry for the last post, sometimes my fingers hit two keys at once :-).

>But should these innocents, some of whom are very good Christians,
>deserves those pains and the lost of the right living in this beautiful
>world because others sin?

>Allen W. Chen

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.

The only answer I have been able to come up with is that when people sin,
there are consequences.  God forgives us of the sin if we ask him, but the
consequences are still something we have to live with.  These consequences
do not always just affect the sinner.  Sometimes they affect the
"innocents".  Babies are born with AIDS or addicted to drugs.  People
like Ash get AIDS through transfusions.  My sister got hepatitis the
same way.  It isn't fair.  And God has the ability to cure all the
"innocents", and yet he doesn't.  Why?  My answer (far from convincing
truth--it still bothers me) is that if God were to cure all the
"innocents", the world would essentially be free from the consequences
of sin.  After all, we are all sinners.  None of us are truly innocent.
Even if I were to engage in promiscuous behaviour which resulted in
my getting AIDS, I could ask God to forgive me of my behavior and then
I would be as innocent as the baby who never had the chance.  Should
God cure me too?

I believe strongly that innocent people suffer because it must be so
important to God that we have free will.  After all, if God were to
remove the consequences of sin, how would the world be different?  Would
we be free to sin as much as we wanted without worry, or would we never
have the opportunity to sin?  I don't know.  But I believe that innocent
people suffer because free will is so important to God.  He wants us to
choose to serve him.  The consequences of our sin serve as a constant
reminder that we are not perfect, and that we need him.

Now there is another danger in this subject.  If we say, "People like Ash
got AIDS innocently, so I'll feel sorry for him.  He didn't deserve the
disease,"  we are implying that the drug user, the gay, or the Magic
Johnsons DID deserve it.  We are saying that some people are less sinful
than others.  We must NEVER make such a judgement, because that is
God's responsibility alone.  We must NEVER usurp his authority.  We must
do our best to help all people who suffer, not just those we can feel
sorry for, because their suffering serves to remind us that we are no
better in God's eyes.  My little white lie, my hypocrisy, my holier-than-thou
attitude is every bit as much a sin to God as Magic Johnson's promiscuity.

Brenda
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