上帝允许困难的八个原因

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Dear Friends,
The human suffering that has taken place in Sichuan is heartbreaking. The loss for so
many families is just something hard to imagine. Our hopes and prayers are with the
multitudes of people who were affected.
Yet, my heart is also touched by the heroic effort of rescue workers, and by the hope that
comes from those who have survived buried for days. One by one they were saved-how
in the world did they endure so long?

I would like to offer some encouragement by letting you know that many believers in
Jesus around the world are praying for those affected, and we are standing with you, and
want the best for all those people in China.

There is no doubt that many of you are asking some hard questions, and you want
answers. I read that some are now asking why so many school buildings collapsed so
quickly. Others are talking about if the earthquake could have been predicted in some
way. In any case, many people want answers.

It is natural to want answers, to be angry, to hurt, and to seek for justice.
But beyond the human element, many people are thinking about God and faith in Jesus,
perhaps for the first time. Some people want to know why such tragedies happen,
especially if God exists, loves us, and is truly good, as the Bible teaches. They are also
thinking about needing God for the first time.

I would like to share some thoughts that have helped me to live with this paradox-
tragedies in a world created by God, who is good.

But before I do, I want to say that it is not possible to explain why a certain tragedy may
occur in a certain place. And even more than that, no one can ever explain exactly why
so many children suffered in this earthquake tragedy. That is a mystery that only God can
answer. He has not told us why some suffer more than others. He has told us, however,
why our world is suffering.

Yet, if I meet with a family who has lost a loved one, my purpose is not to answer the
“whys” but rather to just be with person, to comfort him or her, and to share with them
why in Jesus, we can have hope.

Over the years, when tragic events unfold, I have depended on certain
UNDERSTANDINGS about the bigger picture. They do not explain all suffering, but they
do help me know how to respond to the questions like: Where was God in all of this? If
your God is so good, then why do these things happen? Couldn’t He have stopped this
tragedy from happening? Be assured, I have asked all these questions in my heart. Yet I
have found that in the end, God is trustworthy, good and all wise. And there are good
reasons to believe so.

What we need to Understand:
Understanding # 1 — God told us that we are living in one huge human tragedy
(singular), and that many tragedies (plural) would happen to people in this life.

Understanding # 2: God allowed for the possibility of tragedies to happen in our world
because he wanted people who could choose freely to love.

Understanding # 3: God has a plan for ending all human suffering and permanently
destroying all sources of evil including Satan, the devil. The timing is slower than we would
like, but is actually designed to give more people the chance to be saved.

Understanding # 4: Earthquakes, and other natural disasters often have a good purpose for
the natural world and are following the laws of nature that God established.

Understanding # 5: Sometimes disasters are the acts of God judging a sinful world, and
sometimes they are not.

Understanding # 6: There is an evil being called Satan (or the Devil) who can cause
destruction, disease, and death.

Understanding # 7: Children are a special case when it comes to God, life and death.

Understanding # 8: Oftentimes there are human factors involved in even “natural
disasters” that we don’t know about: famines, mudslides, or sand storms caused by
deforestation; earthquakes caused by dams; fires caused by human over-protection;
disease brought on by accidents or misusing our bodies, and during an earthquake, a
building’s collapse, and deaths caused by it might be due to poor materials used.

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