@differbtly@_answersking Sorry I know that’s a lot. I don’t have a verified account so I can only make my comment so long. What are your thoughts on this though? I’m curious I really enjoy talking about this stuff with people.
@differbtly@_answersking 5. No. I look at a broken world and a holy God who can still meet people in the middle of it, hold them, and bring them through.
@differbtly@_answersking 4. That verse doesn’t mean God enjoys the fire. It means He can use it to refine. So when tragedy hits, I don’t look at a baby with cancer and say, “that child must’ve done something.” No. And I don’t look at an earthquake and say, “God just wanted to flex.”
@differbtly@_answersking 3. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. Zechariah 13:9
@differbtly@_answersking 2. That matters, because it keeps us from making pain into some cold little equation like, “if I did good, God owes me comfort.” That’s a transaction, not relationship.
@differbtly@_answersking 1. God gave man dominion and real choice, and this world is broken because of that. So a lot of suffering is not God personally aiming a dart at innocent people. It’s the fallout of a world that went sideways.
@differbtly@_answersking I get that a lot, and to be honest, this used to confuse me too. I totally understand where you’re coming from. Hear me out and we can discuss further. Let me drop a couple comments here.
@differbtly@_answersking Thats not from God its the fallen state of man and the Earth. God doesnt give cancer. Humans spray crops, smoke cigarettes, eat fake food, and live unhealthily.