Bible Discussion Thread

Why does God say in Romans 2:11 For there is no respect or person with God and there are so many people with physical or mental disabilities? I have a daughter with profound autism and Raynaud's syndrome. She just had surgery to remove for hand due to Raynaud's and now we are waiting for her to wake up to see if she has had significantly more brain damage due to a massive seizure which put her in ICU. My husband has always had a difficulty understanding that and I am not able to explain in a sense of him understanding. We have had a few explanations previously and it seemed good, but when our daughter got hit with this, his faith seems to have gone down the toilet.

It's so very hard to watch some one that you love suffer , especially when that some one is an innocent little one . This has been the situation since the begining of creation , many thousand of faithful Jews and Christians have gone through exactly what you are going through now and many thousands of them would not have had any medical resources at all . Please continue to pray to God , you and your whole family ( I am assuming that you are all Christians ) pour your heart out to Him , He hears you through Christ our Sinless Redeemer . Ask all your Christian friends to pray for your daughter also. I guess it's not a comfort to you for me to say that things could be even worse and indeed are for many people across this world . We must all accept God's plan for us and our family , this is what faith is , trusting in Him in times of great distress and darkness . ill health and death are a part of life , for all humans , we Christians have a massive advantage over atheists and idolaters , we know the Truth and we have to learn to rest in it and take comfort from it . It's hard not to be angry with God , I do know because I too am human and have suffered and witnessed the suffering of others . This is our faith , that we continue to love Him and trust in Him and His love for us no matter what the weather is , smooth sailing or rough seas ,He is with us and we must cling tighter to Him , He will bring you all back to the safe harbour but you must have faith and patience and pray always . You can be sure that many who read this site will keep you all in our thoughts . Please keep us informed .

DearSSTeach,

Adam has given you a good answer, but it may not be what you are looking for. I just don't think we can truly explain why someone like your daughter has such major sufferings and others go through life like a breeze.

God has given yo a unique situation for you to learn to love patiently, compassionately, and selflessly with your daughter. May God strengthen you each day in these ways. Gpd brings about what he does for our future benefit, most often.

I pray tonight in the name of Jesus that your daughter will not have lost any brain function, that there was not further brain damage. Lord, Jesus, keep this daughter from having more seizures ensuring that she has the proper medications and dosages that are effective. Help this mother and father to stick together on this difficult road you have them to travel. Be near them and walk with them along the way, for they will need to lean on you and depend on you for strength, for endurance, and f aith. Amen.

Thank you for your answers; however, it still doesn't answer the question. Our child doesn't have free will. She cannot make choices whether good or bad. She cannot steal, she cannot win awards, cannot get married or have children. So how is it that God has no respect or person? She is guaranteed a spot in heaven; but again, that means God is partial to her and is giving her a free ride. We need an explanation. And, where the explanation is in the Word. We have yet to find it.

Hi SSTeach,

I'm sorry you are facing such challenges.

Someone else just asked something similar this morning.

Have you read the rest of the Romans 2? I'd suggest starting with that.

I think a common underlying assumption is that we deserve to have good health, comfort and wealth in this life and if God is good then He'll serve me with that. I personally believe its the opposite. That we're not entitled to anything, that we're blessed and fortunate to even be alive at all and given this opportunity to serve Him (not ourselves), and that God created us for His pleasure, not our own. He's not a genie in a lamp existing to serve us. It's not all about us.

What is the purpose of this life? We will all die very soon. The end may come any day. There are no guarantees of anything. God didn't promise us health and wealth in the Bible. Anyone saying that is lying. All someone has to do is read the Word and you can see that it says the opposite- in this life we'll face many trials. And we as Christians will face persecution. We are being tested. People in the Bible who served the Lord didn't have massive health and wealth. Paul who wrote much of the Bible was chased by Romans who wanted him dead, was imprisoned, probably starved, maybe injured, walked probably thousands of miles in the sun, shipwrecked, and was allowed to have a thorn in his flesh- whatever that means. Job had everything stripped of him, faced enormous hardship. Other Bible people had all kinds of problems too.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - just as we wont be tempted more than what we can bear I think God won't give us more of anything beyond what we can bear. I think our character is being tested. I don't think God creates hardship directly but allows bad things to happen to us. Why assume that makes God bad? God allowed Himself to be tortured and die to atone for our sinful behavior- a gift if we choose to accept it. God allows evil to happen to us, because He loves us enough to give freewill. God bless.