☦︎ BSc in Philosophy
Washington, DC
Joined November 2020
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The Bible on our attitude towards suffering:
There are many Christians that adhere to the conviction that our good deeds mean that we are entitled to freedom from suffering. We often tell ourselves, "If I do what God says, then God will exempt me from pain & suffering."
They hold the conviction if God's favor is earned or negotiable (i.e. transactional) then God will bless them. The Bible actually challenges this conviction, and inverts this attitude on its head.
Old testament books like Ecclesiastes and Job display profound existential themes of people that, despite being obedient to God, still endure profound pain, suffering, and injustice. It highlights that despite doing our best to follow God, we still face despair, futility and unsettling emptiness.
The New Testament carries similar themes of suffering (e.g. 1 Peter 3:14, Romans 5:3-5, John 16:33, etc), and highlights that suffering not only deconstructs pseudo-securities but produces and reinforces character, perseverance, humbleness, and calls us to embrace it.
Not only is transactional theology completely problematic and antithetical to the Biblical message, it morphs God into a cosmic transaction and instrumentally utilizes faith to gain leverage. Furthermore, those who adhere to transactional theology tend to idolize a pseduo-character of God and therefore cling to a fragile relationship that is easily shattered at the first sign of hardship. They are prone to the idea that if God does not approve what they give, then God doesn't love or favor them.
The point of suffering is not to embrace it because you expect or feel entitled to an outcome from God, but to embrace it because God sanctifies and humbles you in the process of suffering.
