Misfortune

Forums: Religion, Testing, Punishment, Boils
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Is misfortune a sign God hates you?
Or is it God testing you, because he loves you?

What do you think?

God gives punishment to the enemies of the Jews (Egyptians for example), but we also have analogies throughout the bible of testing. And by testing, we don't mean the modern term like a written exam where "You passed the SATs! Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the best college!" or " You failed! Dooooomed... " Testing as the Jews and early Christians mentioned refers to metallurgy. Specifically, the act of purifying metal.

The song How Firm a Foundation mentions this:

Quote:

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine

The question being how do you know, punishment and testing?
Or are they the same thing?

That is, was God also testing the Egyptians with the ten plagues?

I currently have painful sores on my body. Sun blisters, I think. Mom thinks it's an allergy to some plant outdoors. The Bible mentions everything from laws about leprosy, to boils encountered by the Egyptians, to Job's testing (which I could use as evidence of the other side of this theory), to Revelation (which I rejected) where it says that the damned are given boils.

Does bad things happen to good people because they are not good people? Or because they are good people?

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@bulmabriefs144,

Found this article.
1. Repentance: Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God
2. Reliance: Suffering is a call to trust God and not the life-sustaining props of this world
3. Righteousness: Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his righteousness and holiness.
4. Reward: Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousandfold.
5. Reminder: Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God’s condemnation but his purification.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/five-purposes-for-suffering
In other words, whether you someone like izzthepush or me, whether you love God, hate him, or refuse to believe he exists... it doesn't matter. Just as rain comes to all of us, just as suffering comes to all of us, grace comes to all of us.

The problem being that the while God's grace is unconditional, or love of God is not necessarily so. We have the evangelist types that are nonetheless rather unhappy (much like the people working in the field who squawk about those who joined at the eleventh hour), people who won't accept God because blame God for misfortune, and people who have been told imaginary friends are for chumps.

To love God, this is rare. This is not something like rain that everyone gets. Just as it's rare to accept that suffering is a part of life, much less rejoice in the idea.

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Misfortune

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