Would Heaven Offset The Horrible Pain We Suffer In This World?

            Our neighborhood consists of people experiencing incredible suffering.

            A child born to a mother who’s a drug addict lives a wretched life. Born out of wedlock, this child remains fatherless. This in itself is to add insult to injury. He suffers immensely because of his mother’s immature and cantankerous life. Abused incessantly by his mother, her boyfriends, and by the society that refuses to give him an opportunity to live a better life, he lives dangerously.

            This child matures into a teenager enduring these horrendous evils. He takes several wrong decisions that are essentially predicated on the countless insults, neglect, cruelty, and the brutal violence he suffers from.

            One such wrong decision kills him.

            Thankfully, he lives no more to experience the horrendous evils of this world. 

            Ergo, we ask two questions:

            (A) Would this teenager go to heaven? (If this teenager goes to hell, then the eternal torment of hell added to the pain he suffered during his life on earth, would lead to a very questionable God, to say the very least.)

            (B) More importantly, would heaven compensate for the untold suffering experienced in this world by this teenager? If so, how?

            First, would this teenager go to heaven?

            If this teenager died as a Christian, he would indeed go to heaven.

            But there are other possibilities too.

            This teenager could have been born into a non-christian household. In this instance, this teenager may not have been a Christian. Then again, this teen may have carried a deep anger against God.

            What happens then?

            An incessantly abused human being, living in utter pain and poverty, has a very remote chance to encounter God. Unless God pursues this person either through a direct or an indirect [divine] intervention, we can assume that he will not seek God.

            (Even if there is a divine intervention, what are the chances that this young man would believe in God? His pain is so horrendous that he would ask God why he’s been forsaken into such a dreadful life, for no fault of his.) 

            If this teen dies as a non-christian and goes to hell to undergo eternal torment, why did God create this person, to begin with? Isn’t it unfair of God to create such a person, who’s born into a painfully dysfunctional [non-christian] household? It is not the fault of the child to have been born into such a painfully horrendous life. It is God, who put him into that very position. So the onus is on God to save this human being.

            The Triune God revealed by the Bible is a loving, merciful, gracious and a just God. Such a God would do everything that HE ought to, to bring this person into HIS eternal presence (cf. Luke 16:22). The onus has to be on God because, in HIS infinite wisdom, HE allowed this child to be born into a painful existential situation.

            Can we then assume that every non-christian suffering horrendous pain will go to heaven? The parable of the rich man and Lazarus seems to suggest that the poor man was taken to heaven merely because of the pain he endured while on earth (cf. Luke 16:25).  But this verse cannot be used to formulate a doctrine of salvation that every suffering person will go to heaven irrespective of their religion or irreligion.

            So what happens to every non-christian who suffers horrendous pain? Will he/she go to heaven merely because they experience brutal suffering while on earth? No! If God does everything HE should, to bring this person to HIS presence, and if this person continues to consciously reject God, then we could posit a future of eternal torment for him/her.

            Having said this, we should remember that God, who places people, whom HE loves, in such hazardous existential lifestyles, would act according to HIS infinite love, grace, and mercy for these suffering souls. HIS decision about the eternal destination of these suffering souls would be a perfectly just decision.

            The second question we ask is this, would heaven compensate for the untold suffering experienced in this world by this teenager? If so, how?

            Memories of our life on earth and the ensuing disappointment are vital factors to be considered. If heaven erases our earthly memories, then our life in heaven could be devoid of any form of disappointment.

            But heaven would not erase our earthly memories. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus suggests this fact:

“There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores, who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores.

 “Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell, as he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side. So he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this fire.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ So the rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father—send Lazarus to my father’s house (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don’t come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.’ Then the rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He replied to him, ‘If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16: 19-31, NET, Emphasis mine)

            The rich man, who is in Hades, can vividly remember his earthly life. Ergo, we will remember our earthly life and along with it, its sorrows and joy. If we will remember our earthly lives in heaven, it is quite possible that we could carry the disappointment of our earthly life into our heavenly existence.

            The other possibility is that the joy of being with God and enjoying the perfect comforts of heaven will more than adequately compensate for the pain that we endure during our earthly life.

            Let us consider some earthly instances of the latter possibility to aid our understanding. If a blind man regains his sight, would he not celebrate his sight and be joyful (that he can now enjoy God’s creation)? Similarly, if a person confined to bed with illness is healed, would this person continue being bitter about his past illness or would he enjoy his healing and live a normal life?

            A blind man, if he regains his sight, would thank God and will be joyous that he can now enjoy the sight of God’s wonderful creation. Similarly, a person bedridden with illness, upon healing, will be thankful to God and celebrate his healing by enjoying the fullness of life that God has given to him.

            Likewise, when we are in heaven, the sadness or the bitterness of our past, even if we remember them, would be lost or would become insignificant while we are in the glorious presence of the Triune God. Considering the fact that we will be enjoying the abundant comforts of heaven, would we even have time in heaven to rue the sadness and pain of our earthly life?

            I don’t think so. 

Why Does God Not Heal And Save Despite Belief And Prayers?

             There’s pain and sickness all around us. As you read this article, you could be in pain. I am in moderate physical pain and have been in intense emotional pain. Moreover, those we know and do not know are suffering from a variety of painful situations. Christians as well as non-Christians are in pain.

            No one enjoys being in pain. No one enjoys observing the painful existence or the death of a loved one.

            When in pain we solicit help. Apart from atheists, the others pray to God for deliverance, healing and relief. It is more than just a mere fact that the walls of the hospitals have heard more intense prayers than the walls of the churches. Then there are local support systems (friends, hospitals, counseling centers etc.) that serve many.

            When we ardently believe in God and earnestly approach HIM in prayer, we expect healing and deliverance from the most gracious and the most loving God. God does heal; but healing and deliverance does not always happen, which is precisely why we have overcrowded hospitals and innovative measures to bury the dead or as an alternate, choose cremation.

            Some Christians teach that all sickness is because of sin. While sickness could be because of sin (Cf. 1 Corinthians 11: 29-30), we should also recollect that Christ denied that very notion, “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:1–3). Therefore, to state that sickness is always because of sin is theologically incorrect.

            It’s also not always true that Satan is the source of all sickness. These verses (Exodus 4:11, 2 Kings 15:5, Luke 1: 19-20) assert that God sends sickness. There are also situations when God sends evil upon the most righteous, “they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him…” (Job 42: 11, RSV, Emphasis Mine).

             I recently witnessed the death of a new born which was a consequence of a complicated pregnancy. In this instance, the new born died despite her parents’ ardent belief in God and fervent prayers. On the other hand, I have witnessed births of premature babies who continue to enjoy good health. So on one hand, God took away the life of a newborn but in another instance, HE blessed the newborn with life and good health.

            We can extend this situation to many scenarios. There are remarkable illustrations of freak accidents and freak births. Consider the lives of Joni Eareckson Tada, Nick Vujicic and many many more.

            Joni is paralyzed shoulder-down after a freak accident that fractured her 4^th and 5^th cervical levels. Nick was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of four limbs. Joni continues to remain a quadriplegic and Nick remains without his four limbs. Significantly, they remain grateful to God and continue to serve HIM with faith and fervor.

            Another famous argument against God is that HE does not heal amputees, even the amputees who are faithful Christians. Even the most famous pastors are not exempt from the predicament of pain. The author of best selling ‘Purpose Driven Life,’ Pastor Rick Warren’s son committed suicide recently.

            So the question ‘why does God not heal everyone’ is indeed pertinent.

            The greater problem is that some Christian teachers preach and teach that lack of faith in Christians defeats God’s plan to heal. This motivates a conclusion that Pastor Rick Warren did not have faith in God; hence God did not save his son from suicide. But it may be absurd to treat Pastor Rick Warren as an unbeliever. Therefore pain and death seem to be the lot of those who have utmost faith in Christ.

            We could also observe pain and healing from the perspective of God’s sovereignty. If God wills not to heal, then HE would not heal. This is the implication of God’s sovereignty.

            There are some who were not healed by God in the Bible, they are: Elisha (2 Kings 13: 14), Apostle Paul (Galatians 4:13-15; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10), Timothy (1 Timothy 5: 23), Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20), and Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25–27).

            Even Jesus did not heal everyone. For example, at Bethesda, Christ healed only one, although there were many who were ill there (John 5: 1-8).

            This affirms the notion that while God does heal; healing is not always assured to everyone.

            When God’s sovereignty is juxtaposed with God’s perfect justice and love, there should be very good reasons as to why God does not heal everyone. However, the sovereign God is not constrained to make it known to men. This too is an entailment of God’s sovereignty.

            How then do we understand the verses that proclaim healing upon God’s children? An oft quoted verse is Isaiah 53: 5, “by his wounds we are healed.” Hebrew word study reveals that “heal” (Hebrew “rapah”) does not always refer to physical healing, e.g. “Rapah” refers to spiritual healing in Jeremiah 3:22 (healing of faithlessness). The other two much quoted verses 1 Peter 2: 24 and Matthew 8: 16-17 are quotes of Isaiah 53.

            Suffering is an integral part of Christian life (John 16:33, Romans 8:17, 2 Corinthians 1:5, 2 Corinthians 4:8–10, Philippians 1:29, Hebrews 11: 35-38; James 5:10). Therefore, our attitude should be that of Job’s, “…Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said” (Job 2:10).

            Failure to receive healing from God is not a universal indication of our faithlessness or our sinfulness. Of this we must be sure. However, we should consciously ensure that we do not fall ill by indulging in sinful activities.  

            Therefore we infer that while God does heal, healing is not assured to everyone. While God may not heal everyone, HIS peace and guiding presence is available to all those believe in HIM during their trials and tribulations. So while we pray, we pray for healing as well as wisdom, peace, comfort and encouragement especially when healing does not come our way.

            Whether we are healed or not, we can always glorify God. To glorify God during our times of trials and tribulations is a greater testimony to God’s presence, and may we do just that. Amen.