Romans 3:10-12
New International Version
10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Does God cause suffering?
Human suffering
exists because sin exists. When Adam and Eve disregarded God’s command
and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “the eyes of
both of them were opened” (Genesis 3:7), and death, along with all the suffering the reality of death implies, came into the world (Genesis 2:16–17). The results of sin are explained in Genesis 3:14–19. Sin affected humanity’s relationship with God, with each other, and with the animals. Even the ground was cursed (see also Romans 8:20–21).
Sin would specifically result in increased pain in childbearing,
laborious toil in work, and contentiousness in human relationships.
Ultimately, sin would result in physical death. In broader terms, sin
opened the door for all kinds of suffering throughout all of creation.
Since God is the “First Cause,”
He is responsible for the fact that suffering can exist. God created
Adam and Eve knowing that they would sin. He knew the suffering that
would exist in the world as a result. However, He also made redemption
possible. God’s ultimate plan was for God the Son (Jesus Christ) to take
on human flesh, live a human life complete with all the suffering of a
fallen world, be crucified though He had not sinned, and rise again to
life, having defeated sin and death. All who put their faith in Jesus
will be saved. God’s gift of grace to us cost Him greatly. God knows the
fullness of human suffering in ways we do not. And yet He also knows
the fullness of joy that redemption brings. God certainly allows
suffering; ultimately, He does so for His good purposes (Romans 1:18–32; 8:18–39).
God is good, and everything He does is good (1 John 1:5). God can never be the author of evil (James 1:13–17).
Suffering is a direct result of sin running rampant. Humanity’s sin
opened the door to Satan’s limited rule as god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4).
We suffer due to our own sins, the sins of other people, and the
general fact of living in a fallen world. Often, God allows the natural
consequences of sin to play out.
It is true that God sometimes takes more direct credit for suffering.
Sometimes, God causes suffering as a judgment against the wicked or as a
call to the wicked to repent, such as with the plagues in Egypt
or the end-times judgments described in Revelation. We see God enact
consequences upon Israel for their disobedience—consequences we would
call “suffering” (Deuteronomy 28; 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Chronicles 9:1). We see God more passively “cause” suffering by giving people over to their sins (Romans 1:18–32). But we know that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; He would much rather they “repent and live” (Ezekiel 18:32; cf. 33:11). In 2 Peter 3:9
we read, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some
understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone
to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God does not inflict
suffering out of sadistic pleasure, but out of a desire to draw people
to Himself. When people refuse to repent, the suffering serves as part
of the due penalty for sin (Romans 6:23).
God also uses suffering to train His children and refine or test their faith (James 1:2–4; 1 Peter 1:6–9; Hebrews 12:7–11).
Of course, “no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for
those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).
Whether God intentionally causes a hardship in our lives or allows a
hardship into our lives, He uses it for our growth and good (Romans 8:28–30).
We can and should examine our lives and ask God to reveal any sinful
tendencies He is ridding us of. If needed, we should repent and seek to
put those sins to death. Putting our sinful tendencies to death
generally feels like suffering, but it results in life (John 15:10–11; Galatians 5:13–26; Colossians 3:5–14).
Even if there’s no sin associated with our suffering, God can use it in
our lives to draw us closer to Him and to deepen our faith. No matter
the reason for our suffering, we can bring our pains and struggles to
God, knowing that He cares for us and will walk with us through the
suffering (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 43).
Another aspect of suffering is spiritual warfare. God allows Satan and his demons certain latitude, such as we see in the case of Job. In Ephesians 6 we read about the spiritual armor with which God has equipped us so that we can stand firm against the devil’s attacks. First Peter 5:6–11
encourages us to cast our anxieties on God, resist Satan, recognize
others are suffering similarly, and trust that “the God of all grace,
who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a
little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and
steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10).
Too, we sometimes suffer from persecution (Matthew 5:11–12; 2 Timothy 3:12).
Jesus told His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me
you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
As with any suffering, when our hardships are a result of persecution,
our response is to turn to God, as only He can sustain us.
It should be noted that sometimes the source and purpose of suffering is
not immediately obvious to us. Sometimes, hardship can seem like too
much, or we wonder why God allows a certain person to suffer so deeply
through no fault of his own. Jesus offered a glimpse at an answer when
His disciples wanted to know why a man was born blind (John 9:1–12).
They rushed to the conclusion that someone’s sin must have caused it.
“‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this
happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (John 9:3).
This tells us that, in part, God allows or even causes human suffering
in order to bring about a greater good. Sometimes, it takes suffering to
enlarge our view of God. Paul talked about being given a “thorn”
in his flesh to help him not become conceited. He pleaded with God to
remove it, but God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul said, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
An additional consideration in the question of whether God causes
suffering is God’s sovereignty and human free will. We know that God is
in control of all things. We also know that human choice has a
meaningful impact in the world. We know that God cannot be the author of
evil of any kind. So, when God “causes” suffering, is He simply
orchestrating the results of natural evil to work to His good purposes?
Could it be that everything we deem to be “suffering” is not
antithetical to good?
Suffering, no matter its cause or its precise type, is not an experience
any would choose. But the more we come to know God and see His
character, the more we understand how He can take even the hardship of
suffering and work it for His purposes. Not only that, but we can share
honestly with God about our struggles and even our doubts. Hebrews 4:15–16
says, “For we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to
empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help us in our time of need.” We can and should also share our
struggles with others, being willing to weep together and lift each
other up in love (John 13:34–45; Romans 12:9–16; 2 Corinthians 1:3–7; Galatians 6:2, 7–10; Hebrews 10:19–25).
Paul encouraged, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we
are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our
light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that
far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18).
The Lord God Almighty is sovereign.
That means no matter how much suffering we endure, He has not
relinquished control over His creation. If He were helpless to stop
suffering, He would not be God. If He instigated evil, He would not be
good. But when a good and sovereign God causes people to suffer, it is
for their eternal benefit and His eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10).
Those who know Him can live in confidence that, no matter how difficult
the journey, the moment we see Him face-to-face our eyes will be opened
and we will exclaim, “Now I understand why I went through that! Of
course! Thank you, Father. It was the only right thing to do!”
KRISTI BURKE'S DEPRAVED MINDSET EXPOSED
YO KRISTI THE DEVIL IS PLAYING YOUR SONG
Does the Bible condone slavery?
A rebuttal to Kristi Burke's diatribe as presented in the above video by falsely accusing God of being a SLAVE MASTER
There is a tendency to look at slavery as something of the past. But it
is estimated that there are today over 27 million people in the world
who are subject to slavery: forced labor, sex trade, inheritable
property, etc. As those who have been redeemed from the slavery of sin,
followers of Jesus Christ should be the foremost champions of ending
human slavery in the world today. The question arises, though, why does
the Bible not speak out strongly against slavery? Why does the Bible, in
fact, seem to support the practice of human slavery?
The Bible does not specifically condemn the practice of slavery. It gives instructions on how slaves should be treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-15; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1),
but does not outlaw slavery altogether. Many see this as the Bible
condoning all forms of slavery. What many fail to understand is that
slavery in biblical times was very different from the slavery that was
practiced in the past few centuries in many parts of the world. The
slavery in the Bible was not based exclusively on race. People were not
enslaved because of their nationality or the color of their skin. In
Bible times, slavery was based more on economics; it was a matter of
social status. People sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay
their debts or provide for their families. In New Testament times,
sometimes doctors, lawyers, and even politicians were slaves of someone
else. Some people actually chose to be slaves so as to have all their
needs provided for by their masters.
The slavery of the past few centuries was often based exclusively on
skin color. In the United States, many black people were considered
slaves because of their nationality; many slave owners truly believed
black people to be inferior human beings. The Bible condemns race-based
slavery in that it teaches that all men are created by God and made in
His image (Genesis 1:27).
At the same time, the Old Testament did allow for economic-based
slavery and regulated it. The key issue is that the slavery the Bible
allowed for in no way resembled the racial slavery that plagued our
world in the past few centuries.
In addition, both the Old and New Testaments condemn the practice of
“man-stealing,” which is what happened in Africa in the 16th to 19th
centuries. Africans were rounded up by slave-hunters, who sold them to
slave-traders, who brought them to the New World to work on plantations
and farms. This practice is abhorrent to God. In fact, the penalty for
such a crime in the Mosaic Law was death: “Anyone who kidnaps another
and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to
death” (Exodus 21:16).
Similarly, in the New Testament, slave-traders are listed among those
who are “ungodly and sinful” and are in the same category as those who
kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, adulterers and perverts, and
liars and perjurers (1 Timothy 1:8– 10).
Another crucial point is that the purpose of the Bible is to point the
way to salvation, not to reform society. The Bible often approaches
issues from the inside out. If a person experiences the love, mercy, and
grace of God by receiving His salvation, God will reform his soul,
changing the way he thinks and acts. A person who has experienced God’s
gift of salvation and freedom from the slavery of sin, as God reforms
his soul, will realize that enslaving another human being is wrong. He
will see, with Paul, that a slave can be “a brother in the Lord” (Philemon 1:16).
A person who has truly experienced God’s grace will in turn be
gracious towards others. That would be the Bible’s prescription for
ending slavery.
BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING BELOW, BE ADVISED THAT KRISTI BURKE'S BLOG HAS BEEN REMOVED. I BELIEVE THAT IT IS PLAUSIBLE SHE CLOSED HER BLOG ACCOUNT IN ORDER TO PREVENT ME FROM HAVING ACCESS TO OTHER SENSITIVE INFORMATION. SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, I AM GLAD I WAS ABLE TO EXTRACT THIS INFORMATION BEFORE HER BLOG WAS DELETED.
A Kristi Burke's past religious life:
Kristi Burke's Religious Trauma eventually led her to become an Atheist. The following is an excerpt from her blog April 26, 2021:
Ten years earlier
I was slumped in shock in the living room of my home. Twelve familiar faces were circling around me, intervention style. Their eyes were burning through me—Bibles at their sides, with hands clinging to tissues. I was nineteen at the time, but I was still a child to them. These faces were heavy with disappointment, and they were taking turns letting me know just that.
They were there to bring me back to god. They believed that he had given them the authority to do just that. They felt that because I was partying on the weekends, exploring my sexuality, and questioning my faith, I was being pulled under satan's evil grip. Each one took a self-righteous moment to let the judgment and shame roll off their tongues, spilling out and spreading around me like toxic sludge.
This was when they revealed that they had been watching my every move for quite some time. They had been illegally tracking my digital activity and communications. They installed a keylogger program on my computer and phone that gave them full access to my life, even the most secret and private moments. They printed what they considered to be the worst of it, gripping to a stack in their laps as they shamed me for what was inside them. I had never felt such a deep violation of privacy before that moment. I felt humiliated and small and confused.
As the night progressed and they didn't get the response they hoped for, I was physically detained and prayed over, accused of things I didn't do, held against my will, and even threatened by a grown man with a closed fist. They took my computer and car keys, and an attempt was made to conceal my phone; they didn't want to give me the opportunity to call someone to pick me up. There was a moment that night when I felt so terrified that I fell to the floor and felt that familiar weakening feeling: racing heart, numb face, tight lungs, a panic-induced asthma attack. I was given an inhaler, but not before furious purple faces hurled their rage, accusing me of faking it entirely. Thankfully, within a few hours, I managed to get the hell out.
Continuing with her article Mrs. Burke makes the following recommendations to her viewers( there are several but I just selected this one in order to expose the dark side of her persona):
#5) Find your identity. Discover what makes you happy, especially if the church forbade it. Watch dirty movies, read raunchy books, date around, do shrooms in the forest, rock some heavy cleavage- whatever makes you happy and allows your freak flag to fly high (please do this responsibly. And legally *wink*)
A side note here: You may be wondering what is a SCHROOM. Answere: from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- A mushroom, especially one taken as a
- psychedelic drug.
- Dear viewer: This to me speaks volumes about this woman's persona. Just use your own imagination.
Resources - Recovering from Religion
- There is no doubt in my mind that the diatribes and heretical views which she publishes on her videos on Tik Tok against God, the Bible and Christianity in general are being drawn from the above aforementioned website. If you carefully scrutinize the contents of her videos to what this website promotes/endorses, you will be able to connect the dots.
- Below are two videos as an example
- In this video below Kristi Burke claims that her moral
- values are far more superior as an Atheist than when
- she was a Christian. Keep on reading below this video for the absolute truth.
"Committing sacrilege in speech, art, or any other outlet, is a way of empowering ourselves and showing our abuser, the church, that we are no longer afraid. We've let go of the shame and the guilt we never deserved to have in the first place. We let go of the need to be accepted by a community of people that require subservience over genuineness. We live with the scars and the trauma but still we overcome. We fight for our existence, our truth and our power. We create art which destroys the fears that once kept us bound. We express ourselves in ways that help us process and heal from our trauma, but also inadvertently offends those who've yet to break their own chains- because fear still clouds their eyes. We show them what it looks like to live fearlessly and proud, and hope that it might one day inspire them to break away and do the same. We just want to heal and live our truth the best way we know how. We can play with our fears because they no longer rule us. We can give lap dances to Satan and sell sneakers with pentagrams and create a mockery of everything that wanted to suppress us because that is the ultimate way to gain back what they stole and reclaim our lives. To show them that they no longer rule us."
“For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.” Aldous Huxley, atheist, writer, novelist, philosopher".
Christianophobia is on the rise like never before especially in platforms like social media. Christianophobia refers to the state of being hateful or spiteful against Christians, Christianity, and God. A Christianophobe hates or despises Christians and/or what they stand for. Many Christians on Tik Tok have filed multiple complaints against Ms. Burke for Hate Speech/Christianophobia. According to a recent video she posted on Tik Tok, her account is being reviewed for possible termination. If so she has stated she plans to come to You Tube in order to continue her Anti-Christian diatribe. She professes to be an Atheist. The statements on her video above is a gross contradiction. Because Atheist DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD. Yet she unwittingly acknowledges God's very existence by using him as a scapegoat. Closely linked to the disillusioned are those who call themselves “atheists” when, in fact, they are anti-God. Atheist is a label some hide behind to mask a deep hatred toward God. Often due to childhood trauma or abuse in the name of religion/ Church, these people are consumed by an antipathy toward all things religious. The only way they can retaliate against a God they consider cruel is to deny Him vehemently. Events of the past have left wounds so deep that it is easier to deny the reality of God than admit that they hate Him. True atheists would not include this group in their numbers, as they recognize that to be angry with God is to acknowledge His existence. But many people do, in fact, call themselves atheists while simultaneously expressing outrage toward a God whose existence they deny.
Romans 1: 18-32
God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Dear viewer: Kristi Burke in her blog and videos has portrayed God as mankind's worst enemy. But in reality it's the other way around. SHE'S HER OWN WORST ENEMY! She just doesn't know it yet. Eventually she will one day self destruct.
What is the eternal judgement that awaits Kristi Burke and the likes of her if she continues in her current trajectory? The Word of God is very clear:
Revelation 21:8
8 tBut as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, utheir portion will be in vthe lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is wthe second death.”
For more articles on Kristi Burke simply click on the labels named after her below this article or at the top of this page .
QUOTATIONS WERE FROM GOTQUESTIONS.ORG
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