is it God's will for children to get sick or die?

[anitaworship]

praise the lord everybody!

i am a new member and i have a question.

there is a brother that i work with that is a very serious christian. he really loves his children. his son was just diagnosed with one of the worse forms of leukemia!

everybody on the job knows that he and i are christians, and of course there question is why has God allowed this to happen?   what do i tell them?

[Soldier4Christ]

No, it is not God's will for any of us to get sick and die. Death and illness entered into this world when sin came in. Our fleshy bodies are imperfect and all of us must eventually die. God though would have that all be saved. We have the hope that through Him we all will have a glorified (perfect) body with no more sickness or death.

[2nd Timothy]

This is truly difficult to express for those who go through such a thing.   I agree with PR.   Everything bad in this life is the result of sin entering the world.  However, God does not take the death of His own lightly.  

Psa 116:15  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.


We have eternal life through Him even though we still die physically.

Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. [...]

This is the hope believers have!  Praise God what a Hope!!!   Even though your friend loves his son dearly, God loves Him more.    Regardless of why, the Hope we have trusting in the Lord, will bring us all Home where there will be no more death and tears.   That enemy will be destroyed in the end.

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Will be praying for your friends family and son during this trying time in their lives.

[glennd]

Just some thoughts...

      Yes, sickness and death are a result of sin entering the world through Adam but that doesn't answer the question of why a particular person is sick - especially if that person is a Christian and therefore redeemed from the curse of sin.  I think we need to keep several things in mind.

      1.  We are not to be condemned or guilty because we are sick.  I believe in healing but there are many factors involved and the fact is God does not heal everyone.  [My own son has type I diabetes].

      2.  God is in total control.  Nothing can come into the life of a Christian without God's specific permission.  That doesn't mean things are always pleasant or work out the way we would like them.  Ask Job, Joseph, Peter, and millions of Christians down through the ages.

      3.  God is love and God is good.  Everything He allows into our life is ultimately for our good.  This is hard to understand durning times of death of a loved one, serious health problems, persecution, etc.  We cannot understand it, only take it by faith.

        How to answer unbelievers?  Be honest.  "I don't know the why but I do know God.  He is loving in control even when my emotions and circumstances are crying out just the opposite." Sometimes that is all we can hold onto.  But if we will hold on, God will take through.  We need to remember that God is looking at developing us for eternity.  We see only 10 years, or 90 years of life, which isn't even a blip on the screen of eternity.  If handled rightly, wherever God allows in this life will build us for eternity.

      Reading the Psalms can be a great comfort.  Psalm 23 is specially meaningful if you realize David wrote it when he was afraid for life.  He thought he was going to be dead the next morning yet he wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd..."

[Soldier4Christ]

Hi glennd,

Welcome to Christians Unite. There are some wonderful Christians here and we enjoy such fellowship with other wonderful Christians. I hope you continue to join us in many wonderful conversations.

I am sorry to hear about your sons ailment.

You are right in saying that people should not be condemned for their illnesses. Any illness that we may experience here on here most likely is not the cause of our own individual sins. When Adam and Eve sinned it caused a curse on their fleshy bodies and it was extended to all of us. These fleshy bodies carry that curse today and it is doomed to be sick and eventually die. So it is a matter of what is known as the "original sin of man" and not necessarily that of our own recent sins.

When we receive our glorified bodies we will no longer have to contend with this. Yes God can and does heal these fleshy bodies according to his will. It is a part of the mystery that the majority of us will not know nor understand as to why some may be healed and others will not.

One of the most faith filled men in the Bible was Paul yet he, too, said that he had to suffer while in the flesh so I do not think that it is a subject of how much faith one does or does not have as some people try to make it out to be. We also know that none have more faith and understanding than Jesus himself. Jesus told us that we would have to suffer as He did while He was here on earth in the flesh.

[Frederic Dalton]

Yes I think Pastor Roger has explained that pretty well.

God does not believe in moral relativism. We're all sinners, and that backbiting about a deaf person is every bit as much a sin as murder. Therefore, if someone gets sick or dies at a young age, it absolutely does not mean that their sins are somehow less forgiveable than anyone elses, or that anyone else's sins are somehow less serious. Anyone who ever says "they got what they deserved" is indulging in self-righteousness - and Paul warns us about that in Romans 3:9-20. We're not qualified to pass judgement on other people - only God can do that. Whenever we try to judge people, we're behaving as though we think we're as good as God - and that's blasphemy.

Given that, it's amazing how lenient God can be. Everything good comes from God, including all food, all healing, your children: indeed, your very life, and the fact that you've reached whatever age you have.