Moral Issues

Why do the Righteous Suffer? God’s Answer is a Question

Why do the Righteous Suffer? God Answer is a Questionby Chris Banescu –

In his book, Making Sense Out of Suffering, Peter Kreeft offers us a partial explanation of the mystery of why righteous men are afflicted by seemingly random and unjust suffering and many trials and tribulations in this life. He points us to the Scriptures, specifically the Book of Job, and the lessons we can learn from the suffering of the righteous Job and God’s answer to Job. “Who do you think you are, anyway? By what right do you unquestioningly assume that you can know the answer to this question? Are you in a position to answer it? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”, the author paraphrases God’s response to the long-suffering Job.

Kreeft explains that for many of us, the suffering we experience in this life will remain a mystery. While sometimes we may grasp the reason “why” we endure afflictions or God allows us a glimpse into the purpose behind our tribulations, most often we cannot know. To truly understand why we suffer would mean to know the mind of an infinite, omniscient, and omnipotent God. And that’s impossible. [Read more…]

Entire Church is Engaged in the Battle Against Evil

St. Stephen the Great Battle of Baiaby Chris Banescu –
In his reflection on the Lord’s Prayer, Orthodox Christian theologian Olivier Clément reminds us that all Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, must fight against evil and the powers of darkness that assault us individually and the world we live in. This spiritual and physical warfare goes on continually and no baptized Christian should avoid or ignore it.

Clément points out that this internal and external battle against the “Evil One” (meaning Satan and all the fallen angels) must be fought both internally and externally by all Christians, including monastics, clergy, and lay men and women alike. He calls on Christians to struggle against the evil inside us and also to fight against the evil surrounding us, in our society and culture, that’s constantly being fueled by demonic forces driven by Satan whom the Scriptures identify as the “Lord of death.” [Read more…]

Speak Out Against Evil and Reproach Evildoers To Preserve Justice

Speak Out Against Evil and Reproach Evildoers To Preserve Justice
“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future.

When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.” ~ Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Christianity Has Nothing to Say to People Who Don’t Understand Sin

Christianity Has Nothing to Say to People Who Dont Understand Sin
“Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness.

It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power – it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk.” ~ C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

Christian Martyrdom in Modern Age: Be Pious, Chaste, Moral, Faithful to God

Christian Martyrdom in Modern Age: Be Pious, Chaste, Moral, Faithful to God by Chris Banescu –
“If you never chase God out of your house, your soul, and your heart, it is the last and greatest martyrdom.” ~ Fr. Calistrat Chifan

We often think of Christian martyrs as men and women who lived long ago and courageously gave up their lives in defense of their faith. We think of saints and disciples who were fed to the lions, tortured, maimed, burned alive, dismembered, or slaughtered for proclaiming Christ as Lord and Savior or refusing to renounce Christianity.

We also witness similar modern day martyrdom of Christians living in the Middle East, Africa, and China. Like their ancient brethren these innocents are persecuted, shot, decapitated, tortured, blown up, burned alive, and murdered for simply being Christian or daring to publicly proclaim the Gospel.

Few of us would think of modern Christians living in North America, South America, Europe, Russia, Australia, or other parts of the world, where there’s no widespread oppression or persecution of the faithful, as doing anything worthy of the title “martyr.” We have freedom and religious liberty to worship God as citizens or residents of secular democracies or constitutional republics, where Christianity is either protected (in Russia, Romania, and a few other Eastern European countries) or tolerated, at least for now (in other Western countries). [Read more…]