God's Nature

The Unnature of Death and Why God Allows Pain

Death is the end of life. Like evil, it is a negative, having no power. One dies when he turns away from life. When God created Adam, (the human father of all ordinary humans,) He told him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam and Eve ate of tree, they were banished from the garden, because God did not want them to eat of the tree of life. He did not want us to live forever having disobeyed Him, it is not out of vengeance that He lets us die: He does not want us to be immortal sinners. This also makes the case against God's egotism: God can and should demand praise, because the only alternative is death.

Some would say human agency subtracts from God's omnipotence, but this is not the case. God still owns us, and sustains us, but He allows us to do as we choose. To say God owns both creditor and debtor, in the case of death, is false. Death does not fall under His power because He did not create it. It does, however, fall under His laws. God allowed us to become indebted to death, but once we die our bodies go back into creation. Our spirits, before Jesus filled it, would have fallen into the pit of our debt. If, as God's property, we were taken away, He would have lost. He has not lost, and all creation will be returned to Him in the end. Even that which is evil will be thrown into His Hell.

While the destruction of our sin is accomplished by our death, the destruction of death was accomplished by Jesus'. Man sold himself to death, and has fallen into a hole with no bottom. He has an eternal debt to death because of his sin. So God sent his Son into a human body to die and fill the abyss of our debt. He had to be eternal to accomplish this.

In questions of pain, remember that God has no power over evil.

There are two kinds of pain; constructive pain, and pain as punishment. The reason for the second is obvious, the reason for the suffering of innocents is harder to explain. Jesus suffered, but also remember what His death accomplished.

The Scripture states in Hebrews 2:10: "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering."

The author of our salvation was certainly innocent, but he was not completed. Why do we not die at birth, or after we have children? Because God's love is greater than mere kindness. Traditional parents understand discipline, blows and wounds cleanse away evil; they play a part in our maturity. It is not injustice for God to let pain be caused to us, because pain is a part of our completion. A human should not charge God with injustice because he does not like God's actions. Think of temporary injustice as growing pains.