“Suffering is the punishment of sin”
INTRODUCTION
The idea of “Suffering is the punishment of sin” belongs to our core psychological understanding . It’s not only in the Christian world view but in general our society and surrounding environment (especially religious community) sows the seed that if we do bad than bad things would occur to us and if we do good or positive things than good or positive things would occur to our life. But it’s not only that our social environment teach us that sin = suffering but The Holy Bible also refers about this statement and also resist it in many way . Suffering is a unpleasant , painful experience it could be mental, physical or spiritual . We can see that the following verse claims that suffering is the punishment of sin :- Romans 6:23a ; Hebrew 12:10 ; Romans 8:22-23; 2 Thessalonians 1:9 ; Psalm 66:18 & Proverbs 1:28-29 28 ; Genesis 3 ; John 9:31; Samuel 11, 12; 1 Kings 1, 2 ; Proverbs 11:21 . On the other hand we can look up to the Jobs story in the book of Job in the bible. Who did not suffered for his sin. Some times punishment occurs so we can edify ourselves and our faith.
what is suffering?
According to the well known online encyclopedia “Wikipedia” suffering is- “Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena.” Suffering can be mental, physical or spiritual & the level of pain from suffering varies from person to person.
Suffering in the Christian world view
In the Christian worldview suffering is little diverse . People with Christian faith believes in the term of “ Original Sin ”. Which means the sin that was occurred by the first humans / Adam & Eve (according to the Christian faith). That’s how sin entered into the mankind & also according to book of Genesis (chapter 3) they received some punishment and sufferings along that. In this term we all suffer because of sin but not necessarily for our own sin. So it means every suffering is caused by sin(original sin) but as an individual person they do not necessarily suffer for individual/ Actual sin. The biblical principal of sin are:
1/ Man sin causes evil & suffering.
2/ God use suffering to judge the wicked.
3/ God use the suffering to discipline us.
4/ God use the suffering to Edify us.
5/ God Does good things through suffering.
6/ God has a reason for suffering.
What is sin?
In the general sense sin doing something bad, unethical, immoral, unfair things. But in the Christian world view some says disobeying any of 613 laws of God from the last and the 5th book of Pentateuch- Deuteronomy. Some says disobeying the 10 commandments of LORD is sin. Some say’s that disobeying the great commandant that Jesus said in Matthew 22:35-40; & in Mark 12:30-31(Love your neighbour as yourself & love LORD with all of you). Some says disobeying any one rule or law of LORD is sin. According to the Wikipedia the biblical view of sin is “Christian hamartiology describes sin as an act of offense against God by despising his persons and Christian biblical law, and by injuring others. In Christian views it is an evil human act, which violates the rational nature of man as well as God's nature and his eternal law.” Everybody is doing sin by unawareness or by free will. No one can claim that he/she did not sinned. If anyone claims that then he’ll do sin against LORD according to 1 John 1:8 “ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Types of sin
According to the Christian worldview there is 2 types of sin:
1/ Original Sin:
Original sin’s history leans back to the book of Genesis Chapter 3. It is a “theological faith that every one by birth is a sinner because Adam and Eve caused the sin to enter in mankind. In the Wikipedia we can find that “Original sin is the Christian doctrine that humans inherit a tainted nature and a proclivity to sin through the fact of birth. Theologians have characterized this condition in many ways, seeing it as ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred to as a "sin nature", to total depravity or automatic guilt of all humans through collective guilt.”
2/ Actual Sin:
Actual sin are those sins that an individual person does against LORD with their free will.
Punishment of Sin
If we look toward Romans 6:23a (“For the wages of sin is death” ) we can see that it clearly says the wage of sin is death. Death in this case is a punishment. We can see in the beginning from Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis on chapter 3. They had been kicked out from the heaven and received punishment for sin. Even in the New Testament we can see an example of mental suffering that sinners receives as a punishment of their sin in the book of John chapter 9:31(We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him) . It claims that lord does not listen to the prayers of sinners & it is a mental suffering that is caused by sin. The same idea can be found in Psalm 66:18 & Proverbs 1:28-29 28 . In Proverbs 11:21 we can clearly see that it is saying “ Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.” We can also see the Great king David as an example in 2 Samuel 11, 12; 1 Kings 1, 2. “He got punished for his sin. David married the widowed Bathsheba, but their first child died as punishment from God for David’s adultery and murder of Uriah. David repented of his sins.” So we can see that every time sin comes with a consequence and those consequences are some degrees of suffering either mental, physical or spiritual.
Why do we need suffering as punishment of sin?
At first it helps us to discipline our self. It helps us to grow both in worldly and in spiritual way. It forces us to rethink about our behavior our lifestyles, our moral - immoral attitudes, our obedience toward LORD.
Conclusion
I personally believe that suffering is a punishment for sin. Sin and suffering are two detachable figures also detachable terms in every persons life . Suffering has entered to this world for Adam and eves original sin. We can get forgiveness for our original by accepting Jesus Christ as a saviour. But the suffering is still a result of sin. Because the original or first sin had some permanent consequences of suffering that’s why every suffering is caused by sin(original sin) but as an individual person they do not necessarily suffer for individual/ Actual sin. Man causes the evil and suffering by his own choices. God allows those suffering for great reasons that we do not get every time. Maybe we can’t see all the results in this life but still those will be judged in the final judgement. Many of us tries to feel nothing or tries to ignore, avoid the consequences or the aftermaths of sin that we had done. The suffering can be in any forms mental, physical or spiritual. Mental & physical sufferings are connected with each other in various degrees . When we realize that we had done something wrong. Something against our creator our LORD we start to feel discomfort. It is mental suffering in this case. In my childhood I had done a sin but I did not felt that it was a sin because I did not knew that it was sin. I was 7 years old back then. But when my father asked me about that and helped me to realize that it was a sin. I was feeling bad, mentally weak and I was having breathing issue. It effected me both mentally and physically. But I think this punishment is important because it helps us to edify ourselves into a better us. From that 7 years old kids experience in my life I know that it helped me to improve my moral quality.
Bibliography:
- English Standard Version Bible 2016 (ESV)
- Majumder, Rawel. Theology-3 course note.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zhmhgk7/revision/2
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffering
- https://www.christianity.com/wiki/god/does-god-punish-us-for-our-sins.html
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bathsheba-biblical-figure
- https://www.gracebible.com/Does-God-Allow-Evil-And-Suffering
- https://biblereasons.com/sinners/