God's Judgement

[Fred_4]

Yesterday I learned that my uncle, who has been having problems, may have ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. There are some more tests to be done, but whatever it is… it ain’t good.

My uncle has always been a bit of a “black sheep” in the family for his rather “Jimmy Buffett” lifestyle in the Virgin Islands. He’s smoked cigarettes at least since Viet Nam, and is an alcoholic, although a functional one. And a nice guy.

So I’m talking to my mom, (who is a fundementalist, evangelical, “Bible Christian” person), yesterday who gave me the news. And she goes right into this whole “this is caused by the cigarettes and booze and this is what happens when you live a sinful lifestyle like that and yada yada yada…” Which she immediately contradicted by talking about a man in her church who suffered from ALS for 8 some years before dying.

So this has been bothering me since. Even if this were true, what would Jesus do? Kick a man when he’s down? But I don’t believe that it’s true. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. I’ve even heard Fr. Corapi say something similar on Relevant Radio… to the effect that 9/11 was a wake up call from God for America’s immorality.

So I guess my question is, or what I’d appreciate help with is, does anyone know of any official Church teaching on this subject? Does God punish our “sins” by giving us terminal diseases? Is an appropriate response to a situation like this to pass judgement, saying, “Tsk tsk! There you go! You should have gotten to church and lived right!”?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Newbie2]

Does God punish our “sins” by giving us terminal diseases? Is an appropriate response to a situation like this to pass judgement, saying, “Tsk tsk! There you go! You should have gotten to church and lived right!”?

Thanks for your help.

No, he doesn’t. Punishment comes after death.

It’s never appropriate to pass such judgment, unless one is the Almighty.

There ya go.

 

[coda]

Yesterday I learned that my uncle, who has been having problems, may have ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. There are some more tests to be done, but whatever it is… it ain’t good.

My uncle has always been a bit of a “black sheep” in the family for his rather “Jimmy Buffett” lifestyle in the Virgin Islands. He’s smoked cigarettes at least since Viet Nam, and is an alcoholic, although a functional one. And a nice guy.

So I’m talking to my mom, (who is a fundementalist, evangelical, “Bible Christian” person), yesterday who gave me the news. And she goes right into this whole “this is caused by the cigarettes and booze and this is what happens when you live a sinful lifestyle like that and yada yada yada…” Which she immediately contradicted by talking about a man in her church who suffered from ALS for 8 some years before dying.

So this has been bothering me since. Even if this were true, what would Jesus do? Kick a man when he’s down? But I don’t believe that it’s true. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. I’ve even heard Fr. Corapi say something similar on Relevant Radio… to the effect that 9/11 was a wake up call from God for America’s immorality.

So I guess my question is, or what I’d appreciate help with is, does anyone know of any official Church teaching on this subject? Does God punish our “sins” by giving us terminal diseases? Is an appropriate response to a situation like this to pass judgement, saying, “Tsk tsk! There you go! You should have gotten to church and lived right!”?

Thanks for your help.

Consider that God sends suffering into people’s lives to bring them closer to Him. The Church does teach us that we will have to make amends to God for our sinfulness.{ to the extent our sins are free choices in spite of God’s will for us} The Church also tells us that we can make amends here, while living} and/or in purgatory{ after dying in Christ}. Think of suffering as making some amendment to God while on earth. Just as His Son suffered for us, we can offer our suffering up to His Son. Try not to consider it punishment, but rather, a blessing of sorts. But passing judgement on anyone other than yourself never helps a situation. Generally, we already know our weak areas without someone saying “I told you so!”.

 

[Harmony1988]

Sounds remarkably like some of my family members who say the same baseless things.

Then in that case all people who suffer from ALS and other diseases are alcoholics, cigarette smokers and whatever else

 

[coda]

Sounds remarkably like some of my family members who say the same baseless things.

Then in that case all people who suffer from ALS and other diseases are alcoholics, cigarette smokers and whatever else

?

 

[wcknight]

Humans have all sorts of weaknesses, and some may or may not kill us or adversely affect our health. During WW2, almost all soldiers smoked, and of course later many died from cancer or heart problems as a direct result of their smoking or life style.

Yet this does not in any way diminish the service that they did for our country and the world. They prevented a madman from taking over the world, and they allowed freedom to prevail.

Your uncle may not be a war hero or have led an ideal life working and scrambling like some folks. The question is whether he was/is a decent and upright man. How did he treat others ? Does he love God above all else, and did he love his neighbors ??

I don’t think anyone can answer that except between himself and God.