Heavenly Welfare?

[Robert_in_SD]

I was listening to a catholic apologist discuss the concept of purgatory, and one of the points he was making was that we - as followers of Christ - are called to suffer with Christ. He stated in his talk that this was a very foreign idea among the protestants that he associated with prior to his conversion to the Catholic Church. In his discussion he referred to the idea of a “health and wealth” gospel - where one does not have to undergo suffering if he or she has enough “faith” to “spiritual welfare.”

My question to any protestants out there is: What is your reaction to the notion that we are called to suffer with Christ in this life, in order to share in His glory in the next?

 

[Robert_in_SD]

Wow. I thought I’d get at least one reply. I guess this topic was a real dud.

 

[Della]

Well, I’ll help kick start your thread with my own experience when I was a member of the Assemblies of God. Suffering was looked upon as either a direct punishment by God (in some circles within the AoG) and by others as necessary evils to be endured. But, the idea of offering up our sufferings in union with those of Christ was truly a foreign concept. More, it was considered, by those who even gave it any thought, to be one of those ideas of Catholicism that denied the “resurrection life of Christ” we as believers were told we were living in. Suffering was of the devil and to be “cast out” or prayed away, most certainly not to be embraced.