Protestants do you believe in Redemptive Suffering?

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REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING

For the Full version visit www.rosary-center.org/ll49n2.htm

By Father Paul A. Duffner, O.P.

EMBRACE THE CROSS
The Cross was the instrument chosen by God for the redemption of mankind. That is why Our Savior refers to the hardships and fatigue and trials of daily life as the “cross” that we must embrace if we are to be His disciples. Accepting them in union with the passion of Christ gives them a redeeming power, a redeeming value, a share in the fruits of His Passion. The “cross” can include everything that goes against the grain, and that can be an endless list. To mention a few examples: physical pain, mental anguish, disappointments, depression, humiliations, delays, sickness, poverty, set-backs in business, loneliness, being misunderstood or falsely accused, hardships and fatigue of daily routine, sadness at death of family member or friend, the difficult sacrifices in fulfilling God’s commandments and the duties in our state in life, etc. All these entail suffering, and are part of the penalty of sin of our fallen nature.
 
I used to be a well-educated Protestant, and I am unaware of any Protestant denomination that believes that anyone’s suffering can benefit another person. I could be wrong, and if I am, I will embrace correction 😃
 
I grew up in the Pentecostal tradition (and my father was a Pentecostal minister). There seemed to be two views among people in the church regarding suffering:
  1. Satan caused the suffering; everything bad was a result of Satan trying to oppress God’s people; or
  2. God allowed us to endure trials to strengthen us (but again, the “bad” things came from Satan; God just allowed it).
Like DaveBj said, we were never taught that our suffering could benefit someone else. It was always centered on the self.
 
We believe that our suffering can be and is expected to be an instrument that puts Jesus on display. It is not just an unfortunate side effect of sharing the Gospel, but one of the primary means. In the sense of evangelism, it is redemptive in the same sense that any evangelist could be described as redemptive. In the Catholic sense of redemptive suffering, however, this is not the same thing as that.
 
God can take anything bad or evil and turn it into something good and holy in a way where He takes the bad and turns it into something that glorify’s his name.
 
dronald said:
God can take anything bad or evil and turn it into something good and holy in a way where He takes the bad and turns it into something that glorify’s his name.
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Dronald,

Yes you are right! such as Protestantism, it is a church/churches and many of them founded by man and not by Jesus Christ, however God allows good things do come out from it, but yet, do not have the fullness of the truth/faith.

Ufam Tobie
 
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