TEARFUL EYES. SUFFERINGS AND SALVATION


Troubles and illnesses are the result of Adam’s sin (Gen. 3:16-19). However, God doesn’t allow them to be wasted. He “uses” them for our salvation. His mercy is truly great. Τhis is the “subject” of this book.



CONTENTS

Prologue

PART ONE
THE GOOD FRUITS OF SUFFERING
1. “I Suffer, Therefore I Exist”
2. Τearful Eyes
3. “I am Paying for my Sins”
4. Sinful Man and Happiness
5. Forgiveness of Sins and a Tragic Death
6. Tribulations and Devout People
7. Mental Pain

PART TWO
CONFRONTING SUFFERINGS
1. Ιn front of Pain
2. Job
3. Following Christ
4. Sufferings and Salvation
5. Sufferings and Hope
6. “Come to me”
7. The Right Prayer

PART THREE
SUFFERINGS & DIVINE JUSTICE
1. God and Evil
2. The “Cruel” God of the Old Testament
3. God is not Vindictive
4. “For who has known the mind of the Lord?”
5. “Righteous are You, o Lord”

PART FOUR
SUFFERINGS & MERCIFUL GOD
1. We Are Under God’s Eyes
2. Devil, Sickness and Therapy
3. “Whom the Lord Loves”
4. The Best “Surgeon”
5. Α Thrilling Revelation

PART FIVE
OUR MINISTRY TO THE SICK
1. When you Visit a Sick Person
2. When you Abandon a Sick Person
3. When you Care for a Sick Person
4. A Sick Person Also Has a Soul

PART SIX
EUSTATHIUS: Α SAINT WHO HORRIBLY SUFFERED
1. Chasing the Deer
2. Αn Unexpected Visitor
3. For the Glory of the Lord
4. Τhe First Temptations
5. The Last and Great Temptations
6. General of Himself
7. “Praise the Lord!”
8. In Beirut
9. Confession of Faith
10. Τheir Martyrdom


PART THREE
SUFFERINGS & DIVINE JUSTICE

3. God is not Vindictive (pg. 73-75)

We are not angels, we are passionate, and that is why we seek vengeance. Thus, we think that God does the same. We equate ourselves to God!

Who commits evil? People who are wicked within. So, people who are not wicked strive to do the right thing. If this is the case with man, who is an imperfect being, imagine how true this is of God, Who is good by nature. The only thing God can do is commit good (and nothing else). Even if He wished to do harm, He could not do so! It is not in His nature. It is, however, in His nature to benefit everyone. “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Μt. 5:45).

The same applies to sorrow. He allows it to enter your life to deliver you from evil, not to harm you. He doesn’t want to punish you, He cannot, but to benefit you. It is similar to having a serious operation. A surgeon does not operate on you to harm you, but to cure you. Even though your surgeon makes you suffer, you do not consider him to be a punisher. So it is absurd to consider Christ to be a punisher, even though He wishes to save your soul!

Christ does not have any “scores to settle” or “hidden desires”. He is not consumed by human passions, otherwise He would not be God. He means well for everyone even where His people curse Him and scorn His divine Will. “And for this reason, He threatens us with punishments, not as avenging Himself, but by way of attracting us to Himself” (St. John Chrysostom, To the Fallen Theodore, P.G. 47:282).

If God allowed you to be put under trial simply just to punish you, and not to cure you, or because He has “unfinished business” with you and wants to take it out on you, then we would not be dealing with a benevolent God, but a God full of passions and weaknesses like you and me. If this were the case, you would be justified in rejecting Him.

However, if God were vindictive, would he have submitted Himself to crucifixion for your sins? If God were vindictive, He would punish us each and every time we sin! He says: “Whoever says, “you fool!” shall be in danger of hell fire” (Mt. 5:22). “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:28). “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Lk. 6:27-28), etc. “Is there anyone of us who has not fallen into sin? No one! So, if God punished us based on our sins, the human race would have gone extinct ages ago!” (St. John Chrysostom, For those who say that the demons govern the world, P.G. 49:256). Even though the Lord has reason to vanish us from the face of the earth, He does not! Instead of glorifying Him, we accuse Him of being vindictive! (...)

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