I don't want to start a whole new thread because this all ties in to the same thoughts I am having.
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Is cancer discipline/chastisement? If so, who is being disciplined the afflicted or the loved ones?
Eileen
Eileen,
These Scriptures should answer those questions.1Pe 4: 12-19 (YLT)12 Beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery trial happening among you for your testing, as if a surprise were occurring to you;
13 but according as you share the sufferings of Christ, rejoice; so that you may rejoice exultingly at the revelation of His glory.
14 If you are reviled in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because "the Spirit of God and of glory rests on you." Truly, according to them, He is blasphemed; but according to you, He is glorified. Isa. 11:2
15 For do not let any of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in the affairs of others.
16 But if one suffers as a Christian, do not let him be ashamed, but to glorify God in this respect.
17 Because the time has come to begin the judgment from the house of God; and if firstly from us, what will be the end of the ones disobeying the gospel of God?
18 And "if the righteous is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and sinner appear?" Proverbs 11:31
19 So as indeed the ones suffering according to God's will, as to a faithful Creator, let them commit their souls in well-doing.
I used The GNB translation for v: 18,19 here below, because i think the language is clearer.1Pe 4: 18-19 (GNB)18 As the scripture says, "It is difficult for good people to be saved; what, then, will become of godless sinners?"
19 So then, those who suffer because it is God's will for them, should by their good actions trust themselves completely to their Creator, who always keeps his promise.
george.