Posted by Yong TM (202.156.2.219) on December 30, 2002 at 03:42:45:
In Reply to: a thorn in the flesh posted by Henry Pan on December 27, 2002 at 17:29:35:
Hi Henry,
1. The thorn in the flesh of Paul is commonly considered as a physical ailment that Paul suffered in his lifetime. In 2 Cor 12, his description of the suffering was so specific that it cannot be a 'figure of speech' type of thing. Some Christians speculate that this ailment has something to do with the eye, for Paul wrote in Galatians 6:11 that he writes with large letters; but this cannot be confirmed. Extreme Charismatics may not consider this to be a physical ailment because it is difficult under their doctrine to justify that the greatest of the apostles could not be healed; but we see no problem in accepting that the LORD would have allowed Paul to suffer a life-long ailment without healing.
2. As for Ananais and Sapphira, it is not possible to know for certain if they are true believers, because this is speculative. But believers WERE punished severely by the LORD as well. In scripture, we have many examples of God punishing His children severely, especially in the Old Testament. I am not sure if we can conclude that just because God loves His children, His chastisement would not be upon them. In light of the fact that His children have eternal life, I am not sure if death can then be considered as a 'severe' punishment... What we need to affirm finally, is that God is ultimately just. There is no question to that for He is justice in itself, so we can be rest assured that we will never ever have a situation where injustice has been done to anyone, anywhere, anytime when the final score is settled with God.