I never said that. You confuse God's will with what God allows. I don't.
There are those here who DO believe that God
causes bad things to teach us lessons or as punishment.
It is the Calvinist model of the sovereignty of God. Not all Calvinists hold to that model strictly, but many do.
I know of those who have turned to paganism because they believe it is kinder than the Calvinist picture of the sovereignty of God. NOTE that I say the Calvinist picture of the sovereignty of God, not an accurate picture of the sovereignty of God. Those who 'turn away' from their faith usually do so because they've come to believe a flawed picture of a god they want nothing to do with.
A clear distinction between 'God wills' and 'God allows' needs to be made, along with an acknowledgement that this fallen world has systems and cycles that are not as God originally intended, but are fallen
, and do affect the just and the unjust. That doesn't mean that all things are not still held together by God, but He does not micromanage - it rains on the just and the unjust, just as the Scriptures say.
And then, as in the case of sickness and infirmities, a further distinction needs to be made regarding the fact that we, even as children of God, live in a fallen world. There are flaws even in the genes and DNA of us humans - because we are ALL affected by the Fall. Those effects are not universally removed because one comes to Christ.
Are there times when God supernaturally intervenes for one's safety or health? I do believe that is the case, but not always the case.
I'm so sorry for the loss of shrume's baby sister. Our family spent a year at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with one of our seven children, our then 11-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with metastatic brain and spine cancer. He did well - God provided us with the very best scenario for his treatment, and though there is scar tissue that still shows on scans, he is now 14, two years post-treatment, and thriving!
But we did not know how it would all turn out - even if he would celebrate his 12th birthday! And we know families who had children who did not do well and were lost - from different types of cancer, from the same type of cancer (one sweet girl, diagnosed at just under two, lived just a wee bit past her third birthday.) Is it God's will that some live and some die? That He goes down the line saying, "Life, death, life, death, death, life, life, death."?
No, I don't believe that. I do believe that He loves those wee ones - and their parents and siblings, and in the midst walks every step with those who are His - and we who are His are to reach out to those who don't know Him with comfort and practical helps to love them well and share the Gospel with them when those doors open.
We, as believers, have an eternal perspective in this fallen world, and can walk with great hope in what can seem like a hopeless world. It gives us the ability to love others well in the face of adversity - whether ours or theirs - and share the hope that we have in Christ.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is this: God works
in the midst of
and in spite of the trials, tragedies, and sickness that this fallen world throws at us, He does not will those trials, tragedies, and sicknesses to then show His power and sovereignty.
God works His will despite the evils in this fallen world, He does not cause, or even allow in a targeted way, those evils to then work His will.
God can take what is meant for evil that originates with the Enemy and reckon it for good and to serve His ultimate purposes. We see that truth all throughout the Scriptures.
-JGIG