How do Christians respond to evil and suffering?
Most Christians believe that there are two main ways to respond to evil and suffering in the world:
Praying - Christians should pray either that God will remove the causes of evil or that He should help Christians to bear evil and suffering.
If a person has committed a moral evil, eg murder, a Christian would not believe it was their place to judge. However, they would trust that God would punish the person for his or her action.
Helping - Christians should follow Jesus鈥 example in life. This means that they should help those who are suffering.
There are teachings which make it clear how Christians should respond to suffering and evil. One example is the A story told by Jesus through which he teaches and illustrates moral lessons and principles. of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). In this parable, Jesus returns to reward all those who have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited those in prison and cared for the sick. The parable teaches Christians to care for those who are suffering.
Jesus鈥 message here is that by ignoring a sick or hungry person, a Christian would be ignoring Jesus himself.
Christians are also taught in the words of the The prayer spoken by Jesus to his disciples, starting with the words to forgive others, just as they have been forgiven.