Theology of Suffering

Kenneth R. Overberg identifies three important points referring the Jesus and suffering: he resisted and eliminated suffering, he rejected suffering as punishment for sin, and he trusted a compassionate, present God. My interpretation of the points is that Jesus helped the beggars, lepers, etc because he himself did not want to see his people suffer. I mean who could ever watch someone of whom they cared suffer? Even after he relieves many of their sufferings, he continues to advise others that God is not punishing them. Additionally, many believe that God is a fair God to everyone as long as they repent for their sins; if they turn to God, He will forgive them. Lastly, Jesus was able to keep his faith in God throughout his persecution and crucifixion. For that, Jesus was resurrected, rewarded, for remaining faithful to God because that’s the primary reason why he was sent from God, to redeem our own suffering. The Theology of Atonement and Ransom, if I understand correctly, is the belief that God sent a part of himself to his people to repay a debt of sin. The people watch Jesus’ suffering and death and later rather than sooner, people realized that it was benefiting them, redeeming them. The Theology of Incarnation believes that God sent Jesus to share His divine life and love to his people, to spread faith and acceptance by the hand of his Incarnation. I personally prefer the theology of Incarnation because I don’t really understand the beliefs that Jesus, God’s son and incarnation, was sent to repay a debt to God himself and redeem us for our sins. I believe that Jesus was a quality guy who spread positive energy to people he met. He wanted harmony between the people and their neighbors in addition to harmony between people and God.