I was reminded of this eternal puzzle when reading of the death of 6 elderly Christians and two random drivers when God smote the front tire of the bus in which they were traveling.
Quote:
Eight deaths reported as church bus overturns in Tennessee
A church bus traveling to North Carolina overturned Wednesday in Jefferson County, Tenn., killing at least eight people, injuring 14 others and shutting down both directions of Interstate 40, authorities told NBC News.
The state Highway Patrol said the bus' left front tire blew out as it was traveling east on I-40 east of Knoxville.
The bus, which was carrying 18 people, crossed the median and struck a tractor-trailer and a sport-utility vehicle carrying three people. The bus overturned, and the tractor-trailer caught on fire, the patrol said.
Six people were killed on the bus and one each was killed in the two other vehicles, the Highway Patrol said.
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So why?
Did their parents sin? Apparently not:
Joh:9:1: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh:9:2: And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh:9:3: Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Jesus then performs a miracle and the man receives his sight.
Joh:9:3 is pretty unambiguous: God has prepared this man from birth so that God (Jesus) can show His power by curing Him.
It is, as we all know, God Who blinds people and makes them blind from birth:
Exodus 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
And he does this because He hates the blind and lame:
2Sa:5:8: And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
So it is with those who died: God decided to hate them, for no better reason that He is God, and God knows what He is doing, even though we might not.
Now, we have been talking about the blind here. So let's look at why God smites people with a great smitance such that they are brought before His Good Right hand to stand in Judgement before Him. For this we need to turn to Romans:9:14 - 23
Ro:9:14: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Ro:9:15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Ro:9:16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Ro:9:17: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Ro:9:18: Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Ro:9:19: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Ro:9:20: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Ro:9:21: Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Ro:9:22: What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Ro:9:23: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Paul, in Ro:9:23, confirms Jesus' Words in Joh:9:3 -
God does it "that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,"
And that is why those people died on the road to Statesville. They were all "Fitted for Destruction" as it was ordained from their birth that this is what should happen so that we might know the power of God.
Our joy must be unbounded in the Glory of The Lord.