1.36 Чи є воля Божа на те, щоб люди помирали?
У початковому задумі Бога не було смерті. Смерть стала частиною людського життя лише в результаті гріха, скоєного першими людьми. Учинивши цей первородний гріх, вони відкинули Бога. Однак Бог усе ще хоче, щоб ми жили вічно. А вічно жити на цій землі, з усіма її нещастями і стражданнями, було б зовсім погано! Ісус прийшов на землю, помер на хресті і воскрес, щоб усунути наслідки первородного гріха.
Завдяки Ісусу ми можемо жити вічно на небесах після нашої смерті. Ми можемо потрапити на небо, наслідуючи Ісуса та живучи у стосунках любові з Богом і нашими ближніми.
If God is omnipotent and provident, why then does evil exist?
To this question, as painful and mysterious as it is, only the whole of Christian faith can constitute a response. God is not in any way - directly or indirectly - the cause of evil. He illuminates the mystery of evil in his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose in order to vanquish that great moral evil, human sin, which is at the root of all other evils'. [CCCC 57]
Why does God permit evil?
Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil. This was realized in a wondrous way by God in the death and resurrection of Christ. In fact, from the greatest of all moral evils (the murder of his Son) he has brought forth the greatest of all goods (the glorification of Christ and our redemption. [CCCC 58]
What does it mean to die in Christ Jesus?
Dying in Christ Jesus means to die in the state of God's grace without any mortal sin. A believer in Christ, following his example, is thus able to transform his own death into an act of obedience and love for the Father. “This saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). [CCCC 206]
How does Christ help us at our death, if we trust in him?
Christ comes to meet us and leads us into eternal life. “Not death, but God will take me” (St. Thérèse of Lisieux).
In view of Jesus’ suffering and death, death itself can become easier. In an act of trust and love for the Father, we can say Yes, as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Such an attitude is called “spiritual sacrifice”: the dying person unites himself with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. Someone who dies this way, trusting in God and at peace with men, and thus without serious sin, is on the way to communion with the risen Christ. Our dying makes us fall no farther than into his hands. A person who dies does not travel to nowhere but rather goes home into the love of God, who created him. [Youcat 155]
Бо Бог не лише створив нас із нічого; але Він дав нам зовсім задарма, Благодаттю Слова, жити подібно до Бога. Проте люди, відкинувши вічність, за порадою диявола звернулися до зіпсуття і стали причиною власного тління у смерті (св. Афанасій, Трактат про втілення слова, розд. 5 (MG 25, 104)]
