Jesus Suffering

Question from john on 1/17/2008:

Jesus suffers for each of his children (us) who fails to serve him and lives a sinful life essentially forsaking the gift he gave (eternal life). this must be true of those he has lost; ie those in hell.

so why does hell exist if it is just a continual source of suffering for Christ? and how can Christ suffer this vicarious suffering if he is in paradise??

it seems strange to me that there will eternally exist a place in which Jesus will have to watch the lost chilren, he LOVES, suffer!

is it Christs lot in eternity to suffer forever! its not fair i tell u!!!

Answer by Richard Geraghty on 1/24/2008:

Dear John,

We have to recall that God is absolutely perfect and, therefore, happy in himself. If he had not created the world, he would not be any less happy. If he has created the world, he is not any more happy. Now when God became man, he did not do this to make himself happy. He did it only to make man happy. Now as a human being on this earth, Christ felt sadder or happier at the fate of his creatures. But as God he was always happy no matter what his creatures did. We forget that because as human beings we cannot appreciate that kind of supreme and infinite happiness. When the saved finally see God face to face, they will share in this complete state of happiness. Some rebel at this picture of the saved being indifferent to those they might have loved on earth but are damned. They do not understand how the just will rejoice with God over the triumph of injustice. That is because they take the human viewpoint and neglect the divine viewpoint. Thus we judge God to be inadequate in some way because he does not feel or think like us. We forget that we are not capable of the love that God has for each of his creatures. There is no comparison between his love for our partners, children, relatives or friends and our love for them.

Dr. Geraghty