God suffers with us

[Nessa]

What places in the bible does it says God suffers with us?

[1over137]

Nessa,
Thank yoy for posting the question.
My search lead me to this article http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/199 ... t2038.html
Maybe you will enjoy and appreciate it too.

Love,
Hana

[PaulSacramento]

What places in the bible does it says God suffers with us?

Context is, of course everything:
Isaiah 63:9
In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

2 Chronicles 36:15
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place;


Jeremiah 48:31
"Therefore I will wail for Moab, Even for all Moab will I cry out; I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

1 Peter 2:21
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,

[RickD]

What places in the bible does it says God suffers with us?

Anywhere that Christ suffered.

[thatkidakayoungguy]

What places in the bible does it says God suffers with us?

In the OT as well when God was patient with mankind, till the point of annihilating certain groups since they wouldn't change. Somewhere it says that God would rather have the wicked to change and not die,and this is coming from a time when God had to use violence more to teach people.
What I'm thinking about, is how wrathful God will be coming back.

[Nessa]

The question of whether God has emotions has come up before. And thats what I am getting at. God can't suffer with us if he cant feel. Was it Jac who said God is unchangable and therefore cant have emotions or am I think of another poster perhaps..

[thatkidakayoungguy]

I thought when it said God is unchangeable it meant general character.

[thatkidakayoungguy]

Does God have the same love for angels?

[PaulSacramento]

The question of whether God has emotions has come up before. And thats what I am getting at. God can't suffer with us if he cant feel. Was it Jac who said God is unchangable and therefore cant have emotions or am I think of another poster perhaps..

God IS love.
God can certainly suffer with us ( compassion) and we know this through Christ.
If God couldn't have something or was missing something that would mean he is not God.
Does God have emotions in the way we do?
Yes and No, again going back to Jesus that was fully human and fully God.
We need to be careful to what extent to "humanize" God since He is not human but at the same time we need to be careful and not dehumanize Him either or we risk making a mess of who and what Christ is.

[abelcainsbrother]

What places in the bible does it says God suffers with us?

How about when Jesus turned water into wine? Because they were just embarrassed because they had run out of wine for a wedding.Could you imagine running out of wine for a wedding and how embarrassed you'd feel? It shows that Jesus is concerned about the little things in our life and so you know if he cares about this he cares if we suffer. They did not have to suffer because they ran out of wine though,Jesus fixed it.

[1over137]

The question of whether God has emotions has come up before. And thats what I am getting at. God can't suffer with us if he cant feel. Was it Jac who said God is unchangable and therefore cant have emotions or am I think of another poster perhaps..

I have a question: Can God love? And if yes, does not he 'suffer' when we move away from Him?

[RickD]

The question of whether God has emotions has come up before. And thats what I am getting at. God can't suffer with us if he cant feel. Was it Jac who said God is unchangable and therefore cant have emotions or am I think of another poster perhaps..

I have a question: Can God love? And if yes, does not he 'suffer' when we move away from Him?

Technically, no. God is love. He does not love like we do, except through Christ. Any attempt to associate God with human emotions, is just to help us try to understand God in some way. Anthropomorphism.

[melanie]

The idea of anthropomorphism is a philosophical argument.
It is rooted in man trying to understand and interpret the nature of God. Trying to tie in two such contradicting ideals. God is unchanging, without emotion as an emotional response is a change in state but God is also Love from which empathy, compassion, generosity and many other emotions flow.
How can God both be without emotion but also the source by which all emotion stems?
It's a contradictory concept and one that many educated people differ on.
At best it's a guess.
I believe change exists by the nature of time. Time is defined by a serious of changes. From one state to the next. For example a left over apple core over time is easily distinguished by its progress of rot and decay. By that example we all understand and interpret time and change.
It is by this linear idea of time that we interpret God as unchanging. Which is quite true but subjected to a very humanistic idea of time.
Harder to imagine is a plain of existence where time does not exist. Linear time does not flow in a series of changes.
It exists not as a constraint.
By this idea God is unchanging, there is no flow from one experience to the next but rather an experience that embodies all.
I believe this in no way negates God from experiencing emotion as to be 'love' is the very epitome of all emotion but He embraces all and everything, past and present in a way that is not definable in our earthly terms.
He is unchanging and all loving.
He feels every nuance of every emotion more deeply and with more empathy and compassion than we could ever imagine. Not in change of His emotional state by His essence of Alpha and Omega. Beginning and End

[1over137]

The question of whether God has emotions has come up before. And thats what I am getting at. God can't suffer with us if he cant feel. Was it Jac who said God is unchangable and therefore cant have emotions or am I think of another poster perhaps..

I have a question: Can God love? And if yes, does not he 'suffer' when we move away from Him?

Technically, no. God is love. He does not love like we do, except through Christ. Any attempt to associate God with human emotions, is just to help us try to understand God in some way. Anthropomorphism.

I have a question for you, Rick.
What does it mean that God is love?

(curious, as always I am)

[SoCalExile]

God is love because love requires an object. God, being eternal and unchanging, had to be love before creation. How? The love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; "God is love" is another allusion to the Trinity.

As for God suffering: time began with Genesis 1:1 ("in the beginning"). God is eternal, without time, so how does He experience the last 5777 years? He likely would see every moment of every particle as one present event. So in effect, He must be aware of every event, sinful or good, meaning that as the eternal God, the Sustainer of creation, He is present with all who suffer, and has subjected Himself to suffer on the cross. Which again, is an ever-present event; thus only God could ever pay for all sins for all time (Hebrews 10:10-18). Thus only God can see the cross in place of our sins forever.