Today's Favorite Verse: Luke 13:1-3

Today's Favorite Verse: Luke 13:1-3
"There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

We cannot assume that when bad things happen that it was the judgment of God upon them for being wicked. Good people suffer along with the wicked. I think more disasters and wars are happening due to the overall wickedness of the people today, but those that fall in harms way can be of either persuasion. The Lord will call the righteous to him, and punish the wicked in the same breath. It is not us to judge, but for us to repent.

“To say that particular individuals slain in war, killed in accidents, smitten with disease, stricken by plagues, or shorn of their property by natural calamities, have been singled out from among their fellows as especially deserving of such supposed retribution is wholly unwarranted. It is not man’s prerogative to conclude in individual cases of suffering or accident that such has befallen a person as a just retribution for an ungodly course. … The Lord brings difficulties upon the most righteous of his saints to test and try them; persecution … is the heritage of the faithful.
“The real lesson to be learned from Jesus’ conclusion, ‘Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,’ is that there was no difference in righteousness between the slain and the living, and that unless the living repent they would perish with the dead. … In a broader sense the thought is that as these have perished temporally so shall all perish spiritually unless they repent” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:475–76).
(New Testament Student Manual, "Chapter 17: Luke 9-14")

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