I was baptized, when I was a couple days old, into the Lutheran church. My mom was beautiful, my dad handsome, and I had no clue of what was going on. My parents decided to baptize me. The Lutheran faith believes that if you are not baptized, you go to hell. My mom was a very active Lutheran when she was young. That is an exception, normally the Lutheran churches in Finland are empty. People are not very religious. They go to church when they have to, that is when they are baptized, married, or someone dies. My mother was in the Lutheran church youth organization, so she would go…

I gained some more understanding this week on why there is so much suffering in the world, and why we have trials. I’ve heard some people say that someone “deserved all the trouble they are in”, or “God is punishing them”, or even that “God is not a loving God because He allows so much suffering.” So, why is there so much hunger? Why do we have refugees? Why are there so many wars? How does all that reflect on God? This week I read in several sources and understood a bit more about this. There are basically three reasons why there is suffering in life; our own mistakes, the…