And how should I feel otherwise? Look around you...how many innocents are tortured like this child was? How many children are starving and deprived of the most basic necessities for life? Christ said in John 10:10 that, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly."
The English translation for this passage is very weak, for in the Greek the phrase "they might have it" translates as a "possession" or "to hold fast"...hardly a "maybe" or a turn of fate, but an absolute certainty.
Yet the Faithful are being tortured and murdered globally by Muslim extremists, small children are abused and either murdered or maimed for life to satisfy pedophiliacs, and still other children grow up in dysfunctional homes where their emotions are permanently damaged.
It seems to me that if there is a God, He is closely following the Prime Directive...which runs counter to all we are taught in the Bible.
There is some background information in this online commentary.
The English translation for this passage is very weak, for in the Greek the phrase "they might have it" translates as a "possession" or "to hold fast"...hardly a "maybe" or a turn of fate, but an absolute certainty.
I agree with that. One of my favorite background scholars is William Barclay, who's on the liberal side but has great insights. In reference to this life he says the Greek phrase means to have a "superabundance of a thing."
Yet the Faithful are being tortured and murdered globally by Muslim extremists, small children are abused and either murdered or maimed for life to satisfy pedophiliacs, and still other children grow up in dysfunctional homes where their emotions are permanently damaged.
That's not the life Jesus promised in John 10:10. First, Jesus is talking about a life for Christians - those who follow the good shepard [Jesus]. Not everybody falls under this category so we need to be careful how we apply it.
The current context really starts in verse 1, where Jesus never promised a life where Christians are free from torture, murder and abuse. What he does say here is that Jesus is the passageway, not a protector from evil. There are other verses that support the protection Christians have in God as far as trials are concerned or what He allows to happen. John 10:10 does not support a life free from pain and suffering. Just look at the life of the apostles - they understood what they were in for, and died for it.
This passage is more along the lines of Jesus being the way, truth and life (John 14:6), and that nobody gets to the father except through Him. Jesus is saying he is the gate to heaven, and those who try to get to the flock by climbing in some other way are not the way to heaven. Those who do try to get to the flock without using the gate are theives and robbers who only come to steal, kill and destroy.
Jesus said he gives a superabundance of life. That is, a life that overflows. Eternal life.