Standing on the shoulders of giants ...

Thanks to those who have commented already, I encourage you to continue meditating on the issue of suffering and feel free to post comments.

Today I thought it might be interesting to seek out the thoughts of leading Christian writers on the topic. Here are some 'quotes from the giants':

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Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer. That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true Church...

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away. Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

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I have come to see that pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as Siamese twins, strangely joined and intertwined. Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle. (Christianity Today, Jan, 10, 1994, p. 21)

I have never heard anyone say, "The deepest and rarest and most satisfying joys of my life have come in times of extended ease and earthly comfort." Nobody says that. It isn't true. What's true is what Samuel Rutherford said when he was put in the cellars of affliction: "The Great King keeps his wine there"—not in the courtyard where the sun shines. What's true is what Charles Spurgeon said: "They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls."

John Piper, Why we can rejoice in suffering

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Are there other Christian writers or favorite passages of Scripture, that summarize your views on suffering and the Christian life? In the coming days I hope to add other perspectives but would welcome your suggestions.

While not a giant - per se - I found this blog/review of Piper and Taylor's Suffering and the Sovereignty of God interesting.