Why does God allow suffering? Bear in mind, those that don't need a perfect distraction, suffer less

How less than perfect can God's answer to suffering be?

  • It has to be perfect!

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • It's a matter of chance!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • It depends on what you've said!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • It depends on the Devil!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • It depends on lots of things!

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • It doesn't matter.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • It matters a little bit.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I wish it mattered less...

    Votes: 1 16.7%
  • I'm thankful for whatever God can give (selah)

    Votes: 1 16.7%

  • Total voters
    6

ruthiesea

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Hashem has given us free will. Some call it a blessing, others a curse. If we did not have free will and He made everyone righteous then it would lose all meaning. Righteousness is something that we have to achieve. It is a goal that we must work to achieve.

We can choose to do good or bad. We can talk about suffering or we can do something about it. It is our decision.

It’s easy to blame G-d for our failings when we should be looking in a mirror.
 
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Moral Orel

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Hashem has given us free will. Some call it a blessing, others a curse. If we did not have free will and He made everyone righteous then it would lose all meaning. Righteousness is something that we have to achieve. It is a goal that we must work to achieve.
Does God have free will?
Is God righteous?
Did God have to achieve righteousness?

Honest questions. Everyone sees stuff differently.
 
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ruthiesea

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Does God have free will?
Is God righteous?
Did God have to achieve righteousness?

Honest questions. Everyone sees stuff differently.
Free will: of course.
Righteous: He defines righteous.
Achieve righteousness: see previous answer.
 
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timothyu

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"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked" (Genesis 3:7)
Exactly.. before that they were blissfully unaware (like our fellow critters).

But the point is that man likes to continually point out certain human actions as sin while God says continually throughout the Bible that sin, including the original one, is putting our will ahead of the will of God.
 
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Mink61

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Does God provide punishment for those who choose not to love him? If so, by definition it's not free will.
Yes, it is.

Free will means possessing the ability to make choices. Free will has little to do with the consequences of those choices, or the choices themselves.

If we don't have choices, we don't have free will.
If we don't have the ability to make those choices, we don't have free will.
 
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Mink61

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Does God have free will?
Is God righteous?
Did God have to achieve righteousness?

Honest questions. Everyone sees stuff differently.
YES, God has free will.
YES, God is righteous.
NO, God didn't have the "achieve" righteousness.
 
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Moral Orel

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YES, God has free will.
YES, God is righteous.
NO, God didn't have the "achieve" righteousness.
So how come God didn't just create people that were righteous and had free will?
 
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David's Harp

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So how come God didn't just create people that were righteous and had free will?
The way I would look at this is that such a people would forget the God who made them, and instead worship their own righteousness. God wants to commune with people who want to know Him, and love Him.
 
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Moral Orel

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Some people DO use their free will to choose righteousness. And those are the people who will wind up in Heaven.
But that's achieving righteousness, and that isn't what I asked about. Why create anything other than folk who are righteous from the start and have free will and won't ever stop being righteous? God has all those qualities, so don't tell me that's impossible.
 
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Moral Orel

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The way I would look at this is that such a people would forget the God who made them, and instead worship their own righteousness. God wants to commune with people who want to know Him, and love Him.
So God made us sick so that we would appreciate Him giving us the cure. Munchausen by proxy.
 
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Gottservant

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But that's achieving righteousness, and that isn't what I asked about. Why create anything other than folk who are righteous from the start and have free will and won't ever stop being righteous? God has all those qualities, so don't tell me that's impossible.

If God created something that He forced His opinion on, God would be in Hell.

God is able to endure Hell, for our sakes and He gets out of it by giving us a choice, that He didn't have.

God has been in Hell, and He has given us a choice, that's why we worship Him perfectly for it (when we get to Heaven).
 
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Mink61

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But that's achieving righteousness, and that isn't what I asked about. Why create anything other than folk who are righteous from the start and have free will and won't ever stop being righteous? God has all those qualities, so don't tell me that's impossible.

Let's see..

God is righteous and God has free will.

And you're asking why God didn't create people who were already righteous and had free will.

So, you're asking why God didn't just create...other Gods?
 
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