Hello
@saisigh, first off, since I see that you are brand new around here,
WELCOME TO CF
As for your post, your Reddit post says a number of things that are true about Biblical teaching, but his/her comments lead me to believe that he/she has little to no understanding of why God allows us to suffer.
I'll start out by debunking the comment about Christians inflicting suffering/harm upon themselves. While it has been true (and still is, at times) that Christians have inflicted pain and suffering upon themselves as a means of sanctifying themselves, this is hardly normative or common, and it never has been (unless you include "fasting", but fasting could hardly be called a Christian-only discipline).
The Bible has a LOT to say in regard to this topic, and here is a very small part of it (with a few Christian quotes about it to consider as well). Let me/us know what you think (I believe the opening verse is perhaps the most well-known, as it has been a GREAT comfort and encouragement to many who have suffered over the millennia since it was written
).
Romans 8
28 We know that God causes ~all~ things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
2 Timothy 3
12 All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Hebrews 12
5 Have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
There is perhaps nothing more important to our walk and to our growth in sanctification/Christlikeness than these two words, "Trust God". It's easy to trust Him during the good times, but not so easy during the bad, whenever we are suffering, yes? So suffering can help us know where we are in our walks with Him, how much we have truly come to trust Him.
And if you want to know if you are living as God intends/abiding in Him and in His will for you, persecution ~or the lack thereof~ is a sign that can help us know that (
2 Timothy 3:12).
Here are some quick thoughts on this to consider from a number of different Christians + one short article. Hopefully they will prove to be as helpful/thought-provoking to you as they have been to me
View attachment 298567
Romans 8:28
Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering... The love of God did not protect His own Son... He will not necessarily protect us -
not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and
chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.
~Missionary Elisabeth Elliot~
Why is discipline important? Discipline teaches us to operate by principle rather than desire.
Saying no to our impulses (even the ones that are not inherently sinful) puts us in
control of our appetites rather than vice versa. It deposes our lust and
permits truth, virtue, and integrity to rule our minds instead.
~Pastor John F. MacArthur~
Finally, here is a short teaching (part one of six), that should help you understand why God allows us to suffer in this life. As God tells us in the Bible, His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts ..
Isaiah 55:8-9, as He is able to see what is 'truly' best for us as our loving Abba/heavenly Father (all we need do is trust Him/trust that He always has our best in mind as He continues His mighty work in us to sanctify us from here to Glory
)
MEDITATION ON THE FUTURE LIFE
(By our tribulations God weans us from excessive love of this present life)
1. The vanity of this life
Whatever kind of tribulation presses upon us, we must ever look to this end: to accustom ourselves to
contempt for the present life and to be aroused thereby to
meditate upon the future life. For
since God knows best how much we are inclined by nature to a brutish love of this world, he uses the fittest means possible to draw us back and to shake off our sluggishness, lest we cleave too tenaciously to that love.
There is not one of us, indeed, who does not wish to seem throughout his life to aspire and strive after heavenly immortality. For it is a shame for us to be no better than brute beasts, whose condition would be no whit inferior to our own if there were not left to us hope of eternity after death. But if you examine the plans, the efforts, the deeds, of anyone, there you will find nothing else but earth.
Now our blockishness arises from the fact that our minds, stunned by the empty dazzlement of riches, power, and honors, become so deadened that they can see no farther. The heart also, occupied with avarice, ambition, and lust, is so weighed down that it cannot rise up higher. In fine, the whole soul, enmeshed in the allurements of the flesh,
seeks its happiness on earth.
To counter this evil the Lord instructs his followers in the vanity of the present life by continual proof of its miseries. Therefore, that they may not promise themselves a deep and secure peace in it,
God permits them often to be troubled and plagued either with wars or tumults, or robberies, or other injuries. That they may not pant with too great eagerness after fleeting and transient riches, or repose in those which they possess, he sometimes by exile, sometimes by barrenness of the earth, sometimes by fire, sometimes by other means, reduces them to poverty, or at least confines them to a moderate station. That they may not too complacently take delight in the goods of marriage, he either causes them to be troubled by the depravity of their wives or humbles them by evil offspring, or afflicts them with bereavement. But if, in all these matters, he is more indulgent toward them, yet, that they may not either be puffed up with vainglory or exult in self-assurance, he sets before their eyes, through diseases and perils, how unstable and fleeting are all the goods that are subject to mortality.
Then only do we rightly advance by the discipline of the Cross, when we learn that this life, judged in itself, is troubled, turbulent, unhappy in countless ways, and in no respect clearly happy; that all those things which are judged to be its goods are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and vitiated by many intermingled evils. From this, at the same time, we conclude that in this life we are to seek and hope for nothing but struggle; when we think of our crown, we are to raise our eyes to heaven. For this we must believe: that the mind is never seriously aroused to desire and ponder the life to come unless it be previously imbued with contempt for the present life.
~Calvin, J. (2011). Institutes of the Christian Religion
(Some of what is said above is better understood and less depressing when read in the context of the following 5 parts. If you'd like to read more, just let me know and I'll post another section)
God bless you!
--David