Evil & Suffering

[LittleNipper]

See, for me that doesn't explain why suffering is so unevenly distributed. Couldn't God have created a world where the retribution for your sins is directly proportional to those sins? Because it doesn't seem at all fair that I haven't suffered as much as I should have, but that there are good people who face terrible poverty and starvation. It's fine to say that they'll get their reward in heaven, and I'll get my punishment in purgatory or hell, but if that's true, then why have suffering in the world in the first place? Isn't there enough in the world?

If suffering causes a person to turn to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, will not eternity be worth it all. People who have little suffering in this life are either still rather young, are living GOD's will, or perhaps GOD is allowing a sweet moment before an eternity of suffering.... I guess it is better to have even a moment of enjoyment here on earth , if eternity offers no hope... An eternal death (act of dying) is far worse then dying and moving on.

 

[Pogue]

If suffering causes a person to turn to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, will not eternity be worth it all. People who have little suffering in this life are either still rather young, are living GOD's will, or perhaps GOD is allowing a sweet moment before an eternity of suffering.... I guess it is better to have even a moment of enjoyment here on earth , if eternity offers no hope... An eternal death (act of dying) is far worse then dying and moving on.

Suffering doesn't always cause people to turn towards God, though- in fact, in most cases, I'd say it turns them away. If suffering was guarenteed to make up have a better relationship with God and always resulted in that outcome, then I'd agree, but it doesn't. And I take issue with the point that people who don't suffer much are living God's will- I know of people who live morally corrupt lives which are also fairly free of suffering. Likewise, there are people who live extremely good live but encounter terrible suffering. Hmm. I just don't think there is an explaination good enough to justify suffering.

 

[elman]

Suffering doesn't always cause people to turn towards God, though- in fact, in most cases, I'd say it turns them away. If suffering was guarenteed to make up have a better relationship with God and always resulted in that outcome, then I'd agree, but it doesn't. And I take issue with the point that people who don't suffer much are living God's will- I know of people who live morally corrupt lives which are also fairly free of suffering. Likewise, there are people who live extremely good live but encounter terrible suffering. Hmm. I just don't think there is an explaination good enough to justify suffering.

While I agree that suffering or lack of suffering is no indication of being moral or immoral, I do think that immoral people ususally suffer the consequences of their actions in this life. I agree that is just opinion and I also agree that does not explain or justify suffering.

 

[elman]

See, for me that doesn't explain why suffering is so unevenly distributed. Couldn't God have created a world where the retribution for your sins is directly proportional to those sins? Because it doesn't seem at all fair that I haven't suffered as much as I should have, but that there are good people who face terrible poverty and starvation. It's fine to say that they'll get their reward in heaven, and I'll get my punishment in purgatory or hell, but if that's true, then why have suffering in the world in the first place? Isn't there enough in the world?

I agree that suffering in the afterlife makes no sense. I just don't believe there will be suffering in the afterlife or injustice. Here there is unjustice. I think God could have made a world in which the consequecnes were immediate. I think there were reasons for not doing that.

 

[gwenmead]

I don't reconcile any loving deity with the idea of evil and suffering. There may or may not be a god (I don't think there is), s/he/it may or may not be loving; but frankly I don't think evil and suffering have anything to do with a deity.

I don't see any compelling evidence that there is a big bad being responsible for all the evil in the world. Humanity is perfectly capable of being quite nasty on its own without any help - and we frequently are.

Suffering happens because it does. It happens because something painful happens to us and we don't like pain. I don't see any cosmic purpose to it; I don't think there needs to be. We just feel pain and suffer from it because we're another organism on the planet just like any other that might feel pain.

A POV from a godless unwashed heathen.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

This is humanism, not theology.

This is an empty statement.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

You should go join the Quakers.

The Religious Society of Friends welcomes him, and you.

Really, do you have something against quakers? How can anyone have something against quakers?

 

[Woogyman]

Christians and people who believe in God find the existence of evil & suffering a problem...

• They believe that God is good, but if God is good he ought not to want evil & suffering in his world
• They believe that God has the power to do anything, but if God is all-powerful, he must be able to get rid of evil & suffering from the world he created
• However, there is evil & suffering in the world, so either God is not good nor powerful, or God doesn't exist!

 

[PETE_]

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”f

The Mystery of Suffering: Human efforts to explain with satisfaction all experiences of suffering are doomed to frustration. Answers may be found that are partially satisfying, that may work in some cases, or that may provide some help for the need to find meaning. No matter how hard one tries, however, unanswered questions remain. At some point, one is finally confronted with the necessity of giving up the intellectual search and leaving the unknown in the care of God.
For chapter after chapter, Job and his friends try out all the best explanations for suffering that their tradition has to offer. Every interpretation offered up by the counselors is promptly rejected by Job. None of their answers fits. He wants a word directly from God, an explanation that will either acquit him or bring out into the open God’s indictment against him. When God finally speaks in chaps. 38-41, it is not what Job has anticipated at all. Job cannot get in a word to force his own agenda. God overwhelms him with a comparison between the power and wisdom of the Almighty on the one hand and the weakness and ignorance of human beings on the other. Human beings cannot even begin to comprehend the complex wonders of the created order, let alone the mysteries of human suffering. There is an enormous gap between what God knows and what people know. Humans should be content to be human, leaving to God those matters that are, and will always be (at least this side of the grave), beyond human comprehension. God’s presence apparently gives Job the confidence to trust God with those things that he cannot find out for himself. His relationship with God is now secure enough that he can live with unanswered questions

 

[kopilo]

Evil & Suffering

How do you all reconcile the extent of suffering in the world with the idea of a loving, all powerful God?

With the idea that humans can be as good as they can be malevolent.

Especially the suffering of those in 3rd world countries who are hit by famine and disease in a way we never have to experience. Why would God allow this? Also why is there animal suffering?

Humans have free will, free will to do good and free will to do harm.

Is there a purpose to our suffering?

Sometimes there is, we can learn from ourmistakes and misfortunes. Unfortunatly one may say that the price of these lessons comes at a greater cost then they are worth.

Is it created/allowed by God?

I'm sure God does helpe some people to reconsile and reflect on past hard times in such a way that they may learn from them.

Is it the devil?

I believe we give the devil a lot of credit even for being one of the most powerful angels.

 

[michabo]

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”f


IOW, God could help but choses not to because he has favourites. To me, this says that this god is not worthy of worship.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

IOW, God could help but choses not to because he has favourites. To me, this says that this god is not worthy of worship.

You go to worship with the god you have, not the god you want.

 

[PETE_]

IOW, God could help but choses not to because he has favourites. To me, this says that this god is not worthy of worship.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’​

http://www.christianforums.com/t3087769-evil-suffering.html&page=4#_ftn1http://www.christianforums.com/t3087769-evil-suffering.html&page=4#_ftnref1The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

 

[Arnold_Philips]

^Doesn't address the issue.

 

[kopilo]

IOW, God could help but choses not to because he has favourites. To me, this says that this god is not worthy of worship.

That is like asking for a fish without asking to be taught how to fish.

Also when was the last time you truely 'deserved' anything you were given?

I don't know about other people, but the things I give to other people are given in good will and faith that they may help them with their life or just make them feel a little more happier. Not because they were 'worthy' of it, or that I'm 'worthy' to give it.

 

[Woogyman]

IOW, God could help but choses not to because he has favourites. To me, this says that this god is not worthy of worship.

God loves every single person on earth equally, because he created them before they were born! Even there done terrible things or done many good things, God loves them.

 

[steen]

You should go join the Quakers.

Please immediately cease insulting my Faith.