Why does God allow suffering?

[steve4.truth]

Maybe the hardest question for any religion to answer satisfactorily. Whole village is covered in an earthquake in the Philippines. Elizabeth Smart abducted and raped every day. If you had the power and ability to stop it, would you? God has the love and power to stop it. Why doesn't He? Can we develop a deeper relationship and obey the most important commandment to love the Lord our God with our whole heart... without answering this question?

 

[steve4.truth]

I've heard people say that God threw us in this hole so we can dig ourselves out --it will make us stronger. Others say that if life was too easy, it would be boring. Again, if God has the love and power to stop evil, why doesn't He?

I think it is significant that after God made the universe, He looked at everything He had made and called it "very good"--Gen. 1:31. When God calls something, not just good, but VERY good, it's pretty darn good!! At that point, if there was any sickness, hate, or design flaw or even if God "foreknew" that the atrocities of our century would happen, He would not have said it was "VERY good".
This reveals that God made everything perfect and with the potential to remain perfect even with the "free-will factor".

Then we skip down to Revelation 21:3,4 at the end of the Bible and find out that God intends to restore everything back to the perfect conditions that He created in Genesis. So "God's will" for the earth was that everyone would live under perfect conditions with no suffering and pain. He started it out that way and will restore everything on HIS planet earth back as He originally intended it.
your thoughts?......

 

[steve4.truth]

So what happened in between the perfect beginning and the perfect end? We all know of the rebellion in the garden of Eden. Satan didn't challenge God's power. he knew God could blow him out of the water at any point. He challenged God's loving rulership or Fatherhood. He suggested a course of independence and self-determination. God could have just killed the rebels, but that would have just proved Satan's point--God really is mean!!! His power, or ability to force submission was not in question-- the issue raised was if God's law about the tree of knowledge of good and evil was harsh and God was withholding the "good life". Today, that is still the issue. Are God's rules too difficult and is being a christian boring and restrictive? The best way to solve the issue was to allow mankind to experiment with self-rule. Let everyone do what they want. The results: just read the news!! Soon, he will restore everything under His loving rulership and noone will argue for all the billions of years in eternity because all will agree that the human-rule experiment did not work. The one danger with free choice will not become a problem ever again. (the benefits of free will are obvious. the danger is the possibility of some choosing to hurt other creatures.) So suffering is a product of our independence from God's loving rulership/Fatherhood. We hurt each other. If He stepped in and prevented suffering, the results of the experiment would be unclear, and others might rebel again a billion years into eternity. So God wisely allows the experiment to go unhindered, while operating in His people behind the scenes to prepare them for the time of restoration.
any thoughts? ......I know this is a difficult topic.

 

[Jeffz]

If it had not been for my sorrow and affliction I would not know God. My way caused such pain and misery that I turned toward God and His mercy and grace grateful for the work of Jesus at calvary. I am thankful today for my affliction that caused me to turn to God.
One man set free,
Jeffrey

 

[Jpark]

Maybe the hardest question for any religion to answer satisfactorily. Whole village is covered in an earthquake in the Philippines. Elizabeth Smart abducted and raped every day. If you had the power and ability to stop it, would you? God has the love and power to stop it. Why doesn't He? Can we develop a deeper relationship and obey the most important commandment to love the Lord our God with our whole heart... without answering this question?

Romans 3:7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?

Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death

All sinned.

1 Peter 4:16-17 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Suffering begins with the true church and ends with the punishment of the wicked. (2 Thessalonians 1:8; Revelation 21:4)

I do not know why God allows suffering. I know that one man's sin introduced suffering. I know that suffering begins with the true church. And I know that God has appointed that suffering will be no more. But why not now?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven

 

[kisstheson]

"Can we develop a deeper relationship and obey the most important commandment to love the Lord our God with our whole heart... without answering this question?"

We can because of this:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..." philippians

before I made a commitment to Christ I had the usual "why God" questions. The sufferings of Christ was my answer. looking at his pain I see my own pain reflected in his eyes. through suffering we learn compassion for others, humility, dependency of God, gratitude...when we realize Jesus is carrying the heavier part of our cross our bitterness leaves and is replaced by a deeper experience of Christ's affliction as He still suffers from a broken heart. whenever I doubt and am tempted to ask "why God" I think of what Jesus suffered on the cross and no matter how bad things may appear this is the greatest proof of God's love for me and the world and until Jesus returns suffering will be apart of life. everybody suffers. I would rather be walking with him through it than be without him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHGb6gm7AmI

 

[countdown]

If humans allowed suffering of their children when they had the poewr to stop it, they would be considered neglectful/ God is no less neglectful.

 

[brinny]

God allowed the excruciating suffering and death of His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, even turning His back on Him at His most excruciating moments. Was He neglectful?

 

[SoundCard]

The problem was, is, and until the Resurrection and Eternity come upon us, is sin. We lie, cheat, steal, murder, blaspheme, and hate one another because of our sin.

But when the believer comes to Christ, we no longer suffer in vain, but rather,

Philippians 1:29 NIV
29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,

Just as we join Christ in the Heavenly places, so we too join in His suffering that the Father might be glorified as we show patience against those that try us, forgiveness against those that wrong us, and rejoice even when we are at a loss, for in our weakness God's strength is known, and in our time's of suffering we share in that which Christ did on our behalf. Our suffering is not pointless nor is it without a purpose.

Sometimes, we endure hardship so that we might know how to help someone else when it comes upon them even!

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NIV
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

So just as we know what a particular suffering might be, if we encounter someone who has endured a similar pain or frustration, or situation, we can be there and say "I know what you're going through". Perhaps that will be the door to someone's salvation? Or maybe just to edify another in their walk with Christ? We suffer now, but when we suffer, it is ultimately to build us up in the end, even if it means we go to pieces for awhile.

 

[kisstheson]

The problem was, is, and until the Resurrection and Eternity come upon us, is sin. We lie, cheat, steal, murder, blaspheme, and hate one another because of our sin.

But when the believer comes to Christ, we no longer suffer in vain, but rather,

Philippians 1:29 NIV
29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,

Just as we join Christ in the Heavenly places, so we too join in His suffering that the Father might be glorified as we show patience against those that try us, forgiveness against those that wrong us, and rejoice even when we are at a loss, for in our weakness God's strength is known, and in our time's of suffering we share in that which Christ did on our behalf. Our suffering is not pointless nor is it without a purpose.

Sometimes, we endure hardship so that we might know how to help someone else when it comes upon them even!

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NIV
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

So just as we know what a particular suffering might be, if we encounter someone who has endured a similar pain or frustration, or situation, we can be there and say "I know what you're going through". Perhaps that will be the door to someone's salvation? Or maybe just to edify another in their walk with Christ? We suffer now, but when we suffer, it is ultimately to build us up in the end, even if it means we go to pieces for awhile.

 

[Jeffz]

I thank God for my suffering for it caused me to turn to God. One of my favorite Psalms is because it is my story:


a 107:10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,

Psa 107:11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

Psa 107:12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

Psa 107:13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

Psa 107:15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

Psa 107:16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

Thank God for his unfailling love that he knows that most of us would not turn to God if our lives were free of suffering and affliction.

Jeff

 

[Chimes]

Why does God allow suffering?

God has the love and power to stop it. Why doesn't He? Can we develop a deeper relationship and obey the most important commandment to love the Lord our God with our whole heart... without answering this question?

In order for me to have a real relationship with God, and to accept the sacrifice made for me, by Jesus, I had to first let go of the idea that God was to blame for everything bad in my life and/or in the lives of others. It was not an easy thing for me to do, because let's face it, from the time we can first speak, we learn to blame.

When I was a little girl, my parents kept a tight rein on my relationships. They knew who I was friends with, and they decided who I could go visit. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere, or meet people, without their permission. They did this to protect me. As I grew, they loosened the reins. By the time I was in my teens, I had a variety of friends, and boyfriends. My feelings were hurt by unkind, untrustworthy friends. My heart was broken when I gave my love away carelessly. A friend of my mother asked her once "wouldn't it be easier to just keep her from dating until she's 18 and old enough to make wiser choices?" And my mother said something like "yes, it would be easier, for me, a parent, but it would only keep her from learning valuable lessons, because for every heartbreak, there is a lesson learned."

My mother was right, I learned about people and about myself. I learned about relationships, cause and effect, and I slowly began to understand that I needed a deeper, more meaningful kind of relationship, a long lasting one, with somebody that wouldn't hurt me, let me down, lie to me, mislead me. I found it in Jesus. And THAT is when I finally bloomed, becoming a grown woman with a real understanding of how to love as I had been loved. Do I still make mistakes? Oh yes. Do I still hurt others? Sometimes, but I don't mean to do it now. Do I still sin? Yes, everyone does, but the difference is that I don't crave it. I crave my relationship with Christ, and when I fall, I go to Jesus, for forgiveness & strength to move past what I have done.

Not everyone does this.

Some enjoy hurting others. Some inflict pain and suffering on others, all their lives, and take joy in doing so. For those who suffer at their hands, it is not their fault. It's simply cause & effect in motion, but the bible says that God does not take it lightly. He hates when we murder, torment, abuse, and especially when we do it to a child. He has promised to punish anybody that harms a child, to the point that it would be better if that person tied a large stone around their neck and threw themselves in a river, then to face His wrath. I believe Him. I know that He means business.

You might be thinking "What does all of this have to do with my question?"

In my mind, it has everything to do with your question. When humans were created, we were created to have a relationship with the Lord. The bible says that He walked among us, until our first sin. After our first sin, came the seperation, and a need for Salvation from this sin that kept us from our Creator. As we continued to multiply, so did our sin nature. Our sin's not only affected us, and everyone around us, but they also played havoc on our planet.

So let me ask you a question:

If you had a child, that you loved dearly, and no matter how many times, no matter how many ways, you attempted to teach them not to run into the street, they did it anyway, what would you do?

Let's say that your options were these:
1. Hide them away, never allowing them to be near a street again.
2. Follow them constantly, all throughout their lives, giving them reminders, and stepping in whenever necessary, but as they age, allowing them to make their own mistakes, and being prepared to rescue them if they need it, but hoping that they won't.
3. Blowing up every car on the planet so they never had to worry about being hit by one.
4. Killing your child, thus ending any further worry for you both.

Most parents would choose option 2, and God went a step further. He actually threw himself in front of the bus, in our place, paying for our mistakes. In doing this, it doesn't mean we won't still mess up and sin again, because we do, and it still destroys us, everyone around us, and our entire planet as a whole. That doesn't take away from His sacrifice for us though, and in the end, we may destroy this planet, but He'll still be there, waiting, with loving arms, to forgive us, because we believed in His ability to do so, and trusted Him, believing in His promises.

We destroy ourselves.
We destroy our planet.
We destroy our brother's and sister's living here with us.
He is kind enough to sit back and wait for us to come to Him, and obey His commandments to love Him first, and to love one another second. During the process, He still hangs out, loving us, looking out for us, and even moving in the hearts of His creation so we'll help one another. He could've done the "logical" thing, instead, and just wiped us all out. I'm so glad that He didn't, aren't you?

 

[steve4.truth]

I appreciate all the posts. I personally have had a relatively easy life, but I have a soft heart toward those I see suffering intense pain. I personally feel that religion in general has either neglected to answer this question or slandered God with their answers. for example, "God lets us suffer to make us stronger". I can quickly agree that God takes bad situations and uses them for His purposes in making us stronger. But there is an important link that we can't miss: GOD IS NOT THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING. "Chimes" already mentioned this and it is based on the scriptures:
Jms. 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

Job. 34:10 So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.

If I break my child's arm to teach them to be strong and not complain, I'll go to jail!! However if my child breaks his own arm by climbing a tree when I told him not to, and I use the situation to teach him some important lessons, that's good parenting.

 

[dorig59]

I haven't read all the responses, so I hope I'm not being redundant, but here's my take on this age-old question. We know that there is rampant sin in the world and that God has given all of us free will. Unfortunately, because of that free will, we will sometimes be the recipient of others' evil. God can and does love and answer prayer, but He also allows suffering at times to strengthen us.

 

[praisehimalleluia]

Suffering falls on the just and the unjust. It afflicts innocent victims. This uncomfortable fact makes it difficult for us to reconcile such obvious unfairness with the existence or fairness of an intelligent divine being.

Some are so disturbed by this state of affairs that they try to remedy the situation. They devote much of their energy to performing charitable works aimed at relieving undeserved suffering. They long to make the world a more just and equitable place to live.

But, commendable as these efforts are, good works don't solve the world's problems. It appears that our efforts to stop suffering at best only delay the inevitable. And nobody, it seems, has a believable explanation of why so much human misery persists.

"You have the poor with you always," said Jesus (Matthew 26:11). This is depressingly true not only in pockets of poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but virtually everywhere. What makes the existence of the abject and underfed more tragic is that much of this kind of suffering is avoidable.

Jesus foretold a time of unprecedented trouble in the "last days" that will include widespread famine. He prophesied of "famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places" (Matthew 24:7).

When Jesus Christ came to earth two millennia ago, He saw His share of misery. He witnessed the plight of outcast lepers, widows in need and people with debilitating mental disorders. He reacted with compassion to alleviate misery.

He proclaimed that part of His mission was "to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18). Such a time has not yet occurred for all mankind, but God promises He will bring an end to suffering in general during Christ's millennial reign and will eventually banish it (Revelation 21:4).

"The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives" (2 Peter 3:9, NCV).

In Paul's life, God listened to Paul's prayers and delivered him from many trials, but in one incident, He declined to intervene in spite of Paul's prayers (2 Cor 12:7-10). On this occasion, the response to Paul was "My Grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness".

God's perspective is different from ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9, 2 Pet 3:8). He sometimes places the character lessons we should learn in difficult circumstances above our physical and mental comfort. At such times, we may think that God doesn't hear our prayers, but He does! It's just that we often don't want to accept that His answer is "No" or "Not yet". Or as in the case of Apostle Paul, "I have something better in mind for you."

Not all suffering is the result of personal disobedience or irresponsible behaviour by the sufferer. Even in the Ten Commandments, God reminds us that the consequences of wrong actions can affect one's descendants for several generations. (Exodus 20:5)

Sometimes the best we can do is to accept it as explainable by what the Bible calls "Time and Chance" (Ecc 9:1).

Paul tells us that in this life we see through a "glass darkly" (1 Cor 13:12). We will never fully understand some things during this life, but we will in the world to come.

The Lord has reminded us in His Word that nations will fail in their efforts to peacefully co-operate. He warned that warfare shall not cease, but will increase (Matt 24:6-8). Suffering will not disappear; it will intensify in the years leading up to His return (verse 21-22).

God will bring all mankind to realize they cannot achieve world peace and bring and end to all misery and suffering without His intervention. As the Living and Just God, He will not allow and evil and unjust world to continue indefinitely.

He will send Jesus to earth to rule as King of Kings. And the Messiah will intervene at the hour of man's gravest crisis (Daniel 12:1).

I seem to look at suffering as a means that God reminds us of His greatness, to submit to Him, to surrender to Him out of faith in His promised eternity. Its a way to strip us from the world to focus on paradise with the Lord forever. Its a way to remind each innocent victim or child who died innocently thru brutal suffering or torture, that they are set free from the world of cruelty. Their destination is definitely pure and completely safe in His arms. Perhaps we can never reason it today, in our limited mind and understanding, but its God's Will to limit our understanding on earth, for in the end, in the new eternal life with Him, we shall all understand the secrets of His Glorious Saving Grace and Love for all of His creation.

 

[Jeffz]

May the Lord bless you Grace, this is a good explanation of suffering some emotional, some physical, some caused by sin and other caused to teach us God's character.

Jeff

 

[steve4.truth]

Grace mentioned that a just God will bring an end to suffering. That is in harmony with Ps.37:28 which says that God is a "lover of justice". The overwhelming evidence of the scriptures is that God is Just and fair. If we could end the suffering in the world, wouldn't we????? Where did we get that sense of fairness? Our personality reflects God's in an imperfect sense because we were made in the image of God. If the heinous crimes we see on TV make disturb our warped, imperfect sense of justice, Doesn't it make sense that God feels that same feelings magnified a hudred times!!? Gen. 6:5,6 "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain."
If we had the power to end suffering, we would do it. We can be just as sure that God will do so.

 

[Wanderer7]

For me, this question is best answered by asking it in reverse form. What if God did NOT allow suffering. Imagine how stout and proud we would all be if the world was that way. Suffering is necessary in a sinful world. You can't grow flowers with just sun, you need the rain as well.

 

[steve4.truth]

For me, this question is best answered by asking it in reverse form. What if God did NOT allow suffering. Imagine how stout and proud we would all be if the world was that way. Suffering is necessary in a sinful world. You can't grow flowers with just sun, you need the rain as well.

nothing personal, but I reject that sort of thinking. Jesus and the righteous angels are not "stout and proud" even though they never suffered (before Jesus came to earth).
and rain is a good thing. Flowers don't need stomped on and weed-wacked to grow!!
If God created us so that we NEED suffering, then He is to blame for every heinous crime committed.
If you are saying that God can use suffering to make us stronger, I'll agree. A flower that has been stomped on may develop stronger fibers, but ideally, it would have grown better without being stomped on!
In the new heavens and new earth, will suffering be "necessary" to keep us from becoming proud? Surely God is smart enough to teach us character without suffering.

 

[Wanderer7]

nothing personal, but I reject that sort of thinking. Jesus and the righteous angels are not "stout and proud" even though they never suffered (before Jesus came to earth).
and rain is a good thing. Flowers don't need stomped on and weed-wacked to grow!!
If God created us so that we NEED suffering, then He is to blame for every heinous crime committed.

No, we CHOSE sin and the whole world is "growning and travailing" because of it. We see things that seem unfair, how sometimes the innocent are harmed and wonder why God doesn't intervene. First thing to consider is that this is a fact of our world and our theology must match that fact. What is the alternative to the answer of suffering, to believe that God wants to stop it but is not able to or is not smart enough to figure out how? This would place satan above God. That's not what the bible teaches. It teaches that satan is the enemy but that God has a plan that is being worked out in allowing him to operate and that he is kept on a leash. Where satan aims to destroy, God always causes good to come from it. We may not always see how in this life but we are not omnipotent. I have struggled with this question myself but, again, what settled it for me was looking at the reverse side. If I knew I could go through life and never stub my toe, get sick, suffer or die, why would I seek God? Why would I ever wonder if there were a deeper meaning to life? Why would I ever believe that I was a sinner. Plus, we have all sinned and have incurred death on ourself. We are all in a position before God where he doesn't owe us anything.

In the new heavens and new earth, will suffering be "necessary" to keep us from becoming proud?

Of course not. I thought that could go without mentioning that in heaven there won't be suffering. Sin will be completely eradicated.