Why does God allow sufferings?

[Daniels]

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[ticker]

To mold us and bring us closer to our dependence of Him.

Basically, He'd be doing us a disservice if He didn't allow suffering.

Even the times we suffer, it's the best possible thing that could be happening to us. And understanding this makes things a whole lot easier.....'cause knowing God loves us, we know He would never allow us to suffer unnecessarily if it wasn't completely in line with His love.

There's nothing better than the situation we're in at any given time...it's all God loving us...even when we make our bed in hell.

 

[icedtea]

But in some cases, such as myself, it never lets up, its always bad. I can only think he doesn't like me much. Theres never any relief or good stuff.
My thoughts are 2 options. 1. He is not omnipotent and cannot help, or 2. He doesn't want to, which means He doesn't love me.

 

[AutumnSnow]

I'm going through a trying time at the moment, so I think I may be able to help answer your question with some things my own recent tribulations have taught me.
I believe God allows suffering in an attempt to get our attention and bring us closer to Him. Through the pain, we can use our problems as a learning experience, since unfortunately, we may not listen to what He is trying to tell us otherwise! Keep in mind, that the old addage "When God shuts a door, he opens a window" is absolutely true! I think suffering is the journey we must go through to reach the open window ... JMHO.

 

[icedtea]

But some have to suffer much more. The luck of the draw, then?

 

[mont974x4]

NASB

Heb 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
Heb 12:5 and you 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;
Heb 12:6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
Heb 12:7 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?
Heb 12:8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Heb 12:9 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?
Heb 12:10 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.
Heb 12:11 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.

2Co 12:5 On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.
2Co 12:6 For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.
2Co 12:7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!
2Co 12:8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
2Co 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.


Why do you think God allowed Job to go through all that he did?


Why did God send the plagues upon Egypt before Moses led His people out?

 

[E.C.]

So that we can grow.

Seriously, if you spoil your kid their whole life they will learn nothing. Sure they will depend on you but not in a good healthy way.

By we in the first line, I mean we as human beings.

 

[JAL]

Suffering is not well-justified in mainstream theology, because God is usually defined as both (1) foreknowing and (2) omnibenevolent.

The problem with these two assumptions is that if an infinitely good God has a choice of creating either (1) souls foreknown to sin/hell and (2) souls foreknown to choose only righteousness/heaven His mercy should limit Him to choice #2.

To say that choice 1 is okay is to call it commendable for God to create an infinite number of souls merely to watch them choose hell.

In fact, I am not even a good guy and I would definitely choose 2 every time if it were up to me.

Thus to explain suffering, we must either (A) find some ingenious way to reconcile God's infinite foreknowledge with His infinite benevolence (I don't know of anyone successful to date), or (B) we must redefine God such that there are limits to His benevolence or to His foreknowledge or to both, without impugning either His character or His leadership capacity.

I've accomplished option B in my own (free) Systematic Theology, although this is not the main focus of the book. You can send me a PM requesting the download link.

My own theological "discoveries" were actually a great relief to me, because I was finally able to conclude that suffering is justifiable and justified.

 

[Solidlyhere]

This is the on-going punishment that man-kind has gotten since we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

We bust our backs in the fields to grow food, we must murder animals to eat meat, there's pain in child-birth ... ... the list goes on.

In the Garden, things were pretty cool.
Outside, God WANTS us to have suffering.
Without suffering, we could NEVER know non-suffering.

 

[0x87a]

if you're not suffering, and you get all you want.. do you still remember God and come close to Him? I think no..
that's the initial thinking that humans have..

 

[icedtea]

Justified?
Does God never let us be non suffering? I'd like to know.
Or maybe not.

 

[TamaraLynne]

But some have to suffer much more. The luck of the draw, then?

I see two kinds of sufferring...the kind that others can inflict upon us because of free will.....

and the kind that happens when we sin.....

I know what it is like to be a child and mistreated...it was nothing I did...but it was the cause of someone elses free will.....God does not like this suffering....actually he doesn't like the other kind of suffering either... But we are his children and he will help us ...he will be there....we are under his wings and his love for us is a jealous love....he does not want us hurt.....

 

[thatsupersinner]

I have the answer to this. It's like falling off a building and asking why your imaginary friend wont save you. Because your imaginary friend doesn't exist.

 

[ticker]

Hey. It's this guy again!

(...it's funny how this is the very same kind of stuff C.S. Lewis would say all the time when he was an athiest. Too bad for him Jesus got him! )

 

[MelzluvsJesus]

Jesus allows suffering because HE suffered. We will suffer what He suffered, and we don't have to suffer what He did NOT suffer. We had this discussion in Bible study a few weeks ago. If we want to be like Him, we get to suffer LIKE Him.

 

[snail]

This seems to be the biggest fuel for non religious types. "Why does God allow suffereing?" "I'm a good person, why do bad things happen to me?"


Perspective...

How would you know if something was hot, if there was no cold.

Cold is bad... Hot is bad... No wait cold is good I like cold water on a hot day. I also like Hot water on a cold day. hmmm, Why?

 

[christianmomof3]

I was really hoping to see some other answers to this because it is something that I wonder about too.
I have heard and understand that due to the fall there is suffering in the world.
So it is Satan's fault.
I read once that Buddha's "great revelation" was that "all is suffering".
I have heard that our suffering is to strip us of our selves - our outer man so that we can gain more Christ and grow more in Him and He can grow more in us.
I realize that since we all suffer, we can suffer in vain, or suffer and turn to Christ and have Him as our comforter and gain more of Him and grow more in His life.
I would rather do the latter.

But still, there is so much suffering in the world.

 

[Rossiter]

We suffer because of our choices and those of other people...I guess you can argue God did something bad by putting us here at all but he's not actually making anything bad happen. I don't understand why some people have a problem with this; I wouldn't want it another way.

 

[christianmomof3]

We suffer because of our choices and those of other people...I guess you can argue God did something bad by putting us here at all but he's not actually making anything bad happen. I don't understand why some people have a problem with this; I wouldn't want it another way.

What about babies and children? Do they suffer because of their choices? No, they suffer perhaps because of other people's choices. But not all suffering is from choices of anyone. Is cancer a choice? Are birth defects a choice?

 

[Macarius]

Suffering is not well-justified in mainstream theology, because God is usually defined as both (1) foreknowing and (2) omnibenevolent.

The problem with these two assumptions is that if an infinitely good God has a choice of creating either (1) souls foreknown to sin/hell and (2) souls foreknown to choose only righteousness/heaven His mercy should limit Him to choice #2.

To say that choice 1 is okay is to call it commendable for God to create an infinite number of souls merely to watch them choose hell.

In fact, I am not even a good guy and I would definitely choose 2 every time if it were up to me.

Thus to explain suffering, we must either (A) find some ingenious way to reconcile God's infinite foreknowledge with His infinite benevolence (I don't know of anyone successful to date), or (B) we must redefine God such that there are limits to His benevolence or to His foreknowledge or to both, without impugning either His character or His leadership capacity.

I've accomplished option B in my own (free) Systematic Theology, although this is not the main focus of the book. You can send me a PM requesting the download link.

My own theological "discoveries" were actually a great relief to me, because I was finally able to conclude that suffering is justifiable and justified.

Dr. Plantinga, in "God, Freedom, and Evil" adaquetly answered the so-called problem of evil using option one that you presented. To my knowledge, most philosophers of religion don't even forward the argument anymore except as an evidential defeater of God's goodness.

He does, at length, talk about whether or not it was right for God to create at all knowing what He knows.

I highly recommend the book.