Why does God allow us to suffer?

[TomorrowsWorld]

This is one of the hardest questions I have to answer with people, they always have a hard time understanding HOW a loving God could command all those people in the old testament to be killed. They look at the world and they see a world in pain!

WHY does God allow suffering!?

Does God truly care for and have a plan for all who have ever lived and died? These are common questions. Discover the Bible’s clear answers on this important topic.

http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/telecasts/why-does-god-allow-suffering#sthash.eDVOkq1H.dpuf

 

[SteveB28]

This is a DISCUSSION forum. Why don't you DISCUSS your claims, rather than simply plastering your propaganda?

 

[ToddNotTodd]

This is one of the hardest questions I have to answer with people, they always have a hard time understanding HOW a loving God could command all those people in the old testament to be killed. They look at the world and they see a world in pain!

WHY does God allow suffering!?

Because the Christian god wants people to suffer more than the Christian god does not want people to suffer...

 

[SkyWriting]

This is one of the hardest questions I have to answer with people, they always have a hard time understanding HOW a loving God could command all those people in the old testament to be killed. They look at the world and they see a world in pain! WHY does God allow suffering!?

Like when I catch my finger on a nail and it rips the skin away in a ragged strip?
Why does God allow it to hurt?
Or if a cut gets infected, why do I have to suffer with pain?
Why, if my cell phone goes dead, do I feel so alone in the world?

 

[Locutus]

Like when I catch my finger on a nail and it rips the skin away in a ragged strip?
Why does God allow it to hurt?
Or if a cut gets infected, why do I have to suffer with pain?
Why, if my cell phone goes dead, do I feel so alone in the world?

First world problems only? No mention of skeletal 4 year olds expiring in the dust of Africa for want of a grain of rice. Or Tsunamis killing hundreds. Or the horrible and undignified ebola death. Or the profound pain of terminal cancer?

 

[Locutus]

This is one of the hardest questions I have to answer with people,

For good reason. Why not try answering it here and now?

 

[SteveB28]

I believe you folk call this a 'blind post'........

Suffering will be explained away under the 'free will' provision.

Several questions then arise:

Is there 'free will' in heaven?
Is heaven free from suffering?

The answer, for most Christians, will be 'yes'.

If heaven exists, we therefore have an example of the Christian god creating an environment in which suffering is absent, yet 'free will' persists.

So why could he not equally create it here?

 

[bhsmte]

I always get a kick out of the explanations some Christians have on this topic.

For the most part, it is really a desperate attempt to explain this stuff away. You see Christians on this board, claiming God cured a family member of a disease and when you asked them why did God cure your family member and at the same time, allow 9 million children to die each year before the age of five, you get the same desperate and contradictory answers.

 

[Locutus]

Several questions then arise:

Is there 'free will' in heaven?
Is heaven free from suffering?

The answer, for most Christians, will be 'yes'.

If heaven exists, we therefore have an example of the Christian god creating an environment in which suffering is absent, yet 'free will' persists.

So why could he not equally create it here?

I've had Christians assert this often. Eg, 'free will exists in heaven, but you won't choose evil'. When pressed, they generally explain that while we're technically free to choose evil, we won't have any desire to. Which of course means no free will. If the desire to do evil is removed, then we've been adjusted - that's the bottom line. And here's the fun part ...... they universally overlook the fact that an 80 year lifespan is effectively a zero timespan compared to eternity (in heaven). So for less than a picosecond we have free will, and an eternity of no free will. But god wants us to have free will

 

[Locutus]

I always get a kick out of the explanations some Christians have on this topic.

For the most part, it is really a desperate attempt to explain this stuff away. You see Christians on this board, claiming God cured a family member of a disease and when you asked them why did God cure your family member and at the same time, allow 9 million children to die each year before the age of five, you get the same desperate and contradictory answers.

I sometimes wonder if it's only the smart and ethical ones who get desperate. I hear so much complacent satisfaction and lazy certainty when hearing it that I have to wonder if some see any problem at all.

 

[Extraneous]

I always get a kick out of the explanations some Christians have on this topic.

For the most part, it is really a desperate attempt to explain this stuff away. You see Christians on this board, claiming God cured a family member of a disease and when you asked them why did God cure your family member and at the same time, allow 9 million children to die each year before the age of five, you get the same desperate and contradictory answers.

Those Christians dont know any better, they just lack proper understanding. In my fallible, humble opinion, they dont understand what God means by healing. Hes referring to spiritual restoration, not physical healing.

 

[Extraneous]

Suffering is a valuable spiritual thing, if we choose to look at it that way. Suffering has greatly humbled me and helped me to gain empathy and compassion.

 

[Locutus]

Those Christians dont know any better, they just lack proper understanding. In my fallible, humble opinion, they dont understand what God means by healing. Hes referring to spiritual restoration, not physical healing.

Yet you do know better? And you possess perfect understanding?

I would suggest that the vast majority of Christians believe that Jesus/Yahweh does indeed heal physical ailments. They are your faith, the body of the Christ as it were. We must take them at their word.

 

[Locutus]

Suffering is a valuable spiritual thing, if we choose to look at it that way. Suffering has greatly humbled me and helped me to gain empathy and compassion.

I hope you're joking.

 

[Extraneous]

Yet you do know better? And you possess perfect understanding?

I would suggest that the vast majority of Christians believe that Jesus/Yahweh does indeed heal physical ailments. They are your faith, the body of the Christ as it were. We must take them at their word.

I reserve the right to be fallible. I did say it was my opinion. I take scripture at its word, not people. I listened to faith healing preachers for many years, only to be frustrated in the end. I searched scripture to find answers. I cried, prayed and searched. In the end i found my answers in scripture. Its my belief that God opened my eyes to see the truth. There are different ways of looking at things and the bible is written in a way that only spiritual eyes can understand the Lords teaching correctly. The scriptures teach this as well. I dont know everything, but God showed me what i needed to know.

 

[Extraneous]

I hope you're joking.

No im not.

 

[SkyWriting]

First world problems only? No mention of skeletal 4 year olds expiring in the dust of Africa for want of a grain of rice. Or Tsunamis killing hundreds. Or the horrible and undignified ebola death. Or the profound pain of terminal cancer?

Most people are alive today. Pain comes with that.
Nerves keep your organs functioning.
No nerve signals means death.

 

[Eryk]

I believe you folk call this a 'blind post'........

Suffering will be explained away under the 'free will' provision.

Several questions then arise:

Is there 'free will' in heaven?
Is heaven free from suffering?

The answer, for most Christians, will be 'yes'.

If heaven exists, we therefore have an example of the Christian god creating an environment in which suffering is absent, yet 'free will' persists.

So why could he not equally create it here?

We are free but the end is not like the beginning. Enlightenment is a radical change in the way one thinks. The beatific vision, right in front of you, makes doubt impossible and its beauty makes love easy. The inner and outer world of a person in heaven precludes them from the selfish desires of an earlier stage. They are not able to think that way. But they are not less free. They are truly free for the first time, because they no longer bind themselves with attachments.

I don't know why we had to begin the journey as simple organisms and then go through all these human dramas. I guess it just has to be learned and there's no other way. Many theists base their belief in God on personal experience and then reconcile this belief with the world as we find it. Works for me.

 

[Sea Anemone]

I hope you're joking.

Why would he be joking? Is there anything more universal to our collective human experience than suffering?

 

[Eryk]

Suffering is a valuable spiritual thing, if we choose to look at it that way. Suffering has greatly humbled me and helped me to gain empathy and compassion.

That's the soul-making hypothesis. But animals don't have the ability to use religion as a source of inner strength. And they do suffer. I just hope they will obtain relief and happiness when their lives are over.