Why does God allow us to suffer?

Suffering for long periods of time builds character and strengthens your faith. If the person stops believing because of suffering then they have failed the trials.
God wants strong believers in his Kingdom; and lets only people who truly love him into heaven.
Read James chapter 1 for more clarity on this subject.

No way, Mehguy. I view God as a social-relational being, who then arises out of his or her relationships with the universe. That means God enjoys a direct, empathic response to all creaturely feeling. But it doesn't stop there for God. It's not just that God feels everything. God is continually self-creating and evolving, by creatively weaving all these feelings, discordant as some may be may be on our end, into a harmony of harmonies, which denote God as concrete personality. Of course, more needs to be said here. I'm just winging it for now. I don't want to go into too much detail unless you are interested, want to know more, and ask further questions.

He takes our suffering and brings about a good from it, if we cooperate with His grace. In order to grow, sometimes we must suffer. Even as an atheist, I thought this way. But, as a Christian again, I believe in redemptive suffering, that there is a reason behind our sufferings and that we can bring our sufferings to Christ, and He will bring about our healing and growth...if we let Him.

SkyWriting said:

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?

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Unfortunately, pain is necessary for survival. Without pain in your finger telling you it has been cut, you could bleed to death without ever knowing it.

Shortest answer I can think of is God allows free will.

As long as man is allowed free will, some will cause suffering to themselves and others.

I've no doubt he steps in at times to stop suffering, as well as cause it, but generally as nice or as bad as free will is, it plays a necessary role in his purpose of filtering out the good from the bad among us, so he allows it and the suffering that goes along with it. Not to mention having a bunch of no free will robots for his pleasure is likely not that pleasurable at all.

Gods plan for us was never for us to suffer and die. Sin and death entered into Gods percent creation when Adam and Eve rebelled against God. Up on till this point death did not exist. Some people get angry about this because they look at it the wrong way. People say so I'm suffering because of what someone else did. But if we are onist if we were in the garden we would have eventually rebelled against God and eat from the tree that God said not to eat from. see God wants to be truly loved. He did not make robots that are programmed to bow down and worship him. That would not be true love. Instead he created us with extraordinary harts and minds with fee will.

When Sin and death entered in to Gods perfect creation it entered into all of creation not just mans heart this is why there are earth quakes and natural disasters and if you think sin is not real just turn on the news it's all over.

So suffering comes from living in a world that has been infected by sin and death.

God still uses suffering. For unbelievers he uses it to get your attention and to hopefully get you to relie on his strength instead of your own little strength. For believers it's used to conform us into the image of his glorious son Jesus. He is molding his people to become more like Jesus and sometimes that happens thought hard stuff. We are dealing with a God that did not spare his only son but gave him up so that we can have a eternal life. So if I have to suffer for the next 30 years if I make it that long how do you compare that short time period to eternity? So God the father had to watch his only son git spit on,slapped in the face, hit over the head with a staff aging and again, wiped to the piont that there was no skin left on his back and then nailed to a cross and left there to die. He also spent 3 days in hell. But the grave count not hold him in. All of this was done so that sin full people like me can come to know a holly God. God knows the only way to reach us is not by shoving a list of rules in are face. He knows the only way to reach us is by melting are harts and if what Jesus did for us doesn't melt your heart then you better take your pulse because you might be dead allrady.

I believe suffering is a consequence of the fall, since when the introduction, by man, of faults into a "GOOD" creation actually upset the perfect balance of everything. It's not that the law of gravity changed from 32'/sec/sec changed, though if it had the whole of creation would have become unbalanced and unfeasible. But it is that the human mind became dysfunctional so the unfeasibility factor appeared - and expanded as does everything else in God's creation (cf expanding stratospheres). The result is pain and suffering which draws attention to cause and effect. If you hit your finger with a hammer, the pain causes you to understand the foolishness of that action and changes your behaviour. If your child touches something hot when you have told him not to, and gets a tiny burn, he returns to balanced behaviour by not repeating that behaviour or form of disobedience. So pain in general points to imbalance, draws attention to cause and effect, and has the function of re-aligning balance or right form.
So you say, what about the hunger in Africa, or disease, or sexual slavery. I think these are intended to draw attention to the imbalance or wrongs of the situation so that nations can right the wrongs, eg cancel military spending and put that energy into agricultural pursuits or other ways of putting things right. Only the moral depravity of mankind inhibits this, makes military spending essential, and permits such things in order to achieve purposes of manipulation and control.
This may seem over simplified, but I think the general principle is clear.

I spent my entire career solving problems, both technical and caused by human factors. And in both cases the old axiom holds that the best answers are usually the simplest. And such is the case here. Those of you who hate logic and already have your minds made up don't like the "free will" explanation but it really is that simple. God doesn't cause the global suffering and calamity. But he does indeed allow us to choose to do it to ourselves. And it is a choice. He has provided the answers for millennia. Man just continues to choose to live otherwise. Read the gospels with particular attention to the quotes attributed to Jesus. Can anyone honestly say that if all mankind lived as Jesus instructed us to live that we'd have all of the problems that we face at the societal level?

In order to win, you must first learn how to lose.

drr1531 said:

Can anyone honestly say that if all mankind lived as Jesus instructed us to live that we'd have all of the problems that we face at the societal level?

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Or even at the so called natural level for that matter. Most suffering attributed to natural disasters, droughts, tsunamis flooding, hurricanes, earth quakes etc would not even occur for mankind if we lived as Christ has told us we should live.
Examples of shoddily engineered buildings (in the name of profit) collapsing in earthquakes or being blown apart in hurricanes and tornados are all too common place, the reason why millions are flooded out of their homes every year is because they are forced to live in these dangerous places out of abject poverty and a drought can almost always be tracked down to [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] poor land management through war, commercialism or just plain ignorance, at some point in the past (never mind the xenophobia that prohibits those caught in these situations from escaping).

Instead of pointing the finger at God accusing Him of allowing the suffering, I think we, mankind, need to take a good hard look at ourselves and our own not insignificant part in it all.

Perhaps He allows the suffering because to put a stop to it for once and for all would mean that we all face destruction and perhaps He would rather give as many as possible the chance of salvation before He settles the problem for once and for all.

Very good

TomorrowsWorld said:

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

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Very good but the time when all is known hasn't arrived yet; I believe there is more to our predicament than what we have been told so far.

SteveB28 said:

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?

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I would love to add my thoughts here. Lucifer had free will so that makes me think that he suffered in heaven as he was so jealous of God, it consumed him. That brings me to wonder if the biblical definition of suffering is different than what we think.

barisvesevgi said:

I would love to add my thoughts here. Lucifer had free will so that makes me think that he suffered in heaven as he was so jealous of God, it consumed him. That brings me to wonder if the biblical definition of suffering is different than what we think.

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Akıl ve mantığın

quatona said:

Why does God allow there to be bad times?

Why does God allow Satan to exist?
Why does God allow difficult times to exist?

Why would an ominiscient God have to test anything?

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God allows Satan to exist in order to glorify everyone who does what is right through all the testing and hard times that are brought upon them. A person who does good through suffering has a credit that someone who never faced that suffering dos'nt have.This life of suffering is very short followed by eternity. God dosnt have to test anything so that he can find out , as he already knows and has always known. Satan as accuser claims that it can't be done , and the test, once it is complete, is a demonstration to all beings in existence that God and those who truly belong to him are completely good.
I've tried to explain what I believe briefly , but it is difficult because sometimes these questions need to be discussed thoroughly for hours.

Well said my brother

TomorrowsWorld said:

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

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There's only one reason why God allows suffering. He's keeping His promise to Adam and Eve. His hands are tied by His word. He is a God that can be trusted to keep His promises. JMO

Dan Bert said:

Suffering.

1. There is suffering for sins.
2. There is suffering for purification and for the Glory of God (those who have heard and learned of the Father cometh unto Christ)

In the last case ....If obedience has been learned then there is no need for suffering.

In all cases suffering is for own good if we profit from it.

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I would add one more:

3. There is suffering for living in a fallen world.

Children are born with debilitating birth defects. People catch terrible diseases.

Those are not for sins, nor are there lessons to be learned. It just is.

Locutus said:

Either you need a little practice at tightening up a narrative, or that's a really bad joke. Either way, it made not a lick of sense.

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Then it wasn't meant for you to understand. As God wills.

To comment on the video in the OP...it was rather shallow. Nicely/professionally done on the eye candy if that's what your looking for, but the content left something to be desired and to me, and I'd dare say others, is much preferred over aesthetics. Seems much of it was about consequences to our on actions that no one in their right mind would hold God responsible for, with little to nothing on the hard questions. Teach something most don't already know.

Though TomorrowsWorld also did a good job at advertising themselves and directing us to their website in the video, I'd suggest the next time, they post their topic on boards like this, read up, research and do all that before they attempt to teach or direct us to more of the same. Most people aren't so dim, earn your audience with meat, not milk, so as not to disappoint or worse yet, somewhat belittle them with your well meaning efforts.

Was that too critical?

Locutus said:

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

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He who does the creating also makes the rules regarding the creation. We Christians call the Creator "God."

God is love.


God created the material universe and all that is in it and He also created all living things including mankind. God created people to freely choose to know, love, and serve Him on earth so that they can be happy living with Him in eternity. However, not all people freely choose to know, love, and serve Him.

Earth is the testing ground, eternity is the reward. The test is love. The people who pass the test of love on earth are approved to live with God forever. The people who do not pass the test of love on earth are separated from God forever.

Unfortunately for the people who do not freely choose to know, love, and serve God while they are on earth, they fail the test of love. Therefore they are not approved to live with God in eternity. There is one place that God created where He cannot live. This place is called hell. Hell is the place where God does not live. Without God's presence in a place (God is love), there can only be hate, pain, suffering, and despair. Indifference and apathy do not exist in eternity. All the people who choose to hate God by failing to know, love, and serve Him on earth condemn themselves to hell for eternity. Each person makes his or her own choice. God forces no person to love Him and He prevents no person from loving Him. God forces no person to hate Him and He prevents no person from hating Him.



The goal of a person who claims to be be Christian should be to choose/will to become like Christ. If he or she does not desire to become like Christ and strive to become like Christ and do His Father's will, he or she will not be approved to enter into heaven. Christ desires to do His Father's will and He does His Father's will. Therefore, every person in heaven, like Christ, wills to do the Father's will for each of them. The Father (Love) knows what is best for each person that He created and He therefore provides His best of everything for each person in heaven so each person can be fulfilled to the best of his or her ability. Perfection for all.