Each and every day, thousands of people lose their homes, are victims of abuse or die in senseless accidents. Children are diagnosed with cancer, fathers walk out on their families and mothers lose the fight against drugs. There is a lot of evil and misfortune in this world. So, if you are wondering “Why does God allow suffering,” honestly, I don’t blame you.
Of all of the questions people ask about Christianity, “Why does God allow suffering” is one of the most difficult to answer, but also one of the most important.
Unsure of what to say, many Christians often just try to gloss over the question and give a canned answer. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t help anyone. A fair response is desperately needed, and today I have three.
I have a different perspective. God has given us the most precious gift that can ever be given to any living thing - Free Will. But with this gift comes great responsibility.
First, we must fight for it so that we will appreciate it enough to respect it and preserve it. Second, we must recognize that if we abuse it the cost is astronomical.
God has also offered guidance in the Bible and the Ten Commandments. If we take heed and behave responsibly as we exercise our most precious freedoms (free will), we will continue to enjoy them for perpetuity. But that hasn't happened. The price is being paid a little more everyday. The price of irresponsibility.
So when we look at who is to blame for the bad things happening in the world today we need only look in the mirror. Collectively we have failed to keep our end of the bargain. And remember this is just the beginning. It's too late to change course now. Get with Gods program personally and pray that you will be chosen when St. Peter checks you at the gate. There are far too many greedy, hateful, and selfish people to save the world now. Judgement day is close at hand.
A friend of mine went home from work a few weeks ago and found his wife on the floor, dead from a heart attack. She was in her late 40's.
When I saw him yesterday, he spoke of how God had kept and comforted him though the experience, and how it had strengthened him and drawn him closer to God. He knows she is now in Paradise with the Savior, and her suffering has ended.
A friend of their son lost his father shortly after that.. the son was able to share and comfort his (unsaved) friend with his knowledge of how God had helped in his own situation.
I personally have been through the fire countless times in my life. Devastating events and experiences.
But through them ALL, God has always helped and comforted me, restored and renewed me, and has given me a deep knowledge of His grace and mercy that I've been able to share time and again with those who were going through similar circumstances.
And one of the most wonderful gifts He's given me in all of this is the understanding that He know all about me, what I'm going through, what I need, and how I feel. My life is committed to Him and He has full control over what happens to me.. ALL of it.
So the part about 'why' things happen no longer matters anymore.
My life is in His Hands, under His control, and everything will be fine in the end.
Church is a great place to start. If you don't have a church you go to or you don't feel a connection, ask a friend to go with them. Try different churches until you feel a connection.
If you don't have that, you won't understand much about the Bible or spiritual things. But once you have a change of heart about the way you've lived and ask God to forgive you and come into your heart --to 'save' you--, your spiritual eyes will be opened and you will begin to understand.
Many people have religion. Not so many have that personal relationship.
If you ask sincerely, He will answer, and He WILL change your life.
God allows suffering because thru suffering we rely on him. It causes us to commit fully to Christ and it causes us to speak with him daily in prayer. Far to many people only pray or talk with Gold when times are bad, imagine where we would be if we always committed to God and allowed his will to take control of our actions...man it would be so much better. So, in review.."When the going gets tough, LOOK UP"
A tiny little human brain is far too small to understand God.Ten thousand people could comment and still not scratch the surface of why he does what he does.
Not once did any of you people or the writer mention Satan and his helpers. Who let loose by God is according to the Bible running around here causing all kinds of havoc. Biblically speaking our misery on this Earth is caused by sin. it was after all original sin that got the ball rolling so to speak.
I don't have a problem with how people choose to view the world to solve their problems and comfort themselves. If it is a faith in God that is fine with me. But for me I think we are only fooling ourselves.
What happens, happens. How it is,is. the reasons are often obscure and complicated. and often there is no logical reason at all.
Having expectations of a helping God often makes things worse for believers than those who have no belief and no expectation of supernatural help.
Accepting life as it comes, the facts of life,living and dying without looking for divine intervention, acknowledging fate has been much better for me.
of course we need to make good life decisions from an early age, God fearing or not. No drinking, smoking or drug use. No cheating on our spouse. No stealing or killing. Treating others as we want to be treated. These and similar maxims are key to having a life that satisfies. Adults should set these examples for children.
It helps if we are born with the potential to have at least a decent IQ and freewill that works and helps us make the best decisions. We do not all come into this world with equal portions of those things.
We all need to accept responsibility for our role in our lives and the lives of others and not shove it off on God.
"..Accepting life as it comes, the facts of life,living and dying without looking for divine intervention, acknowledging fate has been much better for me.."
Maybe so far, 7:52, but you haven't died yet. That's when your philosophy will hit the wall.
You make some good points about being responsible and adapting to circumstances, accepting life as it comes.. things which all of us should do. God helps us do that, and He wants us to do it. He does have a plan for all of us. Life is much better when we follow it.
There is also, as you mentioned, a devil, and there is a hell.
Man is a spirit/soul that lives in a body. The body dies, but the spirit lives on and will spend eternity somewhere.
God has provided, through the sacrificial blood of His Son Jesus, a simple way for any of us who will accept the gift, to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
Or we can reject it, which relegates us to eternal torment in hell.
I think every person gets at least one chance to make that choice.
Perhaps this is that time for you.
Please choose wisely. Eternity is a very long time.
In your world 9:02 there are only two choices after death: Heaven or Hell and to stay out of hell you must bow to a King.
In my world there are three choices. The two in yours and the choice that when we leave this world to simply die (Our spirit too.) and return to dust. I have chosen to simply die. I have no desire to live for an eternity whether it be in Heaven or Hell.
Less you think I don't know the Bible, I was immersed in literal Bible centered Christianity for two decades and know the Word much better than many professing Christians. It was a long climb out to where I am today. It is like I said earlier I don't deny others the places where they find comfort. I won't try to convert you. But I won't deny myself where I find my own comfort.
11:19 The soul God gave us is eternal according to his word. That is why it is so important to care where it ends up. Jesus said in the last days the love of many will grow cold. If you choose to believe the sky is green, not blue, does it change the color of the sky?
Anon 11:19 PM - You have reached the "Age of Reason" I see. Your statement is well-put and I agree with you. I will never try to convert anyone to my "belief" system and I would hope that no one will try to do the same to me once they realize that I feel differently about life/death. Those of us who are free-thinkers are looked down upon because we do not congregate and hold our hands in the air and enter a trance-like state for an hour every Wednesday and Sunday and sometimes several other days that end in 'y' through out the week.
I do not fault those individuals for their belief systems because to be honest, it is much easier to be a believer than not. This can be said about being a democrat as well (I will leave that statement there). It is difficult to seek out the reasons for ones own existence and to understand how the universe works. To see the end of ones own life as being absolute is something that most people cannot come to grasps with.
Man does not want to consider this one life as the only thing that they have and to see it as a stepping stone to another life brings about comfort and if this belief brings comfort to them then who am I to say that they are wrong?
I kind of like the idea of reincarnation myself but I don't believe that it is real either. The closest far-fetched thing that I can think of would be that as you decompose that you are consumed by bugs that are consumed by birds or bug eating animals that could be consumed by some other animal that is eventually consumed by another human. Then maybe, just maybe, your DNA can be passed along to another human where through some chemical process your DNA coding could pass along some information that may have been printed in it from your life's experiences. This is where deja-vu comes from!
I hear you, 7:52, and I respect your sincerity.. I sense no animosity or guile from you. I'm thinking something may have happened to you in that two decades that turned you against God, or perhaps you never really had much more than an experience in 'religion'.
In 1975, I was on the verge of suicide, but remembered hearing how God abides in people and uses them to accomplish His will. I thought to myself, "Why not try Him? I'm a dead man anyway."
I was sitting in a bar. I said to Him "Jesus, I can't go on like this anymore. If you're real, and you will help me, the rest of my life is yours."
At that moment, I felt something change. My heart filled with a new hope, because I knew everything was going to be OK. I became excited, because I could sense that a great new adventure had begun.
I have never been the same since that day. My life is no longer about me, but about finding ways to be helpful to others around me. What a wonderful release that has been!
I hope you won't mind if I hold you up to God in prayer over these next few days. I sense in you a good but troubled spirit, and I'm hoping God will shine just a little bit of His light in your heart that will show you the way home.
Our hell is here on earth everyday living. I used to be a believer, but no longer. My father suffered a long painful illness, my mother suffered a long dibilitating illness and they never did anything to anyone. No one should suffer. My best friend lost her only daughter in a tragic accident and witnessed it. This girl never fell in love, finished college or expeirenced a family of her own. She did not have one single mean bone in her body. But yet we have drug lords, rapists, abusers.... which I experienced myself by my husband and both my husband and I attened chuch and I attending couciling after our divorce. Jesus sufferd for our sins? But how can you predict who is going to sin. Many are born with diseases they did not ask for. Are the paying the price for a drug addicted mother that the has nothing to do with them so they don't suffef consequence cause they don't care if they lose their child, but the child will have conditions forever. I am just not convienced.
I have never been in a bar except two years ago when I and a friend were traveling with a third friend who was dying. Maybe three different times we went in. They each had a beer each time. I had a water. They both if asked would profess to be Christians. Of course the one has now gone to met his King.
They weren't getting drunk and as a good friend I tolerated their indulgence as they tolerated my lack of indulgence although my belief is no one should drink alcohol or do other drugs ever. .
There are many people who have similar testimony to yours and I would never deny them what works for them.I am glad it works for you. If you want to pray for me you may. You won't be the first and you won't be the last I am sure.
If someone says to me "Have a blessed day" or "May the Lord bless you." I don;t correct them. I most often say,"The same to you."
Never underestimate the stupidity of blind faith. Other than a 2000 year old hand written "blog" that is the bible there is absolutely not one iota of empirical proof that God exists yet you sheeple keep drinking the Kool-Aid giving your hard earned money to the church because you think it'll buy you a place in "heaven". Come on people. Did Jesus exist? Absolutely! Was he the son of a God? Absolutely not. He was a film flam artist with a few slight of hand tricks that amazed the uneducated society of 2000 years ago and from that...was born Christianity. Religion is the second biggest money maker in the world....next to pornography. There are a lot of rich, fat, well fed satellite preachers out there living in their multi-million dollar mansions,sipping cocktails by their pools with a porn star on each arm.
Keep believing and keep giving blindly. There's still nothing after you die but at least the millionaire men of God will enjoy your "afterlife"!
Still not understanding why "God" allows suffering??
I have a different perspective. God has given us the most precious gift that can ever be given to any living thing - Free Will. But with this gift comes great responsibility.
ReplyDeleteFirst, we must fight for it so that we will appreciate it enough to respect it and preserve it.
Second, we must recognize that if we abuse it the cost is astronomical.
God has also offered guidance in the Bible and the Ten Commandments. If we take heed and behave responsibly as we exercise our most precious freedoms (free will), we will continue to enjoy them for perpetuity. But that hasn't happened. The price is being paid a little more everyday. The price of irresponsibility.
So when we look at who is to blame for the bad things happening in the world today we need only look in the mirror. Collectively we have failed to keep our end of the bargain. And remember this is just the beginning. It's too late to change course now. Get with Gods program personally and pray that you will be chosen when St. Peter checks you at the gate. There are far too many greedy, hateful, and selfish people to save the world now. Judgement day is close at hand.
A friend of mine went home from work a few weeks ago and found his wife on the floor, dead from a heart attack. She was in her late 40's.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw him yesterday, he spoke of how God had kept and comforted him though the experience, and how it had strengthened him and drawn him closer to God. He knows she is now in Paradise with the Savior, and her suffering has ended.
A friend of their son lost his father shortly after that.. the son was able to share and comfort his (unsaved) friend with his knowledge of how God had helped in his own situation.
I personally have been through the fire countless times in my life. Devastating events and experiences.
But through them ALL, God has always helped and comforted me, restored and renewed me, and has given me a deep knowledge of His grace and mercy that I've been able to share time and again with those who were going through similar circumstances.
And one of the most wonderful gifts He's given me in all of this is the understanding that He know all about me, what I'm going through, what I need, and how I feel. My life is committed to Him and He has full control over what happens to me.. ALL of it.
So the part about 'why' things happen no longer matters anymore.
My life is in His Hands, under His control, and everything will be fine in the end.
He can handle it. I don't need to.
Put your faith in God he loves us and when we love him he will never let you down.
ReplyDeleteWe bring suffering upon ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI tried changing my perspective on what I called suffering. Should read the article but I dont get religion stuff.
ReplyDeleteChurch is a great place to start. If you don't have a church you go to or you don't feel a connection, ask a friend to go with them. Try different churches until you feel a connection.
DeleteYou are always welcome to come to CUMC on Phillip Morris dr in Salisbury. Contemporary service 6 pm sat nights.
DeleteThe solution isn't 'religion' 1:32.
ReplyDeleteIt's a personal relationship with God.
If you don't have that, you won't understand much about the Bible or spiritual things. But once you have a change of heart about the way you've lived and ask God to forgive you and come into your heart --to 'save' you--, your spiritual eyes will be opened and you will begin to understand.
Many people have religion. Not so many have that personal relationship.
If you ask sincerely, He will answer, and He WILL change your life.
God allows suffering because thru suffering we rely on him. It causes us to commit fully to Christ and it causes us to speak with him daily in prayer.
ReplyDeleteFar to many people only pray or talk with Gold when times are bad, imagine where we would be if we always committed to God and allowed his will to take control of our actions...man it would be so much better.
So, in review.."When the going gets tough, LOOK UP"
A tiny little human brain is far too small to understand God.Ten thousand people could comment and still not scratch the surface of why he does what he does.
ReplyDeleteNot once did any of you people or the writer mention Satan and his helpers. Who let loose by God is according to the Bible running around here causing all kinds of havoc. Biblically speaking our misery on this Earth is caused by sin. it was after all original sin that got the ball rolling so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with how people choose to view the world to solve their problems and comfort themselves. If it is a faith in God that is fine with me. But for me I think we are only fooling ourselves.
What happens, happens. How it is,is. the reasons are often obscure and complicated. and often there is no logical reason at all.
Having expectations of a helping God often makes things worse for believers than those who have no belief and no expectation of supernatural help.
Accepting life as it comes, the facts of life,living and dying without looking for divine intervention, acknowledging fate has been much better for me.
of course we need to make good life decisions from an early age, God fearing or not. No drinking, smoking or drug use. No cheating on our spouse. No stealing or killing. Treating others as we want to be treated. These and similar maxims are key to having a life that satisfies. Adults should set these examples for children.
It helps if we are born with the potential to have at least a decent IQ and freewill that works and helps us make the best decisions. We do not all come into this world with equal portions of those things.
We all need to accept responsibility for our role in our lives and the lives of others and not shove it off on God.
Agnostic?
Delete"..Accepting life as it comes, the facts of life,living and dying without looking for divine intervention, acknowledging fate has been much better for me.."
ReplyDeleteMaybe so far, 7:52, but you haven't died yet. That's when your philosophy will hit the wall.
You make some good points about being responsible and adapting to circumstances, accepting life as it comes.. things which all of us should do. God helps us do that, and He wants us to do it. He does have a plan for all of us. Life is much better when we follow it.
There is also, as you mentioned, a devil, and there is a hell.
Man is a spirit/soul that lives in a body. The body dies, but the spirit lives on and will spend eternity somewhere.
God has provided, through the sacrificial blood of His Son Jesus, a simple way for any of us who will accept the gift, to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
Or we can reject it, which relegates us to eternal torment in hell.
I think every person gets at least one chance to make that choice.
Perhaps this is that time for you.
Please choose wisely. Eternity is a very long time.
Faith. Simple as that.
ReplyDeleteFrom 7:52
ReplyDeleteIn your world 9:02 there are only two choices after death: Heaven or Hell and to stay out of hell you must bow to a King.
In my world there are three choices. The two in yours and the choice that when we leave this world to simply die (Our spirit too.) and return to dust. I have chosen to simply die. I have no desire to live for an eternity whether it be in Heaven or Hell.
Less you think I don't know the Bible, I was immersed in literal Bible centered Christianity for two decades and know the Word much better than many professing Christians. It was a long climb out to where I am today. It is like I said earlier I don't deny others the places where they find comfort. I won't try to convert you. But I won't deny myself where I find my own comfort.
So much for rationale discussion of alternative ideas on this topic apparently.
ReplyDelete11:19 The soul God gave us is eternal according to his word. That is why it is so important to care where it ends up. Jesus said in the last days the love of many will grow cold. If you choose to believe the sky is green, not blue, does it change the color of the sky?
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:19 PM - You have reached the "Age of Reason" I see. Your statement is well-put and I agree with you. I will never try to convert anyone to my "belief" system and I would hope that no one will try to do the same to me once they realize that I feel differently about life/death. Those of us who are free-thinkers are looked down upon because we do not congregate and hold our hands in the air and enter a trance-like state for an hour every Wednesday and Sunday and sometimes several other days that end in 'y' through out the week.
ReplyDeleteI do not fault those individuals for their belief systems because to be honest, it is much easier to be a believer than not. This can be said about being a democrat as well (I will leave that statement there). It is difficult to seek out the reasons for ones own existence and to understand how the universe works. To see the end of ones own life as being absolute is something that most people cannot come to grasps with.
Man does not want to consider this one life as the only thing that they have and to see it as a stepping stone to another life brings about comfort and if this belief brings comfort to them then who am I to say that they are wrong?
I kind of like the idea of reincarnation myself but I don't believe that it is real either. The closest far-fetched thing that I can think of would be that as you decompose that you are consumed by bugs that are consumed by birds or bug eating animals that could be consumed by some other animal that is eventually consumed by another human. Then maybe, just maybe, your DNA can be passed along to another human where through some chemical process your DNA coding could pass along some information that may have been printed in it from your life's experiences. This is where deja-vu comes from!
Just my 2 cents. I could be wrong.
From 9:02
ReplyDeleteI hear you, 7:52, and I respect your sincerity.. I sense no animosity or guile from you.
I'm thinking something may have happened to you in that two decades that turned you against God, or perhaps you never really had much more than an experience in 'religion'.
In 1975, I was on the verge of suicide, but remembered hearing how God abides in people and uses them to accomplish His will. I thought to myself, "Why not try Him? I'm a dead man anyway."
I was sitting in a bar. I said to Him "Jesus, I can't go on like this anymore. If you're real, and you will help me, the rest of my life is yours."
At that moment, I felt something change. My heart filled with a new hope, because I knew everything was going to be OK. I became excited, because I could sense that a great new adventure had begun.
I have never been the same since that day. My life is no longer about me, but about finding ways to be helpful to others around me. What a wonderful release that has been!
I hope you won't mind if I hold you up to God in prayer over these next few days. I sense in you a good but troubled spirit, and I'm hoping God will shine just a little bit of His light in your heart that will show you the way home.
God bless you, friend.
Our hell is here on earth everyday living. I used to be a believer, but no longer. My father suffered a long painful illness, my mother suffered a long dibilitating illness and they never did anything to anyone. No one should suffer. My best friend lost her only daughter in a tragic accident and witnessed it. This girl never fell in love, finished college or expeirenced a family of her own. She did not have one single mean bone in her body. But yet we have drug lords, rapists, abusers.... which I experienced myself by my husband and both my husband and I attened chuch and I attending couciling after our divorce. Jesus sufferd for our sins? But how can you predict who is going to sin. Many are born with diseases they did not ask for. Are the paying the price for a drug addicted mother that the has nothing to do with them so they don't suffef consequence cause they don't care if they lose their child, but the child will have conditions forever. I am just not convienced.
ReplyDeleteThis is 7:52 to 9:02
ReplyDeleteI have never been in a bar except two years ago when I and a friend were traveling with a third friend who was dying. Maybe three different times we went in. They each had a beer each time. I had a water.
They both if asked would profess to be Christians. Of course the one has now gone to met his King.
They weren't getting drunk and as a good friend I tolerated their indulgence as they tolerated my lack of indulgence although my belief is no one should drink alcohol or do other drugs ever. .
There are many people who have similar testimony to yours and I would never deny them what works for them.I am glad it works for you. If you want to pray for me you may. You won't be the first and you won't be the last I am sure.
If someone says to me "Have a blessed day" or "May the Lord bless you." I don;t correct them. I most often say,"The same to you."
I wish you well.
Never underestimate the stupidity of blind faith. Other than a 2000 year old hand written "blog" that is the bible there is absolutely not one iota of empirical proof that God exists yet you sheeple keep drinking the Kool-Aid giving your hard earned money to the church because you think it'll buy you a place in "heaven".
ReplyDeleteCome on people. Did Jesus exist? Absolutely! Was he the son of a God? Absolutely not. He was a film flam artist with a few slight of hand tricks that amazed the uneducated society of 2000 years ago and from that...was born Christianity. Religion is the second biggest money maker in the world....next to pornography.
There are a lot of rich, fat, well fed satellite preachers out there living in their multi-million dollar mansions,sipping cocktails by their pools with a porn star on each arm.
Keep believing and keep giving blindly. There's still nothing after you die but at least the millionaire men of God will enjoy your "afterlife"!
Still not understanding why "God" allows suffering??
Touche!
Delete