All-good God Knowingly Creates Future Suffering?

Question

God is omniscient. When he created the universe, he saw the sufferings which humans would endure as a result of the sin of those original humans. He heard the screams of the damned. Surely he would have known that it would have been better for those humans to never have been born (in fact, the Bible says this very thing), and surely this all-compassionate deity would have foregone the creation of a universe destined to imperfection in which many of the humans were doomed to eternal suffering. A perfectly compassionate being who creates beings which he knows are doomed to suffer is impossible.

Answer 1

To all you people with the defense, "God gave us free will, and he isn't responsible for our suffering." Okay, so he doesn't interfere right? Praying is useless then right? But let me ask you, would you let your child be taken care of by a molester? Would you give a criminal a gun and say, hey, do whatever you like and screw whoever else gets hurt? How does God avoid responisbity for a world he created?

Because the bible was written by man who was ignorant and dumb at the time, therefore it is not true. However, there are still some people that believe in the bible therefore belief in this contradicotory character still exists. In some alternate world where logic doesn't exist and nothing makes sense, God may exist.

The human brain is being deciphered, and free will has no place anymore. Most people don't know this or don't want to accept it. We want to hate, blame, and turn our noses to the way the world works. If God did exist, the blame would lie on him.

How can a absolutely perfect being create flawed beings? It would be impossible. Free will is an illusion in a sense, our brain is a system of processes that are sometimes carried out unconsciously. We are aware of some of these processes, and are given the illusion that we are in total control. There is an infinate mutitude of influences that effect us.

Most people don't study biology, culture, socialogy, etc., and don' t know anything. Someone tell me what the hell free will is?

Answer 2

The true Christian suffers just as anyone else does while here on earth ! You are put here to live a Christ-like life ,learning the teachings & following the instructions of the Lord knowing full well that you are not going to live forever ! You do your best with a contrite heart and a saved soul with full and complete faith in Gods` promise of everlasting life that superceeds anything that this life has to offer . Christians were born with the same opportunities as the unbelievers , we just chose to live our lives believing Gods` word and following His guildance . If you have heard the gospel , and you have rejected it , then you have made your choice !! I as a Christian will never be critical of your choice so don`t be critical of mine !! We all go through the " valley " which is where you are supposed to learn from the experience of negative times and negative things in ones` life that got you into the valley to start with . Usually it is bad decisions and bad choices that get one into the " valley ". Through Prayer & Faith you will be guilded to the "mountain top" where you are to remember how & what got you into the "valley" to start with , and not do those things again . Also , once the good times are back in your life after a trial Don`t forget what it was like in the" valley " !! Continue to give God the Honor and Glory that are His , even when you think you don`t need Him or you just recognize Him when things are going bad and / or you need something !! It is surely correct to Honor and Thank Him for your present condition even when it is good . Don`t take credit for something for yourself that God has done !! Christians do not question Gods`authority in their lives ...I used my "free will " to follow the Lord , and you have used yours in your way ?? There will only be one time that either of us will know if we have lived our lives the right way . That is when you take your last breath here on earth . As a Christian , I have something to look forward to after death , what will your choice get you ?????? I believe , and you don`t , so be it !! God Bless with His knowledge..

Answer 3

Suffering is an opportunity to call out to Him. Suffering can free us from our arrogant self-centered attitudes, and actually see that we need Him. It is through suffering that we can be open to someone helping us. Mankind is full of pride, and that in itself causes great suffering. God doesn't create suffering, but He does make Himself available to help if we decide to call out to Him. Ever read the story of the Prodigal Son?

Answer 4

Free will, my friend. God knew people would make wrong choices and suffer for it, but He still created them with the choice not to. This is something many cannot wrap their minds around, but it is true.

Answer 5

So God doesn't exist if you say He doesn't exist? Who's universe is this then? Go ahead, create life and post back here with your results. Should we worship you in the meantime?

Answer 6

God is not squeamish about suffering. He knows our suffering is self inflicted. He gave his Son as a means of salvation. So the choice is yours. You can accept His gift and not suffer or you can reject it and suffer the consequences.

Answer 7

You're acting as though God's the one who sends ppl to hell. He isn't. Ppl decide to reject God and Christ, and that's why they go to hell. God created those ppl to give them the choice, just bc God knew what choice they were going to make doesn't mean He influenced them in their choice in any way. God would only influence your decision if it would bring you closer to Him, bc He wants to give mercy. He isn't going to do anything to cause ppl to reject Him. They reject Him all on their own, or, in your case, bc you're angry about the way God runs things, as though you have the right to tell Him what to do. As God says, "does the pot ask the potter "why have you formed me so?" " we have no right to question God's decisions, we have to trust that as an all-knowing God He knows what He's doing, much better than we do

Answer 8

Free-will defense.

Cordially,
John

Answer 9

yes, he saw it and i can't tell you why he made it anyway. but, i'm sure he'll tell me, eventually, like when i die.

Answer 10

If God is all knowing and all loving, why did He create Satan and allow evil in the world? A good question, to be sure. One that I’m not sure we can ever fully understand, not being omniscient ourselves. While I do believe that a large part of the answer lies in the fact that God decided to give us (i.e. men and angels) freedom of choice, I also believe that is used by most Christians as a pat answer to avoid the discussion (and personal contemplation) in the first place. To examine this question fully we must try to get a handle on many difficult concepts: freedom of choice, the nature of God, the nature of love, the nature of omniscience, and the nature of evil being the primary concerns. None of these are easy topics, and many of them will have to be looked at simultaneously.

One of the first questions I believe we need to ask is this: Why did God create us in the first place? The answer lies in what He calls us… His children. Why does any parent want to have children? While there may be a few who will answer that they want an heir to their estate or kingdom, and others who might answer that it is their way to immortality, I believe almost everyone would admit that the reason they want to have children is they want to have a child to love, and to be loved by that child. It is no different with God. He wants to (and does) love us. He wants to be loved by us. He wants all the joys of parenthood. With this understood, we now can explore the idea of freedom of choice.

Giving freedom of choice comes both from the desire to love, and to be loved. Let’s look at a couple of examples we can relate to. If someone is trying to completely control his or her spouse or significant other, the relationship is almost always a bad one. No one likes to be controlled. A husband who tells his wife what friends she can or cannot have, when she can go out of the house, when to have dinner on the table, etc., is usually described as abusive. Not always physically, but that often goes hand in hand. Giving someone freedom of choice is also giving them trust and respect. Love cannot exist without it.

I think it is even easier to see the necessity of freedom of choice when we look at the desire to be loved. God is described as a Father, so I am going to explore this aspect by looking at fathers. A father could make his six year old daughter climb into his lap every night and say, “I love you, daddy,” right before going to bed. He could, but I don’t believe most fathers would want to. While most fathers would want very much for their six year old daughter to do just that, if it was forced, it would not mean anything. A father wants his daughter to climb into his lap and say, “I love you,” out of her heart, not out of command. God wants the same thing. Yes, He could have decided not to give us any freedom of choice, but He created us because He wanted to be loved by us. If we did not have freedom of choice, than we could not truly love. Love must be a choice.

Now that we have touched on the nature of love and freedom of choice, I believe it would be good to look at the nature of God. We will also discover much about the nature of evil while examining this topic. While God is called the creator of all, there is one thing that God did not create: evil. God did create Satan, the author of evil, but God did not create evil. Evil is the absence of God. This is why God is described as light, and evil as darkness. Darkness only exists where light does not. They are not true opposites. The only way to have darkness is to block out all light. There is no such thing as a “darkbulb” or “flashdark.” Only light can be created. God is also described as a consuming fire. I like to take these two concepts together and liken God to our sun. If you get too close to the sun you burn up; you become part of it. This is why in the Old Testament it is stated that if you see God’s face you will die. You would be consumed. When Moses was allowed to see God in His Glory from the backside, his face shinned too bright to look at for days. When God created Adam, Adam was created in the image of God. He was, in essence, like God. He could be next to the sun without being consumed, for his nature was the same. When Adam sinned, he added to humanity their fleshly nature; we were now no longer like God. We could not be in His presence without being consumed by Him any longer. God created us, like Him, eternal. If God was to “consume” us in our sinful state, we would not be able to be in His presence, so we would be in a place completely devoid of God. This place is usually called hell. Yet God, being compassionate, allowed us to dwell on Earth in a different state. Both evil and divine, He gave us a way back to Him. Rather than eternity of complete despair, He gave this world to Satan, only to conquer it in Christ. He made it so that His children’s despair need only be temporary, and with the simultaneous chance for joy. He gave us hope. The reason that we live in a world with so much pain (and joy) is in fact, because of God’s mercy, not despite it.

The final question we need to address is the omniscience of God. This is certainly the most difficult topic of all to deal with concerning this topic. Why would God create the angel Satan if He KNEW Satan would fall? Why not create a man more like Jesus in the first place, rather than Adam, who God KNEW would eat the forbidden fruit? While this is a very difficult answer to swallow, the answer is because God is just and fair. God does not prejudge based on foreknowledge. This is almost impossible to understand, but I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts concerning this. Do you believe it would have been right to kill a nine-year-old boy named Adolph Hitler, if you knew who he would become? I personally believe it would have been very wrong. Do you believe it would have been right to sterilize his mother before his birth? Again, I believe that would have been wrong. We have enough problems figuring out ethics than trying to determine what is right or wrong if you know the future. However, this is not the final thought I want to leave you with on this subject…

God created man because he wanted to be a parent (at least in part). We criticize Him, however, because of the evil in the world. How could God have created man knowing what we would do to ourselves? Why did God create man, knowing he would sin, and have to suffer? Isn’t that hypocritical? Anyone who has ever willfully brought a child into this world (or is planning on doing so) should be judged just as harshly. Sure, we may not know the EXACT sorrows and despairs our child is going to have, but we know there is going to be skinned knees, broken bones, broken hearts, the death of loved ones, and other tragedy in that child’s life. Either that or they are going to die very early. How can we justify bringing children into this world, knowing that this world is so full of evil? We feel angry with God, because we feel he can do something. He is all-powerful, after all. But we can do something, too; we can choose not to bring another life into this world. Yet we choose to have children, because we hope and believe we can fill their lives with more joy than sorrow. God KNOWS He can fill your life with more joy than sorrow. He can do something about the evil in the world, and in fact, He already has.