Dear christians, if God created us out of love, why is there pain?

Question

If God knew everything ahead of time, then he must have known that pain would plauge all humanity as sin, christians say.

So... is God a horrible parent or what?

God knew sin would take place in the Garden of Eden, but he could've easily stopped Satan from tempting them

He knew the evil was coming, but could not try to stop it.....That, is bad parenting

Answer 1

Because of the sin in the garden of eden, we all suffer pain. So, its not God who is the bad parent, rather we are the disobedient children.

Answer 2

Because he gave us all freedom of choice in our lives, with or without consequences. With or without remorse. With or without pain. He also gave us emotions, and with our choices pain or hurt of emotional or physical meaning may accompany it. So it isn't him, it is us, think of us as a anthill. You watch them move about their daily lives, and you cannot intefere because if you do, you upset the whole nature of everything. You'll try and fix a problem at the very bottom of the anthill, but while doing that you mess up the tunnels above and around.

True with the swipe of God's hand everything could be a utopia. But like everything else humans get their hands on even a utopia will fall. So why would he do anything about it? We will only find a way to mess it up again as a whole anyways.

But than there is the whole scientific explanation of why we feel pain. But if you can't figure something out like that without making it sound horrible, I'd hate to see how you butcher us on a scientific plane.

Answer 3

If I knew everything ahead of time, and I knew my daughter was going to be killed in a car accident when she was 12 (hypothetical -- she's only 4 and this did not happen and I pray will not), it doesn't mean I would decide not to have her.

We can only see our lives, and history, through a tiny hole in the fence, so to speak. God can see it ALL. There are things about His plan we can't know and understand. But know this: He did not bring pain. Sin brought pain. If I tell my daughter not to touch the hot stove, and she does it anyway, did I bring the pain by setting a rule? Or did she bring the pain by defying my rule?

Answer 4

There is pain because humanity was deceived by the devil and fell into self-love, rather than the love of God which is self-less love. As a result, humanity separated itself from God, who is the Source of Life and Love, and that separation is the cause of pain.

As for God's foreknowledge - no, He is not a horrible parent. He knew that mankind would fall into the sin of self-love and that much suffering would result from it. But He also knew that there would be one person to come out of the sea of humanity who would be pure enough in mind, body and soul to be an all-pure vessel for His holy incarnation as the God-man, Jesus Christ. That all-pure, all-holy vessel is the Ever-Virgin Mother of our God, Mary. And God's plan was always, from before all time, to join in undivided union with His creation and thus to restore it to communion with Him. In other words, He knew that the pain would be temporary, and that the great joy to follow would be everlasting.

Do you still think He is a horrible parent?

Answer 5

No, Ask any parent on earth. You can love them, But Your children will not take the paths you would like them to all the time. And you know some of the choices your kids make will bring them pain, and that brings you pain too. Does that make them a horrible Parent? God intervenes often in ways we can not see at first.

Answer 6

the only reason there is pain is b/c pain & evil is just the absence of God, rather than God's fault...yes, God knows everything & sees everything, including the future...He has a plan...adam & eve were tempted by the devil (which, unfortuantely, God hasn't defeated YET [and Satan was NOT created by God]) & they chise 2 disobey God & sin, pain, & shame entered the world...no, God is NOT a horrible parent! He loves you!!

Answer 7

"John Stott has said that "the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith." It is unquestionably true that there is no greater obstacle to faith than that of the reality of evil and suffering in the world. Indeed, even for the believing Christian, there is no greater test of faith than this--that the God who loves him permits him to suffer, at times in excruciating ways. And the disillusionment is intensified in our day when unrealistic expectations of health and prosperity are fed by the teachings of a multitude of Christian teachers. Why does a good God allow his creatures, and even his children to suffer?"
-Rick Rood

Please read the rest of the article at:
http://www.probe.org/content/view/641/77/

Answer 8

"Did God REALLY say that?"----do you remember this verse in Genesis??? The redefinition of Good and Evil led to evil. Pain exist as a result of man. Also, pain is temporary for the beliver.

Answer 9

Please refer to the Holy Bible, Genesis, and you will read about how Adam and Eve, (our parents), lied to God and also ate the forbidden fruit. God told them that now there would be sin, etc. and they would feel it. It happened a few more times in the Bible, like Noah and the Ark, and when Caleb and Joshua went to the promised land. Look it up, it is all in there. :)

Answer 10

everything happens for a reason. an interesting analogy would be if your gf/bf gave you alot of pain (but tolerable) by breaking up with you, in turn he might not have gone crazy and turned into hitler #2 because you were always on his/her case or something. (not saying that you would drive him that crazy, im just going into the extremes a little bit here.)

bless you
tyler