If everything is the product of a "grand design" by an omniscient, benevolent designer,?

Question

Why is the history of life so filled with horrible suffering, blundering waste, and miserable failures? Why does the Christian "God" go through billions of years of such carnage without yet arriving at his goal?

Answer 1

Life is all connected. All pain and suffering is the agent of God as the body and intellect of humanity is wrought into perfection.all the experiences from the beginning are passed to the next succeeding generation, all the knowledge that every was or ever will be is contained within your spirit. As each body and intellect is brought to perfection God expresses his perfection through their, now, impersonal intellect and personality. Many have attained this goal and now masses of humanity are poised on this great expression of Gods vision of himself. "God dwells within you as you." You have union with God in unconditional love within your heart. You have access to this Great storehouse of knowledge through your Heart.

Answer 2

When G-d made man, He gave man freedom of choice. It has been 38+ years since I made my choice, and I too see some of the same things that you do. However, if you believe that it ought to all have been peaches and cream, then you do not understand the mind of G-d at all. No parent wants to force their children to love them, they want them to choose that because then it is an honorable relationship based on give and take. G-d is no different. There is given a specific amount of time where G-d has allowed Satan to maintain control of this world (read Angelwalk by Elwood). Through this time, He has allowed Satan to do His worst. G-d also sent His Son, and Satan through the years (read Esther) has sought to annihilate the Jews to prevent Jesus from being born. Christ's death on the Cross has created a defeated adversary, yet men will still seem to go contrary to their own best interests and follow a path that will lead to destruction. It is now only a matter of time before the curtain closes on this act and everyone will see that it will eventually be curtains for Satan.

Answer 3

'Why, though, has Jehovah allowed suffering to go on for so long? And why does he not prevent bad things from happening? Well, consider two things that the teacher in our illustration would not do. First, he would not stop the rebel student from presenting his case. Second, the teacher would not help the rebel to make his case. Similarly, consider two things that Jehovah has determined not to do. First, he has not stopped Satan and those who side with him from trying to prove that they are right. Allowing time to pass has thus been necessary. In the thousands of years of human history, mankind has been able to try every form of self-rule, or human government. Mankind has made some advances in science and other fields, but injustice, poverty, crime, and war have grown ever worse. Human rule has now been shown to be a failure.

Second, Jehovah has not helped Satan to rule this world. If God were to prevent horrible crimes, for instance, would he not, in effect, be supporting the case of the rebels? Would God not be making people think that perhaps humans can govern themselves without disastrous results? If Jehovah were to act in that way, he would become party to a lie. However, “it is impossible for God to lie

Answer 4

"God" is not Christian. "God" is not Hindu or Jewish. "God" is not Muslim or anything else. "God" is "God". God Is and God Created. Now. Here. As a painter paints a painting. As an artist forms a sculpture. As you write these words. These words did not write themselves. The letters do not just jump up on this screen because of some accident.

The history of life? Whose life? Your life? Because of choices you make, your parents made. Those around you, your people, their people, other people, governments, authorities. Decisions are made that sometimes bring suffering. Mostly suffering. Why does God allow it? Why did he not just make us all puppets? What gives God the right to make life on this planet and not make my life peaches and cream? Everything should just be pretty with no choices or evil or anything. We should all just Be! Right? We should all just Love one another. There should be no hurt or evil. God should just take away our choice and force us to do what He/She (Whatever) wants us to do. God should just take every choice away right?

Answer 5

Because He works with what He has. Humans are mean. As a general rule. There can be no growth without suffering. Every single thing we have learned has hurt in one way or the other. A little or a lot. It hurt. Those who hurt and still believe are the ones He wants.

Answer 6

Because God gave us Free Will. We make our own choices. Sometimes our choices and the choices of others cause this suffering and failure you speak of. Besides no one has a life that is free of suffering. You can be strong, rise above it and learn from it or you can let it drag you down, ruin your life and feel sorry for yourself. Again...your choice.

Answer 7

Ever see a smith transform iron ore into a sword?
It takes a lot of heating, and melting, re-cooling, reheating, and pounding betwixt hammer and anvil for him to get what he wants.

If you had eternity and it took 5 quadrillion years for the spirits you were working with to learn what they needed to know not only in their perishable minds but in their eternal spirits, would you begrudge them that time to let some of them avoid some pain?

Answer 8

Im sure not going to blow smoke up anyone's rear end. The bottom line is that the almighty powerful father of mankind allows you all the opportunity to call upon him and follow his ways. Its up to you to do so or even beleive it to be so. He is and always will be and those that cry but do not seek, will not find.

ps- very good point!!! mrs. noname =)

Answer 9

The world is damned to destruction.That it is prolonged is to the benefit of man that he may find salvation.

Answer 10

Because our forefather, and foremother, chose this for us. Three people told him that regardless of the benefits of doing exactly what God wanted, and regardless of the downsides, that we're better off on our own.

The last 6,000 years have shown how poor that choice was, for the rest of us stuck in this position. Billions of years had gone into the creation of this universe, and the last 6,000 years are nothing more than a short detour. Very soon, the issue will be settled, once and for all time, that God's way is best, and never again will we have to experience such suffering. (Revelation 21:1-4)

A way out was provided for us, so that legally, in a just and legal manner, we could gain acceptance once again. There is a LOT at stake, and a much larger issue going on:

According to the book of Hebrews, everything that God did under the old Mosaic law as actually a "pattern" for the Israelites, to show the superiority of the new covenant. The shedding of blood? It was for a reason. Paul points out that if they offered those sacrfices, then they would see that the old covenant could never "do the job" as it were. Something more would be needed; because in the Bible, blood represents the life of a crature:

"Yahweh said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground." - Genesis 4:10

""For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.'" - Leviticus 17:14

Thus, as Paul says in the book of Hebrews, the old covenant would become a "tutor for them, leading to the Christ".

Why? Why couldn't he just "forgive us"? Because he is a God of Love, Power, Wisdom, but also, and this is key, JUSTICE. The Bible clearly demonstrates this. Satan believed that in the Garden of Eden, he had God trapped in his own words; if he could just get Adam and Eve to sin. He wasn't counting on God's supreme Justice and Wisdom to see a way out for us. This led to the very first prophecy ever uttered, by God, at Genesis 3:15 that demonstrates that God had just come up with a purpose, a way of getting us out of the mess we were in, without becoming a liar as Satan thought he would be. As is shown and demonstrated in the book of Job, Genesis, and other portions, Satan is continually trying to find a "loophole" to accuse God with. Satan is also referred to in Proverbs as the "Taunter" of God.

He needed a legal basis to forgive us. Adam sold us down the river. Just like a pan that has a dent in it will always give you bread with a dent in it, Adam took on sin. Therefore, all of his offspring would be born in sin. God required a legal way to forgive this sin. We needed another perfect human to balance the scales of Justice, and buy back what we lost.

Those blood sacrifices were representations to God that blood was needed to atone for their sins. Although animals could never do the job. To God, an animal life can never equal a perfect human life, like Adam had. Because we were sold into sin by Adam, a perfect man. So we needed perfect blood to buy us back to God, with the legal, just (Since God is a God of perfect Justice) method of asking forgiveness. The law that the Israelites lived under was a pattern, a "tutor" as Paul says, showing them the way the new covenant would work, and that a better, newer covenant was needed; since the old covenant never provided for perfect blood. Even King David recognized this fact, and spoke in prophecy regarding Jesus:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not delight in; These ears of mine you opened up. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not ask for. In view of that, I said: "Here I have come, In the roll of the book it being written about me. To do your will, O my God, I have delighted. And your law is within my inward parts." - Psalms 40:7,8

Paul pointed towards this scripture as a prophecy from the old covenant, and showed how it fit in with the new covenant.

"then he actually says: "Look! I am come to do your will." He does away with what is first that he may establish what is second. By the said "will" we have been santified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time" - Hebrews 10:9,10

"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:22

So now God had a legal, just method for forgiving our sins.

1) Adam sins and dies
2) Sin comes to through whole world through Adam and we all inheriet sin and death (Romans 5:12)
3) Life is represented by blood (Leviticus 17:14)
4) A perfect life is neccessary, like Adams, to buy back what was lost. For a life to be given up, blood would be involved.

"So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." - 1 Corinthians 15:45

There are larger issues at stake. But the time for human suffering, the Bible shows, is soon drawing to a close. When you consider that God has been creating this universe for billions of years, and the latest 6,000 years? Compared to billions?

A mere blink of the eye.