What do you say to someone who asks you "If God loves us why does He allow suffering?"?

Question

When trying to explain my faith to my friends and people who ask me about it this question always comes up and I confess I don't know how to answer it.

I'm not talking about suffering caused by humans (e.g rape, murder, etc)
I mean natural things (e.g hurricanes, tsunamis, cancer, babies dying, etc)

I would be grateful to anyone who could help me with this.

Answer 1

you say " There is no God, now go to your room"

Answer 2

God made earth and earth must live and change just like us. We thou have the possiblities to change the death toll. If you think about it hurricanes will always happen, the question is are we humans living the right life to prevent people from dying in a hurricane? Yes we are and thats what god wants us to see and do. Like in new orleans god sent the water, but it was humans who did not leave. Its was humans who let the people suffer not god. God sends us these things to test our humanity. Are we human enough to save all? Or are we just looking out for ourselves. The tsunami that hit on xmas? Well many many years before scientists told all that we needed a tsunami warning in that area, that a tsunami was coming. But the humans sad no, it would cost to much. And know we see how much it real costed us.
Cancer is a illness that can hit anybody, but we also let it in thru our misuse of nature. I mean we put chemicals in our water in our food and then we call it gods fault. How can that be he did not tell us to do that but gave us brains to know not to do it. A women sceintist in england found out that alot of breast cancers came from the use of deoderants, which is a man made thing. And babies dying- well there are thousands of reasons for babeis dying. If you look towards africa, well thats man letting child starve to death. God has nothing to do with that we are the ones not feeding people. And if you belief that souls come to earth to learn then maybe if a baby dies it has learned enough and its time to go.
In general I would say god has given us brains to think with and our soul to feel with. Humanity has shown over and over that when something terrible happens we pull together. If we would pull together from the start we could stop some of these sufferings. We have turned into a world of wants and not gives.
I hope this helps a little.

Answer 3

Read Job in the Bible. He suffered massively at Satan's desire and by God's allowance. He came out with no easy answers, but he could testify despite it all,
" I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God"
Job 18:25-26

And that was thousands of years before Christ...

But usually when people ask that question they're not asking it out of a real desire for an answer, or even direct experience of natural disasters etc., but simply to try and catch you out.

Oh and also read Luke 13.

As Christians (which I assume you are) we can be assured that whatever life throws at us "God works all things for the good of those that love him" (Romans 8:28) because this life isn't all their is and we've been reserved places in heaven (even though we don't deserve it). Yet non-Christians don't have that assurance, which is why we need to spread the good news that Jesus saves, whether people will accept it or not.

Answer 4

God is not causing the earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and volcanic eruptions. He is not using these to bring punishment on certain people. To a large extent, these are caused by natural forces that have been operating since the earth's creation. The Bible foretold great earthquakes and food shortages for our day, but that does not mean that either God or Jesus are responsible for the weather that he forecasts. Because these are occurring along with other things foretold in the composite sign of the conclusion of the system of things, they are part of the evidence that the blessings of God's Kingdom are near. Luke 21: 11, 31

Humans often bear heavy responsibility for harm done. Even when given ample warning, many people refuse to get out of the danger area or fail to take precautions. Prov. 22:3; Matt 24: 37-39

God can control such natural forces. He empowered Jesus to calm a storm on the Sea of Galilee, as an example of what He will do for mankind under his Messianic Kingdom. Mark 4:37-41

By turning his back on God, Adam rejected divine intervention on behalf of himself and his offspring. Those who are granted life during the Messianic Reign wil experience such loving care, the kind of care that only a government empowered by God can give.
Isa. 11: 9

Answer 5

In my view, you can't have an explanation for everything. And people who ask "why does he allow suffering" well they're the people that aren't interested in your faith, but are interested in catching you out.

Don't feel that you owe an explanation, you're not God are you? So how can you know?

Maybe everyone will know the reasons for everything once we pass. Maybe there are no reasons and we're torturing ourselves trying to find answers for things that will never be found.

Whatever suffering you wonder this about (natural or caused by humans) I think it's only the people who are affected by it who can think why it happened. Maybe they cannot tell you immediately after, but will understand later intheir life.

Answer 6

Look, I'm a believer, but I seriously doubt God cares enough about any one of us to make our suffering diminish or disappear. In the grand scheme of things we humans are pretty small. Kind of makes you wonder why he places such importance on us in the first place, doesn't it?

I suffer painful auto-immune diseases, and all I ever ask for is the strength to bear another day of unending pain. Each day I receive it, but whether that strength comes from God or from within me I don't know. Basically, there's no answer to your question. Bad things happen to everyone. How awful the situation seems to be is dependent on the victims frame of mind I would say. Some people just seem more capable of handling adversity than others, so those are the ones who take the hits. Why? I'm afraid nobody knows.

Answer 7

He is testing people faith. I believe where natural disasters happen is a main area where people need to woken up, or main area where people lost their faith, etc. Whatever the case may be I honestly believe that people need to have more faith in him. He is the God and he is the one in charge, not you...not me, not a buddy next to me. Sometimes people forget that. Its a like a concept of people talking to him only when their house got messed up and tress in your garden broke your roof and when your city is flooded or when your child goes missing or when someone in a family dies you start praying to him and asking for shyt. No wonder he is mad because people call for his help only when something happens or when you need some help. I made it a habbit now every night to pray before i go to sleep and pray for a whole world, people i care about, family, friends, troops in Iraq, wateva and then myself. For no apparent reason just to talk to him. And guess what....when I do get sick and i read a Psalm or a prayer out of a bible for me to recover faster.....i am good to go pretty much in next hour or some. Almost like a miracle. Have faith in Him and you will be just fine.

Answer 8

God gave us the free choice. Everything in life is about decisions. If you choose something it will have consequences. God don't let us Suffer, We suffer because of the consequenses of our choices. It is not about if God loves you or not; Is about what you could do to help yourself and be nearer God. See all these things as tests for all humankind and as consequences of some decisions humankind has been made against nature.

Answer 9

cuz God don't suffer us we do it to our selves... humans ...... If we do what God says and listen to God's Orders non of these wars could've happened.. I mean seriously we do bad stuff and say y god did this to us?????????? If u ever been asked such questions I think the best way is to put it that way: God gave us 2 roads one is good and the other is bad and God gave us brain to think and choose which is best for us..and then God tolds us that if u choose the right road u'll be rewarded by going to heaven and if u pick the wrong road u'll go to hell. everything is like a test...life is a test and if u pass u'll get the goodies and if u don't u'll get the baddies

Answer 10

natural things are not because of any god,natural disasters are the result of an unstable atmosphere,that's what you say and then suggest to them they study weather,the atmosphere,why tsunamis and hurricanes come to be,cancer is a partially man made disease,used to keep hospitals and doctors and drug companies rich,not sure what is meant by babies dying,if its naturally at birth,well that's not god,that's just the result of many things,such as birth defects,or improper prenatal care.

Answer 11

you have unfastened will and so does your daughters. in the event that they dismiss you and stroll in front of a moving prepare, that selection into their decision. You attempting to give up them is your decision of attempting to bail them out of their undesirable (and doubtlessly deadly) decision. the only reason human beings screw themselves over, is simply by fact God isn't a helicopter "confirm" - while you're making a decision that would desire to screw up your existence on His watch, then you rather're residing with it. yet there's a turn section to this coin. you could ask God's forgiveness and pray that he will shop you out of your foolishness, yet you will desire to truly, in actual fact meant it. that's talked approximately as repentance, and that's oftentimes Jesus' branch. below your reasoning, if one (or the two) of your daughters calls you from penitentiary after making a stupid mistake returned and you come to a decision to enable her merely go through the outcomes this time, you do in comparison to your little ones. in case you rather have faith that, then you rather would desire to bypass to a class and get some perscpetive. that's talked approximately as hard love. you will possibly not like it, even even though it works.