How can I believe in God when he allows so much evil to happen to good people?

Question

I've already had the explanation of "free will" and "we weren't made like robots"....it still doesn't make any sense to me! Why can't God "get rid of" Satan because God essentially created Satan? How can I believe anything that has to do with Christianity when I don't have any physical proof?!
Why is that Christians say we are all born sinners, including innocent little, precious babies?!
Why are children suffering everyday from malnutrition, abuse and neglect? They're not even old enough to know about Jesus if their parents or someone hasn't explained the concept to them....why let them suffer?!!

Answer 1

Satan's dominion is temporary and he knows it.

Born sinners:
http://www.gotquestions.org/age-of-accountability.html

The poor:
Mark 14:7 (NLT) You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to...

http://www.gotquestions.org/bad-things-good-people.html

Answer 2

During the times of the black plaque the Church, too, was in a frenzy As the number of infected clergy increased, many individuals began to suspect that it was the Church
officials who were responsible for the spread of the Plague.

An all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good God would not allow any--or certain kinds of--evil or suffering to occur. The existence of apparently gratuitous evil provides strong evidence that God does not exist.

God allows apparently pointless suffering for some reason that we can't comprehend. The free will defense maintains that God has to allow the existence of some evil in order to preserve human free will. Some will contend that God allows some evil because it builds positive character in the victims or in others which outweighs the negative value of the evil itself.

The unknown purpose faces the obvious objection that if you have no idea what reason God has for allowing evil, then for all you know there is no justifiable reason at all for an all-good God to permit it. And even if free will and soul-making were successful, they would still leave much apparently gratuitious evil unexplained. When a fawn burns to death in a forest fire and no human being ever knows about it, this apparently unnecessary evil neither preserves human free will nor builds the character of human beings.

Answer 3

If you're still asking this question I don't think you understood the explanation of "free will". God gave Adam and Eve a law and asked them to obey, but without an opposition they would have never transgressed the law. Therefore it was necessary to provide an opposition, which was Satan. (Satan was not aware God was using him as part of the plan, but just wanted to get God's children to disobey). Not all Christian religions believe children are born sinners, I certainly don't. We don't believe we are punished because of the choices of Adam and Even, but believe we are each judged on our own choices/acts. Because babies/children are born sinless, they are automatically saved through Christ. Once they become a certain age, when they understand morality and comprehend the consequences of their actions, then they can sin (and yes, it's essentially the parents responsibility to explain these things to their children, at least per the Bible). If God intervened all the time he would be taking away peoples ability to chose; without consequences there can be no punishment or benefit. I know this may not be the best explanation, but I do agree with you, God will take care of the innocent.

Answer 4

Flase that god created Satan or the Devil people belive in God just like you and worship him.....on the otherhand some people worship the devil..I dont know who but some people might everyone has diffrent veiws on how the world was created so to be good there must be bad...opposites everything has an aoppisite...and lifes life...deal with it i suppose.

Answer 5

You should read Embraced by The Light by Betty Eadie. She had a near death experience and she explains exactly why God allows bad things to happen to good people. I promise it is a good explanation that makes total sense! If you want to find out why we are here on this earth then get a copy of this book. You will understand exactly why God does what he does.

Answer 6

In the beginning God completely sustained His creation without blemish. That’s why it was perfect. He held every atom together in a perfect state. He kept the planets in their orbits. He kept animals from tripping and breaking their necks. He did not allow people to suffer and die.
Deuteronomy 8:4 gives us a little glimpse of how things might have been in the original creation. “Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” God is omnipotent and perfectly capable of sustaining and protecting his creation.
When Adam sinned, however, the Lord cursed the universe. In essence there was a change and along with that change God seemingly took away a little bit of his sustaining power and allowed things like suffering and death into His creation. Now He permits bad things to happen—and this is a reminder that sin has consequences and that the world needs a Savior. Romans 8:22 says, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

God took pleasure in all of His creation ("http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=revelation+4:11&version=NKJV"), but He loved people most of all. He allowed the created universe to deteriorate so we would see the consequences of our sin. If we did not see the consequences of our sin, we would never see that we need salvation from our sin, and we would never accept His offer of mercy for our sin. Most people easily recognize that there is a problem in the world. This can be used to show them that there is one who has overcome this problem of death and suffering—Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

It's a great question that the fundamentalist Christian mantra doesn't answer well. It does seem that God created us, will be grant us salvation, but other than that he is pretty much out of the picture until we die. The "god gave me a parking spot" christians would believe just about anything that they are told, so taking it from them is not a quality source.

Answer 8

suffering is a result of man's rebellion from God. God didn't intend for us to suffer in life. sin is "spiritually" inherent just like physical genes are inhereted. sin is like a really bad plague that infected the whole world. The poor and suffering will get their reward in heaven, much easier and faster when they go through judgement/purgatory than the rich and healthy..

Answer 9

do not blame the human condition on God.
it is not His doing.
mankind is responsible for the condition it finds itself in, not God.
this is earth, my dear, not Heaven.
we will have to wait a bit for Heaven on earth, but that, too, is coming.
John 3: The Words of Jesus Christ (God in the flesh)
3. "Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
4. Nicodemus saith unto Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
5. Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
16. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18. He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Answer 10

People of various religions have gone to their religious leaders and teachers to ask why there is so much suffering. Often, the response is that suffering is God’s will and that he long ago determined everything that would ever happen, including tragic events. Many are told that God’s ways are mysterious or that he brings death upon people—even children—so that he can have them in heaven with him. As you have learned, though, Jehovah God never causes what is bad. The Bible says: “Far be it from the true God to act wickedly, and the Almighty to act unjustly!”—Job 34:10.

Do you know why people make the mistake of blaming God for all the suffering in the world? In many cases, they blame Almighty God because they think that he is the real ruler of this world. They do not know a simple but important truth that the Bible teaches. The real ruler of this world (system) is Satan the Devil.

The Bible clearly states: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) When you think about it, does that not make sense? This world reflects the personality of the invisible spirit creature who is “misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Revelation 12:9) Satan is hateful, deceptive, and cruel. So the world, under his influence, is full of hatred, deceit, and cruelty. That is one reason why there is so much suffering.

A second reason why there is so much suffering is that, mankind has been imperfect and sinful ever since the rebellion in the garden of Eden. Sinful humans tend to struggle for dominance, and this results in wars, oppression, and suffering. (Ecclesiastes 4:1; 8:9)
A third reason for suffering is “time and unforeseen occurrence.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11) In a world without Jehovah as a protective Ruler, people may suffer because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is comforting for us to know that God does not cause suffering. He is not responsible for the wars, the crimes, the oppression, or even the natural disasters that cause people to suffer. Still, we need to know, Why does Jehovah allow all this suffering? If he is the Almighty, he has the power to stop it. Why, then, does he hold back? The loving God that we have come to know must have a good reason.—1 John 4:8.

A VITAL ISSUE IS RAISED

To find out why God allows suffering, we need to think back to the time when suffering began. When Satan led Adam and Eve into disobeying Jehovah, an important question was raised. Satan did not call into question Jehovah’s power. Even Satan knows that there is no limit to Jehovah’s power. Rather, Satan questioned Jehovah’s right to rule. By calling God a liar who withholds good from his subjects, Satan charged that Jehovah is a bad ruler. (Genesis 3:2-5) Satan implied that mankind would be better off without God’s rulership. This was an attack on Jehovah’s sovereignty, his right to rule.

Adam and Eve rebelled against Jehovah. In effect, they said: “We do not need Jehovah as our Ruler. We can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.” How could Jehovah settle that issue? How could he teach all intelligent creatures that the rebels were wrong and that his way truly is best? Someone might say that God should simply have destroyed the rebels and made a fresh start. But Jehovah had stated his purpose to fill the earth with the offspring of Adam and Eve, and he wanted them to live in an earthly paradise. (Genesis 1:28) Jehovah always fulfills his purposes. (Isaiah 55:10, 11) Besides that, getting rid of the rebels in Eden would not have answered the question that had been raised regarding Jehovah’s right to rule.

Let us consider an illustration. Imagine that a teacher is telling his students how to solve a difficult problem. A clever but rebellious student claims that the teacher’s way of solving the problem is wrong. Implying that the teacher is not capable, this rebel insists that he knows a much better way to solve the problem. Some students think that he is right, and they also become rebellious. What should the teacher do? If he throws the rebels out of the class, what will be the effect on the other students? Will they not believe that their fellow student and those who joined him are right? All the other students in the class might lose respect for the teacher, thinking that he is afraid of being proved wrong. But suppose that the teacher allows the rebel to show the class how he would solve the problem.

Jehovah has done something similar to what the teacher does. Remember that the rebels in Eden were not the only ones involved. Millions of angels were watching. (Job 38:7; Daniel 7:10) How Jehovah handled the rebellion would greatly affect all those angels and eventually all intelligent creation. So, what has Jehovah done? He has allowed Satan to show how he would rule mankind. God has also allowed humans to govern themselves under Satan’s guidance.

The teacher in our illustration knows that the rebel and the students on his side are wrong. But he also knows that allowing them the opportunity to try to prove their point will benefit the whole class. When the rebels fail, all honest students will see that the teacher is the only one qualified to lead the class. They will understand why the teacher thereafter removes any rebels from the class. Similarly, Jehovah knows that all honesthearted humans and angels will benefit from seeing that Satan and his fellow rebels have failed and that humans cannot govern themselves. Like Jeremiah of old, they will learn this vital truth: “I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.”—Jeremiah 10:23.

WHY SO LONG?

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.”—Hebrews 6:18.

What, though, about all the harm that has been done during the long rebellion against God? We do well to remember that Jehovah is almighty. Therefore, he can and will undo the effects of mankind’s suffering. The ruining of our planet will be undone by the turning of the earth into Paradise. The effects of sin will be removed through faith in Jesus’ ransom sacrifice, and the effects of death will be reversed by means of the resurrection. God will thus use Jesus “to break up the works of the Devil.” (1 John 3:8) Jehovah will bring all of this about at just the right time. We can be glad that he has not acted sooner, for his patience has given us the opportunity to learn the truth and to serve him. (2 Peter 3:9, 10) Meanwhile, God has been actively seeking sincere worshipers and helping them to endure any suffering that may come upon them in this troubled world.—John 4:23; 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Answer 11

God is one.I'm Muslim and belive in one god.Some people dont understand why islam is great.Every day everyone becomes a muslim.But some people are stupid and make fun of islam.But one day they will find out what religon right and whats wrong.Say,hamdelah that your muslim and pray 5 times a day.Praying is a good opportunity to let allah be happy of you and allah will make your life better.I pray 5 times a day and im grateful!hamdellah!God bless me and my family.