How can God be loving if he stands by while people suffer?
2007-05-28 05:09:07 · 39 answers · asked by Gwen 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thank you for so many answers. I am reading them all very carefully. Thanks again to all of you for giving me more to think about.
2007-05-28 05:26:25 · update #1
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING?
One of the most common reasons stated for people's lack of, or loss of, faith is suffering. Many wonder how a loving God can allow such suffering as seen in our world. There are many views on why God allows suffering, all of which cannot possibly be addressed on one sheet of paper. However, we will explore the most common viewpoints.
God allows suffering so that we may be strengthened from it.
Suffering can produce perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Our suffering should bring us closer and more dependent on God, not turn us away from Him. The apostle Peter wrote "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10 NIV). The apostle Paul tells us that trouble is only temporary, but the lessons it teaches are permanent. He wrote: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV). James, a brother of Jesus Christ, wrote, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance "James 1:2-3 NIV). One can see by these examples that, when approached from this point of view, personal growth can certainly result from suffering.
Suffering occurs as a result of God granting us the gift of personal freedom of choice.
God created us with the ability to love and follow Him or to reject and turn from Him. We often choose to sin, and sometimes that sin brings suffering upon us or others. Many times suffering stems from people hurting other people--something Jesus clearly taught us not to do. When asked which of the commandments is most important, Jesus replied "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength'. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these". (Mark 12:30-31 NIV). God could stop us from harming each other, but He would have to limit or take away our freedom of choice. From this point of view, one can see that it is humanity who is to blame for much of the suffering we experience.
Suffering is simply a part of life.
In her book Shaking a Fist at God, author K. Dell suggests that questions regarding why God allows suffering "stem from a misunderstanding of religion" (Dell, 1995). Faith in God does not guarantee personal prosperity, and lack of faith does not guarantee troubles. Faith based on rewards or prosperity is hollow. Life is not given merely for happiness and personal fulfillment, but for us to serve and honor God. Author Elisabeth Elliot states "Our circumstances are not the window through which we understand His love, but rather we must view our circumstances through His love" (Elliot, 1990). Jesus Himself told His disciples "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 19:33 NIV).
In conclusion, sometimes we cannot, in our limited understanding, see why we are allowed to suffer. We must remember that God understands our suffering and can relate to it, because His son Jesus suffered more than any of us probably ever will. He is waiting to comfort those who are suffering, if they would only turn to Him
2007-06-02 21:32:00 · answer #1 · answered by Ted M 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well I am agnostic so I believe that there may be a higher power, but not necessarily the christian god. Also, I dont believe in an all knowing, controlling higher power. I believe that there might be something out there, having an impact on world events. The main reason I believe this is because I noticed that horrible things such as wars, famines, diseases, etc all happen in almost exaclty 20 year increments. Like 20 years after WWI, WWII happened. 20 years after WWII, Vietnam happened, 20 years after Vietnam began, AIDS became rampent, 20 years after that, the worst terror attack happened on US soil and led to a war. So I believe that there is SOME higher power that pretty much maintains the earth and cleanses the population. Also, the higher power might change and/or help things happen. But as he is not an all-controlling power, good people can die young and bad people can live to 100 years old. Athletes can die at 20 years old and people who smoke 2 packs a day can live 4 times as long.
Besides, wouldnt the world be a very boring place if there was no suffering, if there was no chance of suffering, and if there wasnt a possibility to make mistakes?? I mean, suffering causes people to advance themselves, suffering causes people to move forward in life and better themselves. Also, there would be no such thing as Karma...and I love karma, because it really happens haha
2007-05-28 05:20:10 · answer #2 · answered by Eric W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Suffering only makes us stronger. It's a blessing. Attitude is everything. You can look at suffering as meaning God hates you, or you could look at suffering as meaning God disciplines you, to make you a stronger character to do His work in the future. Maybe you just need an attitude adjustment. You know what we call parents who come to the rescue of their children at every whim? We call them "helicopter" parents, and it's been proven to be a bad approach to parenting. Why would God be a bad parent?
2007-05-28 05:21:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pain in inevitable, but suffering optional. Those who suffer endlessly chose to , simple as that. God does not want suffering, and neither did Jesus. There is nowhere inn the new testament where Jesus tells us to suffer for him. It;s man made up, and therefore counterproductive and unhealthy. Read Jesus' words, not what modern religions though false teaching say about our having to duffer. It';s a way to control humans and get them to give to the church, the richest organization in the world.
2007-05-28 05:13:42 · answer #4 · answered by Legandivori 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The suffering you see in this world today is a direct result of what Adam and Eve did when they choice to go against God in the Garden Of Eden this is a world without God. We pushed him away.
2007-05-28 05:16:17 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God does not allow or disallow anything. People, governments and war cause suffering. There will always be suffering and there will always be poor people. You have to look at all the good things that God provides us and the good people in this world and be one of them yourself. Good will always win over evil!
2007-05-28 05:16:05 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
suffering is caused by humans... by the way they act, think and behave !
Here's the Solution for the suffering:
Create a Private, Personal, Direct, Divine Relationship with Our Creator and save your Soul from religion's and atheist's beliefs.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< O >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Love and Believe in Our Creator;
Love and Believe in Yourself.
Only with Our Creator's Love and Peace will we be Truly Free!
Without God, there is No Love; Without religion, there are No Wars!
"religion is Spiritual fraud"; "religion is the Worse invention of humanity" - Jesus Christ, Buddha and any one else with Spiritual intelligence.
atheists = all the people in religion = all the ignorant fundamentalists = all the cults/superstitions = paganism
2007-05-28 05:17:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We always assume God can intervene and chooses not to. What if God could not intervene even if he wanted to due to the nature of who he/she is? It isn't true love if he intervenes in our lives and forces us to worship and love him. Most of our suffering is caused by our self-centered nature and suffering is a natural consequence of behavior that is short sighted. If God intervened at the slightest bit of suffering we would be the most immature spoiled people and would not have the ability to impact anyone who needs us.
2007-05-28 05:34:12 · answer #8 · answered by lalo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you know of a world that has no suffering?
If God is loving and all powerful, why does God allow suffering. We don't know.
God reveals himself to man through revelation, and this revelation does not answer your question.
2007-05-28 05:16:02 · answer #9 · answered by J. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is suffering in this world because God has been challenged.
Challenged by Satan. He claims life would be better if we all just forgot God.
How does one deal with that.
God decided to give a period of time to Satan, to show if what he said is true.
Your question indicates Satan was lying.
God's period of time for Satan is quickly coming to an end.
2007-05-28 05:21:43 · answer #10 · answered by Uncle Thesis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We're not exactly following the bible, and so it's believed that God is allowing the world to suffer because there's just too much sinning going on, it's as though he's trying to make us open our eyes to see the light of his.
2007-05-28 05:13:27 · answer #11 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋