is human suffering a reason to doubt god exist? also, what is your personal reason?

Question

my question was objective and was meant to see why people doubt the existence of god.

Answer 1

Why Do We Suffer?

Lets see what the bible has to say about suffering starting in the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31) So, God created everything and saw everything was good. This means in the beginning there was no suffering at all.

If there was no suffering in the beginning how did suffering come to the world? When Adam sinned he brought death and suffering into the world. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12) Here is Gods curse to us because of Adam: To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3: 17-19)
As you can see man brought suffering on himself. Sin is the cause of suffering. Without sin there is no suffering. Without the law there is no sin. So anything God says not to do is sin. Sin is lawlessness. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Sin is simply rebelling against God. The effect of our rebelling against God is death and suffering. Sin was the biggest cancer that was brought on to the earth. Sin separates us from God. When we are separated from God we are cursed. Through the curse of our separation there is suffering.

When people say why do bad things happen to good people? The answer is no one is good. Jesus said, “No one is good—except God alone.” (Luke 18:19) The question should be why does God allow good things to happen to bad people. No one goes to God first. God has to come to us first. No one seeks God. So the answer to the question about suffering is simply we suffer because of our rebellion against God. Sin is the reason of suffering and death.

Answer 2

Human suffering proves that mankind can be greedy, cruel, self-centered, power-hungry and so forth. God does not cause human suffering. It is the result of the fact that man is given free will and that sadly man does what he does, even at the expense of his fellow man.

The only times I doubt God exists (yes, one who calls himself "minister" has his doubts), is during those dry times when I don't hear from God or don't feel His presence. Yet, I stand on what I know and trust that He is always there. Then, He takes the time to let me know He is there, and I am reminded of how much He loves me.

Overall, I have no doubt God exists. When I ponder the details of our universe and how exactly things are placed, I know that God must be the One who lived up to the claims of creation.

Answer 3

The only connection between suffering and god is (the fairy tale about) the garden of Eden which was just an attempt to explain suffering as a curse from God. We used the concept of god to explain suffering. If I doubt or even deny the existence of God suffering persists - there's simply no connection.

I personally deny the Christian god exists because of all the claims made about him which are simply not true.

Answer 4

My very simple reason is that there is no evidence that God exists. Challenges to people to show their evidence that God exists has always drawn a blank or a death threat.
Together with that are all of the claims of Gods acts and will or statements about reality that have been shown to be wrong.

Lightning is not Satan trying to knock down the Church, and ringing the bell will not scare the lightning away. Ben Franklin's lightning rods work but not because of Satan being afraid.

Answer 5

Im not a religious person but even if I was I would never blame God for anything..Humans have the ability to help one another and when someone else is suffering it is the fault of other people not God.

Answer 6

No. In my opinion, from what I've understood so far..it's through suffering that you gain more grace..for example the martyrs..the ill, the poor, aren't they said to actually have more than the wealthy men (easier for a camel to pass trough the eye of the needle that for the rich to get into Heaven)?

So if I got this correctly, a life with no suffering doesn't give you a chance to prove you are a good Christian (not just in times of wealth and health)...it's in hardship that you can prove yourself. So we shouldn't aim for a life with no suffering but for patience and strength in the face of adversity.

I think there's a saying also that you don't know your wife/husband until you've eaten a bag of salt together...maybe it goes along the same line.

Answer 7

Human suffering is certainly a good reason to doubt the existence of a JUST and MERCIFUL god.
My personal reason for doubting the existence of ANY god is the conspicuous lack of even the tiniest shred of empirical evidence to support such a claim.

Answer 8

Other's suffering is a reason to doubt, but personal suffering is a reason to search for God, or suffer the consequence.

Answer 9

I don't know. See, I usually try to defend God (I'm agnostic) when things like that come up, like whos perfect? Then I remember it's God we are talking about and he is perfect, or so they say. So maybe hes mad and is taking it out on us? My reason for not really believing is I don't like the people associated with most religions. They go way over the top and get crazy and get 'saved' right there on the TV. I know those are frauds but you get what I mean. By the way, have you seen Borat? I love when he goes to church and is getting 'saved' with his tongue hanging out and he's shaking. What a movie.

Answer 10

the "textbook" god concept is a odd blend of revenge and compassion. it seems very human. i would like to believe that there is a merciful god head. but, so much of what occurs in the world is full of evidence to the contrary. certainly the bad stuff is the product of man; but, as god knows all, the suffering was ingrained in the plan since the beginning.

Answer 11

My personal reason:

I do not believe that a god would punish a person based on faith when there are so many differing beliefs around the globe. I do not believe it is fair, for example, to punish a Muslim who lives in the middle east and has been indoctrinated into Islam since birth.