A question for those who say "God never gives you more than you can handle."?

Question

Does it never occur to you that the problem isn't whether God keeps trials in managable doses for believers, but instead you never get to talk to the people who DID get more than they could handle?

Dead people don't give uplifting testimonial speeches in church, after all.

I assume all bad comes from God, because if God exists, all of everything better come from God, right?

Otherwise it's not really God.

I refer you to the stupid "evil is the absense of good" argument that is easily refuted by asking "is genocide the absense of no genocide?"

Apparently, is another problem with people who say this that they simply have no idea of what's going on in the world?

I mean if you're sitting at home in country X and some politician in country Z decides to "free you from tyranny" and a 2000 pound bomb comes through your window at night and turns your wife and children into wet confetti, exactly how is that not "more than you can handle?"

Never mind earthquakes, floods, etc, that can't even be blamed on "evil" man. I guess that's all just God's friendly taxi service to Heaven, right?

"Hey buddy it's time for paradise, so I'm going to collapse this freeway overpass on you?"

Answer 1

People who think this way claim that this idea is taught in 1 Corinthians 10:13. What this verse actually says is that you will not have any temptation (to sin) that isn't common to men. In other words, God won't let you be tempted when there is no way you can resist sinning.

The phrase "God never gives you more than you can bear (or handle) is not in the Bible. In fact Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthian church. "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life." (1 Corinthians 1:9) Paul's difficulties were too much for him. If God doesn't give more than a person can bear, He certainly would not have allowed things to excessively overburdened the apostle Paul!

Answer 2

I'm sure God knew exactly how much my friend's aunt, who was a devout Christian, could handle when she turned schizophrenic and then spent all that time on medication, only to have her (unlicensed) doctor prescribe medicines that should not be mixed.

Oh, wait, that actually killed her. So much for not giving her more than she could handle. That's an easy thing to say when you're in the richest country in the world, living an *extremely* privileged life, but it's not so easy for those at the bottom of society.


And for those who think the rest of us are supposed to *learn* from this, well, learn what? And what was the victim supposed to learn? Her life was short and brutal.

What are we supposed to learn from all of the starving kids in Third World countries? Are we supposed to learn that God is a sicko who will torture people who have absolutely no chance at a good life, just so the rest of us can have an object lesson?

I think this pretty much defeats the absurd idea that suffering is an illusion, as well. That pain is real, and it's something most of us should be doing more to prevent.

Answer 3

What difference does it make anyway? Nobody gets out of here alive. The question is, until then are we going to be miserable with life kicking us in the a** all our years, or not?

People bring on their troubles themselves MOST of the time, by their thoughts, speech, and what they do. That's where most of the blame should be.

As for those things that we don't cause, like car wrecks that kill four out of five of our children (I know a woman this happened to), in which a drunk driver hit their car, she HAD been a Christian but became an Athiest after that.

Nope, dead people don't give uplifting testimonies. The idea that "God never gives us more than we can handle" is total crap, imo.

But then I believe that whatever we meet in this lifetime, we needed to experience so we'd know what it feels like, so that we never inflict it on anyone else - apparently because we HAD done so in a past life in one form or another.

This is a much better explanation to me than God sitting up there doling out horrible circumstances in prescribed dosages to humans, this makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Answer 4

What does "handle" mean to them anyhow? Does it mean "manage without suffering a psychotic break or dying"? What if the person gets stressed out and "handles" the situation poorly but doesn't crack or die? Have they still really "handled" it?

And what if you have to deal with people all day long? How can God "manage" that for the Christian who is being helped by God? Does God override the free will of those other people so that they don't create an unmanageable situation, thus creating something the Christian "cannot handle"?

Answer 5

Since we all have to die at one point or another and none of us really know when our time is up, why would anyone assume that if a person dies in an abrupt manner that they died because they were given more than they could handle?

Who is to say they got more than they could handle??

Even in the case of suicide, we are told by God that he will always provide a "way out". It is safe to say that those who believe they have more than they can handle just haven't found the way out or choose not to take it.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
1 Corinthians 10:13

Answer 6

This is another verse in the Bible that is often misread. Here's the verse below.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you but what is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it.

The verse is not addressing hardship in life it's talking about avoiding falling into sin. The point is that if we sin it's our own fault and not something that was unavoidable.

Answer 7

The only people who say that have never experienced real suffering. Sometimes you do suffer more than you can take but at a certain point- usually when you're rolling about on the floor in agony- your body releases endorphines and the pain subsides a little, and it does admittedly feel a bit like a spiritual experience.

Answer 8

The verse says we are never tempted beyond what we are capable of bearing. He always provides a way from the temptation. (paraphrase)
In so far as handling things, the wise Christian knows that trials and temptations are bound to come, and meet them with joy.
What? Joy? Yes. In James 1:2 and 3, it says that the trying of our faith works (or grows) patience. and on.

Answer 9

I couldn't agree more. The whole "God never gives..." is a nice thought, but it's baloney. People get more than they can handle all the time. The saying is trite, and seeks to shift blame to people who have done nothing wrong except exist.

Answer 10

I think the issue is that no one likes to face the fact that people become depressed. It's due to chemical imbalance or sensitivity above and beyond what most people experience. People misinterpret the above statement, is the problem. I got more than I could handle. But God didn't give it to me. Other, malicious people did. In the end, when I looked for help I found it. And my faith is stronger than ever.