Why does God allow suffering?

Question

Tell me too which God you believe in.What is the point of evil?

Answer 1

God gives us problems to be stronger. That is also one of his ways on testing your faith in him. So just hold on and keep having faith.

Answer 2

This is probably one of the oldest arguments that has been used to try and disprove god's existance. Amongst the various responses that have been offered:
If he interferes with the world, we lose free will, even as the butterfly can cause a tornado, so will the smallest interference have unknown ramifications.
Humans have to take the consequences for their own actions.
For natural disaasters, the laws of Physics were put there to occur and preserve constancy, and if god starts interfering with physics not only do we fail to learn, we fail to comprehend danger, and would be all the more vulnerable if anything bad ever did happen.
There was a famous earthquake in Lisbon in 1755, in response to which Voltaire wrote a scathing poem criticising leibniz's idea that we exist in the best of all possible worlds, however he failed to comprehennd exactly what Leibniz meant: out of all the infinite possible ways our world could have been created, god elected to use those laws and constraints that were least contradictory, and were best able to function harmoniously.
When he said we live in the best of all possible worlds, he meant that no matter how bad it is, at least gravity works, and the physical laws don't contradict each other in painful and mindnumbing ways. It is the most harmonious of the possible existances, and regardless of how bad it is now, every other possible option is far worse.
These aren't all conclusive theodices, but at least they make obvious the point that it is not contradictory for god to permit suffering on the human scale. It could even be argued that through our suffering we learn empathy, courage, and what not to do again. The above mentioned earthquake for example, although terrible, inspired many brave and heroic acts that would otherwise have gone undone. If a child is trapped under a building and is suffering, then someone goes to rescue him, a brave and good deed has emerged from tragic circumstance.
Like i said, none of these are conclusive, but they are food for thought.

Also, as utmike points out, for an action to be good it must be free, and if we have to be free to do good then we must also be free to do evil. Good can only be found in opposition to the negative. If everyone was good, how would we know it? It is this contrast, evident throughout all aspects of life, which enables us to make sense of and impose order on the world, be it misguided or no.

Incidentally, I'm an agnostic, but religion just happens to be one of the most fascinating aspects of human thought and existance.

Answer 3

God doesn't allow suffering. It's in the low points in your life that really test whether you really believe in God or not. It's all a test of your faith and how strong are you spiritually. I didn't really understand what your question about evil but I guess you are wondering why there is evil in the world. There will always be temptations in life. Evil represents the temptations that are trying to get you off the path to God. At least that is what I think. You don't have to agree.
I am agnostic - I believe that there is one all mighty God.

Answer 4

I am an atheist but specialized in philosophy of religion as an undergrad. For the monotheistic religions God has the following characteristics: perfect, eternal,all-powerful,all-knowing,all-good. With that list mind you can than ask yourself a couple of questions. Is a world with creatures of free will better than one without creatures of free will? The answer is yes. Why? Because creatures of free will have the capacity for doing good. The upshot of that is that the free will creatures have the privitative quality of doing good, namely evil which can promote suffering. Evil does not have a point, it is merely a part of free will. Furthermore God CANNOT eliminate evil, because it is logically inconsistent with her creation. God cannot make a square round, 2+2=5, and likewise cannot a creature of free will directly determined by external forces. If God decided that free will was not such a good idea than that would mean that God was wrong in answering the earlier question about what would be better world. The implications of a perfect God being wrong are far too numerous to completely go into but I am sure we can all think of a few.

Answer 5

God doesnt allow suffering. But God allows us free will. However a choice would be meaningless if there was not a good and bad. The idea of good and evil comes into play in every choice we make. We can choose to act righteously or we can choose to act evil-ly. Thus god allows us to make choices and when we choose poorly people suffer.

So the real question is why do people allow suffering.

Answer 6

I believe in a higher power but i don't believe this higher power has anything to do with allowing suffering. I think all human beings want to make sense of suffering and pain because it basically sucks. People thank God when things go well and damn Him when things go bad. Instead of thanking the people in their lives and the good choices they made. when something goes bad or we see suffering going on we should look at the chain of events that contributed to the suffering or accept that good and bad things will occur at times for no reason. I believe we are all connected and the choices we make effect people we don't even know. It has nothing to do with God it has to do with us.

Answer 7

If God made the earth then God made the natural order of things. In the natural order it is eat or be eaten, only the strong survive and all things come to demise.

Although man seeks to take control of nature, he is a product of it. Suffering and death are part of the natural order. However; man's inhumanity toward his fellow man is controllable and a product of his nature.

There is no evidence that God has any hand in controlling the lives of individuals. God might have a hand in each flower that sprouts or he may have set the earth in motion and allowed it to take on its own destiny. We can not know which is truth.


g-day!

Answer 8

Excellent question. The answer is that god is either 1) uncaring (in which case god is evil) or impotent, or 2) god does not exist.

There is no "point" of evil. Human beings are absurd creatures who do bad things to each other for a variety of reasons. Education and law are the best defense against evil acts.

Answer 9

because, if you believe there is a god, then you also believe that faith is achieved through salvation and suffering is a test of your faith. however, if you don't believe in god, then suffering is nothing more then your or others creation which in long run hardens your outer shell and protects you from further suffering. Personally, i dont believe in god. for one, there are many versions of god and different religions. obviously not all, if any, could actually be true. as for evil....imagine world without it. and also it depends how you define 'evil'. for me there is no such a thing as evil. bad things that happen in the world are mistakes or accidents that should be learnt from.

Answer 10

first there is a difference between suffering and evil, suffering exists in the world, evil doesn't, it's only the concept of the individual's intention to cause suffering to innocent people. suffering is a part of the test that god made for the free individuals to know who is doing more good than evil, in order to rest a fair case against the bad ones in the judgment day. god allows suffering to a certain limit as a part of the test. even people who are tortured severely there is always a limit when pain turn into pleasure. when I was depressed before I was enlightened by Buddha, I remember that in spite of the suffering I used to enjoy it sometimes, but I don't regret getting rid of it, hopefully forever.
my god is every bodies god, the god of Abraham, Ikhnaton, Moses, Aristotle, Lao Zi, Jesus, Muhammad, Newton, Spinoza, and Hegel.

Answer 11

learning to live the Lord takes time, and sacrifices. But God has a plan, for each and everyone of us, if we are willing to open our hearts to him. It is uncomfortable on the present moment ( the suffering i mean) but we are rewarded above all expectations after. Besides, He would never confonts us to a situation that we could not handle without Him, I think the hardships he put us through are there in order to strenghthen our bond with Him, because we must learn to submit, to commit to Him more.. It's generally when we are weak that he can work best in our lives, and change our heart. God's knowledge is too great for us, we can only suppose, take a solid step thanks to the Bible and trust...