Category Archives: Suffering

Suffering: What are man’s ways of dealing with the suffering God allows? Part 3

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This is Part 3 in answering the question, “What are man’s ways of dealing with the suffering God allows?” in the larger question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?”

Man’s Efforts to Deal with Problems

What are some of the man-centered ways of dealing with suffering? We need to look no further than the Garden of Eden and examine how Adam and Eve dealt with their failure, because it exposes how man deals with suffering. Suffering is NOT always or even often from personal sin, however, sin is what caused the first suffering in life. How Adam and Eve dealt with their sin-failure is often how many deal with suffering.  Man, when they exclude God from their lives, or do not depend on Him. Continue reading →

Suffering: What are man’s ways of dealing with the suffering God allows? Part 2

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This is Part 2 answering the question, “What are man’s ways of dealing with the suffering God allows?” in the larger question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Part 3 will be posted tomorrow.

Man is Rebellious and Inadequate

Man (natural man in contrast to spiritual man), apart from God, is rebellious and inadequate.1 When Adam and Eve had the best of everything  in the Garden of Eden, they fell to temptation, instead of relying upon God’s provision and protection (Gen. 3:1-6). In fact, all through history man has demonstrated his rebelliousness by suppressing the truth and instead of being thankful and giving God glory, he became futile (empty) in his thinking, Continue reading →

Suffering: Are There Some who Deserve to Suffer? Part 2

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This is Part 2 in the article, “Are There Some who Deserve to Suffer?” of the larger question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Part 1 was posted yesterday.

Should People be Saved from Themselves?

Then there is the question, “How do we protect people from themselves?” Do they deserve to suffer because of foolish decisions made either purposely or naively? Do we ask God to suspend natural laws like gravity? Or the second law of thermodynamics (the premise that conditions naturally get worse instead of better)? Is God obligated to prevent the naturally occurring results of heredity because children are innocent? Then do we expect Him to save man from the indignities of others? Should God allow free will, but not the effects and consequences of that free will on others? Who is the judge? Continue reading →

Suffering: Are There Some who Deserve to Suffer? Part 1

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This is Part 1 in the article, “Are there some who deserve to suffer?” in the larger project answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.

Now, this is a loaded question – “Are there some who deserve to suffer?” Anyone who is honest can admit to a fleshly moment when he wished suffering on someone else-even if it was just as a little boy angry at another boy for bullying or getting the upper hand in an “unfair” way! Then think of all the brutal dictators who have been mentioned in previous chapters – those who have caused thousands and millions of deaths. Certainly they deserve to suffer! Continue reading →

Suffering: Is it fair that a loving God allows people to suffer at all? Part 3

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This concludes the postings for the question, “Is it fair that a loving God allows people to
suffer at all?” in the larger series answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Parts one and two were posted in the previous two days.

Echoing Questions

Is it fair that a loving God would allow people to suffer at all? Couldn’t He have created a world in which there was no pain? After, He did say after the sixth day of creation, “It was very good!” (Gen. 1:31). If the creature was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26; 2:7), that is “God-like,” wouldn’t that mean there would be no suffering? And when a person trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation and he becomes a new creation, why does there have to be suffering (2 Cor. 5:17)? Continue reading →

Suffering: Is it fair that a loving God allows people to suffer at all? Part 2

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This is part two in answering the question, “Is it fair that a loving God allows people to
suffer at all?” in the larger series answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Part three will be posted tomorrow.

What Should Our Response be to Horrific Types of Suffering?

Many families silently deal with these pressures. For example, what about those who were caught in the Nazi Holocaust? How should families deal with loved ones under a Hitler type of brutality? Elie Wiesel suffered gruesomely at Birkenau (also known as Auschwitz II) and recalled children consumed by the flames. He found it repulsive to worship a God who allowed such suffering, in fact a God who offended him, Continue reading →

Suffering: Is it fair that a loving God allows people to suffer at all? Part 1

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This is the first part answering the question, “Is it fair that a loving God allows people to suffer at all?” in the larger series dealing with the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 2 and 3 will be posted over the next two days.

Is it Fair?

Is it fair “at all” that creatures have to suffer? I remember as a child talking to my mother and she was having a particularly difficult time with her number two son (me!). I remember saying, “But mom, I didn’t ask to be born! How come I have to do all these chores? Other boys don’t have to do all I have to do!  It’s not fair!” Do you remember saying (or thinking) something like that? Wow! Rather than asking my mother, “Mom, I know I’m here on earth and there must be a purpose. How can I better understand the reason for doing chores and the pain of doing stuff I don’t want to do?” But, like most people, I was just a kid and was learning to grow up! Continue reading →

Suffering: Is It Unjust That God allows Some People to Suffer more than Others? Part 2

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This is part two answering the question, “Is it unjust that God allows some people to suffer more than others?” which is part of the larger series answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Part one was posted on March 1, 2014.

Didn’t Biblical Characters Have the Right to Question God?

When you read Job chapters one and two, you see a word picture about a Divine courtroom in which a man appeared to be simply a pawn in a trial. Satan entered God’s throne room and God displayed His blameless and noble servant Job. Satan accused God, claiming that Job was that virtuous only because God had blessed him so much. So God allowed Satan to take his children and his business! Then to make matters worse, in the next Divine courtroom scene, God also allowed Satan to touch Job’s body, but not allow him to take his life. In the agony of losing ten children, his livelihood and his health, Job responded, Continue reading →

Suffering: Is it Unjust That God Allows Some People to Suffer More than Others? Part 1

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This begins a two part posting to answer the question, “Is it Unjust That God Allows Some People to Suffer more than others?” in the larger series of asking the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” The second part will be posted tomorrow.

Is There Injustice?

So far, we have had an honest discussion of a multitude of ways people suffer. We’ve looked at it from both a horizontal perspective (man’s view) and also a vertical perspective (God’s view). We may not have identified every conceivable way that people suffer, but we have looked at different categories. There certainly seems to be a vicious nature of it, which has been described. Continue reading →