Tag Archives: Suffering

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 →

Suffering: Why do some suffer more than others?

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This is a one part answer to the question, “Why do some suffer more than others?” in the larger series of answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?”

In 1994, Rwanda’s population of seven million was significantly reduced through genocide. This started in the early 1990s when Hutu extremists, along with Rwanda’s politically elite, blamed the Tutsi minority population for the country’s social, economic, and political turmoil. The Hutus had come to power in the 1959-1962 rebellion. Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was the president and through political maneuvering, he remained in control of this divided country. Continue reading →

Suffering: Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer? Part 4

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This if the fourth and final part in answering the question, “Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer?” in the larger series answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 1,2 and 3 were posted over the previous three days.

Did God see the suffering to come?

If God is all-knowing, did He know the suffering that would come to mankind? Yes, He knew it would come. Did God know about the evil that would be perpetrated against the people He had created? Yes, He did. Does that make God some form of deity that is less than loving? Continue reading →

Suffering: Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer? Part 3

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This is part three in answering the question, “Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer?” in the larger series question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 1 and 2 were posted in the previous two days.

Cain and Abel inherited a sin nature, which made life a test

God blessed Adam and Eve with two sons, Cain and Abel. Growing up under the discipleship of their parents, they learned that they must worship the Lord and offer sacrifices in the promise of God’s coming sacrifice (Jesus), “But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins. (Heb. 10:3 NKJ)  However, Cain and Abel offered two very different kinds of sacrifices. Continue reading →

Suffering: Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer? Part 2

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This is the second part in answering the question, “Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer? in the larger series answering the question, “How can a loving God allow suffering?” Part 1 was posted yesterday.

Adam and Eve were innocent when God created them

Adam was created by God on the sixth day of creation. Moses wrote, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen. 2:7 NKJ) God breathed into Adam the breath of lives (literally lives is plural in the Hebrew referring to both physical and spiritual life).  When God finished creation, He completed His work on the sixth day and said, “It was very good.” Adam was in an innocent, untested state. Continue reading →

Suffering: Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer? Part 1

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This is the first part of the article answering the question, ‘Are there innocent people that God allows to suffer?” which is part of the larger series, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” Three additional parts will be posted over the next three days.

In June 1991, in South Lake Tahoe, California, Jaycee Lee Dugard walked from home to a school bus stop and was kidnapped. She was kept captive for 18 years and forced to bear two daughters in 1994 and 1998 from sexual assaults.1 Why did she have to suffer like that and for that long? How could thousands of innocent people suffer from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquake and tsunamis? How can God, who is purportedly good and powerful, allow this? Continue reading →

Suffering: What kind of suffering from God’s perspective does He allow? Part 4

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This is the fourth part in answering the question, “What kind of suffering from God’s perspective does He allow?” in the larger question asked, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 1,2, and 3 were posted in the three previous days.

Divine Suffering

Divine suffering is the result of God’s Divine action either to punish unbelievers or to discipline believers. When He punishes unbelievers, He uses suffering to get their attention before they enter a Christ-less or hopeless eternity We see examples of this discipline in Sodom and Gomorrah, Pharaoh and Egypt or the idolatry of the Canaanites at the hand of Joshua. But it is also a warning for others to turn from their wicked ways to the arms of a holy, loving God who deserves worship and thanksgiving for His abundant mercy and grace. God is a just God, who will not allow His holiness to be rejected forever and stops the spread of wickedness and sin. Continue reading →