A common objection to the existence
of God, usually highly charged with emotional examples of children struck with
river blindness or floods in poor rural communities, runs something like this:
"If God is good and all powerful how can suffering still
exist in the world?"
This presupposes that:
- Those who are suffering do
not deserve to suffer.
- That suffering is never
good.
- That the proposer knows a
better way than the God who made the intricate vast universe.
Lets look more closely at
these issues:
- Those who are suffering
do not deserve to suffer.
Everyone who does not give
God the glory he deserves, who does not trust the same God who made them and
sustains them and who Himself died for them ALL deserve eternal condemnation
and suffering (see Luke 13:4)
Only one person has ever
lived who loved God the Father with all his heart soul and mind and loved
others as he loved himself. Only one person never deserved to suffer.
... and he suffered ...
for whoever would believe in
him so that they do not perish forever but rather have eternal life (John
3:16).
If you doubt that sin
deserves punishment and suffering please look at Jesus dying in agony and forsaken
on the cross.
If the only perfect man
suffered willingly for our sins then every single one of us deserves to suffer
and it is a great mercy that we do not suffer more.
- That suffering is never
good.
Suffering produces character
and produces dependence on God. It humbles the proud and broadcasts to the
world that all is not well and that this is not how things are meant to be.
Something is wrong with creation and with us. Why does nature and mankind perpetuate
suffering? Because we are fallen from grace, cast from paradise and suffering
lets us know that. Suffering makes the warnings of hell more real. A small burn
on the finger is agony for hours. Jesus spoke of a consuming eternal fire. If
we did not know what a small burn on our finger feels like how could we know to fear Him who can cast us into
a full-body for-all-time consumption in the flames of torment?
When Job suffered he had no
idea that his life story would be such an encouragement to millions of people
for thousands of years. Some suffering is therefore of unseen benefit. God is
not obliged to explain everything to us. Our suffering can have all sorts of far reaching and unexpected benefits that only an omiscient timeless being could understand and see.
See also John 9:1-3
- that the proposer knows a better way than the God who
made the intricate vast universe.
This hardly needs explaining
because the arrogance of the mere human deciding they could somehow outsmart
God and run the universe better is just ridiculous.
The fact is that, biblically
speaking, the world hardly yet knows
the meaning of true suffering. But a time is soon coming when the Lord will remove the church
and the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit through the rapture. Then the
devil will release his antichrist and his demon hoards on the planet. This is
the tribulation spoken of throughout the scripture (see the book of Revealation from chapter 6 onwards). Halfway
through the tribulation God himself will begin to pour plagues of wrath on the world
and human suffering will reach a climax that has never been seen before and
will never be seen again (Matthew 24:21) – at least on earth that is, because even at the worst point of
this time people might still repent and believe and be saved from what next
comes - the final judgement and the lake of eternal fire. Even the worst of the tribulation will be balm compared to being cast out into the darkness. The suffering of hell
is literally incomprehensible. If we knew its true reality we would take
drastic measures as Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:29.
So...
- God is good and is all
powerful
- Suffering does exist
Both of these facts are true
In God’s all-powerful
goodness He chooses to let suffering occur - for now.
If we really believe that
God is good and all-powerful then we must trust that his reasons for letting
suffering occur are good - though we may not understand them.
And we must trust that He
will not let suffering and evil exist forever. He allows these things in time but not in
eternity.
And always remember that He
has already done something very drastic about suffering - he is not aloof to it: He suffered more than any person
ever did.
He died so that others might
live.
He suffered infinitely that
we might not
He was abandoned – we who
trust Him will never be.
He is coming back soon.
Suffering will soon be over…
But only for those who trust
him believe in him and repent of their sins in true faith to his glory.
If you think suffering
proves that God does not exist I challenge you to think less superficially
about this issue.
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