Why Does a Good God Allow Suffering?

The problem of evil and suffering in our world is a delicate subject to deal with, simply because all of us will have been affected in some measure by suffering. It may be that we ourselves have been born with an illness which causes us discomfort and pain. Or it may be that some of us have known abuse or neglect from those who were supposed to have loved us the best. Others have experienced the sad loss of loved ones whom we wished could have lived longer. Suffering of one sort or another has affected each of us at some point or another. This personal nature of our suffering can mean that what I am about to share will touch a raw nerve in each of us. Although my suffering may not relate to your situation we all have to weather this storm called suffering.

Before we tackle the question of why God allows suffering, we must first of all take a step back and ask the question 'Is there an God in the first place?'

Is there a God?

For years Atheists have used the argument that there is so much suffering in this world that there cannot possibly be a God. The argument does indeed sound convincing when you read the headlines.

For instance during the Serbian ethnic cleansing programme, One Kosovar woman told the news media of an incident in which soldiers separated ten women from their families and raped them by the roadside saying, "We are not going to shoot you, but we want your families to see what we are doing' It was then, she told reporters, that I came to know that God did not exist'. It is understandable for us to wonder how, if there was God at all, that he did not intervene in this situation. But what about the other incidents that He could have stopped? The 6 million Jews being gassed, the 70 million who suffered under Mau se Tung, the 1.3 million murdered by Pol Pot in Cambodia, the thousands who lost their lives in Natural disasters…the list goes on. How can God even exist if there is any suffering? (adapted from Does God Believe in Atheists? By John Blanchard published by Evangelical Press)

All of these incidents and others like them do touch a raw never with us, but hard as it may be, let us try and look at the logic of the argument.

In essence it boils down to this - there is suffering and evil - therefore that shows there is no God.....but does it?

For arguments sake let's begin by making an assumption (which some of you may already agree with). Let's imagine there is no God and with that assumption in mind let us consider for a brief moment the whole issue of suffering in the light of this.

The first question that arises is this "Who is there to be angry with, who is there to blame if there is no God?" If there is no God then things cannot be regarded as fair or unfair. If there is no God then we would have to say that this world is as it has always been. We can never say that something is evil, at best we can say that sit is simply different!

It's interesting to note that the concept of survival of the fittest in atheistic evolution only seems to apply to every creature that has ever existed except for man. For example a lion kills a zebra and we say it is survival of the fittest. Even if a lion kills a lion that's still not regarded as evil is it? No! But if a Hutu kills a Tutsi or a Serb shoots a Kosovan…suddenly that's no longer survival of the fittest, but murder! It's evil. Yet, the atheistic logic is inconsistent, for if we all just came from the same pot of pre-biotic soup, and are all still evolving then how can we say that these things are wrong. The word 'wrong' suggests that something is not right…to suggest that something is not right means that it must have been better than this… to say that something must have been better than this takes the Atheist right back to Genesis chapters one and two where God says that God saw all that He had made, and it was GOOD!

John Blanchard in his excellent book Does God Believe in Atheists? Published by Evangelical Press says this: "If the Christian has a problem in explaining the existence of evil in a world created and ruled by God, the unbeliever has the much greater problem of explaining how, in a world without God, he can even speak of anything as being either good or evil in the first place. In order to use the argument of 'why is there evil' against the Christian, the atheist must first of all show that his own definition of the meaning of evil is meaningful, which is precisely what he is unable to do."

'2000 years ago the philosopher Socrates showed that in order to make a distinction between particulars, in which one is good and the other is evil, you must begin with a universal or absolute. Without an infinite reference point the atheist can never speak of 'good' or 'evil' in an absolute sense, nor, for that matter can he explain why there is a difference between them." (Does God Believe in Atheists? p 521).

Saddest of all, there is no future hope for those who suffer if this life is all that there is. There is no life after death if there is no God. There is no possibility of heaven or ultimate justice. There is no hope.

"Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli said: 'The very fact of our outrage at evil is a clue that we are in touch with a standard of goodness by which we judge this world as defective, as falling short of the mark.' (Does God Believe in Atheists? p 522). So the atheists argument of God's non existence on the basis of evil and suffering seems plausible at first glance, but when one really begins to scratch beneath the surface it is found wanting.

Robert Morey said: "The problem of evil does not negate the existence of God. It actually requires it!" (Does God Believe in Atheists? p 522).

God does exist - so why does He allow suffering?

We saw earlier that there are echoes within each of us that things aren't how they should be or how they ought to be. Our sense that this or that is wrong' surely means that at some point it must have been right, otherwise we would not even consider the question.

When we go back to the book of Genesis we see in chapters one and two that God saw all that He had made and it was good. If we missed out chapter three and jump from chapter two of Genesis into chapter four we would read about the first murder. And we would naturally ask ourselves - what went wrong? Thankfully chapter three of Genesis tells us what went wrong - we did!

Man was given freedom of choice to live for God or to live for himself. Man chose to reject God and live life his own way not God's way and human beings have been doing that ever since.

When man disobeyed God the ripples ricochet down the centuries and we have been feeling the aftershocks ever since. Murder, rape, greed, power, war etc., all stem from man's inhumanity and respect for man . It is God who told us to respect life and be good stewards of this planet, but we disobeyed God, as a result this world is as it is because of us. Even nature has been affected and come under a curse because when man fell as the pinnacle of God's creation everything was effected. This is why the world is in its present condition.

But is that how God will leave it? - The answer is no!

In Revelation chapter 21 the last book of the New Testament, God says that one day he will make a new heavens and a new earth. It will have no more pain suffering or death. Here is what the Bible says.

Surely that is what we all want isn't it? No more pain, suffering, sadness or goodbyes. But if this is what God is going to do one day well it begs another question which is this one - so why does God not stop all the suffering right now?

I don't believe that anyone who has ever asked that question has fully taken into account the consequences of such a request. Are you really wanting God to stop all the evil and all the suffering? Many people say yes to this and yet they have forgotten whose standards we are judging what is good and evil by - God's standards, not mans. For instance God does not agree with murder, rape or theft. "Well that's good" we all say, "neither do I".

But God also does not agree with drunkenness, sex outside of marriage, pornography, lust, greed, gambling, selfishness or the person who chooses to live their life without God, for that too is what God regards as sin!

You see if God is to remove all the suffering from this world, it would have to be ALL the suffering - not just the selected sufferings that affect our moral code. It has to be God's moral code that we are to take into consideration, not just the selected evils that our fallen consciences disagree with and which differ from individual to individual. God's standards are the absolute.

Think about this: Are you ready to meet God? Are you in a right relationship with him? If the answer is no, then you need to be, for there is a day that comes before the new heavens and the new earth and that day is the second coming of Christ and the judgment seat of God. That is not, make your mind up time, but rather that is 'you should have made your mind up time!'. That will be the end of human history as we know it.

Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour for the forgiveness of their sins, will have eternal life with God on the new earth. Those who have rejected Christ face eternal separation from God.

We don't want to die - we want to live, and for as long as possible - don't we. So even if you say to yourself "Well as long as I'm happy and live till I'm 90 then I will be content with that". Then I have to say that you are selling yourself short. God wants you to enjoy eternal life with Him forever, but you cannot enjoy that life or even enter into it without Jesus Christ. So whatever else you do, do not leave this life without Jesus Christ. Indeed do not live another moment without Him as your Saviour, for no-one knows whether they will live to see tomorrow.

Finally, never forget that it was into this very world of suffering that God in the person of Jesus Christ entered 2,000 years ago.

God did not wrap His Son up in cotton wool and inoculate him from the pain of the Roman nails that pierced His hands and feet as He dies one of the most barbaric and torturous deaths ever conceived by man. God has entered our suffering too. He understands our suffering. He endured our suffering. Thankfully He will one day stop all the suffering - but He longs that you are ready for the day.

What is really stopping you from committing your life into His Hands, is it really intellectual arguments, or is really moral and selfish rebellion? Only you know the true answer to that. Think about this:

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:16-21)

If you know that you need Him why not cry out to him now for mercy, grace and forgiveness. He will hear, he will save you if that is what you really want.

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