Why does God allow suffering?

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Many struggle with a loving God who allows “innocent” people to suffer the brutality of this world or endure a debilitating, disfiguring disease like cancer. Why if he is so loving are these injustices allowed? Can he not see how much suffering and warfare grip the entire planet each day. If he is all powerful why does he not stop the brutality and heartache? Understanding the answers to these questions will reveal the root cause of all human suffering.

Human cultures are based on ideals & principles which guide our behavior toward others and between nations. They form a world view & outlook which influences actions. At the core of cultures are beliefs based on an ethical standard. Western culture is fundamentally based on ethics traced back to the Christian Bible. These ethics are codified in scripture and are the model for laws governing conduct which were fundamentally influenced by the Ten Commandments & the teachings of Jesus. While human law is ever changing, scripture is immutable. For example; at the founding of the United States it was illegal to abort an unborn child & now these human laws originally based on the sixth commandment have been deemed “unconstitutional”. Contrast that with God’s own words in Malachi 3:6 "For I am the LORD, I do not change...” His definition of right & wrong never wavers over time. Americans put “In God we Trust” on their money but the words of the Messiah apply: Matthew 15:8 “THESE PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.”

When you spurn someone is it surprising that they separate themselves from you? America has systematically removed God from the culture under the mantra of “separation of church & state”, a phrase not found in the Constitution. The true motive is separation of God from his children. Collectively we have told our creator: “Stay out of our government, our schools, our courts, our public buildings, and our lives in general.” We nominally profess belief in God but then tell him by our action to leave us alone. God through his prophet Hosea chastised ancient Israel for just such actions. Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Notice several key points in this statement:

1) Living without godly knowledge leads to destruction.

2) Rejecting the source of truth; real spiritual knowledge from God about how to live leads him to reject us.

3) Forgetting the law of God and rewriting it through constitutional interpretation or having our own private set of moral values will lead to God forgetting our children. By our common actions we have separated ourselves, our community & nation from God

Is there really any wonder why we have such suffering on earth? We have collectively as the family of man told God that we are wiser than he is, we don’t need his meddling in our affairs, we don’t want his restrictive laws, we don’t require his divine protection, his healing, his love. In essence we are saying: “Just leave us alone to concoct our own values devoid of spiritual knowledge.” Then we complain that God is not fair, or God allows suffering & warfare when he could stop it. Look at a key set of scriptures in Deuteronomy 30. Here God explicitly warns his people Israel that there are dire consequences for rejecting a way of life codified in the Ten Commandments while on the other hand he lists the blessings for following his moral code created for our benefit & happiness. Suffering and pain comes automatically from murder, adultery, lying, and jealous desire for what someone else has. Some may say; “But I am a nice person, I don’t do those things.” If you can truly say you adhere to the spiritual intent of God’s law of love as expanded by the Messiah in Matthew chapters 5-7 and you truly practice love for God & man as defined in Matthew 22:37-39 you will reap the benefits promised in Deuteronomy. God is equitable he looks at death entirely different than humans because he has provisioned for a future resurrection of the dead at the return of the Messiah where everyone will get a fair chance to live a moral life in his society, the kingdom of God, without the malevolent spirit which leads our current godless world. (Rev 20:2-3 & Isa 11:9)

Suffering occurs because we have separated ourselves from God, from his lifestyle which is centered on love. (1 John 4:8) Breaking spiritual laws have consequences just like breaking natural laws. If we violate the law of gravity by leaping from a cliff we reap the consequence; it is simple cause & affect. We have replaced God’s way of living with humanism and its values of self exaltation, ego and selfish desire. In doing so the natural consequences of leaping from spiritual safety & security by not following unimpeachable truth will run its course and the crash landing produces planet wide suffering.

Jesus Christ understands suffering, he was beaten & killed for us because of our stubborn and rebellious nature. (See Isa 53:3-7) We rejected God’s way of life and the torment resulting from that action is everywhere. Those who suffer can find relief but not until they renounce a life of lawless opposition to God & his way of thinking as exemplified in the Ten Commandments. Our lawless acts have created a barrier so that God does not hear our pleas when we suffer nor does he intervene in our affairs as shown in Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” But what is the meaning of the word sin? The Bible has a clear definition in 1 John 3:4 “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” (emphasis added) What law? The Ten Commandments, all of them. If the world began keeping God’s law, adopting his life style of love as defined by his law, human suffering would come to an end. This is proven by the prophesy of the return to earth of Jesus as King of kings in Rev 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

What more could a tortured & afflicted world hope for than to have their loving creator comfort them and personally wipe away the tears of anguish. The return of the Messiah and the establishment of the kingdom of God based on love will end suffering. God does not take pleasure in seeing his children tormented. We have brought it upon ourselves collectively by our actions.

Isn’t it time to abandon a way of life that results in misery? Now is the time to embrace God’s outlook and attitude and leave suffering behind.