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Human suffering is as old and as wide-spread as the human race. It is commonly asked, why does God allow suffering? Atheists ask this, hoping to discredit faith in God. But many believers ask it, not having thought through the problem of suffering. We are prone to blame God for our misfortunes, especially those of a tragic nature. Consider the following sources or causes of man's suffering:
I. We are a fallen race, living in a world under a curse (Gen. 3:17; Rom. 8:20). When Adam and Eve (at the time they were the entire human race) disobeyed God's prohibition and ate the forbidden fruit, they sinned and brought death upon themselves and all their descendants (Gen. 2:17, 3:22-24) . They lost their immortality and decay and death began to consume their bodies. Pain now accompanied child-birth (Gen. 3:16). With the curse came birth defects, deadly viruses, bacteria, violence and war, danger from wild animals, serpents, etc.
II. Much suffering is self-caused. Our own carelessness can cause us harm. If we are careless with fire we may be burned, or killed. Our possessions may be destroyed. If we are careless in our driving we may be involved in an accident. If we are careless with mechanical equipment we can suffer serious injuries. The same with electricity and firearms.
* We can suffer as a result of neglecting our health or safety. I knew a man who was killed in a collision. His brakes were worn out. He had postponed having them repaired. He was unable to stop his truck and in the collision he died. Each year people die by gunshot because they neglected to empty the shells from the chamber before cleaning or handling their weapon. Multitudes neglect to see their doctor when they are having health problems. Others neglect to take the needed medicines. Some neglect to exercise. Because of their neglect they suffer serious medical problems such as heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, etc.
* Some suffer because they have abused their bodies by engaging in sinful practices. Alcoholics suffer, but they chose to drink the liquor. Drug addicts suffer from their abuse of drugs. Millions of people have suffered from their use of tobacco. Millions are suffering from and dying of AIDS, but 99:6 percent of them contracted the disease while engaging in sinful behavior.
* Some suffer because they chose to pursue risky activities. Those who race cars, ride brama bulls, sky dive, ski in unsafe areas, dive in shark infested waters often suffer injuries or death. No one made them engage in such dangerous activities. Miners and those who volunteer for the military know the risks they face.
III. Some suffering is caused by other people. People suffer at the hands of assailants. We read of innocent people hit or killed by careless or illegal gunfire. Some suffer harm because of reckless drivers. A person's car might fail to respond and the driver be hurt in a wreck. Inspection shows that a manufacturer or repairman failed to do some vital thing that caused the wreck. Airplane crashes are sometimes caused by faulty repairs or the mistake of an air traffic controler. A manufacturer might pollute the water with his toxic residues. Those living nearby might be sickened by tainted water.
IV. Some times we suffer because of our ignorance. For generations people used tobacco, not knowing its harmfulness to their bodies. We use to paint our houses with lead based paint. Now we know that such paint can be harmful to our health. For years asbestos was use in our homes and business and we were unaware of the dangers it posed. Frequently, we learn that certain medications have been found to have harmful side-effects. We thought they were helping us.
V. Some suffering is the result of accidents. An accident is "an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured.... It is an event occurring by chance or from unknown causes (Webster). Accidents are unforeseeable and unavoidable. Everyone who lives long enough will suffer some harm from an accident. We trip over something on the floor. Or slip and fall on a wet or slick floor. We accidently touch a live wire. A cable snaps and an elevator falls. Many accidents occur on our busy highways. A slight miscalculation can result in a terrible accident.
VI. Many people have suffered at the hand of cruel or incompetent rulers. Flawed social and economic policies of rulers can impose great hardships on those forced to live under them.
VII. Much suffering is caused by war. Evil rulers precipitate wars in which millions suffer and many die. There is unintentional suffering caused when liberating armies strive to defeat the evil aggressor. A bomb dropped from a plane may be targeted at the aggressor's troops but innocent people who are near by may suffer harm of death. We read of soldiers accidentally killed by "friendly fire."
VIII. Over the ages millions have suffered from the uncontrollable forces of nature. Lightning strikes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, earthquakes, avalanches, snow and ice storms, frigid weather, heat waves, tsunami waves, wild fires, hail storms, crop failures and pestilence. These are all consequences of our living in a sin-cursed world.
IX. There are some cases where Creator and Judge of humanity acts to punish the wicked for their crimes. "Thus saith the Lord...when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!" (Ezek. 14:21). He smote evil Herod Agrippa I with worms and he died (Acts 12:23). Such power is still in His great hand.
In these categories we see three kinds of suffering. There is that for which we ourselves are responsible. There is that which is caused by others. There is suffering for which no blame can be affixed. We suffer as a consequence of that sin in Eden that loosed the flood of sickness, violence, suffering and death that has since plagued the world. Even innocent children suffer, not because of their own sins, but because of that sin that allowed the evil pestilence of death to escape. Since much of our suffering is the result of our own choices, we must realize that it is necessary corollary to our freedom of will. Would we want to live in a world where we were not allowed to make our own choices about what we wanted to do? To be human, to be in God's image, means that we will be vulnerable to consequences of our bad choices and decisions.
Suffering makes us realize the need for something better than this life offers. It causes us to yearn for a release from this temporal realm that we might live with our Father, free from the effects of the curse. God has made it possible for us to escape this realm of suffering. First, He had to absolve us of the guilt of our sins. To do that Jesus paid an awful price by suffering and dying on Calvary (I Cor. 15:3). He then created his church whose mission was to teach people how they could find forgiveness and be restored to God's favor (Acts 20:28; Mark 16:15-16). Jesus returned to heaven to prepare a place for us where we could live with him in sinless happiness (John 14: 3). In that heavenly home there will be no pain, no sorrow, no death. The curse will have been removed (Rev. 21:1-5; 22:1-3).
While we struggle along in this life and deal with the pain and sorrow of the long road home, God has provided the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter (John 14:16-17). He has appointed his angels to be ministering spirits to those who are heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14). He has given us the privilege to convey our burdens and needs to him in prayer. He promises to hear and respond to the prayers of his children (John 15:16). He has provided for us friends, loved one and fellow-Christians to help us with the sickness and suffering we must bear (Gal. 6:2). In making the earth, he supplied the ingredients for medicines that help us cope with our maladies. He designed our bodies with a built in defense system to ward off many of the germs that might sicken us. He made our bodies capable of healing and repairing themselves in many lesser cases and even in the most serious cases with the help of skilled physicians and appropriate medicines. He created some people with the ability to study and learn about the human body and the impact of disease and injuries on it search. They are able to search the world of nature for plants and chemicals that have the needed healing properties. Some are able to open the body and repair the damage that has been inflicted upon it. All of these are gifts our benevolent Father has given us.
Sometimes God intervenes in the most remarkable way to protect a person from harm, or to save his life in situations that seem hopeless to us. In ancient times He worked spectacular miracles by the hands of chosen men. Among those were miracles of healing. Today we do not see such divine demonstrations, but we do believe and confess that God does save us from harm and heals us of our afflictions by His providence.
So long as we live on this earth we will have to cope with the problems of suffering and death. A life free from these unhappy events will have to wait until that day when Christ takes us home to live in his father's house (John 14:3). There the curse will be no more. Gone will be sickness, suffering and death. (Rev. 22:3) Immortality will be ours and eternal happiness. For that we will forever thank and praise our Lord!
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