God and Suffering

Why does God allow so much suffering in the world? 

This question has been asked throughout the ages and of all the religions, and to the philosophers of the world and we are still asking the same question today. Is there an answer to this question that can satisfy the mind?

Now let us embark on a journey of examining three segments of bible history, and see if we can come to a closer understanding of the nature of God and the reasons for suffering.

To begin, let us assume a God is, all good, loving and all powerful. And let us further assume that if God exercises all these attributes, then there should be no suffering in the world. With God being omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, he knows what is happening and can take care of all man’s afflictions, whether physical, mental or spiritual, so why should there be suffering in the world?

Let’s see what the Bible tells us

According to Genesis 2:4-3:24

The fall of man, or the fall, is a term used in Christian teachings to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a

state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis chapter 3.

At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life and becoming immortal in their sin.

For many Christian denominations, the doctrine of the fall is closely related to that of original sin. They believe that the fall brought sin into the world, corrupting the entire natural world, including human nature, causing all humans to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the grace of God.

The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts the concept of the fall but rejects the idea that the guilt of original sin is passed down through generations, based in part on the passage Ezekiel 18:20 that says a son is not guilty of the sins of his father.

What the bible tells us about Noah, in Genesis 5:32-10:1 (NIV).

Who was Noah?

Noah was a great man of faith, who didn't compromise his faith during a time in history when all others were ignoring God and carrying out extreme evil. Noah preached for 100 years during the building of the ark and God patiently waited for any person to repent. However, none believed Noah or wanted to follow God, but continued in their evil ways until they were all wiped out.

Noah and the flood around 2348 BC

Genesis 6:11- 22 (NIV) -The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12- God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13- So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 - So make yourself an ark ….  The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 - Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17- I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it.

18- But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19- You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 - Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21- You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

22- Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Comment:

The people were unrighteous so God wiped them out to restore justice and order. This we may view as a just, righteous and good God. God responded to man’s sin in a holy and righteous manner, but also in a way that salvaged humankind. God wants people to life righteously. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 

God in Exodus

"Why was Israel cursed with forty years of wilderness wandering?"

Introduction

A seven-year famine was responsible for God’s chosen people ending up in Egypt. Initially, they flourished under the leadership of Joseph, number two in charge of the country after Pharaoh. “Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt” (Exodus 1:8), and soon, “the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites” (Exodus 1:12). For the next several centuries the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians who “worked them ruthlessly” (Exodus 1:13). Eventually, God heard their cries (Exodus 2:23-25) and sent Moses and Aaron to rescue them. After enduring the last of the ten plagues—the death of the firstborn males—Pharaoh finally agreed to release the Israelites.

The 40 years of wilderness wandering nearly 3,500 years ago, refers to the plight of the Israelites due to their disobedience and unbelief until the unbelieving generation died off, never stepping foot in the Promised Land.

The Events

Moses is aware of his Hebrew roots, and, one day, he kills an Egyptian who is beating an Israelite worker. Moses flees in fear to Midian, God however, is concerned for the suffering of the Israelites, and he appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush. God speaks to Moses, informing him of his plan to return the Israelites to Canaan—to “a land flowing with milk and honey” (3:8)—and to send Moses back to Egypt to accomplish this task. Moses took Aaron, with him as an aid. When Moses asks God what his name is, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM” (3:14).

Moses and Aaron return to Egypt, where Moses organizes the Israelites and confronts the Pharaoh, demanding the release of the Hebrew people. Moses performs a miracle, turning his staff into a snake, but Pharaoh is unimpressed and only increases the workload for the Israelites.

God responds by inflicting a series of ten plagues on Egypt. God turns the Nile River into blood.

Before the plague, Moses instructs the Hebrew people to cover their door posts in the blood of a sacrificed lamb as a sign for God to protect their homes from his killings. Pharaoh relents and releases the more than 600,000 Israelites who, in turn, plunder the Egyptians’ wealth.

The Israelites complain that Moses has taken them to die in the wilderness, and Moses, at God’s bidding, parts the sea for the people to cross. Pharaoh follows and Moses closes the waters back again, drowning the Egyptian army. Witnessing the miracle, the people decide to trust Moses, and they sing a song extolling God as a great but loving warrior.

Their optimism is brief, and the people soon begin to worry about the shortage of food and water. God responds by sending the people food from heaven, providing a supply of quail and a sweet bread-like substance called manna. The people are required only to obey God’s commandments to enjoy this food.

Three months after the flight from Egypt, Moses and the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai. Moses climbs the mountain, and God gives Moses two stone tablets with Ten Commandments inscribed on them regarding general, ethical behavior as well as an extended series of laws regarding worship, sacrifices, social justice, and personal property. God explains to Moses that if the people will obey these regulations, he will keep his covenant with Israel and will go with them to retrieve from the Canaanites the land promised to Abraham.

Moses ascends to the mountain again where God gives him more instructions, this time specifying in great detail how to build a portable temple called an ark in which God’s presence will dwell among the Israelites.

 Moses comes down from the mountain after forty days, only to find that Aaron and the Israelites have now erected an idol—a golden calf that they are worshipping in revelry, in direct defiance of the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 12:48

God made His covenant with Old Testament Israel, a type of the church (Galatians 6:16 NIV). God's focus and concern were overwhelmingly on them, and He dealt with other nations only as they came in contact with Israel. Though God makes provision in His law to accept non-Israelites who wanted to join Israel and worship the true God, He nowhere commands the Israelites to go out and make disciples of other nations. Rather, His approach is to attract outsiders by the example of obedient Israel being blessed by Him.

Moses intercedes on the Israelites’ behalf, begging God to relent and to remember his covenant. Pleased with Moses, God is appeased and continues to meet with Moses face to face, “as one speaks to a friend,” in a special tent set aside for worship

God reaffirms his covenant with Moses, and, creates a new stone tablets to record his decrees, (Exodus 34, Moses gets new stone tablets. The Lord said to Moses, cut two more stone tablets like the first two, and I will write the same words on them that were on the first two stones which you broke). God declares himself to be a compassionate, loving, and patient God. At Moses’ direction, the Israelites renew their commitment to the covenant by erecting a tabernacle to God according to the exact specifications God has outlined.

 God tells Moses that his name is “I AM” (3:14). Moses’ dialogue with God enables the author to portray God in softer, human terms—as someone who listens, grieves, and is actually capable of changing his mind.

Comments:

Throughout Exodus we can see God’s guiding hand in the liberation of his people. God has shown His unconditional love, compassion and patience; even at times when His people rebelled in disbelief.

God want to have a relationship with man. As in any relationship, it must be mutual.  Mutual, means all sides can feel secure. There are four major areas of mutuality that must be present if a relationship is to succeed and grow: love, benefit, trust and support.    

What happened at Babylon?

Babylon was a “ruthless” and “dreaded” nation. This raises the question, Does God sometimes use power to accomplish His

plans? God’s purpose was to bring judgment on Judah for their idolatry. Babylon was the instrument of His judgment (Isaiah 10:5).

The people of Judah had rebelled against the principles upon which their nation had been founded and fallen from grace. Judah had turned its back upon God and rejected any attempt by those sent to her to call her back.

As promised, God withdrew His protection from her. He had warned that if His people became faithless that He would employ a pagan power to conquer them and lead them back into captivity.

He had led them from Egyptian bondage 800 years before, and now, because of their infidelity, He would allow them to return to bondage; this time in Babylon. But they had refused to believe it would ever happen to them. They found their own false prophets to tell them that everything was fine. They ridiculed Jeremiah and others who warned of the devastation to come. The Lord spoke through Jeremiah and put it this way;

"Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north...and I will send Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...against this land and against its inhabitants...and this whole land shall be desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

Jeremiah 1:4-5, Yahweh called Jeremiah to prophetic ministry in about 626 BC, about one year after Josiah king of Judah is said to have turned the nation toward repentance from idolatrous practices. ... In his early ministry, Jeremiah was primarily a preaching prophet, preaching throughout Israel.

Jeremiah 25:9-11 (NIV).

Indeed, history shows us that the words of Jeremiah turned into fact as they were fulfilled down to the last detail. The desolation began with the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 606 A.D. and the first deportation of the best of the land into slavery on foreign soil. In this number was Daniel who later would also be a prophet while a servant of Nebuchadnezzar. Further deportations followed and finally Jerusalem was destroyed, just as the prophets had warned. It was seventy years in exile before the repentant remnant of the people of God were permitted to go back home and begin to rebuild their devastated cities. It would be the Persians who allowed the rebuilding to begin by a remnant of what was left of Judah and Israel in 536 B.C.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NIV)

10 -This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11- For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 - Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 - You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14- I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, “declares the Lord“ and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Jeremiah 31:1-5 (NIV)

After God performs the intents of His heart, as it says at the end of the previous chapter, and His wrath has consumed those He will consume, then peace in the relationship between Israel and God becomes possible because all of those who declared war on God through their conduct are dead. God does not believe in "peace at any price." He works toward repentance, but if there is no repentance, the only solution is to destroy those in rebellion against Him. Yet, after the destruction, He promises once again to be the God of all of Israel, and Israel will again be His people.

From these verses and the remainder of Ezekiel 5, it is evident that a great deal of violence will be done to the peoples of Israel, but when it is over, God will give them rest (Jeremiah 31:2). The people who survive the sword will find grace. God begins to demonstrate His loving kindness and to rebuild and restore Israel.

It’s in Jeremiah that we learn about God’s plan to make a new covenant with His people. His law will be on their hearts, and they will all know Him. He shall be their God, and they shall be His people. He will forgive their sin and remember it no more Jeremiah 31:31–34 (NIV).

God does have a plan for the future. God’s plan is the ultimate redemption of all creation—even Babylon. And that future is filled with hope.

Who was Jeremiah?

Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, a Levitical priest, was likely born between 650 and 645 B.C. He was from the small village of Anathoth, about three miles northeast of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin (Jeremiah 1:1). It was through Jeremiah’s childhood training for holy service in the priesthood that God began grooming him for his future role.

Israel’s status as the Chosen People

God’s Word affirms that the Jews are God’s chosen people: “You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession”

(Deuteronomy 7:6).

In the books of Moses, God’s relationship with the Israelites is described as a covenant, a relationship in which promises of loyalty are given. However, the Bible describes numerous failures on the part of the people. They did not trust God, and they grumbled about what he was doing. Their pattern of distrust and disobedience is found throughout Israel’s history.

The ultimate goal of God’s choice of the Jews as His chosen people was to produce the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would be the Savior of the world. Jesus had to come from some nation or people, and God chose Israel.

The  book  of  Deuteronomy,  more  than  the  other  four  books  of  Moses,  emphasizes  the  fact  of  Israel’s  election (Deuteronomy  4:37; 7:6-8; 10:15-16, 

While God chose Israel because of His love, there was purpose and reason to Israel’s election.

First, ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy

Nation (Exodus 19:6)

Second, Israel was to be the recipient of God’s revelation and

to record it. For this reason, Israel received the Law of Moses

(Deuteronomy 4:5-8; 6:6-9; Romans 3:1-2).

Third, Israel was to propagate the doctrine of the One God (Isaiah 43:10-12).

Fourth, Israel was to produce the Messiah (Romans 9:5;  He-brews 2:16-17; 7:13-14

The Fifth provision is keeping the law under The Mosaic Covenant. (The Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant made between God and the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-24).

The people lacked the power to comply with the righteous standards of God. The Mosaic Law did not provide the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27). 

 Prophesy concerning the coming of Jesus the Christ.

Isaiah 7:14: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Micah 5:2: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

A few words about Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus came in a dark age. His message of the love of God and his intersession on behalf of suffering humanity was not only for that time, but for all ages to come. He reminded a world that

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24),

The Absolute is also a personal God, who can be appealed to in prayer and who responds as a loving Father. When we look at the nature of consciousness of a divine incarnation, it is important to understand the source and nature of consciousness that incarnates.

 Jesus spoke of his consciousness when he proclaimed:”I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), and “I am in my Father and my Father is in me” John (14:11). Those who unite their consciousness to God know both the transcendent and the immanent nature of Spirit, the uncreated Absolute.

.

To our earlier question about the goodness, love and omnipotence of God, we read:

God is omnipotent and exalted in Power

Job 37:23 (NIV) “The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.” God is Omnipotent in Understanding,

God is portrait as all powerful, just and forgiving.

Psalm 147:5 – “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

The Bible tells us repeatedly that God is all powerful, good, and loving, but it also speaks about justice.  

Isaiah 30:18 (NIV) Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Isaiah 55:8 (NIV), "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

Psalm 136:1(NIV) Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.

Matthew 5:48 (NIV) Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Perfection is not in the body. Anything physical in creation is impermanent. Perfection is in the Soul of man as an individualized part of the Spirit of God.

We read in the verses, that God is good, loving and powerful,

So why do people suffer?

Suffering can fall into three simple categories: emotional, mental, and physical suffering.  But, there are a variety of causes for suffering:  morally corrupt (evil) people, disease, earthquakes, floods, famine, etc.

There are different explanations for why God allows suffering, but none of them can really satisfy. Therefore, we will simply list various reasons offered to account for suffering and evil in the world.

In the discussed scenarios, we need to be reminded, that according to legitimate scriptures of the world God is perfect, pure and none changing. He does not evolve, but as we have seen in Babylon, Genesis and Exodus, what did change, was how the people perceived God.

Here are some of the explanations put forth by man why people suffer

Free will, God has given us freedom of choice.

God uses evil to discipline people.

It is possible that human suffering (cancer, disease, etc.) can be a means that God uses to remove the person from further suffering.

God has a plan.

The Bible tells us that God disciplines those whom He loves.

It is possible that God is simply allowing evil and suffering in the world to prove that rebellion against Him brings pain and suffering.

Psalm 147:5 – “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

We must be careful never to make excuses for our "trials and tribulations" if they are a result of our own wrongdoing.

A present day urging:

In all our circumstances, let us implore the spirit of truth in all our thoughts and activities. Let it be our guiding light.

What about the Spirit of truth?

The Spirit of truth, the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you, John 14:17 (NIV).

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is an enumeration of seven spiritual gifts. They are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (wonder).

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse ” Romans 1:20, NIV).

“The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere” (James 3:17, NIV).

God wants to fellowship and communicate with us. He talks, we listen, we talk, He listens.