[shyamshah]

Hello, not sure if this question has already been posted before, but I would like to know people's view on this topic.

Thank you

[The Polymath]

(Original post by shyamshah)
Hello, not sure if this question has already been posted before, but I would like to know people's view on this topic.

Thank you

This must be the most commonly asked question in the world. Seriously, don't start a war here all you'll end up with is brief, illogical answers from people you can't argue with.

Let blood flow

[supermusicxxx]

it is a part of god's plan

[chokeme]

If it was perfect it would be Heaven.

[SquaredCircle]

The religious answer is it'd be more evil to deprive us of free will.

[Tackla]

Well, you got to be punished for your sins right? Then you might ask isn't god meant to all forigiving.

No, if your committing the same sin again and again without repenting.

There comes a stage when people are punished.

[Maker]

God doesn't care.

[shyamshah]

(Original post by Junaid96)
This must be the most commonly asked question in the world. Seriously, don't start a war here all you'll end up with is brief, illogical answers from people you can't argue with. Let blood flow

Well I don't think I can delete the thread now, so just let the posts come

[LightofTruth7]

Jesus "suffered" for the whole world - So that He could redeem us

Ofcourse God allows suffering - It brings about a greater Good

[Alpharius]

Spoiler:

Show

[sicarius1992]

The 'Why is there suffering?' argument isn't a very good counter to theism at all, since it assumes if a god exists it's an all loving one. So whilst it doesn't do anything to combat the theist position it certainly raises questions about if there is a god, why is it such an *******?

[Josh93]

The most common argument that I've heard is that God created a perfect world (Garden of Eden) and gave us the free will to choose what to do with it (which makes no sense to me, if free will was so important to him then why forbid us to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil...) therefore all evil and suffering is our doing, not his and he doesn't intervene because last time he did he wiped everything out and he's still feeling a bit bad about that.

Basically we are responsible for our own decisions and have to live with the consequences.

For the record, I'm an athiest and I think the story of creation is utter nonsense so I'm purely reciting the arguments that other people have presented to me before - personally I don't think that the prevalence of suffering either proves or disproves the existence of God.

[The_Lonely_Goatherd]

Seriously, even the Blessed Pope John Paul II didn't pretend to have an answer for this. So I doubt people on TSR are gonna be able to adequately answer

[sucess]

god gave us free choice

unfortunately looking at history humans abused it

[shyamshah]

I can understand the argument about people who put themself into poverty etc should get themself out of it, but what about all the millions of people around the world who were born into poverty and can't get out of it, it wasn't there choice to be born there. Surely they deserve help from 'God'?

[LightofTruth7]

Children that die - Go straight to Gods Heavenly Kingdom

[RandZul'Zorander]

(Original post by LightofTruth7)
Children that die - Go straight to Gods Heavenly Kingdom

And somehow that makes there suffering ok?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[LightofTruth7]

(Original post by shyamshah)
I can understand the argument about people who put themself into poverty etc should get themself out of it, but what about all the millions of people around the world who were born into poverty and can't get out of it, it wasn't there choice to be born there. Surely they deserve help from 'God'?

Poverty has nothing to do with suffering.

Those in poverty are actually "rich" in spirit and closer to God

Remember - It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the gates of Heaven

[madaboutmambo]

Well, (to answer from a Christian perspective), there is a beautiful story in the bible (which is the written source of authority for Christians) about JOB. The story deals with the question of suffering. To brief it out for you: Job is a a loving father with many children with all the possible riches one can hope to have, and more importantly a strong believer of God. When Satan asks God if he could put Job to the test, God allows him to do so (without hurting Job though). As a result Satan kills Job's children, takes away his land, his sheep/goats are all destroyed and he is left with a serious skin condition. Meanwhile Job's friends tell Job that he must have done something wrong to face a serious situation as such and ask him to repent. Though Job is persistent that he has had strong faith in God always, he eventually gives up all hope and curses God. Finally God speaks to Job and tells him that it is not for you/man to ask why there is suffering, rather to live with it.

Suffering is an inevitable part of human life that we must all face. Some people are affected more than others; whether it is through natural disasters, genocide, war, persecution, natural diseases etc... Christians believe that while there is suffering in this world, God has deliberately added this, to make the rest more compassionate, and loving individuals much like his son, Jesus Christ. That in fact is the reason for our existence: to go to heaven. And in order to do so, we must treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves (one of the Two great commandments) and also follow the example of religious leaders, that involve caring for those who are suffering.

I believe that the existence of suffering is rather a test for the rest, enabling God to decide those who are good and bad, to set aside those who should enter heaven and hell. Moreover, there is evidence in the bible to prove that individuals who are already suffering are ensured a good, if not an eternal life with God in heaven.

Suffering is all part of God's plan.

[AmyJ]

(Original post by Tackla)
Well, you got to be punished for your sins right? Then you might ask isn't god meant to all forigiving.

No, if your committing the same sin again and again without repenting.

There comes a stage when people are punished.

And what if individuals aren't directly sinning and still have to suffer? People who are mugged, raped, assaulted, starved, imprisoned, etc etc? Did the Holocaust happen because those people kept sinning without repenting? utterly stupid argument.

My own belief regarding the problem of Evil is closer to deism than anything else. I simply don't believe that God intervenes in this world at all, if He ever did. He created us, sent "Messengers" as morality guides and then left us to it. Some people will argue that suffering exists so that humans can 'learn' from it and avoid repeating the same mistakes. But what did anyone really learn from the Holocaust or the rise of the KKK or the Rwandan Genocide etc? Absolutely nothing. They just picked a different scapegoat and started all over again.