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Why Does God Make Us Suffer?

maro

muslimah
This earthly life is only one chapter of the story , if you read it alone , nothing will make sense at all....why those people suffer when they don't deserve that ? why the criminals who deserve to suffer are set free to enjoy ?.... believing in the afterlife where justice is eventually going to be achieved is a must for not going Mad....i believe Allah is all wise even if can't always comprehend the wisdom.....and i also believe that death is not the end of the story..it's just the beginning...
 

idea

Question Everything
Some do NOT make themselves "suffer"..Some are just born..and they suffer till death because of that one fact...(they were born)
Dallas, has a great point. Some souls are simply thrust into a state of perpetual peril without a chance at happiness. Reincarnation is an attempt to explain this, though, it fails ultimately to fully explain it.
like handicap people?


In some cases our birth is dictated by who we were before we were born into this life...
John 9:1 AND as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Our spirits existed before birth...
Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee...

not that all handicaps are a curse from premortal sin...
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

we are each born into the life and given the experiences we need to change us. No pain no gain. What does it take to really hate evil? Takes harsher experiences for some than others... If that is what it takes to change, I am willing to go through whatever hell my particular spirit requires so that I will not remain an unsightly lump of clay... refined in the fire and all that... It is merciful that we are refined - however painful that refining process may be.





I guess some of it you don't learn from, it is the price of free will.

This earthly life is only one chapter of the story ...
I agree

someone could be living in very undesirable conditions but he might have peace within.

agree

joy and light are within us - Lusseyran - blind concentration camp survivor (book - and there was light)
 
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crystalonyx

Well-Known Member
Yes but Atheists often question Theists on how they can believe in a God that makes us suffer. And this post presents that answer. The point is that the existence of suffering does not question the existence of a God and, moreover, does not question the existence of a Merciful God.

I just question the existence of god.
 

sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Theodicy is a very complex subject to get our minds around. I'm not sure a quick, pat answer, arising out of one bit of scripture, is an adequate answer for such a complex question. For a Christian perspective (because I'm not sure I agree with the Koranic passage here), those interested should read Douglas John Hall's, God and Human Suffering. He points out that there are, basically, two kinds of suffering: Suffering that we bring upon ourselves, and suffering that is inherent in the natural order. And he explains very well, from a Christian perspective, the complexity of theodicy.
 

tariqkhwaja

Jihad Against Terrorism
Suffering that we bring upon ourselves, and suffering that is inherent in the natural order.
And the passage in the link I gave somehow completely ignored both those things? And the Christian perspective (since I don't have access to the book) shows what the passage in the link ignored?

If you could please present exactly what in the passage you disagree with and how God and Human Suffering makes the issue more complex.
 

sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
And the passage in the link I gave somehow completely ignored both those things? And the Christian perspective (since I don't have access to the book) shows what the passage in the link ignored?

If you could please present exactly what in the passage you disagree with and how God and Human Suffering makes the issue more complex.
It is He Who has created death and life that He might try you—which of you is best in deeds; and He is the Mighty, the Most Forgiving." [67:2-3]

It is the very scheme of things that God discloses here. We know that life is only a positive value, and death merely means its absence, and no sharp border exists separating one from the other. It is a gradual process, the way life travels towards death and ebbs out, or from the other direction we view death travelling towards life gaining strength, energy and consciousness as it moves on. This is the grand plan of creation, but why has God designed it so? 'That He might try you—which of you is best in deeds', is the answer provided by the Holy Quran.
It is the perpetual struggle between life and death that subjects the living to a constant state of trial, so that all who conduct themselves best survive and gain a higher status of existence.

The verse at the very beginning of the part quoted here is too easy -- and wrong from a Xian POV. Grace has nothing to do with trial. And the Christian finds life through grace. Christ destroyed death, therefore, death doesn't really exist for us. So the Koranic verse doesn't hold water for the Christian. Plus, the Koranic verse does not say anything about the suffering that we bring upon ourselves, wholly outside of what God might "desire" for us.
 

SimonCross

Member
Maybe this has to do with that we make our own suffering, free will and choice to make things better or worse. The one gift from God and if that is so in theory one way that God does not interfer as such.

I feel that it is us that needs to turn things around and ask what the bloody hell I'm I doing?

I have a great God gift of free will that I am wasting away!!! I should listen more and search inside myself. God is talking, just sometimes we do not listen!!

With Blessings

Simon Cross:angel2:
 

Hema

Sweet n Spicy
In my beliefs, God does not make us suffer but rather the suffering we go through is a result of our karma...our own doing. However our karma is not set in stone as we can offset our bad past karma and generate good karma for the future by doing goood deeds now. Sometimes our faith is also tested to see if we love God during the good times only or the bad times as well. Sometimes certain problems make us stronger like in the case of the butterly that must fight it's way out of the coccoon to make it's wings stronger.
 

lockyfan

Active Member
To understand suffering,. the short of it is because satan ha made the world like this

the long of itis this: satan challenged God's right to rule in the garden of eden. Once this challenge was made, gad had to accept, or else things would have ben far worse than they are now, if he had just started again,. it would have given the others in heaven something to think on what satan was saying, so he let the challenge playout, but also provided us the bible so that we can learn more about him and learn to love him and sere him in the world we have now, so that when Jah finally does act and brings forth the world we are promised (the one where the meek inherit the earth) all those who pass on are given a shop and second chance at life, free of whatever ailed them in this world and those who live through armageddon, get to also see what they have been awaiting for, through to the end of the system of things
 

sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
To understand suffering,. the short of it is because satan ha made the world like this

the long of itis this: satan challenged God's right to rule in the garden of eden. Once this challenge was made, gad had to accept, or else things would have ben far worse than they are now, if he had just started again,. it would have given the others in heaven something to think on what satan was saying, so he let the challenge playout, but also provided us the bible so that we can learn more about him and learn to love him and sere him in the world we have now, so that when Jah finally does act and brings forth the world we are promised (the one where the meek inherit the earth) all those who pass on are given a shop and second chance at life, free of whatever ailed them in this world and those who live through armageddon, get to also see what they have been awaiting for, through to the end of the system of things
Mythical naivete.
 

Cacafire

Member
Put a "human" into a starvation situation and they will "find something wrong with it"?..Put a "human'" into sex slavery and they will "find something wrong with it"...Put a human in a "war zone" and they will "find something wrong with it"?

Hmm..We need to spread the word that if you suffer..??? Its YOUR fault..Not a problem with the "world"...

Love
Dallas

lol. Dallas. Regardless of the situation you find yourself in. You are the one who presses the "suffer" button. It's you. That doesn't mean you should just accept it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with accepting it.

Yes. If you are suffering, it is your fault. Because you are the one making yourself suffer. No matter what situation you're in, it is you who makes yourself suffer. Suffering is mental construct, not an measurable substance. And, as such, is completely reliant upon the mind.
 

blackout

Violet.
lol. Dallas. Regardless of the situation you find yourself in. You are the one who presses the "suffer" button. It's you. That doesn't mean you should just accept it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with accepting it.

Yes. If you are suffering, it is your fault. Because you are the one making yourself suffer. No matter what situation you're in, it is you who makes yourself suffer. Suffering is mental construct, not an measurable substance. And, as such, is completely reliant upon the mind.

Is suffering not one definition of the experience of intense physical pain?
Is a child burned in a war bombing not going to suffer?
 
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god doesnt let anyone suffer. god allowing suffering is no different than the affliction that santa clause brings to us all.

they are both equally real.
 

BruceDLimber

Well-Known Member

Greetings!

>Why does God make us suffer?

I would suggest this answer has three parts:

  • Some suffering is indeed God-sent. Indeed, the scriptures of multiple religions state:
"Do men think when they say 'we believe,' they will be let alone and not put to proof?"

and

"God verily will sift them and test them!"

  • Some suffering is simply from random events like earthquakes and tornados.

  • But IMHO most suffering is due to our own waywardness and stupidity, for which we have no one to blame but ourselves!
Peace,

Bruce
 

lockyfan

Active Member
Yet we are told in Genesis 6:5-6 Consequently Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. And Jehovah felt regrets that he had made men in the earth, and he felt hurt at his heart.

We are told in Matthew that today is like the days of Noah. Therefore would Jehovah feel the same now as he did then?

Why would you criticise the being that has power over the whole universe? The being that has seen in his infinate wisdom that it is better off to let the challenge satan made to him play out rather then destroy things and start again only to have the same problem arise. Why not let the problem work its way to a point so that all will see that you were the right person for the Job of ruling the universe and not just one to call a liar and a cheat

what would you do if that was your shoes?

If you had the power to fix it all later, but had to sidetrack for a little while?

What would you have done?
 
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