God and Suffering

God does not punish or reward in this life, nor ask us to punish ourselves. He is always with His children.

Jesus was born into a world of sin, sorrow and suffering. He suffered in life all the way to Calvary’s cross. Often not having “a place to lay His head.” Matthew 8

His apostles also suffered and were put to death. Before he was crucified, he told them: “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

1 Peter 3:10-12

Wasn’t the flood a punishment? Women’s pain in childbirth?

And why is it so random? Why do some very fine people seem to get hammered over and over again. And others lives go nearly perfectly for decades? I cite Tom Brady for my second example.

Some prayers seem to get a reply, others totally ignored. I have a problem with the randomness.

1 Like

Hebrews 1:1 “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

That was God destroying what He had created because he was displeased with it. He can do that because He is God.

He repented (had a change of heart) after that. His plan was to redeem man, meaning bring humankind back into a covenantal relationship with Him, like Adam and Eve had with Him in the beginning – in the garden paradise.

He accomplished that with Jesus - the perfect sacrifice. His shed blood went backward to Adam and Eve and forward to us today, to take away sin. Having reconciled man back to God, His work is done now. “He (Jesus) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Nature’s laws govern His creation. Through Jesus, He has made the way back to Him. It’s up to man to search for God and find Him.

Acts 17:26 And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. *Yet he is not far from each one of us,"

Yes. And how did Noah get to Asia to pick up a pair of monitor lizards?

Maybe the lizards got there after the flood and tower of Babel the same time God scattered people all over the world.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return."

To Eve: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;

Do all women have sorrow during conception? Do all women have sorrow when they have babies?

NO and NO.

Eve disobeyed God. Her punishment did not extend on all women. Mostly, women have joy in conception and giving birth, not sorrow.

To Adam: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground

Adam disobeyed God. Is this true for every man? NO. Most men enjoy their meals and they don’t have to work and sweat to produce their own food.

Why do people just pick Eve and her punishment? Why not Adam’s?

Sure it does.

There is absolutely no scientific basis to assert the future doesn’t exist already.

The randomness is at the heart of the illusion.

If suffering was part of “the plan”, would that not be malevolence? Is the kid who fries ants with a magnifying glass not also malevolent?

The village pastor in my childhood once asked that. He then answered his own question saying “I think he is wondering the same thing about us.”

Yikes! If it existed already, it would be the past.

Why is there an illusion?

Because it’s lonely being all that there is for all of eternity. This is what “we” do to experience both imperfection, and the joy of having “someone else” to interact with.

When a cause is not known, it appears random, yet cause and effects, both linear and simultaneous, is still always at work.

1 Like

If God is three Persons, why would God get lonely?

Not getting what one wants when one wants it, is suffering. Losing what one is enjoying is suffering. Even God suffers. It’s a corollary of dealing with other free-willed beings.

Noah didn’t collect the animals. God brought them to the ark.

1 Like

An omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God suffers? Well ok then. :crazy_face:

He’s not three persons, He’s everything.

1 Like