Searching For Biblical Answers To Human Suffering
Posted: Saturday, December 29, 2007
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Perhaps the one thing that causes more people to question God and the Bible, is the suffering and heartaches that people endure here on this earth. Usually when one who is presumed to know the answers for such questions is asked, why does a loving God allow such horrendous things to happen to innocent people? They usually receive the stock answer"because Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Their disobedience brought death and suffering upon all mankind. That is not a false answer, but it certainly does not explain the why's and what for's.
God has not been alone throughout eternity. Although men can scarcely understand the three entities which make up the one Godhead, we know they exist. Not only that, we also know that somewhere at sometime, angels were created so there have been multiple beings in existence far longer than the universe. The angels, although created beings, are spirits, not flesh and blood. But even so, they are free moral agents at least to some degree. We know that because some sinned and were cast out of heaven. (2 Peter 2:4) The Bible doesn't explain what they did and we know that it was not anything caused by physical desires as are most of ours. But it shows that He has never tolerated willful disobedience.
But His decision to create the universe and mankind had a purpose and required a very complex plan. Not only did He have to create this massive temporarily self-sustaining universe capable of sustaining a planet which was, in itself, capable of sustaining life and man. But he had to create man with a soul (a spirit in His likeness) and yet allow him complete free moral agency. The reason for this was that He wanted man to worship and obey Him, but of his own volition based simply on his faith in Him and His Son. (Ephesians 1:4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
So, why did He have to give us an environment of suffering and troubles? He didn't. He gave us a world which offered opportunity to sin. Otherwise, He may just as well have given us the robot status where we could not sin. If there were no ways to sin, we would have no free moral agency. He wants us to desire to obey Him. All death, pain and suffering has come from sin. That is not to say that our pain and suffering comes from our own sins, but that some sins have created circumstances that cause us pain and sufferings. But we do all sin. Jesus Christ was the only one ever to live a sinless life.
God placed Adam and Eve in a near perfect life. They had only one source of temptation that is revealed to us. That of not eating of the fruit from the "tree of knowledge of good and evil". Before their sin, God was watching over them, caring for them, nourishing them. But once they sinned, he had promised them death and death they received. Not immediate physical death, but immediate spiritual death (separation from God) and physical death was introduced for all living beings. Death accounts for much of our sadness and sorrow now. Plus the conditions were changed, man has had to work for his livelihood since that time. From that point onward, things have grown worse, but all because of sin.
God does not inflict punishment upon us here in this life. He has done so in times past but only upon those who were in sin. From the creation unto the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a period in which God intervened directly in earthly activities. But these were the exceptions rather than the rule. Even the Law of Moses given to the Israelite nation, was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. (Galatians 3:24-25). God did whatever was necessary to bring us to Jesus. Without Him and His sacrifice, not one being would have been saved. There was no means of receiving remission of sins except by His sinless life and His death as a sacrifice for us.
I knew of a preacher in our city a number of years ago. He had a teen aged daughter who was his pride and joy. She became ill and was diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors informed the family that she had but a few months to live. But this man could not accept that. He prayed to God fervently for her life. But as she grew worse, he became frustrated and told his family and friends how much he had prayed and he had then promised God that, if she died, he would no longer have any confidence in God's answering prayers and that he would never preach another sermon. She died and he stopped preaching. I do not know if he still lives or if he ever started back preaching or whatever has happened. But I thought, how tragic this matter was. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)
He was blaming God for the death of his daughter. His daughter died because of sin. Adam and Eve's sin. And probably a number of other sins from people bringing other circumstances which caused her passing prematurely. But regardless of what sins had been committed earlier, she lived in the same world that I do and you do. Our lives are not shortened or lengthened by direct actions of God, but by circumstances surrounding our lives.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Here Jesus only mentions the rising of the sun and the sending of rain but He means that all of us are subject to His natural laws. Some get leukemia, some don't. My earthly father died on his 60 th birthday from leukemia. I am now well past 17 years more than he lived. But God did not pick him to die at 60 and me to live much longer. We have to get it out of our minds that God is hovering over us and saying, "O.K. Joel, your time to have a car accident." I realize that many people insist upon giving God credit for every occurrence in our lives, good or bad. That just isn't how it is. James 1:17 tells us that "every good and every perfect gift comes from above ". That is true, yet it doesn't mean that He picks and chooses to send you rain, but not to me. It only means that all good and all perfect gifts were created and given to mankind.
We must remember that God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). This is evident in that you see many evil people who live long and luxurious lives with few illnesses or misfortunes. Then some of the best Christians you may meet, are beset with sickness and troubles. This is a perfect example that the sun rises and the rains come on the "just and the unjust". And it doesn't always work the same way. One of the finest Christians I was ever privileged to know was founder and owner of a large and successful Insurance company. He gave ninety percent of his income to the Lord. Ninety percent! Of course, the remaining ten percent was far more than I could ever imagine earning. But I've never heard of anyone giving that liberally before or since. He lived a long and healthy life with few problems. Many would venture to say that God gave him such a life because of his efforts for Him. I don't believe that. I also know of some extremely fine Christians who have been very poor most of their lives, those who suffered tragedies, sickness, etc. My point here is to try and convince people, when faced with misfortune, sickness, etc., not to say, "Why me, Lord?" It was sin which caused it. " and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" Sin brought pain and suffering into this world.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Hi Joel, you did a wonderful job of explaining this hard to comprehend truth. The book of Romans, chapters 1-3 are evidence of what you are saying. What a sad commentary on the pastor's faith, to have turned on God for the death of his daughter. I don't fault him for being angry, but to turn away from God completely is evidence of not understanding sin. Death is a result of sin, but if one is in Christ, it is only the physcial death they must endure. As it is said "Born once, die twice, born twice, die once. I am sure this article will bless many readers to come. May God give us all wisdom and discernment regarding the reality of the consequences of sin -whether sin of our own or someone elses. You used my favorite line, one I use a lot which is "God did not create robots" therefore, its almost a given that we will be the brunt of another persons sinful choice. May we all run to God for comfort instead of away from Him. Blessings to you, TeresaThanks Teresa for your nice comment. It is indeed a difficult subject to explain. I, perhaps should not have tried. But all I have tried to show is that God does not intervene in such matters under the Christian era and it is as you say, to be in Christ is to eliminate the second death (seperation from God) in eternity. However, being in Christ does not assure us of health, riches, etc. on this earth. We are all subject to the circumstances created by sin from Adam onward.
I don't think you should feel as if you should not have tried. Speaking from experience (or the lack of ), sometimes we just don't know how much information to put in one article. We don't want it too long, but we want to make our point. In doing this, sometimes we leave out something that might be important for someone else to here. What we write gets them thinking. It either encourages them to continue seeking the word of God, or it convicts their heart and they bring up things that we never intended to mean. You keep writing. Remember that God's word will never return void and it will accomplish what He set forth for it to do. I do want to say, that I do believe Scripture does give us examples of when God directly interviened in a situation, and I have seen Him do it in my life. But I fully believe that Scripture is clear: God does not make things happen to us - good or bad, He allows things to happen and His desire is that we come to Him so that our blessings can be nurtured and our hurts can be healed - your point was made clear. So amen, brother and again, good job.
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