My usual answer when people ask, "Why does God allow suffering?" is that God doesn't allow it, but we allow it. We watch each other suffer, inflict suffering on each other and just fall into selfishness that's strong enough to overpower any shred of empathy we might possess.
But what if I'm wrong? Maybe that's only half the answer.
What if God allows suffering as a great act of mercy?
When my brother asked me today why my God allows suffering, I answered, "Because if God didn't allow suffering, we'd all be dead."
We always think of it from the receiving perspective, how we wish we would no longer suffer and how we wish those we feel for would no longer suffer, but what about us on the giving end? Have you really never made anybody suffer?
I doubt that. This post alone might cause suffering in some unsuspecting passer-by. Aside from the deliberate and accidental hurts I have caused in those around me over my lifetime, no doubt I've caused suffering in other ways too. Maybe I'm boring. Maybe I took an opportunity away from somebody who really needed it. Maybe my carbon footprint or my use of water and sanitation resources adversely affected people.
Or maybe, just by being me, I've caused suffering in a great multitude I'm not aware of.
In that sense, God allowing suffering is a great mercy. If suffering is abolished, I will be too. And somehow, I really doubt anybody else would be exempt either.
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8 comments:
I haven't commented before and I don't always read this blog, as I am sure you know :D but I had this same conversation this weekend.
So many people are quick to say there is no God because if there were then there would be no suffering. Yet others, in the greatest times of suffering turn to God.
I do believe that there is suffering because without it we would not be grateful. Many many things are taken for granted, at least when we see that things can be worse we can be truly thankful.
This is a little rambly...maybe this is why I shouldn't comment :D
You should know by now that I like the ramblies. :D
I think suffering also allows us to have greater empathy and knowledge that helps the people around us who are suffering too. It's as though only through suffering can we really be able to be in deep community.
Eek, first official comment! Bear with me...
I think "God allows suffering" is iffy terminology. God created humankind with free will because God wants us to choose to love Him. Once it's no longer a choice, it's no longer love. God "allows suffering" insomuch as He allows us to choose right/wrong, good/bad, etc. and we often suffer by bearing the brunt of our own and others' choices. And, in our suffering, we hopefully come closer to Jesus and reach a better understanding of his suffering.
Sorry if that was unclear and/or rambly. I just feel extra passionate about this topic. And I definitely agree with your post. I just wanted to point out another way of looking at it :)
I see what you're saying, but I tend to believe that God is a little more powerful than that. If we need to suffer to see something, to make us an example or to become something closer to what He wants us to be, I don't doubt that he can make it happen.
Like the beheading of John the Baptist. Jesus could have stopped it. God could have stopped it. But there was something about it that had a purpose, even if we might not understand it from our perspective.
It's like the surgeon analogy- He'll cut you, but in a good way. But He will cut you. But if God exists and God is good, we shouldn't be afraid to suffer sometimes as suffering does open us up for new knowledge, new empathy, new understanding and so on.
and lol @ "official comment". :D Comment away. I don't mind. It's fun to share differing views.
I agree. God is not just a little bit powerful, God is all-powerful. So I thought "allows" was a bit soft.
Maybe. But if He didn't allow stuff to happen, stuff wouldn't happen at all. I guess "allow" is strong for me because it's God's allowing, not ours. :D
True that. :)
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