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Why Does God Allow Christians to Suffer?
Post Scripts ^ | 11/8/09 | One Vike

Posted on 11/08/2009 8:11:33 AM PST by OneVike

Why does God allow there to be evil in the world? Are we not all created in the image of God? Many ask, and few seem to have good answers, for the question of, "Why God didn’t just create us so that we would never have to experience pain, suffering, and sadness?" After all, He has the power to make the world free of evil, yet He chose instead to make us creatures with free will. Thus, free will was the door left open for the possibility of evil to exist. If we have the right to chose between right and wrong, there is a 50% chance that we will chose to do the wrong thing and thus suffer the consequences of our sin. But why did He not just make us all good? Why must we live with the possibility that we, and others, may chose to do something that will harm us and the world we live in. After all, is he not a loving God? Either He's not as powerful as we're led to believe, not as perfect as we're led to believe, or He's just another abusive father who enjoys watching his children suffer. What's the purpose? Why does God allow evil and suffering?

God could have made us perfect without the ability to sin, and we would have never known pain and suffering. To do so however, would have meant that we would not have free choice in whether or not we would love Him. We would be like Chatty Cathy dolls mimicking whatever it is He wanted to hear us say and forcing us to do exactly what he wanted us to do. Is that the kind of life you would wish to live? Well, obviously God did not think so, that is why He made us creatures with a free will. That free will allowed Adam and Eve to disobey of their own volition and partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They exercised the right of choice that God had given them. They could have refused to disobey God's command about the fruit, but they did not. Because they didn't, we have the sin that has been passed down. All of us, believers and non-believers alike, wrestle with the daily struggles of the "Adam and Eve" within us. Only through the power of Jesus' Holy Spirit in us can we truly have victory over the nature that was handed down to us.

As Christians, we should all know this already, but so many cannot complete the picture when they face sorrow and pain. This is why so many Christians inevitably ask the question, “Why am I suffering God? Why do my loved ones suffer?" But wait... there's more. What if on the day we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were given God's total and complete protection, so nothing bad ever happened to us again? Well, do you remember what Satan said to God about Lot?

"Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.Job 1:9-11

Can you imagine what would happen if God did put a hedge about us on every side? Would not the people of the world who do not know Christ, say:

"So what, that you love God. Anybody would love God if He protected them the way He does you. I'm not impressed. Your God doesn't offer me anything; I live in the real world."

However, what if on the other hand, those people were watching us suffer? They saw the way we dealt with the same issues of pain, suffering and disappointment as they deal with. Yet we still looked to our Father in heaven with love and gratefulness for His loving mercy that allows us to be free enough to learn and grow through our trials and tribulations. Consider the following passages, the next time you ask, why does God allow pain and suffering in a Christian's life?

There was the time when the apostles were flogged and ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus. When they were released they considered it worthy to be able to suffer for the name of Christ. Acts 5:40-42 We are told by Christ that when people persecute us and falsely say all kinds of evil against us because of Him, that we should "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven will be great.Matthew 5:11-12 James tells us that we should consider it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. James 1:2-4 These and other passages like them describe rejoicing, not in spite of the suffering, but because of it. Remember what Paul says about not losing heart over the fact that our flesh is decaying with age and infirmities,

"because our trials will renew our spirit daily............for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,2 Cor 4:16-18

This is the same man who just a few short paragraphs later described the many trials and tribulations he went through. He endured imprisonments, beatings with whips and rods, he was stoned not once but three times and left for dead. Three times he was shipwrecked, threatened by robbers, Gentiles, Jews, attacked by wild animals, bitten by a poisonous snake, left cold, hungry, thirsty, and suffered many other hardships for the gospel of Christ. 2 Cor 11:23-27 Through it all Paul ran the race well. People saw that his faith in God was persistent, consistent, and profound. And they learned to trust Paul's God, not in spite of his pain and misery, but Praise God, because of it. Paul was the greatest and most successful evangelical missionary preacher the world had ever seen. It was his suffering along with that of the other apostles that eventually changed an empire. Tertullian said that, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”. It is through times of struggle and hardships that we as Christians can shine the brightest and reach more of the lost, that is, if we react to our pain and suffering in the way Christ did.

Use the comfort you get from God in your suffering as training so you might comfort others. Teach those who don't know the Lord to lean on Him in their suffering by leaning on Him in yours. Show them that you love Him and trust Him and know that He'll see you through even this. Bring them to Him as your faithful, loving Father in your times of trouble. Show them who He is. Remember that we as Christians, must willingly approach our infirmities and hardships, knowing that we hold a greater prize before us after this life than this world can ever offer. That is what we have to teach the world. So ask not why you suffer, but praise God for the chance to shine and be an example as our Lord was for us.

But you may then reply that your suffering from a debilitating disease or terrible accident is not truly suffering for Christ sake. Oh, but your sufferings certainly are. Why? Because people are watching you and they are seeing how you as a Christian respond to the cruelty of this world. In your suffering, you need Him more than ever. Show them what a wonderful, comforting Lord you have. Give purpose and meaning to your suffering. Remember that the good times will never be as productive for Him as your bad times will be. Rejoice that Jesus has considered you worthy of suffering in His name. Carry your infirmity and shame with a sense of worthiness so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. For a day will come when you shall be given a crown of righteousness, and forever your pain and suffering shall be over and forgotten, as you spend eternity in the presence of the great, I Am.

I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear His voice and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

(Should anyone desire prayer, or would like to discuss, on a personal level, your desire to learn more about salvation and what Christ has to offer. (You can email me ). All information will be kept in strict confidentiality between you me and God.)


TOPICS: General Discusssion; Religion & Culture; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: christ; evangelize; job; suffering; tribulations
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After the incident this past week at Fort Hood, many will undoubtedly ask again, why does God allow suffering, well I did not answer it as a whole for all people.

However I do offer my opinion why Christians must suffer, and I am sure that there are Christian suffering right now because of loved ones and relatives who are suffering from the heinous act of terrorism at Fort Hood this past week. And I am sure that their are some Christian soldiers, who are now recovering in the same hospital as their attacker is. I pray this goes a little ways to alleviate the pain, suffering, heartache, and angst that is felt by many.

1 posted on 11/08/2009 8:11:33 AM PST by OneVike
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To: OneVike
Actually, the question is

"Why does God allow/permit the righteous to suffer and the wicked to prosper.

2 posted on 11/08/2009 8:16:59 AM PST by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: OneVike

God allows you to suffer to teach you character and to grow in character.

Of course, if one wants to wallow in pity for all the suffering then you just become a caricature.


3 posted on 11/08/2009 8:19:06 AM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: OneVike

Tough love. I look at life here as boot camp for heaven.


4 posted on 11/08/2009 8:22:02 AM PST by huldah1776 ( Worthy is the Lamb)
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To: Alex Murphy; Whenifhow; rom; Hanna548; DvdMom; leftyontheright; FrdmLvr; jblann1; SendShaqtoIraq; ..
Article Ping!

Today I take in the question of, "Why does God allow Christians to suffer?"

I pray this helps any who have wondered but just couldn't come up with an answer.

If you want added or removed from my ping list please click this link
5 posted on 11/08/2009 8:23:11 AM PST by OneVike (Just a Christian waiting to go home)
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To: OneVike
"God" does not "allow" christians to suffer.

Christians bring suffering - or the lack thereof - on themselves.

Proof?

Look who was elected in 2008!

Christians and christian leaning voters could have stopped this from happening. They didn't.

Christians are now "suffering" from the results of those elections.

Let's see how we'll all do in 2010 and 2012.

Just like baseball....there's always the next game.

6 posted on 11/08/2009 8:25:48 AM PST by Logic n' Reason (If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.)
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To: OneVike

” If we have the right to chose between right and wrong, there is a 50% chance that we will chose to do the wrong thing and thus suffer the consequences of our sin.”

Think about what this sentence implies. I don’t think the author had his brain in gear when he/she put this together.

This is a good argument for having someone go over your work before you publish. Next time, this person should think a bit before publishing. It’s basically gibberish.


7 posted on 11/08/2009 8:26:04 AM PST by Habibi
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To: huldah1776

Does that mean that Heaven will be even tougher?


8 posted on 11/08/2009 8:26:09 AM PST by maro (Repeal the 8th Amendment)
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To: OneVike

We have free will but the wonder is why did God give us free will?


9 posted on 11/08/2009 8:28:29 AM PST by ex-snook ("Above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: OneVike

Why did God permit his Son to die?


10 posted on 11/08/2009 8:31:54 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Nachum
"Why does God allow/permit the righteous to suffer and the wicked to prosper.

The wicked only think they are prospering, it all comes down to what you consider to be prosperous. Jesus owned nothing, traveled less than 30 miles from his birth place, yet he was richer than the emperor of Rome.

Bill Gates, George Soros, and others like them are not better off than I am, they just have more temptation to sin, and thus a more difficult time lies before them when they need to get through that needle.

To me it is all perspective, what do you treasure and hold onto to? This world is passing and that is the lesson we should grasp from the pain and suffering we endure. Someday the pain for the followers of Christ will be over, but those who think they are well off yet do not accept Him. Well my friend, their suffering has just begun.
11 posted on 11/08/2009 8:32:02 AM PST by OneVike (Just a Christian waiting to go home)
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To: OneVike

Would you rather suffer here on earth for awhile or in hell for eternity?

I’ll take suffering now.


12 posted on 11/08/2009 8:32:43 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: OneVike

This is a nice attempt, but falls short. It fails to address the question: why does God allow the INNOCENT to suffer? Why does God allow children to be brutalized and killed?

Fortunately, the answer is quite simple if you understand a basic math principle - infinity.

Heaven is eternal life in God’s love. An infinite immersion in all that is good. Think about that. Any finite quantity becomes zero *when compared to infinity*. Any mathematician worth his salt will tell you that X over infinity is zero for all finite values of X, be it one, one hundred, or one hundred trillion.

That means that any amount of finite suffering we experience in this life becomes irrelevant if we except Jesus and ascend to Heaven. The innocent are guaranteed access to Heaven, so their suffering, too, becomes zero when they enter the eternal. No one in Heaven could ever look back at worldly suffering and think it relevant in relation to the eternal.

One final analogy: it’s akin to me asking you for a mundane penny in return for a trillion dollars. That’s an exceptionally good return, right? Except it’s greater than that because a trillion dollars might run out, but God’s love never does.


13 posted on 11/08/2009 8:35:47 AM PST by bolobaby
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To: OneVike
From the oldest book in the Bible.
Job 19:25 "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

Job 19:26 "Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

Job 19:27 Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
My heart faints within me!

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

14 posted on 11/08/2009 8:36:07 AM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your law is my delight.)
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To: Logic n' Reason

There might not be a “next game” if we’re not careful.


15 posted on 11/08/2009 8:38:14 AM PST by malkee (Actually I'm an ex-smoker--more than three years now -- But I think about it every day.)
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To: Habibi
This is a good argument for having someone go over your work before you publish. Next time, this person should think a bit before publishing. It’s basically gibberish.

Free will means you get to make the choice. All decisions in your life have a 50% chance of being right and being wrong, the difference is made by whom you put your faith in. I like my odds with Christ and His word. However even as a Christian I have to decide between good and evil.
16 posted on 11/08/2009 8:39:27 AM PST by OneVike (Just a Christian waiting to go home)
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To: ex-snook
We have free will but the wonder is why did God give us free will?

With out free will we would be robots, and God would be a cosmic rapist forcing his love upon us. Would you not want your spouse to willingly love you? Or do you force your love?

This world is like dating, when we have lived and decided, than we get married, but in the Christians perspective we marry Christ and than the dating is over. However during the dating process we had free will to chose who our lover would be. This world or Christ.

I chose Christ out of my own free will that was granted to me by God.

Who do you chose?
17 posted on 11/08/2009 8:44:23 AM PST by OneVike (Just a Christian waiting to go home)
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To: Salvation
Why did God permit his Son to die?

With out the shedding of blood thare is no remision of sin. God's Son was the perfect Adam who had to shed His blood to make up for the fallen Adam who sold us into the bondage of sin.

Only Gods perfect Son would fit the bill, only God could pay the price and set us free from the penalty if sin which is death.

Who would you suggest would have been more suited to die for your sins?
18 posted on 11/08/2009 8:48:32 AM PST by OneVike (Just a Christian waiting to go home)
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To: OneVike

The angels also had free will and there is wonder why He created those. BTW I agree with you on Jesus redeeming us.


19 posted on 11/08/2009 8:53:25 AM PST by ex-snook ("Above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: malkee
"...if we’re not careful."

CAREFUL, HELL!!!!

We've been careful....and look where it's gotten us!!!!

No..."careful" be damned! It is now time to fight...fight with every weapon, every means, every effort we can mount. It is time to scream bloody murder!

It is time to state our conservative values in no uncertain terms. It is time to find truthful, courageous, conservative leaders and do whatever we must to promote them. It is time to kill the poor excuse for public media and re-establish true skillful objective journalism. It is time to reform "health care" by starting where the expenses are - medical tort reform and medical care costs. It is time to stop bending over backward to be "politically correct". It is time to hunt down those who would do intentional harm to this society and remove them - permanently. It is time to remove all - repeat ALL illegal aliens from our country - including their offspring. It is time to close ALL of our borders to illegals from anywhere. It is time to stop accepting the pseudo-physchological pap being fed to our youth by the US public education system. It is time to bring back non-union manufacturing jobs to this country. It is time to stop buying from any company that re-sells it's "product" to us after buying it from China.

It is time for us to rise up and stop the nonsense!

IT IS TIME FOR US TO FIGHT!

20 posted on 11/08/2009 8:55:22 AM PST by Logic n' Reason (If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.)
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