Does God Allow Suffering? - Part I

As I was searching the internet today on a study I am working on. I came across a book entitled, "God's Problem:How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question — Why We Suffer", by (get this) a religious studies professor, from the University of North Carolina, Bart D. Ehrman. Now, I can understand the average person not understanding why we suffer, but a religious studies professor????

Here's a guy who must have studied the Bible for, Oh, I don't know, maybe a couple of thousand hours? If he is a professor, I'm sure it's much more than that. Anyway, I think he should do a study on hardness of heart in the Bible. Maybe then he'll get a clue of why he just wrote a book that he couldn't pay me to read.

The title alone scares me, because of how many people he is going to turn away from God. People that may be in a fragile state due to suffering themselves. If this is you; If you find yourself in doubt about God and His ability or willingness to ease your pain and heal your spirit, soul and body, you've come to the right place.

In the next few days, I am going to share a study on this topic, that I have on my website Plain Bible Truth.org, the study is entitled, simply, "Does God Allow Suffering." Just click on the titled link if you would like to view the whole article now. If not, installment #1 of the article is below; I think it will help you understand why we suffer, even when we may not deserve it.

Please feel free at the end, to send any questions to me, via the comments feature here, or just go to my website with the provided link above and I will gladly answer any questions you may have. With all that said, Bart, if your out there, grab yourself some unbuttered, healthy popcorn, relax and hopefully we can do something about that hardness of heart problem you have.

I would be remiss to say, I do love you Bart, and I want you to come back to Jesus, this time leaving your credentials at the office, lossen your tie, and having an open mind to the truth that you've missed with all your studying.

The question - Does God Allow Suffering?

Let me answer that question in one word— No! But, I say that not to discourage you or make you feel bad about yourself. On the contrary it's a great encouragement to know that it's not from God and that you can change your circumstances! Praise God!

God does not choose to allow suffering— not from disasters, sickness, birth defects, or whatever type of suffering you may point to, including death, I assure you God did not choose to allow it— Adam and Eve did and every human being who ever lived after them (with the exception of one, Jesus Christ! Praise God!), chose to follow Adam and Eve and allow sin in their lives. Again, that's not to condemn you or myself, who are both born into a sinful nature and no matter how hard we try we WILL fall short of God and open the door to pain and suffering.

Some pain and suffering can have nothing to do with us or something that we may have done. Some bad things happen even if we are fully in God's will, because we live in a fallen world.

Many religious leaders when asked, will say they don’t know why God allows suffering, but then go on to tell you that suffering is good for us and they will point to Scriptures such as James 1:2-4, which reads, “2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (NKJV– New King James Version), and further confuse the situation by saying God puts suffering on you to build character— to make you a stronger person, or to perfect you.

Notice what the apostle James says here in verse 2 of the above Scripture, “when you fall into various trials”— it is important when reading a Scripture that the context is taken correctly. The original Greek word for “fall,” is “peripipto”— according to Strong’s Concordance, the definition is, “to fall into something that is all around.” The NIV (New International Version) translates the word as “face”, although you can “face” things that are all around you, the original Greek word means “to fall.” By using the correct definition, it helps to see the point that I am making here.

What James is referring to here, is that we live in a fallen world, due to sin. And the consequence of living in a fallen world are trials and suffering. These trials are not created by God, but they are a result of breaking God’s law. Many trials are a direct result of personal sin— sin that causes consequences to ourselves. But, as I mentioned above, many times we fall into trials that are not necessary a result of our own doing, it is a result of this fallen world. Sometimes good people reap the consequences of someone else’s actions.

God does not bring on, or put these situations into our lives. Can God avert these situations in our lives? Certainly He can! But, if He did, He would violate His own law that He put into effect at the start of creation— that is “freedom of choice.” But, once into that trial, God will utilize it in our lives to develop patience. What kind of patience? Patience to wait on God to answer your prayer and know that He is God. This is the test of faith that James describes. And this is where much of the misconception comes from that God puts those things on you.

James 1:2, says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." How do you count it all joy? Well, many people misinterpret that as well. James certainly doesn’t expect you to celebrate your misfortunes. What he does mean, is that you should look at those situations as character building situations and to determine yourself to allowing God’s perfect work to come to fruition. It is a good feeling knowing after a trial is done that you have passed the test of faith and clearly saw God’s hand in helping you through that trial. Faith is trusting God in all situations and not having to feel as though you are on your own, and take matters into your own hands. It’s then, when you take things into your own hands, that you get into trouble and mess things up. Just wait on God, He will never let you down.

There is no indication by the apostle James that God purposely allows trials of any kind that leads to suffering—on the contrary, James clears that notion up in verses 13-14, “13) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” How do you get drawn away? Through the choices that you make! In Deuteronomy 30:19, God says, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;”

God promises in Psalm 91:1-2, that He will protect those who seek Him as their refuge and fortress. How do we seek God? By studying His Word, the Bible. 2 Corinthians 10:5, tells us, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

By studying God’s Word, we gain the knowledge of God and we then can use that knowledge to deflect Satan’s attempt to corrupt our minds. We do this by taking every thought captive and filtering it through the knowledge of God that we gained through studying His Word. We then can determine if that thought passes the test of God or if it is a thought that is conjured up by the prince of the power of the air— a thought that is self-serving. Do not fool yourself, Satan is cunning— his temptations can be very subtle, and if you do not prepare yourself daily with God’s knowledge, I assure you Satan will win many battles with you.

Tomorrow, I will continue with the next installment of this study, but if you would like to read the whole article now or you have any questions, just click here. If not, until tomorrow, God Bless!