How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

I had such a hard time posting what I did yesterday. Perhaps because the statement, that yes, it is possible that there is only one true religion, was harsh. But that isn’t the real reason. The reason was pride. I felt hopelessly ineloquent and in sufficient. And I could have written a book yesterday, but it wouldn’t have been any more coherent. I’d still be clanging cymbals.

I realized something. No one is ever going to convince me that there is no God with an evolutionary explanation because I do not believe in Big Bang theory and the cosmic sludge. Alternately, I am never going to convince an atheist of the existence of God from my Creation World View. So when I start writing today, I have to begin with the beginning with a paradise, a man and a woman.

The author quotes a reporter writing “If God is God, he’s not good. If God is good, he’s not God. You can’t have it both ways, especially after the Indian Ocean catastrophe.” The reporter was speaking of the tsunami of December 2004. To reiterate, if God is a good god, he would not have allowed such a disaster to happen and thus he must not be an all-powerful god because it did occur. If God is powerful enough to stop disasters, but won’t, then he cannot be good.

There are two kinds of people. The kind who draw near to God when bad things happen and lean upon Him for comfort and support. And the kind who are angry at God and deny Him.

I say, it is not God’s fault that there is suffering in the world. It is ours. Even the natural disasters. You see, God made Adam and gave him a beautiful paradise. Adam didn’t have to work. God provided everything that Adam would need. Adam was lonely and God made every good creature and even let Adam name them. What a generous Father. I would have selfishly named them myself. God recognized that Adam needed something more – a partner – and made him Eve.

Both Adam and Eve had a very special relationship with their Heavenly Father. They walked with Him and talked with Him and loved Him. God gave everything including Himself to them in exchange for their obedience. Unlike today’s parents who have a list of rules for their children to follow, bedtime, healthy food, no light sockets, respect, listen; God had one rule – Don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That’s it. They broke that one rule and disaster struck.

They were kicked out of the garden. Adam had to work for a living. Eve had to have childbearing pains. Their intimate relationship with God was cut off. He is perfect and will not tolerate wickedness.

As their progeny increased, so did the wickedness and God decided to end it all with the Great Flood. He decided to start anew with the only persons He found righteous – Noah and his family. I learned about the Hydroplate Theory a few years ago. This link is the best way I can share it with you. The class I took included explanations for dinosaurs and comets. It was amazing and enlightening. But the earth is still settling from the fall. It is still moaning for its Maker.

You see, the wickedness of the people that began with Adam and Eve’s first sin, was truly so great an act of rebellion against an all-good, all-powerful, all-perfect, all-loving God that it ruined everything. We have all been slowly dying ever since. It will only get worse.

And God is truly loving because from the beginning He made a provision. He would and did send His one and only Son to stand in our stead. God allowed His Son to suffer in our place. The Son, Jesus, bore the total abandonment of His Father so that we wouldn’t be abandoned – lost.

You might think suffering unfair. Jesus dying on my behalf is unfair. And Jesus died for every single God-forsaken one of us. And when Jesus comes again, it will all be made perfect again.

For those who love the idea of Jesus, but do not love the idea of God…

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. John 14:8-11 ESV