"Why Suffering?"

I came across this article the other day, written by an awesome guy named David Berg. It answered a major question I had and one I get asked like literally every time I talk with someone about Jesus. Just thought I'd post it up here for those of you who've always wondered...

WHY SUFFERING?

- By David Berg -

I was talking to a pretty young travel agent the other day, and during the course of our conversation we began to talk about God.

"Oh, I don't believe in God!" she said. "If there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the World today?

“Why do thousands die of starvation every day in Africa? What kind of God would allow a terrible disease like AIDS to run rampant? Why was my best friend just crippled in an automobile accident?"

"Well," I replied, "you can't blame GOD for all the suffering in the World! He's not some kind of monster that enjoys making people suffer. It's not GOD Who causes all these things.

“ A lot of it is the evil work of a powerful being called Satan, or the Devil, and being called Satan, or the Devil, and he just loves to hurt Man and see him suffer!-- In fact, that's one of his main tactics to try to turn Man away from God. He tries to give GOD the blame for his OWN dirty deeds!"

The young lady was quiet for a moment as she pondered this, and then she shot back with the atheists' trump card question which they always try to stump Christians with!

"Well then, if there is a God, and He's ALL-POWERFUL, why doesn't He STOP the Devil and not allow him to cause all this suffering? Why does He ALLOW evil in the World? For example, why didn't He stop Hitler?"

"Well, that's a very good question!" I answered. "But you see, if God had put a stop to Hitler, He also would have to put a stop to YOU!--Because YOU'RE a sinner too, aren't you?

"I'm sure you're not as bad as Hitler, but we've ALL been bad sometimes, haven't we? The Bible says, `ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'--Romans 3:23.

"So He would have had to stop everybody in the whole World from doing ANYthing bad! Right at the very beginning God would have had to step in and use FORCE to stop Adam and Eve from eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.”

“He would have had to interfere with our FREE WILL and the majesty of PERSONAL CHOICE that He's given each of us to choose good or evil!"

"But wouldn't it have been BETTER if He had MADE us all to be good?" She challenged.

"If the Lord had wanted ROBOTS, yes He could have MADE everybody do good and love Him. But He made us with FREE choice and FREE will, so we could CHOOSE to love Him! You wouldn't enjoy YOUR children much if they were FORCED to love you, would you?” I questioned.

Puzzled, she replied, "Well no, but what does this have to do with suffering?"

I explained, "Because Man was put here to make a CHOICE between good and evil, between doing things GOD'S way or his OWN.”

Stay Tuned For More On 'Why'...

... Part 2 coming up ...

(PS: Okay so the pics were my idea - they're so cute though, aren't they? I couldn't resist, you guys!)