Why doesn't God stop the evil, pain and suffering?

Question

The definition of God to most people is: An all knowing, all powerful, all good, perfect being. If this is an true, why does God allows evil and suffering to exist?

I've heard the "Mans Free Will" and the "Obstacle Course" theories and briefly explained what they are and you'll see that neither hold much water. Does anyone have any other theories?
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"MANS FREE WILL THEORY"

One explanation I've heard is "God gave man free will". The problem with that is not all of the suffering in the world comes from the exercise of human will. Disease, natural disasters, accidents, genetic deformities. These things all cause pain and suffering, and no human being had any role in creating them. So why does God (all knowing, powerful and good), allow these things to happen?
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THE OBSTACLE COURSE THEORY

The second explanation I've been given as to why God inflicts and allows evil and suffering is that God is testing us. Testing us to improve our moral character, the evil and suffering are part of an obstacle course we need to overcome. Here is a quick real life example of the "obstacle course" theory.

A man attacks a two year old girl with a baseball bat, causing the girl horrific pain and maiming her for life. When asked why he attacked the child he said "I wanted to test the parents, so the can grow and improve their moral character".

What's your opinion of this man and his actions? Is the parents character improvement make the girls suffering acceptable? Is he a good or evil man?

2> God allows an innocent two year old girl to contract a horrible and painful disease, for the purpose of testing her parents. To give them an obstacle to overcome.

Now ask yourself those three questions again.

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Does anyone have any theories or explanations on why an all knowing, all powerful, all good God, allows evil and suffering to happen?

Answer 1

This is a fair question :)



There is this thing called free will, which God had granted all humans. And with it, he gave them choice - to do good, or to do evil. And it's obvious what we chose. Hm...



Evil and suffering are caused by what we (or those who have the power) choose everyday. Wrong decisions lead to murders, to misery, to inequality... Think about it. Some people have everything, others are dying because they can't afford a slice of bread. Great deal of "evil and suffering" is caused by a man. If God was to take this ability to pick wrong from a man, he'd deny himself. And a man would become a mere puppet, always obliged to do "the right thing".



And then we'd probably think "Well, what's wrong with that? If everybody is doing the right thing, then everybody is satisfied."

Well, not really. We're humans. And we're never satisfied. We'll always find something to complain about. So if we had no choice, we'd demand one. And then what?

If he said it would be wrong because we'd start choosing wrong again, we'd revolt and call him a tyrant.



There's just no way of pleasing us.

That's why he lets us choose and then, when we choose wrong and we become miserable and unhappy, he tries to make it right somehow.



And as for natural disasters. When you think about it, you get what you give. The nature treats us the way we treat it. Mostly. Of course, not everything can be explained. I can't explain it. But when you take the suffering caused by humans and suffering with an inexplicable cause, you realize that the first is sky high.



Anyway, that's what i think. And even if you don't believe that God exists, you can understand.

Hope you'll find what you're looking for :)

Answer 2

WHY SO LONG?

Why, though, has Jehovah allowed suffering to go on for so long? And why does he not prevent bad things from happening? Well, consider two things that the teacher in our illustration would not do. First, he would not stop the rebel student from presenting his case. Second, the teacher would not help the rebel to make his case. Similarly, consider two things that Jehovah has determined not to do. First, he has not stopped Satan and those who side with him from trying to prove that they are right. Allowing time to pass has thus been necessary. In the thousands of years of human history, mankind has been able to try every form of self-rule, or human government. Mankind has made some advances in science and other fields, but injustice, poverty, crime, and war have grown ever worse. Human rule has now been shown to be a failure.

Second, Jehovah has not helped Satan to rule this world. If God were to prevent horrible crimes, for instance, would he not, in effect, be supporting the case of the rebels? Would God not be making people think that perhaps humans can govern themselves without disastrous results? If Jehovah were to act in that way, he would become party to a lie. However, “it is impossible for God to lie.”—Hebrews 6:18.

What, though, about all the harm that has been done during the long rebellion against God? We do well to remember that Jehovah is almighty. Therefore, he can and will undo the effects of mankind’s suffering. As we have already learned, the ruining of our planet will be undone by the turning of the earth into Paradise. The effects of sin will be removed through faith in Jesus’ ransom sacrifice, and the effects of death will be reversed by means of the resurrection. God will thus use Jesus “to break up the works of the Devil.” (1 John 3:8) Jehovah will bring all of this about at just the right time. We can be glad that he has not acted sooner, for his patience has given us the opportunity to learn the truth and to serve him. (2 Peter 3:9, 10) Meanwhile, God has been actively seeking sincere worshipers and helping them to endure any suffering that may come upon them in this troubled world.—John 4:23; 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Some might wonder, Could all this suffering have been prevented if God had created Adam and Eve in such a way that they could not rebel? To answer that question, you need to remember a precious gift that Jehovah has given you

Answer 3

God never intended for it to be this way. We used to be gods best friend. The problem is when Adam and eve ate of the tree of knowledge we introduced ourselves to this evil. God like you said gives us our free will. But after we introduced ourselves to this evil, god couldn't be with us, because we were no longer perfect. So that is when Jesus came in the picture. God had to find a way to be with us and that's how he did it.



Hope this answers your questions.

Answer 4

I think Lucifer(light bearer) should call her Lilith was a wife of GOD whom he loves so much.Because he can easily destroy evil forces in just a thought since GOD is unlimited,perfect and all things are possible to HIM.As a Man who loves his Woman so much even though she acts bad,he will always understand and loves her in the end.just saying folks ;-)

Answer 5

because it would eliminate the option to do evil. if He were to do that then you would be nothing but a program, not a person. forced love is a contradiction in terms. it would be an evil act for God to destroy evil and force your love on Him. God does not blink out evil... He flooded the earth and look, sin followed them on the ark. it comes out of the hearts of men. no, God DEFEATS evil. in the ancient near east, in canaan, there was a deity they served by the name of mot. he was known as death. they described him as a giant throat coming up from the earth and devouring the sky. but God has reversed this image and has sent His son to die. through death He destroyed the one who holds the power of death. and inspired isaiah to write the following long before it came to pass.





Isaiah 25/7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.





this is the abundant grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. death itself is doomed and the devil sails a sinking vessel.

Answer 6

Because Adam and Eve unleashed satan and sin onto this earth. I can't really explain it better than that! But if you're a believer, you'll go to Heaven and escape all these dreaded things.



God bless!

Answer 7

Because then life would be easy. Humans would wander astray and forget about their Creator. If you didn't not have anything to tempt you, or remind you you would forgot why you are even here. To worship God.



In the Quran, God tests many prophets such as Job, by letting Satan give him diseases, ruin his house, and kill his family. Yet Job (pbuh) still stays strong to God.

Answer 8

I know exactly what you mean and I wish God would intervene. I have no good answers for you. It looks like we are going to have to wait and trust God in his wisdom.

Answer 9

in the bible on the book of Numbers chapter 23 verse 19 it says that;

Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?



and also in Isaiah God said;

Isa 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.



So when God has given the authority to man to rule the earth He can not just take it back because man messed up.



Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."



but when Adam and Eve sinned, they have given their authority to the devil;



Rom 6:16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Whoever you obey, you are his slaves)



satan also said to Jesus when he tries to temp Him;

Luk 4:6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for IT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME, and I can give it to anyone I want to.



satan got the authority when Adam and Eve obeyed him to sin against God.

now satan is in control!!



So now God can not intervene directly and stop everything and restart all over... the reason for giving the law of Moses and its punishment could also be to constraint people from destroying themselves (because God loves us) and the earth until a permanent solution is presented (and that is Jesus). The law was given to Moses and man implemented it not God because God can not intervene directly.



this is also the reason why Jesus need to come as a "man", to get back the authority from satan. God can not take it back Himself as it would violate His own words when He gave the authority to man to rule the earth.



But when Jesus came and defeated satan, He regained control and has given the authority back to man. But the world is not as it was in the beginning, corruption is present, evil is in the hearts of man, it is now what we call a "fallen" world, and there are lots of things that the devil has destroyed and with that comes calamities, disease, imbalance, etc ...



but God also has a plan to make everything new, and that's another whole story...

i know what i tried to explain is not easy to grasp in one reading and i may not have explained it clearly, but i posted below sites where you can get more details on this.

hope this helps!

Answer 10

If god stopped all the hate and pain and suffering what would be the reason for faith. God will take the pain away from people on his time not ours

Answer 11

Jeremiah 4:1 - 2



“If you, Israel, will return,

then return to me,”

declares the LORD.

“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight

and no longer go astray,

and if in a truthful, just and righteous way

you swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

then the nations will invoke blessings by him

and in him they will boast.”

Answer 12

He will take all that away, you can read in the book of Revelation.



Also the pain and suffering didn't exist before the fall of man.

Answer 13

way i see it

he doesnt exsist

and if he does why would anyone wanna worship a god that would use such terrible things to "Test" people

Answer 14

What if god exists, just doesn't give a **** about the world?

Answer 15

Think of it this way: the simplest solution would be that there is nothing to PREVENT evil stuff happening. You can make up a lot of excuses to help along the two theories you have, but they of course dont hold water too well. The best solution which has no holes is that there is no god.

Thumbs me down if you want, see if I give a damn.



***This is my opinion*** OPINION

Answer 16

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

Answer 17

Either God likes to watch us suffer because he's a maniac or he doesn't exist.

Answer 18

God is LOVE. Know God and Know Love.

Answer 19

God is a mythological entity.

Answer 20

1) God doesn't exist (I know you didn't want to hear this one, but we must consider this possibility)

2) God is unable

3) God is unwilling

4) God is both unable and unwilling

5) God doesn't care



Take your pick.