Why are we here? What's God's purpose in human suffering?

We are here to learn to have a good relationship with God and those around us. To bless others and love others as we let God live through us. Why would God let us suffer here? First of all the Bible states that God is love, so it does not match up with the concept that "God lets us suffer here." God gives us free will. In other words, he lets us make our own decisions whether they be good or bad. I believe it is very hard for God to watch us make poor decisions that causes us to suffer. In many cases, wrong decisions have been made through many generations. God has determined to not intervene in our lives unless we ask Him for help. Sometimes the help does not come when we so desperately want Him to intervene but it does come in His timing which is always perfect. It may take us until we see God to understand the timing and that is what is frustrating as a human being. Ultimately, God is timeless and we are limited by time. God has a plan of love for all mankind and it is not His will that any man should perish (lose eternal life). God has a tremendous plan for all mankind that is fair and just. He does not enjoy watching people suffer either now or in eternity. This is not love and God is love. Putting aside all that religion teaches, there is much in the Bible that shows a perfect plan of love.

When times are good, we simply sit back and enjoy the ride. When adversity hits, we have to think,plan,study,analyze, and grow in so many ways along the journey. Life is the education of God's children. We not only learn. We are meant to teach.This is a multilevel classroom. Could we really learn unless we had the problem??? No, we wouldn't have to. God has fixed it all ahead of times. No matter what happens. WE ARE ETERNAL!!

As I am not a believer of God, I cannot comment on what's the purpose of God in sufferings. But I want to say that sufferings are not necessary a bad thing. They teach us to appreciate life that we might have been taking for granted. They taught us to manifest courage and discover our inner strength which might have been hidden in peaceful times. Through challenging and overcoming sufferings it made us strong and wise. The important thing is not to give in and throw in the towel when we are beset by sufferings. Sufferings are poison to the weak, but medicine for the strong.

Hi Fire, I know it's an age old question and I don't feel that anyone here can answer it or probably there just isn't one right answer but many depending on the situation. We all have our opinions, mine is that we create our own experiences. Most people have no idea that they are doing it but I think they are. The person who is determined to be happy no matter what the world throws at her/him will usually be happy. Those who are always complaining and envious of another's good fortune, don't find much happy. They gossip about other people especially savoring the really juicy stories, and then wonder why they are so unhappy. I'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around. Blessings.

There are lots of explanations regarding god's purpose in human suffering. When you see this in Christian view, people say that god gives us small sufferings to bring us close to god. When we have problems and sufferings, we pray more and become close to god. There are people who say that god give sufferings to people whom he likes. Also, there is a view that god won't give anybody sufferings which they can't bear. It means that god will also give the courage to face and tackle with problems along with problems or sufferings.

Being here, that is human birth is an opportunity to be blessed with pleasure and pain, and esp a chance to be discernible enough to see the pain hidden in pleasure and therefore seek an answer for why there is suffering. In the process of finding the answer to this question as a trainee in life, you alternate between belief in a redeeming super-ordinate power and denying it. Somewhere along the line you begin to see (if you do) that there is a way out of the suffering. This way according to a majority of religions is to the abode of God(which IMO is not any separate world like Heaven) but the grant of the discrimination to see the entire Creation [B]as it is[/B] and not as we perceive with our senses. This reversal of our perceptive acuity is called Enlightenement in some religions. If enlightenment has happened your vision is so exalted that you wouldn't be able to 'see' any difference between friend or foe; pleasure or pain, and so on. That is, you cease to see the whole Creation as opposites juxtaposed! You will see them as indistinguishable. Now [B]that[/B] is a state before creation had occurred. So, you are then seeing it as the Creator does. If you are in the enlightened state always you are said to be liberated. Some schools call this state itself as Oneness with God. But there are religions like Buddhism which do talk of The Way or The Path without positing a God or Creator, but do declare that End of Suffering is possible and outline means and methods. For most religions surrender to God and obtaining His Grace [B]are the only method[/B]. Most religions seek to attain this Grace through an Intermediary named as a Prophet, Son of God, and the like. The common thread in all human endeavor through the means outlined in respective religions is to reach a place/state of freedom from suffering and attaining to a state or world with unalloyed and endless pleasure. Thus, it turns out that God's purpose in giving a lot of human suffering is to encourage humans to see that this finite existence is tangled and suffering is inescapable, so it is as if He is saying, "Come ye all to Me, you will see the End of it." The purpose therefore is to see suffering hidden behind the veil of pleasure and to look beyond pain and plesure.

Being a non-believer..to ME PERSONALLY no god has anything to do with suffereing in the world...We suffer, experience pain, sorrow, hardships etc because its necessary for us to not only grow as beings but also in order for us to be able to appreciate the positive aspects of life...After all, how could one TRULY appreciate being happy for example if they've never known sadness?

What God puts in front of us are challenges and not sufferings. Only the brave regard them as challenges; those who shrink from danger or trouble consider it as sufferings. God puts challenges in front of us to enable us to face greater challenges in life. God is preparing us for some great challenge that is looming large in front of us we know nothing about. May be some alien civilization is planning to attack us and wipe us out completely from the face of the earth; or may be a meteorite is approaching this planet and if it happens to strike earth we all will be extinct. May be God is preparing us to survive in the adverse situation of global warming; or maybe he is preparing us to survive in the impending ice age. There could be so many possibilities. The world is becoming better due to people who see life as a challenge and get up to face it. Those who see life as a suffering die in a miserable condition of want and lead a life of a destitute. There are religions too who show its followers the path to seek escape from sufferings. Jesus Christ showed us a way that how through sufferings it is possible to attain eternal life. Through his sufferings on cross he showed us the way to kingdom of heaven.

We are here to learn how to live. When God will give us everything we will not learn to have nothing. If God let us suffer here it is for the reason that we may be ready for the good life after.