why suffering?
By FRANKOBA
@FRANKOBA (34)
Nigeria
December 2, 2012 1:27am CST
good morning everyone and a happy sunday to my christian brothers. well, before i start i would like to give a brief intro of myself concerning this interest which am on now. am franklin by name and am a christian. guess this intro of mine is enough for now. i know this that am here to write this morning will sound someone to many people that will be here but pls, dont judge me cos, is just due to what this world is turning to. today is sunday which means most of my christian brothers are preparing to go to church now just like me but to be sincere with you all here now, my going to church this morning is just under probability due to a question that have being on my head for a long time now. this question was asked by a very good friend of mine one day online. the question is about the suffering of people which is still going on now. so plaz, pls i needs ur contributions on this cos, this can change one to christ even me. the question is "SINCE THERE IS GOD AND HE IS OUR FATHER WHICH I KNOW TOO WELL THAT THERE IS NO FATHER THAT WOULD WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO HIS SON OR DAUGHTER, WHY ARE ALL THESE SUFFERINGS WHEN WE HAVE GOD"? pls contribution palz!
4 responses
@atv818 (1980)
• United Arab Emirates
5 Dec 12
Sufferings happened because we ourselves made mistakes. If God's purpose in our life is to remove every suffering, then we will not learn from our mistake. We will not strive on our own to correct the mistake. We will just simply do mistake again and again because we are sure that it will be taken away immediately.
God is like a father to His children. Our very own father cannot stop our own pain and suffering but he is there to guide us, to give support and to give advice. Even with our own father, sometimes we forget them during the best of time but we remember them when we are deperately in need. The same with God. Almost all of us approach God when times are tough but we seldom remember Him during the good times.
No one can speak to God directly so what I have written here are the possible reasons why suffering can never be taken from our lives but something we can learn from that will eventually make us grow stronger as a human being.
@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
4 Dec 12
Short answer: Because we--his children--get bored with the singular glory of G*d and mess around with lower glories, which sometimes require more attention from us than we feel like giving.
Okay, maybe this answer isn't so much 'short' as it is "the first one off the top of my head" 
Think of looking at things from an eternal perspective---it's like looking at a painting. Even though some parts of the painting took a lot of work and were slowly-&-arduously etched-out over hours or days or weeks or months or years, the whole painting is--to you in the gallery--as if its painter threw it up there in less than an instant ... as if he just threw a paintball up there & let it splatter.
The suffering comes because you care about ANYTHING BUT THE WHOLE PICTURE. When the Bible says G*d cares about the little things in the world, that doesn't mean he wants them to be happy about where they are and how they are.
At my Church Fellowship, some elders have a saying, "G*d loves you just the way you are, so he's NOT gonna leave you that way!" Again, 'suffering comes because' you're worried about how you are and not -how you're going to be!
Think of looking at things from an eternal perspective---it's like looking at a painting. Even though some parts of the painting took a lot of work and were slowly-&-arduously etched-out over hours or days or weeks or months or years, the whole painting is--to you in the gallery--as if its painter threw it up there in less than an instant ... as if he just threw a paintball up there & let it splatter.
The suffering comes because you care about ANYTHING BUT THE WHOLE PICTURE. When the Bible says G*d cares about the little things in the world, that doesn't mean he wants them to be happy about where they are and how they are.
At my Church Fellowship, some elders have a saying, "G*d loves you just the way you are, so he's NOT gonna leave you that way!" Again, 'suffering comes because' you're worried about how you are and not -how you're going to be!
@cessybear (223)
• Philippines
3 Dec 12
Hello Frankoba! I bet your question is from a Christian who is suffering and tested by the enemy. Please remember that God certainly do not want us to suffer. But you know, He is not the one doing those things to us. It is the devil, but God can either permit those things to happen, or not.
He do not want anything bad to happen to His children, but He is using those things to train us so we will learn something on our way out of that trouble. Remember that we learn things the hard way. I kind of like to call it as a preparation for Heaven. :)
And also, I might add. You noticed that Christians are full suffering, right? When we became Christians, our life became harder than ever. Ever since we decided to follow Christ. It's because life is like a river. And we Christians are trying to walk against its flow. Causing us to get through things harder than ever but God promised us to give s strength and courage.
@StLouisMetroTutoring (678)
• St. Peters, Missouri
2 Dec 12
I believe there are many ways to answer this, but this is the way I usually see it. In the very beginning, there was no suffering. God gave man free-will. Man used free-will to choose sin. When man sins, someone gets hurt. As long as men will sin, there will be suffering. I realize this doesn't answer your question as to why he allows it to happen. I believe he allows it to happen to show man that there is something wrong with our relationship with God. That we even question God's wisdom in allowing it to happen shows that we don't fully trust God. How many have found God because of the suffering? I believe some will not come to God unless their back is against a wall. Why do believers suffer? Maybe to teach us humility? Maybe to help us by giving us the experience so we can help others later? I think we're asking the wrong question. I believe the question should be "What does God want us to learn from the suffering?"
