Why Is There So Much Suffering?
We look around us and see suffering all around the world. There are wars and conflicts going on with innocents in the middle. There is famine and hunger in most of the world. There are billions who struggle each day just to survive. Our heart aches when we see pictures on the TV of hungry and dying children.
How can this be if God is in control? This is a question that many ask. It is also a reason many offer as a response to not serve God. To be blunt, the suffering in this world is because of sin. Not just the sin of Adam which brought pain and death into the world, but the continued sins of so many people.
There are so many cultures in which God is not a part of the everyday life of the people. Many of the foreign cultures despise the very concept of a Divine Being. So following the Divine precepts is not happening there. Some cultures practice a religion, but do not serve the God of the Bible. There is one God, and He is supposed to be served by all.
When Jesus told us that only a few would be saved, He was not wrong. We accept by faith that the Bible is correct in all its teachings. We believe that good things happen to those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28). We also believe that only those who believe and obey the Lord's commands will be saved. And we can certainly produce scripture to back this up.
But still we must ponder why innocents need to suffer for the sins of the people. Perhaps that question needs to burn inside all of us, so that we can learn the effects of sin upon all humanity.
We could send the fifty cents per day to help these children, and they have been doing this for years, and the pictures never change. The truth is that throwing money at a problem does not fix the problem. In fact money usually enhances and corrupts the officials who are supposed to distribute the funds. We have all seen what happens when people void of God get their hands on money that is supposed to go towards others. Greed is a major sin in the world today. Many decry capitalism as being evil because a few people actually abuse the privilege of making money off the backs of others. If God was being served, and people were following godly principles, all would benefit. Even communistic societies which promote equality among all people end up deciding that some are more equal than others. Dictators and other world leaders do not care about the people, but only themselves and a small inner circle which are privileged. So the people suffer under any system that is not God focused. That is why America prospered for many years. The founding fathers actually followed godly principles in how people were to treat others. This was a great system, and still is, yet some are trying to destroy such a system. Ungodly people ridicule the concept of being kind to your neighbor and looking out for their neighbor's interests, all the while making pretense to be the champion of rights, they slowly remove such rights.
As we said, many suffer as a result of continued sins. Abortions take millions of lives every year. Dictators and other world leaders remove any and all opposition and as a result millions lose their lives. Leaders keep all the money, and many suffer hunger and poverty.
If man would follow God's laws, all men would benefit. As we look at the great judgment scene of Matthew 25, we see that people are judged by how they treated their fellow man. Suffering happens, and until people turn to God, it will continue.
By Carey Scott

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