(Firstly - Wow, that has to be one of the most poorly thought out straw men arguments ever.)To the crux - G-d has often tried to impress on man the crucial principle that every effect has a cause. But we have difficulty grasping this truth, so we continue to suffer the debilitating effects of our transgressions. We can trace many tragedies and much suffering to our own all-too-human actions and decisions. In a world of freedom of choice, some choices inevitably lead to harmful and painful results. Actions yield consequences. Many people recognize the saying "You reap what you sow," but they do not realize that it comes from the Bible (Galatians 6:6-7). Thousands of years ago one of the friends of Job - no stranger to suffering - observed that "those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same" (Job 4:8).When we analyze the phenomenon of suffering, we can learn much if we will trace the circumstances back to their cause. Proverbs 22:3 warns us to consider the long-term consequences of our actions: "A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished." When we look for the main causes of suffering, we often need look no further than ourselves - the decisions and actions of individuals and humanity as a whole. In one way or another sin is usually the underlying cause, and suffering is the effect. Nations and individuals suffer many miseries because of ignorance of and disobedience to the same spiritual laws of G-d that Israel disobeyed. G-d’s commandments are living laws, with universal application, providing benefits for obedience and punishments for disobedience. His inspired Word tells us that those who love His law have "great peace" (Psalm 119:165), but the way of the lawless and unfaithful is difficult (Proverbs 13:15). The Bible points to many agonizing human experiences that are direct results of sin. One such example is military aggression. The apostle James wrote of the origin of armed conflict: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war" (James 4:1-2).These words apply to nations as well as individuals, since nations are simply groups of people looking out for their own interests. Aggressors go to war out of a desire to enhance their power, prestige and wealth. In so doing they thrust aside law, ethics, morality and peace. They kill and maim to further their ends, putting into practice the might-makesright principle and the maxim that to the victor belongs the spoils. Will Durant understood this human tendency when he wrote: "The causes of war are the same as the causes of competition among individuals: acquisitiveness, pugnacity, and pride; the desire for food, land, materials, fuels, mastery" (The Lessons of History, 1968p. 81). Ironically, nations that freely choose violence, including warfare, often inherit a fate similar to that of the countries they crush. Yeshua understood this when He said: "...All who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matthew 26:52).History is a chronicle of the succession of empires conquering and being conquered. Mankind is doomed to repeat the cycle as long as disobedience to G-d remains its chosen way. Many forms of suffering are simply the inevitable consequences of personal decisions. For example, in many advanced nations pockets of poverty persist in spite of billions of tax dollars expended to combat the problem. Often that poverty can be traced to individual decisions. Students drop out of school, cutting short their education and consigning themselves to lifetimes of difficult jobs, low wages, financial hardship and frustrated ambitions. Many teenagers become sexually active, with millions of girls giving birth out of wedlock to children who may never see their fathers. Studies have shown that children abandoned by their fathers are far more likely at an early age to turn to drugs, drink and tobacco, adopt criminal behavior and become sexually promiscuous in their own turn, bringing suffering on themselves and others. Many young mothers - often unmarried because the fathers ran from responsibility - find themselves trapped in low-paying jobs with young mouths to feed and forced to rely on handouts, usually from the government or charities, to survive. The pattern repeats itself in a cycle of poverty spanning generations - usually because of shortsighted personal choices and actions.Untold health problems plague us because of our individual decisions. We eat poorly, fail to exercise, consume harmful substances and carelessly injure ourselves and others in accidents. Many suffer from mental afflictions as a result of violating the principles governing relationships that the Bible clearly spells out. Physical and psychological problems result from the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Such abusers not only risk taking years off their own lives, but their habits exact a huge toll on their families and friends. Even more tragically, many abusers are involved in accidents that cripple or take the lives of innocent bystanders. The physical harm caused by smoking is solidly documented. Smoking-related illnesses take 400,000 lives each year in the United States and millions more worldwide. Many of those deaths are excruciatingly painful and slow. We readily acknowledge that the best cure for the grief caused by smoking is simply to quit, yet many are so addicted they spurn this obvious solution.Smoking is but one of many behaviors that cause pain. Dr. Paul Martin notes that instances of seemingly innocuous behavior can add up over time: "There are plenty of commonplace behaviour patterns that kill people gradually but in huge numbers" (The Healing Mind, 1997, p. 58). Often when we make unwise health decisions our bodies alert us that we have made a bad choice. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey observe that "an astounding proportion of the health problems stem from behavior choices that show disregard for the body’s clear signals" (The Gift Nobody Wants, 1993, p. 226). Dr. Brand reportedthat, at a major national health conference, he began a list of the serious behavior-related health problems on the agenda that take a serious toll on Americans' health. They include "heart disease and hypertension exacerbated by stress, stomach ulcers, cancers associated with a toxic environment, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, emphysema and lung cancer caused by cigarette smoking, fetal damage stemming from maternal alcohol and drug abuse, diabetes and other diet-related disorders, violent crime, automobile accidents invoking alcohol. These were the endemic, even epidemic concerns for health experts in the United States" (Brand and Yancey, pp. 226-227).The conclusion should be obvious. Much suffering is caused by wrong choices. The Bible offers guidance as to how we should live. Yet as far back as Adam and Chava we have repeatedly spurned G-d's instruction and brought enormous pain and sorrow on ourselves. The Bible offers practical advice on virtually all aspects of life. Many of its principles reveal how to avoid - and to some extent relieve - suffering. We cannot live substantially free from suffering until we reconcile to G-d and His commandments. "My son, do not forget my Law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you" (Proverbs 3:1-2, ). Were we to follow G-d's instructions on an international scale, we would see immediate and drastic reductions in crime, disease, hostilities between nations, pollution, accidents, mental illness, broken families, shattered relationships and many other phenomena that cause us grief. G-d's Law is not harsh or onerously restrictive. It is a law of liberty (James 1:25) that would eliminate most of the world’s pain if it were universally obeyed.