Why does God allow us to suffer and die?

[Vengle]

What would man who ignores God be like if there where not sickness, suffering and death in this world?

Might men merely be more inclined to be even less compassionate of each other than they are now?

Does not this common connection of the frailty and mortality which sickness, suffering and death makes us all inescapably aware of act to moderate in us our prideful tendency to destroy one another?

If that did not exist, in the pride amplified of our having alienated ourselves from God would we not merely destroy one another even more than we do now and with even less pause for thought?

 

[Vengle]

Recently some told me that they refused to talk the spiritual with me until I first understood the fleshly physical.

Of course they have no way to gauge my understanding of things but by their own and so that I do not agree with them to them means I do not understand. That is a sad predicament for them to be in but not at all unusual or hopeless. It is actually quite understandable. Thus I am not even saddened by their view of me, let alone angered by it. I know that they cannot help but to see it that way. It is not malicious of them. It is only that they are mistaken.

Until our eyes are opened spiritually we only think we see even physically. But what we see is actually tainted with the pride of our flesh which sees some flesh better than other flesh. It is illusion that we actually see. And that illusion robs us of seeing the pure and simple truths of God's word and way which truly mean freedom and relief for us even now in a mental, emotional, and spiritual way.

Have we really fully grasped the full meaning of Romans 8:20 "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope"?

It means there is nothing malicious about what God allows us to suffer, either. And to the extent that we do not see the loving and unselfish purpose of God in allowing sickness, suffering and death, we have much more to learn.

 

[aspen]

Physical death is a natural result of our fallen condition.

 

[Prentis]

It is the law of sin and death.

If sin were not followed by death, we would think ourselves to be well off, and fine! The result, life, would make us think that we are indeed spiritual, since he who sows to the Spirit reaps life.

Rather our reaping death indicates where we sow, to the flesh.

Blessings in the Lord, Vengle!

 

[NicholasMarks]

Almighty God doesn't allow us to suffer and die...we manage this ourselves. Jesus said..."those that follow me (Jesus) will never see death".

To understand his meaning we have to understand how the human body works. According to Jesus, the most important aspect of our existance is our spirit. Not the spirit that is implied by modern antichrist spiritulists but a strong righteous being that is cultivated in the flesh. In this modern world we are regularly told of the superabundance of energy... in atoms...in galaxies...in the flesh, and it should be clear, via Jesus' teaching, that this energy, within us, requires special laws to bear its finest fruits. The accurate teaching of Jesus Christ upbuilds our spirit...reinforces it...guides it...and resurrects it...providing...we are following Jesus Christ...accurately.

 

[Vengle]

Almighty God doesn't allow us to suffer and die...we manage this ourselves. Jesus said..."those that follow me (Jesus) will never see death".

To understand his meaning we have to understand how the human body works. According to Jesus, the most important aspect of our existance is our spirit. Not the spirit that is implied by modern antichrist spiritulists but a strong righteous being that is cultivated in the flesh. In this modern world we are regularly told of the superabundance of energy... in atoms...in galaxies...in the flesh, and it should be clear, via Jesus' teaching, that this energy, within us, requires special laws to bear its finest fruits. The accurate teaching of Jesus Christ upbuilds our spirit...reinforces it...guides it...and resurrects it...providing...we are following Jesus Christ...accurately.

Yes, admittedly I am speaking it from a man's point of view as to how those suffering and dying in this world see it and asking why does God allow that.

We do know that God also provides our rescue from it.

If the world that does not know the answers you do did not have to experience what they perceive they experience, would that help them to love better, or might it just give a greater reign for their pride to do its damaging work? Might they just have less cause to consider their way if God lifted all suffering and death from off them as they are?

 

[Marta]

Vengle, there is a beautiful song entitled "Would You" that I heard sung in a friend's church a few years ago. From what I can find online, the song must have been written in the 1970s by Grace Hawthorne and Buryl Red. I hope you can hear it. That's really all the information I can find about it, plus some of the lyrics, which include:
　
"Would you cherish loving arms, if you'd never shed a tear?
Would you welcome going home, if you'd never been away?
Would you treasure guiding hands if you'd never been alone?
I don't think so, I don't think so, I really don't think so.

Would you value having hope, if you'd never known despair?
Would you treasure being safe, if you'd never lost your way?
Would you cherish gentle words, if you'd never been afraid?
I don't think so, I don't think so, I really don't think so."

Don't you know after seeing all the suffering, injustice and death that we've seen in this world that we will appreciate being with the Lord and being in Heaven with every single cell in our bodies?? Every bit of our being?? We will be so grateful and happy! I believe the Lord has set it up this way so we will reeeeeaally appreciate Heaven and never want to be away from Him. Well, for me, it's worked!

I completely agree with how you described what mankind would be like without suffering and death. Without these things, people would probably even be less compassionate to each other.

 

[Mr.Bride]

Jesus couldn't have been our Saviour until we needed saving. If there was no one to heal then He couldn't have been our Healer. Redeemer, we had to be redeemed.

 

[forrestcupp]

I think God sees the big picture of eternity, and has to kind of force Himself to see things from our very, very limited perspective. We see that especially when the men brought the paralytic man to Jesus. The first thing that came to Jesus' mind was "your sins are forgiven". When He saw that was way over everyone's limited perspectives, He went ahead and healed the guy.

We are so consumed with the here and now, and God cares about our souls. But He obviously cares about our here and now, too, because that's what determines our eternity. That's why He heals people. Signs and wonders are always meant to point people to God.

Plus, like Paul said, we can be content in all things. God's blessings are so much more than money and health. It's about lasting happiness and joy that come from knowing Him.

But I do agree with something I think you were getting at in the original posts. If it weren't for the love of God in our lives, the world would be suffering a lot more than it currently is.