The link between suffering and evil?
540812
The freedom to choose leads on to another problem - the problem of evil. \n\n\n The Bible emphasises strongly the link between suffering and evil. We are members of a fallen and corrupted race, and though still capable of much good\n\nThis inseparable link between suffering and evil that God could not deal with one without taking care of the other. The wonder of it all is that God has already acted to deal with the problem of evil through Jesus Christ. In doing so he has ultimately guaranteed the removal of suffering.\n\nthe line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.\n\nIt is for this reason that God has not yet intervened to put an end to evil once and for all, as the Bible declares that one day he will. In his mercy he gives us the opportunity to change our ways and turn to him.
63869
In my opinion, "evil" is "self-contradiction."\n\nAlthough bible matter doesn't say this explicitly, I do believe it's the gist of thought all through its contents.
691506
good and evil are not dictated by some religious law, but by the inner compass.  humans have a natural conscience which distinguishes right from wrong.  it works through intelligence and compassion.  \n\nthe dalai lama explains it this way: i understand pain and suffering, and i desire pleasure and joy.  i realize other beings are like me and they also prefer pleasure to pain.  this knowledge results in compassion: treating others with kindness because i understand them.\n\nlong explanation, sorry.  but that kind intention based on compassion for other beings or the earth is goodness.\n\ncausing intentional pain to other beings or the earth, either out of greed or because you enjoy causing harm and seeing others suffer, is evil.
293297
The issue is not that God’s goodness, God’s power, and evil’s reality can’t fit together, but that there are additional pieces to the puzzle that fit between them and hold them together.\n\n1. Free Will is a partial answer. \nFree will gives a partial answer to this question of evil and suffering. It goes like this: \n\nGod made humanity with free will. \nEvil is a result of human choices. Our first parents chose to sin. \nAs a result of sin, this world has been plunged into suffering. \nEvil, therefore, finds its origin not in the Creator, but in the creature. God receives no blame for evil—we do. We get the credit for evil because we’re the ones who chose to abandon God.\n\n2. As a result of free will, history is discontinuous. \nThere was no evil in God's original creation. But Adam had free will—he was able to sin or to not sin. And he chose to sin. And Adam's choice affected more than just himself. He represented all of humanity. Indeed, Adam represented the whole world (he had dominion over it), and when Adam was sinning, the whole world was declaring war on God. Thus even the natural world was plunged into suffering—animate as well as inanimate (the ground being cursed in Genesis 3 and thus awaiting full salvation at Christ’s return — Romans 8:19-22). This discontinuity is what Christians call the Fall. The world is good (Gen. 1), but fallen in rebellion against God. \n\nHow could God create a world full of evil and suffering? He didn’t. He created a world in which people enjoyed communion with God, intimacy with each other, perfect harmony with the creation, and everlasting life—a world with no suffering, no sin and no guilt. History is radically discontinuous. The world changed at the Fall. \n\nAnd the fact that the Bible says the world is good but fallen certainly makes sense of life. Human beings are capable of great beauty and kindness, but also great evil. Children are cute, but selfish. Adults are smart, but manipulative. The Bible accounts for both the glory and the shame of being human. We’re God’s image, but an image marred and distorted by our divorce from our Creator. \n\nThe Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal spoke of the grandeur and misery of humanity. We are capable of great things, but are always capable of pondering an existence better than the life we now have. Thus we find ourselves in misery precisely because we have the ability to contemplate a better existence. Perhaps the fact that we can imagine a life without suffering is itself a reminder deep within our human consciousness of the life we once enjoyed in loins of father Adam — a life we have lost and can only regain through the redemptive intervention of God in human history. This is a redemption that will only be complete when Jesus Christ returns.\n\n3. If you want God to eradicate evil, you’re demanding that He eradicate us. God’s alternative to eradicating evil people is to redeem them. \nRemember the words of Peter: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). You blame God for evil in the world? I assure you He can take care of the problem right now — but you won’t like the way He does so. Is there evil in your heart? He can destroy your heart at any moment. The amazing thing, though, is that God doesn’t do this. He made your tongue, and you use it to speak against Him — but He is patient with you. For now. \n\nRedemption is God’s striking alternative to eradication. Rather than destroying his fallen creation, He has chosen to restore a people for Himself, a people who one day will live with Him in a restored creation (2 Peter 3:13).\n\n4. Evil is not a thing, but a privation of the good. \nThis was the point that Augustine made in the fourth century when refuting the dualistic Manichean cult out of which he had come when converted to Christ. Mani h
683348
I am not a bible scholar, but having been born with depression I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when people try to tell me that I choose to be this way. It is not free will! Society may aggravate it, but it did not create it. \nWhereas it is well known that bad things happen to good people & innocent children & that it is God that allows such things to happen---& that it the most difficult question. Why does God allow suffering? Is it really supposed to make us better people? But that is a whole new debate in itself...
283092
Good and evil are highly biased concepts precisely because of social constructions such as God and Satan. However, we cannot look at the world as a set of binary opositions: white, black, up, down, God, Devil etc. If it really were about negativity and positivity if you can say that, then what the hell do we do with everything in between?!?! As far as Satan goes, he is just a human created mithological creature that scares small minded people and keeps them in line. He is the product of some idiot's imagination who wanted to control people's mind, Satan is a political weapon as is God; and for people's brainwashed little heads, he represents evil and darkness and "the enemy", so it is the people who attatch meaning to an otherwise meaningless nonexistant thing like the devil.
425183
Good and evil are directly related to your position to the issue, the intentions of the person that caused the issue, and the REAL outcome.  <Atheist view
751421
No matter how evil a man is, his evil act sooner or later will be overcome by the truth.  As God is merciful and forgiving, but until\nto a certain extend of provoking God's anger, God shall punish the evil one.
1142754
Sadism and Masochism\nPleasure from inflicting pain and pleasure from pain
8668
Divinity allows choice.  Human action and interpretation creates suffering.
1094711
It's not the child's direct choice that people are talking about when they talk about free will.\n\nI believe that there was no suffering or death before sin entered the world.  Since the fall, evil has caused suffering, illness, and death.  It is a result of having free choice, but it's not driven by cause and effect in an individual sense.  \n\nIf there were no consequences of sin, we wouldn't leave it.  Would it be loving to leave us in sin?\n\nGod shows His love and mercy in wanting us to avoid sin - the root of suffering - and by drawing us to Himself.  There is comfort and rest with Him.  He suffers with us.  He has defeated death on our behalf.  \n\nHe is loving even in the face of sin, evil, and suffering.
216827
If I was God, I would see no reason to just "get it over with" as I believe that we are all here to learn and grow.  I don't believe necessarily in "good" and "evil" because in my beliefs, nothing ever just happens for no reason.  Everyone has a purpose and path, regardless of whether or not they are perceived as good or evil while here.\n\nI don't believe that the things most people perceive as "evil" are truly bad.  From each "evil" society learns a great deal and so even the so called "evil" served a positive purpose.  \n\nWe can look at some of the most heinous events in our history and on that flip side of the coin..pinpoint all the good that came as a result of the event.  The ends do not justify the means and if I were God I would really prefer we all find a better way to learn, but I would not be able to discount the benefits from all the catalysts.\n\nSo no, I would not just get it over with but allow each individual to grow and fulfill their own paths with the knowledge that there is a reason for everything.  And if I were "God", I'm sure I'd already know all the reasons some things have to happen and play out.
207903
Sorry this is so long fuzzy dice but hopefully it answers your question!\n\nWhile we can grow spiritually through suffering (Heb. 12:6), we sometimes encounter afflictions that seem cruel and useless. Who benefits when a grotesquely deformed baby is born? What good can come from severe retardation? What purpose can be served by an aged person going on month after month in an almost vegetative state? Why does the stroke victim who cannot speak or use his limbs have to lie in a nursing home year after year? And what about the victims of accidents or disasters? We must admit that sometimes we can see no reason or purpose in some of the suffering we encounter. But that doesn't mean there is no divine reason or purpose. We just don't see it. Jesus said that a man was born blind, not because of sin on the part of anyone, but "that the works of God should be revealed in him" (Jn. 9:3). Then He went on to heal him supernaturally. Until that moment, no one knew why the man was born blind. But God did. Therefore, we must often rest in the assurance that God knows the answer to the question "Why?" Then too, these disturbing realities are a call to repentance. They remind us that this life is only a tiny segment of the whole picture. Jesus pointed out that the 18 people who were killed when a tower fell on them were not singled out for this accident because they were worse than average sinners. But He went on to say, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Lk. 13:5). Whenever we encounter diseases, deformities, disasters, or accident victims, we are to remember that we are no better than they. This is therefore a call to repentance for all of us. \nSomething else that can help us when we come face-to-face with these disturbing facts of life is the realization that (1) God did not necessarily cause these circumstances, and that (2) God suffers with the hurting. The world as we know it today is under the curse God pronounced at the dawn of human history (Gen. 3:17-19). Paul personified the non-human created world, animate and inanimate, as waiting eagerly for the day when Christ returns, because it will then be delivered from the frustration and pain it endures because of the presence of evil (Rom. 8:18-25).
574398
Yes, we are all torn between good and evil all the time.\nBut we all have our free will which one to choose.\nTo visit the dark side is very tempting once in awhile but come to think of it, does it really worth it? Every wrong decisions we make is a start of disaster, what you sow is what you reap. If you think a small evil won't do you any harm, you are wrong. Have you seen a ripple in the water? Try to create one small ripple and see what will happen. If you want to be remembered good, then do the good things. Good works, good karma. It's as simple as that.
810873
Why is there evil and suffering in the world? \nThe question implies that if a good God exists, then evil shouldn't because God, being all powerful, should stop it. \nWe need to ask and answer two questions. First, what is evil? It is that which is against God. It is anything morally bad or wrong. It is injurious, depraved, wicked. Some acceptable examples might be murder, rape, stealing, lying, and cheating. Second, if we want God to stop evil, do we want Him to stop all evil, or just some of it? In other words, if just some of it, then why? If He were to stop only part of the evil, then we would still be asking the question, "Why is there evil in the world?"\n     Let's suppose that someone was about to commit murder. God would have to stop him, maybe whisper in his ear, or if that didn't work, do something a little more drastic, like have something fall on him, or stop his heart, or make his hands suddenly fall off. Anyway, God would have to do something.\n      What if somebody wanted to steal? God would have to stop him too, right? Undoubtedly, God's imagination would permit a more practical method than I have suggested, but the end results would be the same.\n      What about lying? If someone were to tell a lie, then to be consistent wouldn't you want God right there to stop that person from lying? After all, He couldn't let any evil occur, could He?\n      Let's take it a step further. Suppose someone thought something evil. Then, of course, God would have to step in and prevent him from thinking anything bad at all, right? The end result would be that God could not allow anyone to think freely. Since everyone thinks, and no one thinks only pure thoughts, God would be pretty busy, and we wouldn't be able to think. Anyway, at what point do we stop - at the murder level, stealing level, lying level, or thinking level? As your question implies, if you want God to stop evil, you would have to be consistent and want Him to do it everywhere all the time, not just pick and choose. It wouldn't work.\n      Evil is in this world partly because we give it its place but ultimately because God, in His sovereignty, permits it and keeps it under His control.\n      Then you might say, "Couldn't He just make us perfect and that way we wouldn't sin?" He already did that. He made a perfect angel, Satan, but he sinned. He made a perfect man, Adam, and he sinned. He made a perfect woman, Eve, and she sinned. God knows what He is doing. He made us the way we are for a purpose. We don't fully understand that purpose, but He does. \nGod is sovereign; He has the right to do as He wishes. He has the right to permit evil for accomplishing His ultimate will. How can He do that? Simple, look at the Cross. It was by evil means that men lied and crucified Jesus. Yet God in His infinite wisdom used this evil for good. It was on the Cross that Jesus bore our sins in His body (1 Peter. 2:24) and it is because of the Cross that we can have forgiveness of sins. \nConsider the biblical example of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Though they meant it for evil, God meant it for good (Gen. 50:20). God is so great that nothing happens without His permission, and in that permission His ultimate plan unfolds. In His plan He is able to use for good what man intends for evil. God is in control.
929913
An argument could be made -- a yin yang comparison.  Even from a more traditional Judaeo-Christian perspective, since god is omnipresent, couldn't he be both god and satan?  A method of introducing free will, perhaps.
954739
No, no, NO!\n\nWe hear about some poor person who died horribly after being tortured, or after suffering painfully from disease such as cancer or AIDS, or a baby who dies painfully, and any decent human being says "They didn't deserve that..."  But God, according to the Scriptures of various religions, thinks they did.  According to the scriptures and Christian/Jewish/Muslim belief, He knew about it, He could have prevented it, but He chose not to.  Disagreeing with God might be evil, but speaking for myself, I would have if I could have.  If that's evil, so be it.\n\nSo it seems that God is not as caring about humans as we were led to believe - assuming you accept a literal interpretation of the Bible.  So perhaps that is why He (and some of his followers) are so insensitive to the suffering of humanity, and would condemn even good people to eternity in hell.  In His viewpoint, apparently, they do deserve hell.\n\nI do not believe that anyone, let alone loving, charitable people who have not followed a particular religion's doctrine (such as saying the "sinner's prayer") deserves an eternity of torment.  That is one of the reasons that while I remain a spiritual person, I no longer identify myself with organized religion, including Christianity.