PERSPECTIVES
Why There is Suffering in the World
By Pat Robertson
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– The existence of suffering in this world is a complex
subject that might cause many Christians and non-Christians alike
to question the love of God. But we must remember that God is not
the cause of our suffering. As Pat reveals, often the problem is
us.
Suffering touches everyone who lives on this planet. All you
have to do is pick up a daily newspaper or listen to a news broadcast
to know that a great many people are suffering. They suffer because
of automobile accidents or because of terrible diseases or because
of crime. Some suffer because they were born in poverty, others
because they were born in countries ruled by dictators. There
are many causes of suffering, and the list could go on for pages.
But our question is not concerned with causes. We are looking
for the reasons for suffering.
To say there is suffering because there is crime, or because
there are auto accidents, is not nearly enough. Our question goes
far beneath the surface, where it hits at the very roots of human
pain and anguish.
The first thing to be said about suffering is that most of it
comes about because of the activities of a powerful supernatural
being called Satan, or the devil. He delights in hurting man and
in trying to turn man away from God. Very often people blame God
when they suffer, but is it God's fault? Satan takes great pride
in seeing God gets the "credit" for his misdeeds.
Suffering is also caused by man's rebellion against God and by
the evil in men's hearts. How much suffering has been caused in
the modern world, for instance, by Communism, or by men hurting
other men? Godless dictators hurt their own people, and they hurt
the people of neighboring nations as well. Just consider how much
suffering has been caused, in this century alone, by men such
as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung. As the result
of godless dictatorships, there is suffering in the form of heartbreak.
You might say that suffering is a result of freedom. God has
given man a certain amount of freedom. If man were merely a robot,
an automaton, then God could always force him to do what is right.
But God gives man the freedom either to love and obey Him or to
rebel against Him. When man rebels against God, he hurts not only
himself but also his fellow man.
Something else to remember about suffering is that God set up
certain natural laws to govern the universe. If it were not for
the law of gravity, we would all go floating off into space. But
that same law is going to cause pain to people who jump from the
tops of tall buildings!
Consider the hurricane, the earth's way of releasing pent-up
heat and energy. Heat from the southern climates has to move north
and be discharged from the earth. When that happens, it causes
a violent wind to blow. That wind, in turn, stirs up huge waves
when it passes over the ocean. The hurricane is not meant to cause
suffering, but if people ignore the warnings of nature, they will
be injured by hurricanes.
The same is true of fault lines, such as the San Andreas Fault.
Fault lines are necessary to keep the earth from just breaking
apart. But if people insist upon building houses on the San Andreas
Fault--as they do--then they are going to suffer when an earthquake
comes. Such suffering does not result from God's intentions, but
comes rather from man's foolishness. We can either go along with
natural forces and accommodate ourselves to them, or we can ignore
them and be hurt by them.
Much sickness, too, is man-made. Some of it is because of improper
nutrition. People do not eat the right things. God gives us natural
sugar, but we bleach it and make it white. We eat white bread,
when whole wheat is much better for us. God gives us naturally
fibrous fruit and plants, but we boil the fiber away. We do the
same thing with oranges, when we squeeze the juice out of them
and throw away the pulp, which is a beneficial part. We also peel
potatoes and eat only the inside. In doing so, we throw away the
part that God made to help us stay healthy.
It is probable that 75 to 80 percent of the illnesses in the
United States are psychosomatic. We have not learned to cast all
our cares upon God, as we are advised to do in I Peter 5:7, and
so we let our worried and harried minds make us sick.
We also make ourselves sick voluntarily through doing such things
as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and ingesting drugs.
Automobile accidents cause fifty-six thousand deaths in our country
each year--and half of those involve drunken driving.
The technological state of our society contributes to suffering
too. If there were no automobiles, there would be no deaths and
injuries resulting from highway accidents. Our air would not be
polluted with smoke from factories and automobile exhaust if there
were no cars and factories. All of these things are part of the
price we pay for our state of civilization. If we do not want
to pay the price, we can go back to a more primitive society.
In today's world, our lifestyle is a large contributor to sickness
and disease.
To illustrate again how man contributes to his own suffering,
consider what has happened in Africa. The northern plain of that
continent was once a beautiful, fertile, wooded area. But over
several centuries, people cut down all the trees. As a result,
the topsoil eroded and there was nothing left but desert. Without
the protective cover of the trees, temperatures in the region
rose steadily. The people moved farther south, seeking fertile
land. As they moved southward, they continued cutting the trees,
and consequently the desert moved southward. Today there are three-and-a-half
million square miles of desert in the northern part of Africa.
In northern Africa and in many other areas of the world, men have
disturbed the ecological balance in nature. As a result, poverty
and hunger are worse and worse.
India has a similar problem. India was once one of the most fertile
lands in the entire world. But the Indian people have embraced
a philosophy that says rats and cows are sacred. So the cows eat
up much of the vegetation, and the rats devour a good deal of
the grain. Given a new understanding of nature, proper agricultural
techniques, a forestation program, and a cleansing of rivers,
which are now polluted, India could be agriculturally self-sustaining.
The problem is not caused by an act of God, but it stems from
man's foolishness
over a period of years, perhaps centuries. And the problems are
steadily compounded
over successive generations.
There are other forms of suffering that men bring on themselves.
Consider, for example, such diseases as genital herpes, syphilis,
gonorrhea, and AIDS. These all result from a conscious lifestyle
that is opposed to God's Word and breaks God's laws. God did not
send herpes. It is a natural consequence of immorality. When it
spreads, it becomes an incurable disease, affecting millions and
millions of people.
Why does God allow this to happen? When we ask this question,
it brings us back to the statement that God has created man as
a free being--free even to the point of ruining much of God's
creation. God has sent preachers, prophets, and other holy men
to warn the people to change their ways but most will not listen.
They would not listen to the prophets four thousand years ago,
and most of them will not listen today.
It is true that the righteous often suffer, and this will continue
as long as we live in a world of wickedness. If someone speaks
out against wickedness, he is going to be involved in a struggle,
and that struggle may result in pain and suffering. Jesus said,
"If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20).
Jesus Christ was the only perfect man who ever lived, and people
killed Him. Why? Because He came into contact with evil and tried
to do something about it. John the Baptist was beheaded because
he told people they were breaking God's laws (see Mark 6:25-28).
It has been true throughout the ages that those who are God's
messengers are often set upon and hurt by the people they have
tried to warn. That kind of suffering is virtually unavoidable
as long as we live in a wicked world of superstition, hatred,
and ignorance.
Suffering, if we allow it to, does have a way of purifying us.
Many people have had to suffer in order to turn to God. Until
they had their material things stripped from them, and often their
health taken away, they had no desire for spiritual things.
Those who are suffering may be tempted to turn away from God.
They should never allow this to happen. Instead, they should worship
God and be blessed and benefited, even in the midst of their suffering.
Those who hurt must remember that it is not God's will for anyone
to suffer.
They must remember, too, that He will intervene for those who
diligently seek Him. Thousands of people can testify that God
will intervene to relieve pain and suffering, but this depends
on a closeness and an intimacy with Him. Should we, then, accept
everything, and thank God for whatever happens to us--good and
bad?
God answers this question specifically in the Bible. "And we
know that all things work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans
8:28).
It is important to understand that accepting things is not the
same thing as being resigned to them. You must accept suffering
without becoming bitter, and you can accept it without resigning
yourself to it. It is not your "lot in life" to suffer. Those
who do suffer should never quit seeking God's touch and asking
Him to set them free. Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to
you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to
you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and
to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8). The key
is to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.
One final word about suffering. There is a certain amount of
pain involved whenever growth is taking place. When people are
moving to a higher level of intellectual activity, there is a
struggle that has to take place, and in that struggle there is
pain. When people who are great athletes are pushing through the
limits of endurance to get to new records, there is constant pain.
There is pain when you are running a mile or two at top speed,
when your lungs are gasping and your body wants to quit. But there
is also the overwhelming joy that comes when you finally do break
through into that new dimension.
This kind of pain is not the same thing as suffering. Some people
do not recognize
the difference between the suffering that is caused deliberately
by evil and the pain that comes about through striving to reach
a new plateau of experience. Such suffering merely marks the transition
period of going from one level of accomplishment to a higher level.
All suffering is temporary. It will all pass away when Jesus
Himself returns to the earth. Revelation 21:4 reads: "And God
will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more
death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain,
for the former things have passed away."
|