Questions And Answers About Suffering

SATAN IS THE AUTHOR OF DEATH AND SUFFERING

John 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.  41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.  42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.  43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. KJV 

GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE

Genesis 2:5  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. KJV

Acts 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. KJV

Genesis 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. KJV

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT SUFFERING

Question: Why is there pain and suffering? Answer: Satan

Question: Why is there death? Answer: Satan

Question: Does God permit suffering or is there some kind of cosmic system that says all people suffer? Answer: God does not "permit." When all things were created God chose to have a reality where every coin has to have two sides. God chose a reality where we can make choices or decisions. We can choose either God or Satan. In the Garden of Eden, after listening to Satan, Adam and Eve made a terrible choice. Then, Satan brought death and suffering came upon the earth because Adam and Eve fell from the garden into our sin plagued earth.

Question: Does God control everything on the earth? Answer: No. If God controls everything on the earth, why are we in the mess we are in? The earth is mostly Satan's domain. Heaven is God's domain. We want earth to be God's domain to help us believe God will make everything turn out OK no matter what we do here on earth. However, how things eventually turn out for us is up to us following God's laws. We are in the mess we are in on earth because of our in-born sinful inclination to follow Satan rather than Christ.

Question: Why did Christ die for us? Answer: To give us a chance at living forever in heaven with Him and His angelic beings. Christ died to give us one last eternal chance victory over Satan. (John 3:16)

Question: Does Satan attack us? Answer: Yes, Satan directly attacks by making every human die. In addition, Satan attacks by using temptation against us. Satan attacks us by delivering suffering in our life.

Question: Does God permit Satan to attack? Answer: No. God does not pull levers, push buttons, and turn switches to let Satan attack us. Satan will attack all persons on earth without God's permission. Satan does not need God's permission to attack us. The "system" of death and suffering are against us because of our in-born selfish sinfulness. All persons will die at the hand of Satan. However, we have an escape hatch.

Question: How do get out of dieing? What is our escape hatch? Answer: We cannot get out of dieing in our physical body. We can get out of dieing in our heart, mind, and soul. Christ is our "way out" of eternal death in our heart, mind, and soul. By accepting Christ, we can live forever in heaven where Satan cannot ever attack us again.

Question: Can we get out of suffering? Can we escape suffering? Answer: No. Not in this life. In this life you will have tribulation. However, in the next life, in heaven, you will not have suffering ever again.

Question: Is there a purpose in suffering? Answer: Yes, Satan wants to make you suffer so you will curse or renounce Christ. Satan wants to make you suffer so you will blame Christ or God for your suffering. God has no purpose in making you suffer. God does not want you to suffer. However, God has a will for you when you suffer. God's will for you when you suffer is for you to grow stronger by coming closer to Him when you suffer rather than blaming Him for your suffering. God's will in our suffering is that we should learn humility. If we point our will toward Christ when we suffer, we learn humility when we suffer. From humility we can reach the heights of heaven.

Question: Where do bad things in life come from? Answer: Bad things come from Satan.

Question: Where do good things in life come from? Answer: Good things come from God unless the good things are really bad things deceptively disguised by Satan as good things.

Question: Why is suffering so difficult to understand? Answer: We live in a tangled web with more questions than answers about suffering. Satan wants to confuse us to keep us from knowing the truth when we suffer.

Question: Why must we be discerning in regard to suffering? Answer: Since God and Satan are invisible entities we must learn to be discerning and faithful to God.

Question: Who is the Great Deceiver? Answer: Satan. What makes things even more complicated for us is that Satan is deceptive. Satan will try to make you think good is bad and bad is good. Satan will try to make you think God makes people die (not true). Satan will try to make you think God makes people suffer (not true). Without doubt, we can say, God is constructive love, and Satan is destructive death, pain, evil, and/or hatred.

Question: Does God bring suffering upon mankind? Answer: God does not bring suffering on mankind. But God has not banished suffering from our existence because suffering, pain, and disappointment can outwork and develop our soul…depending upon where we point our soul. If we point our soul toward God, suffering can enrich our soul. If we point our soul toward Satan, suffering can make us bitter and venomous.

Question: Is pride a bad thing? Answer: The world teaches you…being full of pride is not a bad thing (WRONG!).

Question: Is humility a bad thing? Answer: Jesus teaches you…be truly humble and surrender all you are to God. (RIGHT!)

The above teachings are hard to accept. These teachings are hard to accept because these teachings are teachings we do not want to learn. These teachings are the truth. These teachings are the vital truth. Remember, the teachings of the world and the teachings of Christ are always on a collision course.

This message was presented in May 2011 as the Virtual Church message in Shepherd's Care Ministries virtual church site at http://www.shepherdscare.net