But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:24
‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11
A Universal Experience
This morning, I looked at a statistical website called Worldometer As I write this, the number of people on this little earth is approaching 8 billion people. Probably by the time you read it, it will have surpassed this mark. When I was born back in 1951, there was only 2.5 billion people riding on this small blue planet. Our vehicle through space adds and subtracts people every second! Some get on and some get off. About 140 million are born every year. 60 million die.
Each and every person on planet earth has a date with death sooner or later. None are exempt. Of the 8 billion people on earth, there is little way to accurately calculate how many are suffering, dying, hungry, starving, suicidal, unhappy, depressed, wounded, sick, or victims of evil surmising.
Regarding hunger alone, the website of World Against Hunger indicates we are making little to no progress on feeding every person:
“Around the world, more than enough food is produced to feed the global population—but as many as 811 million people still go hungry. After steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise, affecting 9.9 percent of people globally. From 2019 to 2020, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 161 million, a crisis driven largely by conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Crimes against children, murder, rape, wars, drugs, alcoholism, and violence is evil’s base to sprout the seeds of sorrow and woe. At one time the cities was the cauldron for misery and sin, but it has now moved into the once protected rural areas. Despite the advances of sciences, things are not getting better in the area of suffering and death in the world.
There are many peripheral negatives to go along with physical pain and suffering In the world. Division, hatred, jealousy, pride. The “United” States of America, its people are divided down political parties, philosophical denominations, race, color and creed. In some countries, people are suppressed, persecuted physically, and managed like cattle. Paul’s statement of the earth in these times seem like a gross understatement.
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3: 1-5
Main Categories of Responses to Suffering
How do you explain suffering and death in the world? The answers will come in three main categories: “God“, “No God“, and “I don’t know.“ The “No God“ category of people ask a good question. although it is more like a rhetorical question designed to support their own philosophy about life. It usually starts with an “if.” The word “if” will always put the recipient in a defensive posture. But, maybe we all need to think a little deeper and consider something other than stock answers.
“If God is a loving God, then why is there suffering and death in this world?”
“If God is in control, then why are there wars and so much suffering?”
Two key elements in these questions: “love” and “control.”
Here is where the “God” people often stumble over themselves and fall for the easy response i.e.
“God has a plan and He is in control.:
But the question still goes unanswered for the unbeliever.
Hope in the Answers?
Is there any hope for a crippled and angry planet in rebellion? Is there a logical answer? In the experience of this writer, I trust the Bible and its clear teaching on this topic. Our Creator explains the source of suffering and why. Whatever our belief, it requires Faith It requires trust in the source of your belief system including those who say they don’t believe.
Having said all this, the discourse below primarily for the believer. Why? Because we may be sending the wrong message about God when we attempt to answer this question on life and death. So we must be careful to not give non-biblical answers or unintentionally bring contempt upon the character of God.
For those of us who are believers in the Creator God, what we understand about pain and suffering in this world reveals what we know about God…or what we don’t know about Him. As our opening verses indicate. knowing and understanding God should give us a correct world view about all the misery around us. But, more importantly a solution not just for the future, but for right now! As the ones who know God and understand the plan of salvation, it will be useless rhetoric and clichés unless we apply the balm for the souls of our fellow man!
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Note: Much thanks to Ty Gibson for some of this information and the inspiration to explore more.
5 World Views
There are 5 main world-views about suffering that each person holds to be true. When a person is asked about pain and suffering, they will likely respond in 1 of these 5 ways. Please understand, there is a vast number that are not included here. They are those whose suffering is so great, they can’t think about doing anything, but finding food and water or they are mentally incapacitated.
The 5 primary philosophical groups are:
- Atheism
- Agnostics
- Pantheism
- Deterministic Theism
- Benevolent Theism (A phrase coined by Ty Gibson)
Atheism
Its members are approaching 8 Million world wide. Most are in China and Russia.
Their Answer: It is just the way things are. Life is what you see. There is no God; No Creator. Everything is biology and physics. We are biological survival machines. Mankind came from the Big Bang and random chance. Everything is from stars and dirt. We will be dirt again.
Philosophy: Everything I do is right because it is self-actualizing, self elevating or at least educational We are probably alone in this accidental universe. Life on this earth had all the right conditions in the cosmos to produce life. There is no good; no bad. We define what is acceptable in this world. There are no morals unless we say it is or not. We are gods. We will solve all of these suffering issues at sometime in the future. Until then, we die, we decompose and that is the end for us, but things will get better for those afterwards. Ultimately, man will have all the answers.
Mantra: “Let’s eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
Agnostic
There are approximately 7.6 Million in the world. (Depending on how you group them.)
Answer: I don’t know. I’m not sure. It is almost impossible to know God. They neither believe nor disbelief in God. Unless we see, we will not believe. We need more information to develop a world view and a response. To be honest, God is not high on our priority list.
Philosophy: They would say, “I deal with things as they come along. ” “I am just trying to make a life for myself and/or my family.” I have 70 or so years of life, if I am fortunate, so let me focus on living. While the atheist has a response to pain and suffering, the agnostic would not.
Mantra: They have the same mantra as the atheists “Let’s eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
Pantheism
(2 Billion Buddhists, Scientologists, and Mormons)
Answer: Don’t worry, you will be continually reincarnated until you reach a state of Nirvana or something similar. You will then no longer be subject to pain and suffering.
Philosophy: God is in the rocks, the trees…everywhere. He is not a personal being. We are all part of God and will ultimately become gods. Jesus had, perhaps, reached this state. This view often accepts all gods, particularly those connected with the sun, the moon, the stars, and nature. But, it is sort of like a religious atheism.
Mantra: “Let us eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die, but we will come back better, hopefully.”
Appeasement Theism
(2 billion/Roman Catholic/Unbiblical Protestants/Aztec/Inca civilizations)
Answer: God is angry and must be appeased. Sacrifices are necessary to calm God down. In the extreme, this person will deprive themselves, whip themselves into being acceptable to God. A milder form is to repeat programmed prayers to receive blessings from God. To receive forgiveness and obtain blessings requires acts of good deeds assigned by priests and intermediaries. They count beads, go without meat, fast…all of these are essential in becoming worthy of God’s love and protection. Other experiences include penance, indulgences, purgatory. He will reward those who are His people and those who are not will suffer the flames of hell for eternity. God’s wrath will never be satisfied hence the ultimate suffering and torture to those who are lost, but there is no death even for the wicked. The soul is immortal and you will spend eternity either in bliss or torture.
Philosophy: Suffering elevates and purifies the soul. We must have the right behavior; the right set of beliefs; and be in the right church before God will accept us. We must take the first step towards God. God will not act nor answer our prayers unless we ask Him first.
This is an exclusive club that creates a feeling of superiority to all those sinners out there. It is mostly about self or good deeds to impress others.
Mantra: “Let us not eat nor drink for to please God. Tomorrow may be our last day.”
Sadly, there are churches filled with people who have this worldview or most of its components. Much of it was adopted from pagan beliefs to control people. This is the group the atheists like to pick on…and with good cause.
Deterministic Theism
(Greeks/Christian Calvinists/St. Augustine)
Answer: It is God’s will. It is not our fault. He determined (predestined) who will be saved and who will be lost. Who will suffer and who will not. God is all powerful and control. He is Sovereign.
Philosophy: God is a colossal puppet master. He manages everything. God or “other forces” direct every step we take for a purpose. Ultimately, the suffering and pain has a purpose for His people. God is OK with suffering and death because it will lead to something better in the long run for His people. There are no accidents, only acts of God.
God has a purpose for domestic abuse, car accident, physical suffering because it will do some good for someone else somewhere else. “Once saved always saved” – nothing you can do to be lost.
Mantra: Let us eat drink and be merry for we will all live forever (if you were pre-selected and simply believe).
Benevolent Theism
God is not all about power, but love. God created man with a free-will to choose who we will follow. The world is a free agency with the capacity to love. He is not happy with the death, pain, and suffering. It was never in His will. He has all power, but He does not force people to love Him or to seek Him. Death and suffering is the result of sin brought to this world through Satan and the first couple who chose to believe Satan’s lie VS the truth of God. “You will not die” (Satan) vs “You shall die” (God).
Philosophy: God is good and has no evil in him at all. Only good things come from Him. The bad things come from the enemy of souls who hates God and his followers. Rebellion against God first occurred through Lucifer in heaven. There was war in heaven and this rebellion moved to planet earth where man was deceived. Death and suffering passed upon all men. Planet earth and it’s inhabitants are in a war. God has provided a way to save the planet from deception about Himself and even an eternal death. He loved us so much that He took the first step towards salvation. He scarified His Son. We don’t have to earn His love. We can accept or decline God’s offer of peace and eternal life.
But, God often holds us responsible for our actions. We suffer the consequences of our own bad actions. Nevertheless God can bring healing even to the vilest of sinners. Once we are uncomfortable with evil, we will turn to Him for help.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
Isaiah 59:1
God requires freedom of choice in order for love to be real. God does not force people, he draws them especially as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God is not a control freak or puppet master. He is sorrowful when people use their freedom to abuse others. God asks for trust and love from us so that we can be partakers of relieving pain and suffering in the world within the context that God loves the world.
Mantra: Let us eat the word of God and drink His blood, that we might be like Him. For tomorrow, he will put an end to suffering and death.
Only One World View Gives Hope and an Explanation
The story of God in the Bible written by some 40 authors all knew Him and were inspired to write down what God revealed to them. God spoke through these men. They all agreed that knowing God and who He is or is not, will lead to trust and hope in Him and the future. Every person has an opportunity for forgiveness, and a change of heart known as rebirth.
God is benevolent and kind towards the suffering on planet earth. He does not create suffering. It is the natural condition of a world who has told God to go away. He is not the author of death. Satan is responsible for bringing death and destruction to the earth.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Romans 5:12
It was Lucifer (the name of Satan before He fell from God’s grace) who was the originator of sin even though he was perfect!
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you. Ezekiel 28:15
Iniquity and righteousness could not exist together. God could have wiped out Satan and those he deceived, but the element of love, choice, and redemption prohibited God from taking the life of Lucifer. So God cast him to earth.
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:9
Adam and Eve had a choice to believe God and live or to trust Satan and die. But Satan said, they wouldn’t die. It was a lie. They chose to believe the lying serpent. it had consequences. Rebellion, sorrow, and death spread to the entire human race. Ever since then, there has been a war between Satan and his people and God and his people. Satan is the author of suffering and death. God is the author of life and redemption.
When something bad happens, it is not God’s will and He is saddened by it. Evil is proof that there is a God who is good. But Satan rejoices in both the suffering and the blame cast on God. God takes no delight in the death of even the wicked!
‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11
Conclusion
To this day, every person who ever lived died. Every person who is alive on planet earth today has an appointment with death. Suffering abounds on many different levels. You may be suffering as you read this. This is not God’s will.
God in His great mercy and love, has a plan to redeem man from death and misery. To reverse the deadly course we set ourselves upon! He allowed Jesus to come and pay the penalty of the transgression of the law. Here is the beginning of grace towards sinful mankind.
Out of love and transformation of the sinner, life has meaning and purpose. Like Jesus, it is not all about self, but others that they may live even under the worst of circumstances. All can have peace and joy in Him regardless of their condition.
But even for the unbeliever, God does not take any joy in their demise. He desires that they might repent and live. He does not torutre people throughout eternity. The hell of the Bible is a place of destruction and perishing. The fate of the lost is in the most memorized verse in the Bible. It is mixed in with the greatest statement about God and His sacrificial love for all His creation.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Notice the fate of the unbeliever in John 3:16. it is “perish.” Notice the contrast between “perish” and “everlasting life.” The lost do not have everlasting life…even in flames!
But, many of the Appeasement people would get angry at anyone or any other idea than the eternal flames of people who do not believe or accept Jesus. This leads me to my original verse.
God invites us to “know” Him. What is it that we are to know about him?
“….That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. ”
Jeremiah 9:29
Countless words about the perishing of the lost are dismissed or minimized in favor of a God who shows no mercy in the stinging torture of people every second for eternity while the saved life a life of bliss. If this is the God we serve, we don’t know Him. We will therefore not understand why their is pain and suffering in this world. We will blame God or give Him a pass because He controls everything.
The earth may have pain, suffering, and death. But it would be nothing compared to the pain and agony of living in flames every second. wanting the sweet release of death, but finding no rest forever. What a disgusting picture painted by people who should know better!
Only good comes from the hand of our Creator. He wishes no one to “perish.”
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” James 1:17
Conversely, only bad things comes from the workings of Satan and the heart that does not know God. But God’s plan of redemption will one day put an end to death and suffering.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
Do you know God? Today, begin to search for Him and to know Him.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13