God could step in at any point and stop the suffering. Why does God allow suffering? Can't He stop it? That’s why He tries so hard to get us not to do it. This was a natural result of the laws God had made long before He even created the earth. This wasn’t a spiteful God going overboard on the punishments. The nature of the world itself became tainted with thorns and thistles. When a person sinned, he reaped suffering, those around him suffered, the earth itself suffered. And it became worse and worse as time went on. (See Romans 8:20-21) Sin tainted everything. Even natural disasters happen because the world was cursed. Because of His immense respect for free will, God had to step back and let Adam and Eve reap the consequences of their actions.Īll suffering, all pain, and every tear that has been shed on earth is either a direct or an indirect result of sin. Unfortunately, she chose to believe Satan’s way – the way of the curse, and she convinced Adam to do the same. All God wanted was for people to be happy and He knew that the only way to that was for them to be obedient. When Satan offered Eve a choice of following God’s way or the way of sin, God had dearly hoped that she would choose His way.
Nevertheless, Satan was allowed access to the earth, and he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. When God created the earth, His intention was that it would be an extension of the peace and harmony of heaven. So instead of forcing Satan back to the light God needed to prove that the way of sin would only lead to suffering. God could just have shut him up, or even changed his mind forcibly, but He has too much respect for free will, even the free will of those who choose to disobey Him. It was his opinion that, given the choice, people would rather sin than obey God.
Satan was full of evil and wanted to destroy this harmony. Adam and Eve, the first people, received a free will, but they were pure and therefore had direct contact and fellowship with God. Satan’s way was outside God’s blessing and therefore cursed. This was the first sin, causing separation between God and Satan. He exalted himself, imagining he could be equal to or better than God. However, Satan, one of the angels, chose to go against this and make his own way. All the angels and everything that had been created lived in harmony with God. This was heaven and earth before the fall. To start off with, God did create a world without suffering. In order to understand some of the big questions that surround this topic we have to look at God’s plan as a whole. This is a difficult question and also a very common one. How can a God who is all-loving and all-powerful allow suffering on earth? Can’t God step in and create a world where no suffering exists? Can’t He take away the pain? Why does God allow suffering?
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