Why Does God Allow Suffering? | Good Perspective

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Why does God allow so is a common question, and today Pastor Greg Laurie helps to keep our perspective godly people is not always something we can explain is we have as followers of Jesus Christ because there's more than life on this earth.

There is life in Dr. Shaw was going to cause the child may ask why, why does it have to hurt parent you know the pain is momentary, long-lasting today of a new beginning for Greg Laurie helps us see our pain through the eyes of God, our heavenly father may not end the pain you respect. You will want lots of questions and nowadays you know you have all this electronic gear to help you know there was a time not all that long ago when the you needed an answer.

You are the talk to a living human being or you want to look it up in a thing called a walk that had pages edited and all that is to be people selling the Encyclopaedia Britannica and you would invest in this big set up books to have in your library will those days are pretty much gone and all we have to do is just go to a Google search engine and ask a question or ask Siri or go to Yahoo answers and see what they have to say. And the problem is jumped understand any random person can give you any random answer. I listen just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's true, we all understand that people come in, but I read it on the Internet crazy people on the Internet so just know that of course, but directly read these are real questions people typed into the search engine of Yahoo real questions. One person types in this question. Will my laptop get heavier if I put more files on it.

Well, okay, how about this one a real question. Do you think humans will ever walk on the sun walk on the sun. I love the answer.

One person said best answer would be yes, but it would have to be at night. Here's another one I can't believe someone said this in is it illegal to kill and aunt really some of the energy asking the question, is it government give the old joke of what the pink panther said when he stepped on, and that you know the answer member to bring brother's temperament and then went and did that did after that.

So how about this one. I like this when actually is there a spell to become a mermaid that actually works so they fight other spells leaving work and I here's one more.

Can I lose weight without moving, and that was from me and I never got an acceptable answer. But then there are serious questions that people last and of course are questions like why is there suffering in the world. So the question is what happens after we die is reincarnation true, but it we come back in a higher or lower life form depending on our karma for me. The big question is why the way always just lose one sock. You know I always lose what I would rather just lose a pair of socks so don't we get to someone somewhere.

But I lose one sock I don't know why but I always hang onto that sock that once a one deal find the other does walk along I saw sock in the gutter that there's one of you know, but these are questions we ask with the big questions are about suffering and about why things happen the way they do it by the way, that's not a new question to the 21st century or even the 20th century are even the 19th century. In fact, it was a question they were effectively asking in the first century. During the time of Christ himself.

And we find answers in the text before us. This is a story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus. One day he also became a believer in addition to having his blindness healed. We've all heard people say, seeing is believing in his case, believing was seen because he saw things he had never seen before.

He not just basis of friends and family, not just the beauty of God's creation, what you saw spiritually as well, and he discovered what the real purpose of life was because he saw Jesus in fact I was the first person he saw when he was healed.

The Lord himself and that is why he saw everything else in its proper perspective and so no were looking at what this all means to us and what the passage actually says. So let's go now to John chapter 9 and will read a few verses together now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who send this man or his parents that he was born blind.

Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents in, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

I must work the works of you who sent me while it is day, the night is coming when no man can work.

And as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world when he said these things, he spit on the ground and make clay with the saliva and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and he said go wash in the pool of silo which is translated, sent so the man went and washed and came back seen. There so here's this question who send this man or his parents, not of course we wonder why. How could this man have sinned if he was blind from birth and the reason this question was asked is because some Jews of the day believed in their own version of reincarnation and made more popular today through Hinduism, but even they had a view like this. The biblical view of course, but some actually thought that you would have been alive in another time as another person or another life form. Basically, reincarnation teaches that the soul moves from the body to another body, the status of each successive body, whether human or animal as a direct result of the quality of life. The soul lead in the previous body that's a good life, results in a rebirth to a higher life form a bad life, results in a rebirth to a lower quality life form. This forwarded backward progression is based on the law of karma and its essential foundation of Hinduism another Easter based philosophies.

Basically, karma teaches that good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds are punished. No. Who would believe stuff like this while more people than you might think I read that 25% of Americans believe in reincarnation heard people say of their newborn baby. Oh, he's an old soul you know like he was in another body was an older man had a previous time, and now that souls in the body of the little baby in the ideas that the souls preexistence over the will. This is a biblical I you become a soul at conception.

You then preexistent another life and you won't continue to exist in another life form.

No. As Christians we believe you live forever, but you don't keep coming back to the earth. You know, one time as a dog. Another time God for bid is a cat and then maybe as a matter a woman or whatever know it doesn't work that way the Bible teaches that that at conception, not a birth conception, we become a living soul made in the very image of God. Someone 3913 says of the summonses you created my innermost being unique me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful, all the days for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

So this is a very important thing. Of course it were reading in Scripture that is telling us that God knew us in the mother's womb, God knew all about us and how to plan for our life.

That is why abortion is murdering an unborn child.

This is why it's such a horrible travesty in our culture today but we are One Life to live on this earth multiple lies on hundreds of lives, not thousands of lives in its in this life that we call life would really mean we should call the before life. We talk about the afterlife. The before life is much shorter than the afterlife visited it's in the before life we determine where we will spend the afterlife. There are no other chances beyond the grave. You won't come back as a higher or lower life form to sort things out and all happens here now because the Bible says it's appointed unto men once to die. Then comes the judgment in the moment. Pastor Greg addresses another question disciples were asked. It's a question that forms the title of today's study. Why does God allow suffering everybody Greg Laurie here.

You know my uncle Fred Jordan that one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called church in the home.

I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents we have church in the home for you every weekend. It's called harvest that you get invited to harvest.org we have worship in a message of God's word. So join us this weekend for harvested home harvest.Pastor Greg is just highlighted the question that Jesus was asked who sin this manners parents that he would be born blind pastor Greg continues now with his message from the series called life. This question of the disciples brings us to another often asked question why does God allow suffering is effectively what they're asking. They say Lord verse two who send this man or his parents to be in the state he's in another words, why was this man born blind and we can take that further and us a question. Why are babies born with a disability. Why is there war. Why is there terrorism.

Why is her tragedy. Why why why goes on and on. You know sometimes you see people who are atheists. I don't know that some of the more they say they are, but often they're not.

But there are true atheists out there these they claim to be anti-Endo say they've come to this conclusion after careful study and so forth and there may be a few examples of that. But I've come by and large, people end up is easy is because something traumatic happened in them earlier in life and thus they had to find a belief system or lack thereof, that would help them to deal with the pain that they had to face. An example is Ted Turner.

He founded CNN I and he, as a young boy, a Ted wanted to be a missionary, but his sister came down with lupus and Ted prayed fervently that she would be healed and she died. So from that day on, Ted Turner was mad at God is going out of his way to mock Christians about the Christian faith in mock the Bible and so forth. Calling Christianity a religion for losers.

He became an atheist because he experienced a personal tragedy and it made no sense to him because his problem was.

He could not reconcile a loving God and human suffering and in some of you may be struggle with these things because you were dealt a bad hand in life, so to speak, you were raised in a home that fell apart turn abusive home or an alcoholic home or someone very close to you died when you were younger, some tragedy has befallen you, even recently, and it makes no sense to you and your sort of angry at God. I hear people say I'm mad at God really in the classic statement of this problem. Either God is all-powerful, but is not all good. Therefore, he doesn't stop evil or he's all good but is not all-powerful.

Therefore he can't stop evil in the general tendency is to blame God for all of the evil and all the suffering in the world effectively to pass all the responsibility on to him. And so this is not a rational thing that is happening when people do this, but there's nothing rational about it. People are just upset and so they're passing these things on and so here now Jesus is going to sort of set the record straight and let's deal with this question. Can physical suffering on earth be a result of sin. The answer is yes and no.

Let me say in a broad sense, all suffering is a result of sin and I don't mean personal like someone is born with a disability. I'm not suggesting they did something bad to deserve that. Not at all. All suffering aging.

Even a death. It's all a result of sin could see it was never God's plan for us to get sick. It was never God's plan for us to get old. It was never God's plan for me to be ball all right because of the curse of sin.

It affects me, it affects you in advance. All of us because of the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden that you module if I'd been on the garden. I would've never eaten of the forbidden fruit shop.

Of course you would have an easy way to respond. That is, have you ever said love your honesty will say yes.

Will you would've responded to temptation just like they did, but if they had not sin, the curse would not of, because they did sin the Chris did come in Romans 512 says as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, death spread to all men because all men and women of course have sin. Well, we immediately think will why did God make it that way.

Why didn't God create us so we would not sin. So what you're really saying this. Why didn't God make us into robots right.

I have a grandson Christopher. He just turned four and die. He told me Papa I want a robot with an arm. I had no idea what he was talking about and so he had seen some commercial his mom or dad had no clue as to what this robot with an arm was so I went out and typed it to a search engine robot with our couple of videos popped up. I think I found it so I get a copy that sent the link over to them. He said they we think that's it. So I bought him the robot within our so you run it off your iPhone are just as little wheels on the thing reaches a grab something fix it up but that's the whole thing but it's kinda cool because last night he put his voice and it records your voice so you can do a commercial for the stupid thing okay so here is this little toy will it's cute but you know all of a sudden the Bluetooth disconnects.

It just stops in its limited what you want to be a robot with an arm with a prerecorded voice or do whatever free will you know when one of the good things about getting back from a trip. Hopefully as people missed you not feeling that from you but I others have no I am kind of you know that we missed you. We love you. That's the best kind of effect that comes from the heart not something that's robotic or something this preprogrammed. Okay, so here's God he doesn't want to but you robots. He wants us to love them because we choose to love him, but with that choice to say yes also Kim the ability to make the choice to say no, so free will is our greatest blessing and in some ways our worst curse and so really we come down to this question about suffering, why it happened so we always want to find cause and effect. I remember when 9/11 happened in some said this was the judgment of God on America that that really what one of the World Trade Center in particular other more wicked places in America than the World Trade Center. Other more wicked places on earth, then New York City, you know, we begin to take that and think it through rationally and it begins to not make sense and I think it's always a big mistake to find cause and effect for tragedy.

All that happened because they were wicked.

Really what Jesus actually told a story in the book of Luke chapter 13 about a tower that fell in the group of Gentiles, a well-known news event, a tower fell and killed some people and so Jesus asked the rhetorical question. Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem and then they said no I tell you again unless you repent you will also perish. So basically Christ is addressing this idea of bad things happening that make no sense, and here's what he saying in effect, bad things happen. People.there are not always explanations. Sometimes we see evil people do evil things and pay the consequences right and sometimes we see godly people killed bus full of people going to a church retreat are killed by a drunk driver that pulls out of his lane and gets them, and he survives we say where's the justice in that we don't understand that things happen that are inexplicable this side of heaven here was price point. Hey you think it was the worst sinners. Actually, they weren't in unless you repent you will perish. In other words, guess what guys, no one gets out of here alive. Everyone's going to die is in great this is the most depressing message I've ever heard go back to the robot story. Let me finish it'll get better, but I want to leave this foundation because we need to understand this a bad things happen Christians to cancer Christians are killed in automobile accidents, godly people face tragedy. It is not always something we can explain, but the most important thing for us is we have hope this followers of Jesus Christ because there's more than life on this earth. There is life beyond that Greg Laurie good perspective on the sufferings of this life.

We know it's only temporary.

You have more insight, says the study continues here on a new beginning, and in a moment.

Pastor Greg closes today's program in a special way.

It'll encourage you to stay with us and then can we just say thank you thank you to those who not only listen on a regular basis but also pray for us and not only listen and pray, but also invest.

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Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call any time 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 one next time. More reassurance as Pastor Greg takes a biblical look at the subject of pain and suffering. But before we go. Pastor Greg was the guest on a radio program called pastor's perspective sometime back and a woman named Camille called in for prayer.

Given today's study of suffering we wanted to share the encouragement. Pastor Greg offered all matter and all. And now the whole sheriff for not getting going, not going to go? How are I am looking at.

Without factoring in your physical body and relief the matter convert Camille, did you see your mom is listening right now.

What is her name Camille okay Vicki let me adjust my remarks just to you directly as you are at the very gates of eternity. Here the words of Jesus to you. Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions ever were not so I would've told you. I go to prepare a place for you if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you want to myself that where I am, there you may be also. Where I go you know in the way you know Thomas said the Lord.

How do we know where you're going and how can we know the way Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. So Vicki I would just save you. Don't be afraid when Jesus says let not your heart be troubled. It's a word that means don't be stressed or agitated. Don't be afraid because to be absent from your body is to be present with the Lord you will go immediately into God's presence to glory. And Paul speaking of it.

Said he wanted to go and be with Christ, which was far, far better. What is ahead of you is so much better than what you're experiencing now, and you've gone through a lot of suffering. The difficulty with leukemia in your time of pain is coming to an end in your time of glory soon.

Beginning and so we see in you. God bless you and will see you soon. And because you put your faith in Christ to welcome you and they haven't and say well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. Thanks for listening to a new beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a harvest partner@harvest.org