Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?
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Bottom Line:
Bottom Line:
Everyone who faces into pain and suffering derives a benefit from it. There is a benefit from pain and suffering we can’t get any other way. We don’t choose pain and suffering but many, perhaps most, who have overcome pain and suffering are genuinely grateful for the benefit they derived from it.
Introduction:
Introduction:
Life is full of stories of tragedy, pain and suffering.
It’s always hard. Often it’s heartbreaking.
There are different sources.
There are different sources.
We may experience pain and suffering at our job, in relationships, with family, at school, because of finances and in our health.
It may be our fault. A young person takes an overdose of drugs and ends up disabled for the rest of his life.
It could be someone else’s fault. A drunk driver kills a mom who leaves behind a husband and small children.
Or the pain and suffering may be no one’s fault, a child born with no legs, a young person gets cancer.
There are different degrees of suffering.
There are different degrees of suffering.
Universal Pain Assessment Tool - graphic
Universal Pain Assessment Tool - graphic
There are different types of suffering.
There are different types of suffering.
What is "Pain and Suffering?"
What is "Pain and Suffering?"
“Pain and suffering is a legal term that refers to a host of injuries that a plaintiff may suffer as a result of an accident. It encompasses not just physical pain, but also emotional and mental injuries such as fear, insomnia, grief, worry, inconvenience and even the loss of the enjoyment of life.” https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/personal-injury/insurance-company-determine-pain-suffering.html
physical, mental, emotional.
What is pain?
What is pain?
If you suffer chronic pain, you'll probably find little solace in the fact that doctors and scientists don't understand it very well, and that just popping an aspirin is clearly far form a cure-all.
In fact experts can't even agree on what pain is.
"Pain is complex and defies our ability to establish a clear definition," Weiner says. "Pain is far more than neural transmission and sensory transduction. Pain is a complex mixture of emotions, culture, experience, spirit and sensation."
The American Academy of Pain Medicine isn't much help either. In its online FAQ, under the heading "What is pain?" you'll find this answer: "It is an unpleasant sensation and emotional response to that sensation."
https://www.livescience.com/600-pain-truth-hurt.html
There are many stories of pain and suffering that have a positive side to them.
There are many stories of pain and suffering that have a positive side to them.
Not because the pain or suffering is alleviated but because it is overcome. There are many stories of people who have overcome.
Who do you know overcame pain and suffering?
Who do you know overcame pain and suffering?
Aimee Mullins:
Aimee Mullins:
Aimee Mullins Photo: https://biotechpossibilities.com/actor-profile-aimee-mullins/
Actor Profile: Aimee Mullins January 11, 2016 by BioTech Possibilities
We often look to celebrities to inspire us, to act as role models – and to serve as examples of what we can be when we recognize our possibilities, no matter what our circumstances may be.
For those who have experienced limb loss, Aimee Mullins is one such example. Aimee is a well-known model and actor who has built her career on advocating a new perspective on prosthetic devices for women, men, and children alike.
Learn about her journey, her success, and her innovative vision as a limb loss survivor and role model.
Aimee Mullins: Amputee
Aimee was born without her fibular bones and had both of her legs amputated below the knee. She began to walk on her first pair of prosthetic legs at the age of two.
Even from an early age, Aimee didn’t let limb loss define her or limit her. Like athlete Blake Leeper, Aimee found an affinity for sports at a young age and began wearing running prosthetic legs. She tried softball and soccer, swimming and skiing, excelling in a variety of activities. At seventeen, she graduated high school as the youngest person allowed top-security clearance at the Pentagon, with a full scholarship from the Department of Defense.
Sports Star and Model
During her time at Georgetown University, she became the first-ever amputee – male or female – to compete as an athlete in the NCAA. She began setting records nationally and internationally as a champion Paralympic sprinter and double amputee as she grew. At the same time, she began her modeling career, which then flourished into an acting career. During this time, she accepted the role of official Ambassador for the ESPN Tribeca Sports Film Festival and starred in Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 3, an avant-garde film.
Definition: Pain
Definition: Pain
a: usually localized physical suffering associated with bodily disorder (such as a disease or an injury) the pain of a twisted ankle. A basic bodily sensation induced by a noxious stimulus, received by naked nerve endings, characterized by physical discomfort (such as pricking, throbbing, or aching), and typically leading to evasive action, the pain of bee stings
b: acute mental or emotional distress or suffering : GRIEF
Definition: Suffer
Definition: Suffer
transitive verb 1 a: to submit to or be forced to endure suffer martyrdom b: to feel keenly : labor under suffer thirst 2: UNDERGO, EXPERIENCE 3: to put up with especially as inevitable or unavoidable 4: to allow especially by reason of indifference the eagle suffers little birds to sing— William Shakespeare
intransitive verb 1: to endure death, pain, or distress2: to sustain loss or damage3: to be subject to disability or handicap
Wrong approaches to answering this question.
Wrong approaches to answering this question.
We aren’t going to solve this issue. We aren’t going to solve an issue that has plagued people for all time.
We aren’t going to minimize pain and suffering. It’s real. It hurts. There are plenty of platitudes that just don’t help. What are things people say about pain that don’t help? [Solicit responses]
Everything happens for a reason.
This too shall pass.
No pain no gain.
We aren’t going to spiritualize it.
Pain isn’t always caused by sin. The disciples thought a man was blind because of sin. Jesus said he wasn’t. John 9:1-3
Pain isn’t with us because we don’t have enough faith! Paul had enough faith but God said no to removing the thorn in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9.
Pain was not part of God’s plan.
Pain was not part of God’s plan.
The first mention of pain in the Bible comes after the first sin.
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
The last mention of pain in the Bible is that God will do away with it.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Those who have died as believers are no longer in pain.
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
Pain can be bad when it is punishment.
Pain can be bad when it is punishment.
God punished humanity because of sin with death. Genesis 3:2, Romans 6:23, Noah and the flood Genesis 6:5-7, Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19:24-25. All punishment is to express justice, not mercy. It is deserved pain, retribution for wrong.
All pain does not involve punishment.
All pain does not involve punishment.
All punishment involves pain. All pain does not involve punishment. All pain isn’t about justice. For example the pain of discipline is for our good.
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.
Pain can be a gift
Pain can be a gift
It warns us
when we need medical attention. The absence of pain is one of the problems associated with leprosy.
when something may harm us. A toddler has to learn not to touch a hot stove.
It teaches us
when we need to change our behavior. Hebrews 12:6-10
when we need to be more patient and mature. James 1:3-4
Pain exists within the context of God’s love.
Pain exists within the context of God’s love.
God’s compassion guides His actions toward us.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
2. We will never understand how God balances pain and love.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
3. Pain may not always have a purpose but it always has a benefit.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Pain has to be re-framed through lens of God’s love.
Pain has to be re-framed through lens of God’s love.
Our present pain will be outweighed by our future glory.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
2. It is God who heals the brokenhearted.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
3. Good can come out of pain.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Conclusion
Conclusion
You will be changed by pain and suffering . You can face it or flee from it. You will be better or bitter.
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C. S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain, p. 91
Our response is to trust God.
“See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—
What is God saying to you through your pain?
Discussion Questions:
Discussion Questions:
Why do we equate pain with punishment?
Describe a time when you benefitted from pain.