Why do so many innocent people suffer everyday?
return to blog comment

Please read this carefully and read it all before you come to a conclusion.

All of the suffering in the world has nothing to do with God. Suffering is caused by our sin. (To sin means to disobey God.)

No, people do not suffer because they are sinners. They are not suffering because of their own sin, they are suffering because of MY sin and YOUR sin. People are suffering because other people are not obeying God.

Let's see if I can simplify this.

There is suffering in this world because...

...we do not live in a Christian world.

...even Christians do not obey God.

We do not live in a Christian world

Where in the world is poverty and suffering the greatest? In Muslim countries. Even with all the oil wealth, Muslim countries have the poorest people and the greatest amount of suffering.

Which countries have the highest standards of living and the fewest people suffering? Those that are based on Christian principles. For example, Japan is not a Christian country, but it operates on Christian principles that were imposed on it following World War II.

But there is a second part to the problem...

Even Christians Do Not Obey God

We have the resources to eliminate all hunger, poverty, homelessness and suffering in the world. We could do this right now. God wants us to do this. But we seem to have other priorities.

Television and entertainment are more important to us than ending suffering. If we took just the time spent watching American Idol, and used that time to help other people, a lot of suffering could be ended. Now imagine what could be done if we took all that time spent in front of the TV and used it to help other people.

Americans have so much stuff. Huge houses. Multiple cars. What if we took just 10% of the money we spend on ourselves and used it to help other people? What if we really did love others as God commands, and we gave of our time and money in love?

But when we give our money to help people around the world, some of it ends up making dictators and despots richer. There are two points I'd like to make concerning this.

First, this is a problem governments need to deal with (Romans 13:3).

Second, this is a problem Christians need to deal with by sending out missionaries. By leading the world to trust in Christ we lead the world to obey God and end suffering, instead of taking from others to make themselves richer. Yet in America we spend more on cosmetics than we do on missionaries. We spend more on making ourselves pleasing to the eye than we do on making ourselves pleasing to God.

The problem of suffering isn't with God, it is with us and our refusal to obey God.