Do you worship the one true God who allows babies to suffer?

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@mrscientist on Twitter asked me a great question, “Do you worship the one true [G]od who lets babies suffer with bone cancer?”

This great question is the type of question common among people who either want to really know God and among people who want to smear God. Since @mrscientist told me that he would prefer to going to Hell even knowing God loves him and that God wants him to be forever, my guess is that @mrscientist is wanting to smear God. However, I’m not always right and I hope that in fact @mrscientist really wants to know God and that @mrscientist will change his choice and chose to be forever with God in Heaven rather than the one he told me.

In short, the answer to @mrscientist’s question is, yes. Yes, I do worship the one true God who lets babies suffer with bone cancer.

Per Richard Dawkins (an atheist):

 “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

Richard Dawkins. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from BrainyQuote.com Web site.

Thus per atheism’s teachings, why should anyone care if babies get bone cancer and suffer and die from it?

Here is an Important Point to Consider
Until you understand original sin, that the account of history in Genesis is true, you won’t understand why children die from starvation or why cancer kills, nor will you understand why murders, rape, theft, lying, slander, etc. are problems. God in the Bible teaches us that no one is “innocent,” as all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23 and Romans 5:12), and that suffering and death are caused directly by our sins and not what God originally created (Genesis 1-3). If the teachings of atheists were true, there would be no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference to children starving, suffering, catastrophes, and death. The only reason people see the children starving, suffering, catastrophes, and death as problems is they have a “God consciousness” as Paul tells us in Romans 1. So anyone who sees children starving, suffering, catastrophes, etc., and death as problems, is actually confirmed that God truly does exist.

Remember too that pain and suffering is not all bad. Pain tells us that something is wrong with our body that needs attention. It tells us too that we need rest. Also, pain and suffering can help us endure and grow beyond normal capacity. Pain and suffering will happen prior to any benefit. Ask any successful business person if their business came without some pain and suffering and see what they say. Olympic athletes who will be attending the Olympic events in Vancouver starting soon will attest I’m sure that to get to the top of their sport, that many years of sacrifice and suffering along with physical pain occurred.

God in His infinite knowledge may allow a certain amount of suffering in our lives because He knows in His great wisdom, that the results achieved will be a more godly character developed within us. All good parents know that discipline is needed in raising their children, even if it isn’t something that the parent enjoys doing; a good and loving parent will properly discipline his or her child. A loving parent will discipline their children because they really love their children and have set boundaries for their children. The loving parents disciplining their children are looking ahead and seeing that the momentary pain of the discipline applied can realize positive outcomes in the future. God is our Heavenly Father and His love for you and me is perfect and through the pain and suffering we encounter here on earth the person with true faith in Christ Jesus knows that God only allows us to encounter what we can endure as we rely upon His strength and understanding. (Hebrews 12:10–11)

Why Suffering and Death Exist
The answer to why there is suffering and death is clearly and plainly described in the Bible; Genesis chapters 1–3. God created a “very good” world, but Adam’s rebellion brought a curse and death. Disease and death in the fossil record reflect this curse as does death and suffering which exists today. In fact, anyone who considers suffering and death as problems, is actually confirming God’s existence.

As some think God is incapable of stopping suffering and death, or that His slowness to respond to suffering and death is immoral, or that God is non-existent because there is suffering and death; reality is, God is being patient with those people who have not yet chosen to have eternal life with Him who He knows will. God is not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance and have eternal life with Him (2 Peter 3:9 and John 3:16).

A person only needs to open the Bible and read Genesis chapters 1–3 to know the beginning of things—God created everything in six ordinary days. We read of a perfect creation in which there was no suffering or death. God looked at His creation and called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Then death came as a direct result of Adam’s disobedience (Genesis 2:17).

Adam knew there was a consequence (death) to his actions. When Adam took and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, suffering and death entered God’s perfect creation. To remedy man’s tarnishing His perfect creation, Christ Jesus (God’s only begotten Son) came to pay the wages (Romans 6:23) for Adam’s and our actions “For since by man came death, by Man [Christ Jesus] also came the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:21).

Our world is broken, marred by suffering and death. We must understand that our sin is what broke and is breaking God’s perfect creation. The original suffering and death in this world is the first Adam’s fault, the consequence of his disobedience to a holy God. The continued suffering and death are your and my fault. We are all sinners because we are descended from Adam and a whole line of sinners and we, too, rebel against God’s command (Romans 5:12). Not a single one of us is innocent. As a result of our sin “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (Romans 8:22).

God in the Bible actually informs everyone that suffering will occur (Genesis 1–3), and that He has overcome the world (materialistic dogma) and those who believe in Him can have peace in knowing peace will come (John 16:28-33). God in the Bible says one of the reasons He allows us to suffer is so that He can comfort us and thus equip us to comfort others in their suffering (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Whereas atheists teach that suffering and death is expected and natural. The atheist teachings per Richard Dawkins teach; “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”(1) Thus within atheist teaching, there is no comfort expected to ever occur. With atheist teachings, there’s no reason to even help others in times of suffering and death because to atheists there is no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. Thus is why so many atheists exhibit such harshness to people around them; specifically people who are not atheist and especially to those people who actually trust and follow Christ Jesus’ teachings to love God and love all people (Luke 10:27).

God has given to each of us “free will” to choose to either do what is correct or to not do what is correct. The fact that everyone chooses to do what is not correct causes the majority of suffering; i.e., enough food exists yet choosing to be greedy corruption stops it from getting to the starving; a majority of scientists choose to create military weapons instead of medicine and vaccines, people choose to have sex outside of a lifelong marriage commitment, drug abuse, etc.

God is not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance and have eternal life with Him (2 Peter 3:9 and John 3:16) yet He has given to us free will and has given to us free will to the extent that we can diametrically oppose God’s will if we choose. God is however being patient with those people who have not up till now chosen to have eternal life with Him which He knows will. There will come however, the time of death and judgment for everyone as God’s patience with our sinning is not everlasting. Reality is that everyone must die once and then face the judgment of God (Hebrews 9:27).

But alas, I can’t convince an atheist of anything; for the atheist belief is not based on evidence, it’s based on a deep-seated need to believe God does not exist. It’s up to the atheist to use their God given free will to choose to change their deep-seated need to believe God does not exist. It is at that point in which God will reveal Himself in all His glory.

The good news is that the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, came to earth to bear the penalty of our sins and be nailed to the Cross. He defeated death by His resurrection. By His atoning blood sacrifice for us, He has made a way for us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Further, He promised to those who place their faith in Him that in the future there will be no more death, tears, or suffering.

The perfect world will be restored. “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

God is being patient with those atheists He knows will eventually set aside their deep-seated need to believe God does not exist. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:9: That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Be ready! God’s patience with us is wearing thin. Use your “free” will to choose to be with God. Repent of your sin and accept Christ Jesus who fully paid your debt to God as your Savior.

Even Followers of Christ Jesus Suffer
Yes, even people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior experience pain and suffering during their lifetime after accepting Christ Jesus as their savior. The types of pain and suffering can be just the same as people who have not placed their faith into Christ Jesus. This fact is one of the main reasons some people choose to not place their faith in Christ Jesus and accept Him as their savior. Part of the pain and suffering I have encountered includes my father being murdered.

People who do not accept Christ Jesus because of pain and suffering do not accept Christ Jesus because they do not understand (nor do some of them want to understand) the reason why pain and suffering exists. Many of these people who have not accepted Christ Jesus as their savior say that because pain and suffering exists that He does not exist. Yet it is through the free will choice to choose we have that God gave to us that we have pain and suffering.

Yes, the choices you and I make directly affect not only you and me, they affect everyone around us today and tomorrow. Just as the choices people made in the past affect you and I today, the choices you and I make today will affect people tomorrow and so on. God gave to you and me a free will to choose what we want to do. With that freewill we each have, not all of us make wise choices and God loves us so much as to not force us to do anything we do not freely choose to do and He doesn’t stop us from doing something stupid either.

The experience of pain and suffering a person having true faith in Christ Jesus as their savior has is an experience which a person without faith in Christ Jesus will not understand. Both pain and suffering hurt those who have honestly placed their faith into Christ Jesus, yet pain and suffering do not hurt in the same way a non-believer hurts with pain and suffering. The primary differences between the pain and suffering encountered by someone who truly has faith in Christ Jesus and someone who does not is that the person who has placed his or her faith Christ Jesus has hope and promise of no pain and suffering whereas the person without faith in Christ Jesus has no hope nor any future where pain and suffering doesn’t exist. The person who truly has faith in Christ Jesus also has an understanding of why pain and suffering exists while the person without faith in Christ Jesus does not know why.

People who have an honest faith in Christ Jesus know that natural evil consists of earthquakes, tornadoes, droughts, and other disasters of nature that cause human pain and suffering. The Apostle Paul said, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). And though suffering isn’t good, people who have their faith in Christ Jesus know that God can, have and will use suffering to accomplish good as in His using it to pull people to His Son, Christ Jesus. Often it is during the pain and suffering a person encounters of hitting the “rock bottom” that a person honestly accepts Christ Jesus as their savior. (2 Corinthians 7:10) C. S. Lewis perceived that, “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.”[1] Pain and suffering sometimes is when people who did not truly have faith in God turn away from God. (Mark 4:1-20)

People who truly know and have faith in Christ Jesus understand that personal growth in character to become more like Christ Jesus is gained through pain and suffering. The writer of the New Testament Book of Hebrews wrote that; “Although he [Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Seriously think about this for a moment. If Jesus, the only begotten Son of God needed to suffer while He was on earth so that He could learn, why would it be any different for you and me? Not that those who honestly have faith in God go out and seek pain and suffering; however, it is that when the pain and suffering of everyday life is encountered that those who truly know and have faith in Christ Jesus have the opportunity to grow and show their character more like that of Christ Jesus’ perfect character.

We are living in a fallen world due to the choice that the first man (Adam) made which was to eat of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam’s eating that forbidden fruit brought pain and suffering upon not only Adam but to his descendants (you and me). The consequences of not following God’s request is pain, suffering and death. Most likely now you are saying, “I’ve not done anything against God to deserve pain and suffering!” Well, you are wrong because you are like me and are not perfect and being imperfect you and I do things which are against God’s requests of us. If you say that you are perfect then you are delusional and thus are not perfect and if you think you are perfect then you think you are god and thus you are truly delusional. Remember, everyone’s choices affect everyone else be those choices wise choices or stupid choices. Those choices we make which are stupid, can cause pain and suffering and can even extend the duration of the pain and suffering for not only we who made the stupid choices but also can cause and increase the duration of pain and suffering for many others.

Accepting Jesus as your savior may not take away any pain and suffering you are or will experience here on earth but you can be assured that by your honestly accepting Jesus as your savior that you will go to Heaven after you die and there is no pain and suffering there. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18) I have learned to look beyond my pain and suffering to God’s perfect plan for me and the future He has in store for me. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

God sent His only begotten Son to give His life for you and me. You only need to repent of your sins and accept this fact so that you do not have to suffer pain for eternity. (John 3:16-21) Also, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Christ Jesus took upon everyone’s sin, suffering for each and every one of us for what we do. With Christ Jesus’ suffering the pain of all of my sins including yours and everyone else’s sins, in comparison, what complaint do I have about any pain and suffering that I encounter? (Hebrews 2:9)

Yes, I worship the one true God who lets babies suffer and die with bone cancer. I understand why such things happen and what causes them to happen. Unlike atheism’s teachings, those who follow Christ Jesus actually know why we care and find pain and suffering unacceptable and why we long for life without pain and suffering.

Repent of your sins and accept Christ Jesus as your Savior.

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