If God loves us so much, why does He allow so much suffering?
By Porter
It’s a big question and can’t be fully answered with a simple one liner or one size fits all solution. We’re gonna take a stab at answering this question.
It is a question every believer asks at some point during their lifetime. There is so much suffering in the world. There are examples of righteous people who suffered greatly, unrighteous people who suffered greatly. People who’s suffering was a result of their own actions, and people who’s suffering was a result of others actions, or just happened regardless of anyone’s decisions. Whatever the category, everyone experiences suffering to some degree in their lifetimes.
Righteous who suffer
Many disciples of Jesus have gone through great trials and afflictions for the God’s sake. Examples of these disciples include:
- Joseph Smith
During his time in Liberty jail, The Prophet Joseph Smith asked God where He was.
1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy bhiding place? And God responded. 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. D&C 121
- Job
Job was cursed with afflictions so bad he asked why he was born.
Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? After Job endures his trials without ever blaming God, God comes to him and tells him we can’t always understand why God does things.
Job 3:11
Sometimes we just need to trust God without understanding why He gave us a certain burden or when it’s going to be lifted.
Peter got thrown in jail for preaching the gospel after Christ’s death.
Jesus Christ
In Psalm 22:1 David foretells Jesus saying, “1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
And Matthew 27:46 says,
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
That is to say,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? During the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Concerning His suffering in gethsemane we have the following verse describing His sufferings:
“11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.” Alma 7:11
Jesus Christ suffered the most anyone has ever suffered in the history of the world so no matter how bad we suffer it won’t be as bad as Him. He asked God why He had to suffer and God told him He had to. The suffering Jesus went through was necessary for the plan of salvation to work so that men could be redeemed from their sinful state.
The fact is there are many more righteous saints who have suffered for the sake of their discipleship.
Unrighteous who suffer
Those who suffer because of their own sins. There are those who make sinful decisions and suffer the consequences.
Korihor is an example of this. He preached unto the people that there would be no Christ and that there is no God.
Alma testified that there is a God, but after Korihor ignored Alma, he was struck dumb.
This was a direct consequence of a sin Korihor chose to do.
Those who never had the chance to know God who suffer
There is an element that I cannot understand or explain in this category. Many of these sufferings may not be explained until the next life. The overwhelming majority of people who have lived on Earth have not had the chance to accept the fulness of the gospel in this life, although many of them have suffered greatly. There is definitely truth to the fact that their suffering played some role in their spiritual/eternal developement, but so many individuals seem to have suffered just because they were unlucky. The jews during WWII for example were tortured and murdered due to the politics going on in their time and location. Their suffering was an outcome of the choices of those around them. The fact that we all have agency allows 1 individual to harm another.
Conclusion
Elder Christofferson said, The path of life cannot always be easy for any of us. There is too much refining needed for it to be easy. The process of God-directed purging and purifying will, of necessity, be wrenching and painful at times. So, in the midst of this refiner’s fire, rather than get angry with God, get close to God. Call upon the Father in the name of the Son. Turn to Them for daily bread. Walk with Them by the Spirit, day by day and step by step. Come truly to know Them and to truly know yourself. Let God prevail. No matter what our mortal experience may entail, we can trust God and find joy in Him. Hank Smith and John Bytheway dove into this question during the Job episode of Come Follow Him. They quoted Victor Frankyl show said,