Suffering is a part of our lives. For a casual observer, it seems that some people suffer while others are having it easy. None of us like the suffering of any kind and our initial response is as to how best we can alleviate suffering, especially in our personal lives.
Suffering raises many questions and elicits a number of answers also.
- The most common response to suffering is “What you sow, you will reap.”
- Some people think that suffering is because of sin — the sin of the person, the sin of his or her previous birth, or the sin of the forefathers.
- The most intriguing question is why the righteous suffer. The Bible has the story of Job, who experienced the worst kind of suffering although he feared God and did what was right.
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, “Why do the righteous suffer?” “Why not?” he replied, “They are the only ones who can take it.”
In this brief course, we will try to answer the following questions:
- What is suffering?
- Why is there suffering?
- If there is a God of love, and if he controls everything, why does God permit suffering
- Why do good and righteous people suffer?
- Why do innocent people suffer?
- “Why do we as Christians face suffering,”
In the lessons below, we will also briefly address some wrong understanding of people about suffering and introduce some right perspectives about suffering as a Christian.