Question of the Day: Why does God allow so much suffering & injustice?
Me and my friend @Krishool were discussing this in private the other day, and I thought it deserved a post of its own on Steemit.
It's the age old question that everyone asks themselves at some point in their life: Why would an all-knowing, all-loving God allow human beings to engage in evil and commit atrocities?
(Note: When I use the term 'God', I am not referring to any man-made version of God as described in religious texts. I am simply referring to the creative intelligence inherent to the universe which I personally believe to be a source of unconditional love. This overwhelming source of unconditional love has transformed the lives of those who have 'been to the other side', so to speak, in near death experiences (NDEs) and transcendental out of body experiences. There is an abundance of evidence to suggest that consciousness is, in fact, non-local and is not limited to the human brain and that there is a divine, cosmic order to the universe. I will post a link to the books which I feel offer the most convincing evidence for non-local consciousness and creative intelligence at the end of this post. If you are unconformable with my use of the word 'God', and I wouldn't blame you, given that it has been bastardised by many institutionalised religions over the years, please feel free to substitute it with whatever works for you - the universe, the All, cosmic intelligence etc.)
If God is all-knowing and all-loving, surely he/she/it would have prevented human atrocities such as the holocaust and the World Wars. Why would Cosmic Intelligence allow human beings to kill each other en-masse and engage in perpetual warfare and violence? Why would God allow humans to slaughter hundreds of billions of animals each year and put his own creatures through such pain and misery?
Such questions lead many people, especially those in the West, to atheism, materialism and nihilism. But I would argue that God does, indeed, work in mysterious ways and that creative intelligence has granted man with the free will capacity to choose between good and evil as a way of assisting us in our personal and collective evolution, which I would postulate is the reason for us being here in the first place - to learn, grow, and evolve in consciousness and return to that source of unconditional love at the very core of creation.
“The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you”. - Werner Heisenberg
I believe God's relationship with us is not too different from man's relationship with his own creation(s). I am referring, of course, to when a man and woman get together and unite to bring their own little creations - children - into the world. During its formative years, the parents will ensure the child is well-fed, looked after, and will often put the needs of the child above those of their own. However, a time must come when the parents allow the child to make his own choices and decisions in life and, over time, as the child grows up, he will form his own opinions about the world and make his own free will choices - often to the horror of the parents! The parents know the child will often make mistakes in life and, in some cases, have to sit by whilst their very own creation engages in self-destructive behaviour. No matter what the child does, however, no matter how foolish his choices in life, the parents will always love him unconditionally and allow him to express his free will while offering counsel and guidance along the way. An overly controlling, authoritarian parent will produce obedient but bitter children and, ultimately, is powerless to stop the child from making his own choices when he reaches adulthood. Parents recognise that free will is a child's greatest gift and acknowledge that their children have the right make their own choices.
In light of these self-evident truths, would it be so absurd to suggest that we are, in fact, God's divine children and are always loved unconditionally by the creator in spite of our free will choices to destroy ourselves, the planet, and the animals? Instead of ruling over us with an authoritarian hand, God has allowed us to exercise free will so as to learn from our mistakes, guiding us over the course of our lives and attempting to illuminate and awaken our hearts and minds during times of prayer, meditation, and contemplation.
Why would Jesus ask for God's forgiveness to those who were carrying out his execution? Why show compassion and mercy to those who are complicit in acts of violence? Because, those soldiers who were carrying out Jesus' crucifixion were acting from a state of unconsciousness - "they know not what they do". And humanity, in the aggregate, is also acting from a state of unconsciousness when it engages in war, genocide, and the mass slaughter of animals. While we humans find it hard to forgive those who have wronged us, God, in his infinite capacity to love, shows mercy and compassion for all of his children and is only waiting for them to return home and see the light.
This is my personal understanding of God, although I admit it is impossible for my limited human brain to comprehend the infinite mind of our creator. We are all God's children, and we have incarnated into this physical plane to exercise free will and learn from our mistakes on a unique path of self-discovery and spiritual evolution.
Proof of Heaven: A neurosurgeon's journey into the afterlife by Dr. Eben Alexander
Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing Written by: Anita Moorjani
Life After Life by Raymond Moody
Glimpses of Eternity by Raymond Moody
Journey of Souls: Case studies of life between lives by Dr. Michael Newton
The science delusion by Rupert Sheldrake
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
A search in secret India by Paul Brunton
My descent into death: a second chance at life by Howard Storm
Lovely post mckeever.. i feel like i get to know you also a bit reading this..
Totally agree with your conclusion.. and imagine if we didnt have free will.. we would all be up in arms about how we are all slaves.. ugh..<3 xx
Before the question you ask, God makes us free, with power of thought, reasoning; It happens that the man in his desire for power originates wars, class differences, racism and endless objections to others.
God does not want anyone to suffer, he gives tools to achieve it, but many ignore them.
I agree 100 percent!
God loves us so much that He will let us starve to death.
Humans allow other humans to starve to death.
well true, but the purpose of that statement when it was posed to me years ago, was that God gave us FREE WILL to ask for His help or not. i have found that since I ask for His help - I receive it. I can ask right away or I can wait for things to get worse - i don't believe that God causes problems - we cause our own problems but redemption is available at anytime - and I can ask for help out of the situation from the Supernatural Power at any time. Now I choose to ask right away. No sense in wasting everybody's time when I could have the aid of the Spirit of the Universe - but God is so respectful of my free will choice that He waits for my request for His help - that's what that statement means to me.