"Suffering & Evil (Perspectives of two religions)"

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R.S. Coursework 2

“Suffering & Evil (Perspectives of two religions)”

Section A

There is pain and suffering all over the world. Even at this very moment, people are facing death and torture, but the question is if God is all kind then why is there suffering? Who or what is the cause of this pain? How can it be stopped? Through this section of the coursework, I will discuss the answers behind these questions from the perspectives of the two religions, Christianity and Islam.

According to Christianity, God is wholly good, he does not create evil nor is he evil. It states in Genesis that God created all things in the universe ‘and it was good’. So if God is all good, then where does evil come from? The teaching on suffering in Christianity goes back to the beginning when Adam and Eve were created by God. Humans were given the one thing above every other living creature in the universe, and that was the power of free will. God had explicitly told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge but they were not able to comply with this one basic rule. They were tempted to eat from the tree by Satan, the devil, an archangel that was kicked out of heaven due to his rebellion against God.

This incident ‘The Fall’ is used by all Christians as a good lesson on the origins of evil and suffering. Literalist Christians believe that this incident did happen sometime long ago but liberalist Christians, for example Baptists, believe that this was not actually a real incident in time, but only a myth that is used to teach humans of the consequences of disobedience. Now due to this one event, Christians believe that all humans are born with ‘Original Sin’, meaning it is human nature to be sinful. ‘The Fall’ was a punishment, a form of suffering, because of the disobedience and ignorance of Adam and Eve, therefore it can be said that suffering is a result of sin, and as sin is brought upon through temptation by Satan who is evil, suffering can be thought as the consequence evil.

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Evil is not the only reason for suffering according to Christianity. Suffering is part of life because it is needed to find inner strength and goodness. It is believed that through suffering, human beings learn to lead better, sin free lives. This same belief can be illustrated by Jesus’ torture on the cross and his resurrection, or life after death. Christians may think that Jesus showed out of darkness and death came light and happiness.

In some cases, evil is the result of suffering according to Christian teachings.  Job began to question God for why he was suffering because Job ...

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