I believe there is a purpose to suffering. I think that it shows Gods perfection to some extent and how different people react towards it. For example, if a homeless man were on the sidewalk asking you for money, would you give it to him or not? If somebody is suffering, you should meet their needs and accept them without judging them. Even in little things like this God sees how humans treat people who are suffering which is usually better than they would usually. I think suffering is not a random thing; rather, God picks people who he thinks can benefit from suffering. Suffering has a purpose other than this. It also makes people stronger. If someone undergoes suffering they are a stronger person at the end because they know what it is like to go through it. For example, if somebody is addicted to drugs and has a horrible experience with them and goes through rehabilitation they will know what it is like and will not go back to the drugs again because they had such a bad experience. This goes for other people around them such as their family and friends as well, if the same thing happened, the family and friends would go through suffering as well so they will also come out stronger people at the end.
God’s involvement in human suffering is very important to the way in which we live our lives. Without suffering we wouldn’t be able to learn from our mistakes and we couldn’t benefit from them. With suffering we become stronger emotionally, mentally and spiritually. God allows suffering because he wants to see us deal with it and learn from the wrong things we do in our lives. If we suffer because we do something wrong, we will know not to do the same thing again. Because Jesus suffered for us, God allowed suffering for people who did wrong and for people to identify with other people’s suffering so they could be helped. God does get angry and as a punishment he makes people suffer but it is all for a purpose as described above, without it, we couldn’t become better people.
If someone who is suffering is questioning God’s existence, love and goodness, I would respond by reassuring them that their suffering is all for a purpose and that God wants to see how they deal with it. I would also say that God loves them very much and that he made the ultimate sacrifice for them which was sending his only son to earth to suffer and die for us. I would explain that by doing this, God showed his love for us and how much he was willing to give up just so our sins could be forgiven. I would also say that his or her suffering is neither a bad nor a good thing, just a test to see how they and other people would deal with it and show their love toward people who are suffering. If they were questioning God’s existence I would tell them that he was the one that created them, put them on this earth, which he also created and that if you believe in him you will go to heaven for the rest of your afterlife. I would also tell them that God loves them very much.
In this essay it has been shown how suffering can benefit us and also other people close to us. The things which have been covered are the ranges of views people have towards God in times of suffering, whether or not there is a purpose to it, the involvement God has with human suffering and also how I would respond to somebody who is suffering and is questioning God’s existence.