Does Human Suffering Disprove the Existence of God?

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Does Human Suffering Disprove the Existence
of God?
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• Gideon said to Him, O my lord, if the Lord
  is with us, why then has all this happened to
  us?
• Judges 613

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Epicurus - 342-270 BC
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Epicurus - 342-270 BC

• If there is a God who wishes to prevent evil,
  but cannot, He is not all powerful, and thus is
  not God.
• If He has the power to prevent evil, but will
  not, then He is not good, and thus is not God.
• If there is a God who has both the power and
  desire to eliminate evil, then why is evil and
  suffering present in the world today?

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Free Will

• God created man with the freedom of choice.
• God respects our choice, even when we choose to
  sin.
• Suffering is not the result of Gods impotence or
  indifference. Suffering is the result of mans
  sin (Rom 518).

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1. Our Wrong Choices
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1. Our Wrong Choices

• Then the children of Israel did evil in the
  sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them
  into the hand of Midian for seven years.
• Judges 61

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1. Our Wrong Choices

• But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a
  thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other
  peoples matters.
• 1 Peter 415

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1. Our Wrong Choices

• Do not be deceived, God is not mocked for
  whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
• Galatians 67

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1. Our Wrong Choices

• Good understanding giveth favour but the way
  of transgressors is hard.
• Prov. 1315, KJV

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2. Wrong Choices of Others
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3. Wrong Choices of Past Generations
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3. Wrong Choices of Past Generations

• You shall not make for yourself a carved
  image you shall not bow down to them nor serve
  them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
  visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
  children to the third and fourth generations of
  those who
  hate Me.
• Exodus 204-5

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3. Wrong Choices of Past Generations

• Why are innocent children starving?
• Idolatry
• Poor Agricultural Practices - Lev. 251-7
• Cruel Dictators
• Is this Gods fault?

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4. We Violate Gods Natural Law
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4. We Violate Gods Natural Law

• Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam
  fell and killed them, do you think that they were
  worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in
  Jerusalem? I tell you, no but unless you
  repent you
  will all
  likewise perish.
• Luke 134-5

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4. We Violate Gods Natural Law

• I returned and saw under the sun that the
  race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
  strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men
  of understanding, nor favor to men of skill but
  time and chance
  happen to them all.
• Eccl. 911

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4. We Violate Gods Natural Law

• Why doesnt God step in
  and do something?

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Why Do We Suffer?

1. Our Personal Wrong Choices
2. Wrong Choices of Others
3. Wrong Choices of Past Generations
4. We Violate Gods Natural Law

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Benefits of Pain and Suffering

1. Alerts Us To Danger
2. Learn Right From Wrong
3. Discipline - Heb. 125-6, 11
4. Builds Character - Rom. 53-4
5. Comfort Others - 2 Cor. 13-4
6. Long for Heaven - Rev. 214