Is God responsible for all of the death and suffering in the world?

You will get a lot of misguided answers about "violating free will".

But God doesn't even need to *do* anything to prevent death and suffering. All he has to do is *appear*, and make both his presence and his wishes known. Sure, this may not eliminate evil from the world entirely, but knowing that there was a supreme being with desires and expectations would be a hell of an incentive, no pun intended.

Addendum: The Apostle - "Your child fails his math class. You could have prevented it by doing all his work for him. Arent you responsible for his failure? Arent you to blame?.....>>"

So, what "math class" exactly did the twelve-year-old girl with leukemia fail?

Addendum II: Citizen of the Cosmos - "the pain and suffering of this world will be fully healed (even as we try to partially heal it now) at a future time, in a different age, according to traditional thinking on this subject."

If I break someone's arm, and then set it in a cast and even give them drugs, it doesn't excuse me from breaking it in the first place. Even our lowly human morality would consider this wrong.

Many people here on Earth devote their lives to the alleviation of suffering. A loving God would, if not end suffering, atleast give us some guidelines or advice.

Addendum III: Let's see... so far, three people with no intelligent rebuttal to my post.

Any more? Come on, let's see those thumbs downs.

God is not responsible for any of the suffering in the world. Who is responsible? Satan. If you believe God is to blame, then Satan has succeeded in separating you from your Creator. Yes, God is omnipotent and He could prevent death and suffering, but everything that we are experiencing here on earth is a result of sin. Its very interesting how God is blamed for everything, why not blame Satan,the one who invented pain and suffering. Just imagine how much worse it could be. Earthquakes, tornadoes, tidal waves, violence, death and destruction everywhere. We should be grateful to God we still have beautiful sunny days, sandy blue beaches, and loving people with a desire to serve and help. If it was up to Satan, humans would not exist, and the world would be in chaos.

The battle between good and evil started in heaven. The devil wanted to be God. He wanted angels to believe that God was unfair and unloving. Satan is succeeding with this same tactic today. Who does Satan hate the most? God. What is the best way to hurt God? By hurting what God loves most, which is us.

God never said we would not suffer, He warned humans of the consequences of sin.

Its very hard for you to understand the magnitude of God's love for you when you believe that there is such a thing as "eternal torture" What loving Father would do that? Eternal torture is not found in the scriptures.

There are lots of potential reasons. First, if God did that, we wouldn't have any independent existence, would we? No human dignity, just puppets on strings. Second, if God did that, we might come to see God as no more than a useful tool. So your view of what God should do risks lowering both us and God. And if you don't like either of those two reasons, there is a third possibility: that the pain and suffering of this world will be fully healed (even as we try to partially heal it now) at a future time, in a different age, according to traditional thinking on this subject.

So you can blame God for not swooping in to save everyone every time right now, if you want, but be aware that it would come at a price.

@Alexis: My understanding was that the questioner was blaming God for not fixing his malfunctioning creation, not that he was accusing God of actively making people get broken arms and other problems.

As for guidelines and advice, that is just what Christianity and the other major world religions believe that the divine does give us, in the form of scripture, great spiritual leaders, the inner promptings of conscience, and so on.

individually, i do no longer think in a God, or all-powerful deity. besides the shown fact that, the Christian 'God' made guy in his very own image, so consequently yet another question could be: does God certainly reason suffering? And if God is omniscient (all-seeing/understanding), all-powerful (all-valuable) and omnipresent (all-present day), then easily he HAS to work out suffering, HAS the skill to end it, and IS present day to end it, yet would not. this would be an quite solid clarification for no longer believing among atheists. besides the shown fact that, some people say, exceptionally people who're non secular, that God gave guy unfastened will, and consequently in the event that they decide for to create suffering, they're going to little question pass to hell. this is a sturdy question for useful!

They claim "free will," as if sinking into quicksand was something you wanted to do.

I've noticed that they don't have any trouble claiming that God does save selected people. Look at their stories of miracles. The question then becomes, why does God save some and not others, even those who probably prayed just as hard before their plane went down or the flood waters washed them away?

The whole backdrop of God, his universe, and the salvation plan makes no worldly sense to me. Yet that fact helped me believe of God's existence. There would have had to be at least something that was higher than just our simple reason and common sense.

Since we are powerless to change the course of the universe, the only thing left is to accept God on his terms. He has made a way out which i'm sure you heard of. He does not promise a care-free life but it is a trillion times better than living without it, according to my experience and countless others.

Actually the issue that was brought up at the beginning of time had to do with Adam and Eve's sinning against God. The issue is whether God has the "right" to rule mankind. As Creator, he sure has the right. He knows what's best for everyone. As you see, people minimize God's laws all the time.

It is 'people' who wanted INDEPENCENCE from God to do things their own way. So God has and is allowing time to pass to show that we need his guidance and direction like He said from the beginning. What an aweful job man is doing by doing things their own way.

He wants people to obey his Laws because we know they are right and because we love him and his ways.

But the bad things we see today will end in the future. He has promised that. Will the earth be literally destroyed? No! He does promise that those hating his standards will be destroyed instead, leaving people who really love a good life to live on earth. He will bring the earth back to the conditions it originally was made in. A peaceful, clean earth, with people who want all the good things that he provided in the beginning.

This can become a complicated subject, and then in reality it is very simple. God's laws are simple. The question is, Will we obey his laws to the benefit of ALL mankind.

God takes people and things we love away from us to make us stronger and He would never do it if we wouldn't be able to take it. That's because he love's us so much. Yes God does take people we love and he is responsible for the death but the suffering is because of our sinful nature. And when God takes people, He wants them to be with Him because its time for them to. And I say again He wouldn't take them if you weren't prepared like i said it will only make you stronger I know this because God took my dad away the day i turned 10 and i am now 15 and it has definitely made me stronger and a better person for God. I'm not saying I like him gone i miss him so much and it still is sometimes hard for me.

Omnipotence does not necessitate involvement. Nor does it imply conscience or obligation. Nor does love have anything to do with being omnipotent. You're right to state that God "could" in "good conscience" save a sinking man in quicksand, but also, you're asking God to do something that doesn't make sense in the realm of human experience, or how He set up.

God gave us free will. Free will encompasses a lot of things. As a metaphor, a man stepping into quicksand could mean any disagreeable situation one could find her/himself in. God does not directly or openly direct man towards folly, fate or fortune. It is truly man's choice what path his/her life takes. God sets the rules, God gently guides, but God doesn't come down and hammer His point home.

And you're also implying that God should interfere with the lives of man, with or without consent. He might if He were the controlling and wrathful God of the Old Testament. But God made a new covenant with Man in the New Testament. He vowed to simply love, provide guidance and spiritual assistance, in hopes of leading us all inevitably to His side in Heaven. I'm sure the atheists would love to have God in their grill 24/7, telling them how they should live, what they should do. Wouldn't that be a kicker?

And Life would not be Life as we experience it if God steered our every direction. There would be no need for choice. We would be ants, crawling along the same corridor, toward the same goal, in service to the Queen (or God). Knowing the intrinsic nature of Man as Living Being, this would never do. There would be one ant who would defy the logic of mindless consent. God didn't want mindless drones. So if He used His omnipotence to physically guide the lives of humans, the whole point of being alive is lost.

Someone who does not have a personal relationship with God would feel comfortable making such an immature demand of God. Each human/God relationship is its own creation. God wants and needs something different for and from each of us.

So should God share in your myriad of intentional "mistakes"? Should He shoulder the blame for one's choice to murder, steal or cheat on one's spouse? Again, we were given free will. We were given the choice to obey His laws, or go our own way. In this, I believe God is flawless in His interaction with us. We can no more blame Him for our bad judgment than we can blame Him for attempting time and time again to reach each of us in individual ways, with individual results.

Another analogy: you get a refund from Sears if an appliance doesn't work because the company shoulders the blame for its craftsmanship and/or acquisition with intent to sale a product to consumers. Sears will refund your money, but not necessarily admit blame or responsibility for the faulty product, because in the end, it was your choice to buy it as advertised.

You knit a sweater, it unravels, the sweater doesn't curse you for your faulty workmanship. You take a hike alone in a wooded area and fall into quicksand. You can curse the Lord or you can get busy trying to find a way out. Or you can accept your fate and/or pray for rescue. Either way, you're still in the quicksand, and God didn't push you in it. How you choose to leave the world is your choice, who you blame for your misstep is also your choice. God's omnipotence neither denies or confirms your choice.

God or Allah (SWT) as muslims know him, could prevent all suffering and death however, this life is only a test for humankind. As for helping someone who is about to die, where Allah takes one life he creates many others. For every funeral, there are numerous new babies born into the world. Everyone has a chance to use this gift of life granted to us to do good, God has reminded us many times in the past that he exists and is aware of all our actions and thoughts and that we should pray to him and worship him. Unfortunately in todays world, people are more concerned with material gains rather than Spiritual gain, myself included. Who doesn't want a ferrari, or the latest iphone or xbox? Would you go to church every Sunday for nothing material in return. As far as condemnation to hell, we are all responsible for our own actions and chioces we make, God has told us all what will happen if we do certain things. We are given choices but the decisions we make ourselves. We condemn ourselves to whatever fate comes to us.