"The Problem of Pain"

Many atheists in today's world like to use a certain philosophical theory to try and disprove God. This theory I am speaking of embodies itself in three different forms. The first of these is this: If God exists and God is all good, why does evil exist? I will not explain this because a certain young man who you may be familiar with answered this already. Read my previous post entitled "Does Evil Exist?" to learn about this flawed school of thought and about how the young man was able to counter it.

The second form of the theory states, "If God is all loving, why does He send people to hell?" This train of thought is a big misunderstanding of Christianity and the Holy Scriptures. God sends no human being to hell; they essentially send themselves. Hell was a place prepared for the eternal punishment and captivity of Lucifer and his fallen angels. God did not intend for His earthly creations to have to endure it. However, when man fell in the Garden of Eden, it created a chasm between the holiness and righteousness of God and the sin and depravity of mankind. Even then, God did not disown His creation. If one committed sin, a blood offering was needed to atone for it and restore communion to the Father. If man, in his arrogance, refused to do this, then and only then would he go to hell if he died. It is not of God's doing but of man's blindness. God reached out His hand to offer a way to eternal life, but if man rejected it and spat in God's face, it is of the man's own doing. As predicted through prophecy, God the Father later sent His Son Jesus (100% God, 100% man) to permanently bridge the gap that sin had created. Jesus had to be fully God and fully man to bridge that gap, and He had to lay His divinity aside when he inhabited human flesh. Jesus died so that no more blood offerings had to be made. His was the last and final sacrifice to secure man's salvation. However, it is a gift from God. One must accept the gift to make it one's own, and without accepting it, it is worthless to the individual. Again, God does not send people to hell when they die, they go there themselves of their own free choosing. God lovingly held out His hand of forgiveness, but if man rejects it, the blame is upon the failure of the man to secure his own salvation.

The third area of thought within the theory is this: If God is all loving, then why is there pain and suffering in the world? This is, again, a very shallow understanding of the way things work. The counter to this last argument against God's existence is a mix of the last two. Pain is present for two main reasons: pain evolves from a lack of God in one's life, and pain is a choice people make. God is all loving and all merciful, but if men do not go to God, it is their own fault that they experience pain. Such things are of the devil, and if one does not submit to God, one is already submitting to the devil.

Together, all three of these fruitless attacks on Christianity derive what is known as the problem of pain. In reality, however, the only problem with it is people's lack of desire to end the pain and suffering. God does not promise His children an easy life, but in the long run things always work out for the better. It's curious that atheists always tend to label the Christians as the foolish ones, but in reality, the atheists are the naive and shallow minded thinkers.

~Tribal~