Part of God’s Design?

Might it be, as some have claimed, that this incessant suffering is part of some incomprehensible design of God? Must we suffer now to appreciate life ‘in the next world’? Is it true, as French philosopher Teilhard de Chardin believed, that the “suffering that kills and decomposes, is necessary to the being in order that it may live and become spirit”? (The Religion of Teilhard de Chardin; italics ours.) Surely not!

Would a considerate designer deliberately create a deadly environment and then claim to be compassionate when he rescued people from its effects? Hardly! Why would a loving God do such a thing? So why does God permit suffering? Will suffering ever end? The next article will discuss these questions.

SUFFERING was not part of God’s original purpose for the human family. He did not design it, nor does he want it. ‘If that is so,’ you may ask, ‘how did it start, and why has God allowed it to continue till now?’—Compare James 1:13.

The answer is found in the earliest record of man’s history, the Bible, particularly the book of Genesis. It says that our first parents, Adam and Eve, followed Satan the Devil in his rebellion against God. Their actions raised fundamental issues that struck at the very foundation of universal law and order. When they claimed the right to decide for themselves what was good and what was bad, they challenged God’s sovereignty. They questioned his right to rule and to be the sole arbiter of “good and bad.”—Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-5.