12 - Reasons for Suffering

• Original Sin - The first sin ever committed - when Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. The action brought sin and evil into the world
• Original Sin as a Reason for Suffering -

  • In the 'Fall', Adam and Eve are tempted to do evil by the devil
  • They disobey God and eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
  • This brought sin to humanity and people are now born with disease of evil
  • It is the first ever sin, and so is called Original Sin
• Misuse of Free Will

  • Evil is because humans misuse the the freedom God has given them
  • This is the idea of an important Christian - Augustine
  • God has made us free to do good or bad and sometimes we choose the bad
  • By doing bad we create evil. Evil doesn't exist until humans do it
  • Adam and Eve are given the choice and they chose to disobey
• Test from God

  • Evil is a test from God and is a test of faith just like in the story of Job
  • Job lost his family, wealth and health but didn't doubt God
• Soul-Making

  • Evil is to make us better people as we can learn from it
  • Irenaeus said that we have to develop from the image to the likeness of God, and evil helps us do that
  • John Hick said our suffering is for us to learn lessons so we can make our character better
  • Without evil we would not know what good is, without fear we wouldn't know what courage is, so evil is character building
• Islam Reasons for Suffering

  • Suffering is part of the plan of Allah - we will not understand it
  • Suffering is a test - it proves your faith if you resist the temptation of the devil
  • Good can come from suffering - follow the examples of Muhammad to become a better person
  • Those who resist the devil and accept suffering will be rewarded in the afterlife