Who Is God? Why Does He Allow Suffering? Will It Ever End?

1. Does God have a name?

Although God has many titles, he has only one name. In each language, it is pronounced differently. In English it is usually pronounced “Jehovah.” But some people pronounce it “Yahweh.” (Psalm 83:18)

God’s name has been taken out of many Bibles and replaced with the titles Lord or God. But when the Bible was written, it contained God’s name some 7,000 times. Jesus made God’s name known when he taught people about God. (John 17:26)


2. What is God like?

Jehovah is love. He cares about us all deeply and wishes that not one of us take the path of destruction. (Peter 3:9) We can discern God’s personality from the things he has created and the emotions we possess. For instance, the variety of fruits, flowers and animals, the beautiful landscapes and the warm sun that accompanies them. Joyful tears, love, kindness, compassion etc etc tells us of his love and wisdom. The size of the universe tells us of his power. (Romans 1:20) Jehovah knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows exactly how many hairs we have on our head. (Luke 12:7)


3. How can we draw closer to God?

In-order to draw close to the creator of the universe. We need to try and show Love, Honour, Dignity, Loyalty, Humility, Integrity, and most importantly help out your fellow humans.

Jehovah invites us to draw close to him by speaking to him in prayer. He is interested in us individually. (Psalm 65:2; 145:18) He is willing to forgive. He recognizes our efforts to please him, even if we sometimes fail. So despite our imperfection, we really can enjoy a close relationship with God. (Psalm 103:12-14, James 4:8)


4. Why does Earth suffer from so much corruption?

All of Jehovah’s works are perfect; he is not the author of unrighteousness; so he did not create anyone wicked. (Deut. 32:4, Ps. 5:4) The one who became Satan was originally a perfect spirit son of God. When saying that the Devil “did not stand fast in the truth,” Jesus indicated that at one time that one was “in the truth.” (John 8:44) But, as is true of all of God’s intelligent creatures, this spirit son was endowed with free will. He abused his freedom of choice, allowed feelings of self-importance to develop in his heart, began to crave worship that belonged only to God, and so enticed Adam and Eve to listen to him rather than obey God. Thus by his course of action he made himself Satan, which means “adversary.” (Jas. 1:14, 15)

Why did not God destroy Satan promptly after he rebelled?

Serious issues were raised by Satan: (1) The righteousness and rightfulness of Jehovah’s sovereignty. Was Jehovah withholding from mankind freedom that would contribute to their happiness? Were mankind’s ability to govern their affairs successfully and their continued life truly dependent on their obedience to God? Had Jehovah been dishonest in giving a law that stated that disobedience would lead to their death? (Gen. 2:16, 17, 3:3-5) So, did Jehovah really have the right to rule? (2) The integrity of intelligent creatures toward Jehovah. By the deflection of Adam and Eve the question was raised: Did Jehovah’s servants really obey him out of love or might all of them abandon God and follow the lead being given by Satan? This latter issue was further developed by Satan in the days of Job. (Gen. 3:6, Job 1:8-11, 2:3-5 see also Luke 22:31) These issues could not be settled by merely executing the rebels.

6000 years of pain > 100,000,000,000,000 years x Infinity of awesomeness.


5. Is the end of the world really near?

THE BIBLE’S ANSWER: “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near.” (LUKE 21:31)

The Bible prophets were inspired by God to describe conditions that would indicate an imminent end of the world. Consider some of those prophecies and decide for yourself whether they are being fulfilled in our time.

* Wars, famines, earthquakes, and epidemics of deadly disease. (Matthew 24:7, Luke 21:11)
* Significant increase in crime. (Matthew 24:12)
* The ruining of the earth by mankind. (Revelation 11:18)
* People who love themselves, money, and pleasures but do not love God. (2 Timothy 3:2, 4)
* The breakdown of the family. (2 Timothy 3:2, 3)
* General apathy toward the evidence of the approaching end. (Matthew 24:37-39)
* The preaching of the good news of God’s Kingdom worldwide. (Matthew 24:14)

As Jesus said, seeing “all these things” lets us know that the end of the world is near. (Matthew 24:33) Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the evidence is convincing, and they share their faith with others by preaching in 236 lands.


6. What happens at the end of the world?

THE BIBLE’S ANSWER: “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2:17)

“The world” that is to pass away is, not the earth, but the world of mankind whose lives are not in harmony with God’s will. Just as a surgeon might remove a cancerous tumor to save a patient’s life, God will “cut off” the wicked so that good people can truly enjoy life on earth. (Psalm 37:9) In that sense, “the end of the world” is a good thing.

Jesus called that future period “the renewal of all things.” At that time, he will restore humanity to the conditions that God originally intended. (Matthew 19:28) We will then enjoy:

* He will swallow up death forever, And the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will wipe away the tears from all faces. (Isaiah 25:8)
* A paradise earth with security and prosperity for all. (Isaiah 35:1 Micah 4:4)
* Work that is meaningful and satisfying. (Isaiah 65:21-23)
* The curing of all disease. (Isaiah 33:24)
* The reversal of aging. (Job 33:25)
* The resurrection of the dead. (John 5:28, 29)
* Find exquisite delight in Jehovah, And he will grant you the desires of your heart. (Psalms 37:4)

Basically we will be invited to spend eternity in the coolest place imaginable free from pain, death and ageing. We’ll be granted immortality to spend having fun and relaxing under Jehovah’s loving protection.

And to all those who say living forever would be boring. Perhaps you’re right when you use this current world as a reference. But in Jehovah’s new world there will be everlasting content to enjoy. Jehovah’s creative abilities are infinite. 

If we do “the will of God,” what he asks of us, we need not fear the end of the world. Instead, we can look forward to it.


7. Conclusion

We must try our best to help out our fellow humans and to love God as Jesus commanded.

We need to try and avoid harmful practices such as: Sexual immorality, Greed, Arrogance, Hatred, Selfishness, Anger, Jealousy etc etc

We must try and promote values of righteousness including: Love, Honour, Dignity, Loyalty, Humility, Integrity, and Most Importantly Help Out Fellow Humans..

No one will ever know. It Sucks.

Close Thread.

a reply to: JoshuaVerum

Spoke like a true slave.
Conditioned to be a slave and to serve masters and lords.
God doesn't have petty human needs only the men who wrote these Holy books.
Be good to each other is already in us the rest is dogma.

I think the answer to why he would allow suffering goes along with the fish story.

Feed someone and you have to keep feeding them, teach them to fish they can then take care of themselves.

So people who pray to answer their issues will never get the answer until they get off their butt and do it rather than whine to God.

FYI there is no Jehovah name it was made by people who don't have a clue how to transliterated Yahweh.

Funny how everyone blames satan for their issues.

You can read what satan is here:

www.numberman.net...

Everything happens here - everything - including suffering.
The issue is that there is a belief in the one that suffers.
Suffering comes and goes, happiness comes and goes, everything that arises subsides and morphs into something else continually. But if there is an identification with the happening - a belief in the thought that 'I am' suffering or 'someone' is suffering then there will be unnecessary suffering.

There is no one suffering - there is suffering or no suffering.
There is sound and colour and sensation but when there is a belief in the story that says 'I am seeing colour and I am feeling sensation' the 'I' has miraculously come into being but it is not ever a real thing. The 'I' is just part of the story thought produces.
There is only ever what is happening - there is not really someone that it is happening to.

I too am having issues regarding Gods love for man

God wishes that all of mankind be saved

But when I read revelations

God will sent an angel down into the Euphrates in Iraq and Syria and release
The four angels that were bound there
And has ordered them to kill a third
Of mankind
Because man is evil in all his ways
He planned this right from the start
When he kicked Adan and Eve out of the garden
He will kill all the animals and all the fish in the sea and all the plants and trees
To starve mankind to death
The only thing to eat is the hidden maner
He will unleash plagues to kill two thirds of mankind

And in the end man will be hidding in caves
To escape God's wraith
The only ones he will spare are those who
Truly hate life
For if you love life it is because you are doing something evil

a reply to: piney
There should be neither a loving of life or a hating of life - if there is to be the end of conflict. The one that loves or the one that hates is the added extra which makes life conflict (not harmonious) - there can be no peace for the one with a self centre (the wicked).
Life is what is happening - there is nothing but aliveness but if there is 'someone' who loves or hates then that is the suffering.
Seek the one that suffers and it will be all over.

Being a priest nowadays must suck so hard; all they hear I've read the bible and can only reply do you understand it.. And every time, yes every word

a reply to: piney

Because by that point in Revelation, the ones who are left are the ones who had no faith and did not believe or the ones who only came to believe after it became obvious God existed.

This is one of the arguments for a rapture. God removed those who had faith and knew him before this time begins.

As to suffering, look around and nearly all of it is a direct result of how we treat each other and therefore perfectly within our own ability as humans to control.

a reply to: JoshuaVerum

I'm afraid no one can answer you, and everyone can answer you.

The bible is not something anyone can read and definitively conclude anything, for various reasons; it is the very reason why there are over 40,000 denominations of Christianity (all of which believe they have the exact truth, and the purest answer).

You're asking all these great questions, but I noticed you missed one crucial one:

Why does a god need to exist at all in order for the universe, and us, to exist?

originally posted by: JoshuaVerum
4. Why does Earth suffer from so much corruption?

All of Jehovah’s works are perfect; he is not the author of unrighteousness; so he did not create anyone wicked. (Deut. 32:4, Ps. 5:4) The one who became Satan was originally a perfect spirit son of God. When saying that the Devil “did not stand fast in the truth,” Jesus indicated that at one time that one was “in the truth.” (John 8:44) But, as is true of all of God’s intelligent creatures, this spirit son was endowed with free will. He abused his freedom of choice, allowed feelings of self-importance to develop in his heart, began to crave worship that belonged only to God, and so enticed Adam and Eve to listen to him rather than obey God. Thus by his course of action he made himself Satan, which means “adversary.” (Jas. 1:14, 15)

If all of God's works were perfect then Satan would not turn to evil or abuse freedom of choice

The fact that Satan turned evil suggests he was never perfect, therefore God's works are imperfect

Why believers cannot see this logic is beyond me, if something is perfect it remains perfect for eternity, if it becomes imperfect then it was never perfect to begin with

There are many more logic defying contradictions in religion

And let's not get into the whole man being made in the image of God theme, if man is capable of evil through freedom of choice then God is capable of evil too, if man is capable of imperfection then God is capable of it too, therefore what the bible tells us about God is a lie when we use a little logic over blind faith.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: piney

As to suffering, look around and nearly all of it is a direct result of how we treat each other and therefore perfectly within our own ability as humans to control.

Completely untrue. Disease, natural disasters and old age cause suffering. Before modern times starvation was beyond the control of man. Animals suffer in nature with no help from man.

Even much of the suffering which comes from man is not the fault of the person (or creature) suffering. Suffering is not perfectly within human ability to control. One's own suffering is certainly not under their own control.

originally posted by: Discotech
The fact that Satan turned evil suggests he was never perfect, therefore God's works are imperfect

Why believers cannot see this logic is beyond me, if something is perfect it remains perfect for eternity, if it becomes imperfect then it was never perfect to begin with

A very good point.

However, 'imperfection' is just one of the conclusions we can draw from that point. The other would be that god intentionally allowed Satan to turn evil, making god evil.

Jehovah is a title. I suppose a title could be a name also. I don't know god's real name.

They hid the name of god so people wouldn't use it to control others long ago. Now if they did that, why would it be in the bible after they did that. Some may still know gods real name, but I doubt if they will be telling us.

Addressing god by his title is appropriate.

a reply to: JoshuaVerum

Adam and eve were born in paradise. the perfect world. however paradise and this corrupted world were connected by the forbidden tree. if we wanted to remain eternal we should not have eaten from the tree. thus perfection was an attribute of our original state of existence.

then we ate from the tree we came here. and here is perfect. and here's why. it's exactly what it's supposed to be.. a contrast to paradise. it is meant to be a corrupt existence. dual facetted. paradoxical, puzzling, damning place. in other words.. this world is perfect! just as God intended it to be ... Perfectly-Imperfect. corrupted. so that we can learn why evil is bad. evil in this case meaning sin.. and sin meaning anything that disrupts the harmony and laws of intention.

thus.. where there is happiness there will be sadness lurking around the corner to tip the scales again in it's favour. then happiness will have it''s time again. and so on. because the contrast of life is recognizable, death also existed. and is a purification. this is what God intended for this world. that energy would continually transfer from one form into another. unless it were to conquer the realm and transform back into a pure state of existence. which means it would no longer be subject to contrast and contradiction.

the choice is really yours at this point. with the path set by the example of Christ and what it revealed and allowed for the world. do you reject this world? and it's corruption? do you hate the pain that is caused and which others suffer in this existence? if the answer is yes. and you would really like everyone to stop suffering. then ur on your way. do you recognize others suffer? it is because of the evil committed by others. simply they do not obey the universal law of intention. the service themselves and care only for themselves generally. so many people get hurt. it is because of the evil committed by you and everyone. the wickedness they do both consciously and unconsiously to eachother that keeps you here.


in short. God created this world to teach us a lesson about law. laws which govern us. laws which demonstrate intention to produce and sustain life. thus.. all action against this intention is counterproductive to the intention of the universe. This is how harmony is achieved. and until man understands that, he wont have harmony.. and if we let him into heaven with that behaviour, he would destroy it all unsupervised. thus... until we learn prooerly the law of self proctoring. the discipline, the ethics, the honor, the morality of sharing an existence with others.. we are quarantined. cordoned off.

metaphorically speaking.. God lives in a gated community. everyone in that community knows how to live in a civilized neighbourly way. they have class. they have discipline. they have ethics that they hold firmly to even when noone is looking. He cant allow riffraff in with no training into that gatecommunity to upset the peace evolved beings are experiencing as a direct result of their conscious evolution.

would you allow a wild monkey or tiger into your house to roam freely? no.. but you would allow a trained one. one who knows not to poop on the bed and the sofa.. not to bite the tv remote control. not to dig in the garbage and scatter it about when you're not home... etc.

get my drift? so until we learn that.. we are doomed to function under laws which we cannot defeat. at first he left it up to us.. do not eat from the tree. obey that law or you will die. and die we did.. because if we had stayed in paradise we would have never known what death was. we wouldnt understand it. we wouldnt see why it matters. and who knows the catastrophic damage we could do to God's creations, quite well in this finite world. from our state of ignorance in paradise? we would not understand suffering, pain. thus for us to be fair judges. we must experience. we must suffer under the same.

a reply to: JoshuaVerum

It's amazing that such tall tale was believed when first introduced thousands of years ago. The fact that is to this day still being believed is totally mind blowing.

All without any credible evidence to support it and mountains of evidence against. I'm truly in awe at humanities ability to fall victim to it's own BS.

in the grand scheme of things the time we spend here is nothing compared to eternity.if you live to be 100 years old, what percentage of eternity is 100 years? I would do the math but the decimal places on my calculator don`t go that high.

Does it even make sense that god would want to intervene in your time here and prevent suffering from such an infinitesimally short period of eternity?

originally posted by: Ghost147
a reply to: JoshuaVerum

I

The bible is not something anyone can read and definitively conclude anything, for various reasons; it is the very reason why there are over 40,000 denominations of Christianity (all of which believe they have the exact truth, and the purest answer

Really, really

All believe they have the exact truth?
Care to back that up with some evidence, something significant other than ghostly hyperbole

I know many cults who teach they have the exact truth, don't know to many mainstream churches that teach that
If there are many interpretations surely there must be many options, to suggest that all believe they know the exact truth is a a little spurious.
Why do you do that?

Take the Jehova Witnesses as an example, they print their own bible because they want to define their own truth
God is not a legalist, God is defined by love and Jesus

Ghost, you have to put a slant on everything to justify your own personal view, right or wrong, making stuff up is disingenuous

a reply to: JoshuaVerum

I can't help but wonder about the motivation of this thread... Are you preaching or asking questions?

I can only assume you're preaching... but I am going to answer as if you were genuinely asking the members of this forum for their opinion

1. Does God have a name?

Many... all of which were given by man... Jesus called him Father, so I do the same...

In reality the true God does not have a name because nothing came before HIM to give said name... An entity with a name is a creation of another...

Jehovah/YHWH... Is either a creation of man, or a lower entity posing as the true God... Evidence of which is literally all over the world... said god is a screw up

2. What is God like?

Your answer seems decent... Though again this Jehovah character is nothing like a loving creator, being angry and jealous, envious and wrathful... all of man kinds worst traits. Which further reinforced the idea that this being isn't real... nothing but a creation of man.

Yet Jesus did say there is a god of this world... this is your Jehovah... the Demiurge

3. How can we draw closer to God?

Good answer here... and I quote

In-order to draw close to the creator of the universe. We need to try and show Love, Honour, Dignity, Loyalty, Humility, Integrity, and most importantly help out your fellow humans.

5. Is the end of the world really near?

No...

This world is exactly how its supposed to be... WE made it this way, and we will continue to destroy it, and ourselves in the process of spiritual evolution... The world will end when we destroy ourselves, or our friendly neighbourhoods star does it for us... either way we're here for a limited time

6. What happens at the end of the world?

We either escape this planet... or cease to exist as a species... those are the only options

That is IF we don't destroy ourselves before we figure out we are a species, not separate but ONE

Your conclusion is fine I suppose... religious organizations are no way to get to said place in our development though

a reply to: Raggedyman

Why would anybody believe anything they didn't think was the truth?

Do you hold and beliefs/opinions that you don't think are correct and true?...