Why Is There Pain And Suffering? – Hal Urban’s Story

Tears Pain Suffering
Photo Courtesy of Honikum

God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how. – Henry Ward Beecher

Following is an excerpt from the book ‘Life’s Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter by Hal Urban’. Author Hal Urban has shared a question his student had asked him and his reply to the same.

Q: If God is so good and so powerful, how come god allows us all this suffering? Why didn’t he make us so that we can be happy and healthy all the time?

A: If God created us that way, we would be nothing more than puppets. He would be pulling the strings and we would have absolutely no power of our own. It’s true, we wouldn’t have to experience pain and hardship. But without them we would also never know the real triumphs and joys of life. There would be no reason to find a meaning or purpose for ourselves. We would be nothing more than mindless, programmed robots. God did a lot better than that. He created us instead with a free will. He gave us life and then he gave us the freedom to decide for ourselves what we will do with it. He gave us the power to choose our own way.

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Evelyn Lim | October 16th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

How true! We have every free will, the power to choose what we want to experience. With our free will, it is also possible to recreate a new destiny.

Evelyn Lim´s last blog post..Should The Poor Mexican Fisherman Give Up Contentment For Cash?

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Davina | October 16th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

Hi Avani. It is true, but when I think of it, here we have this free will and yet we make it so hard for ourselves sometimes. Interesting eh?

Davina´s last blog post..25 Words That Connect Us — Frosty Sunrise

Davina | October 16th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

@ Evelyn… seems we’re on the same trail today

Marelisa | October 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am

Hi Avani: This reminded me of a quote from “The Count of Monte Cristo”: “He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”

Marelisa´s last blog post..Eradicating Poverty Through Human Ingenuity – Blog Action Day 2008

Cath Lawson | October 17th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

Hi Avani – that is a great point. Being happy all the time, no matter what our actions were would be a miserable existance really. I guess we wouldn’t learn a thing.

Amanda Linehan | October 17th, 2008 at 9:42 pm

Beautiful picture! I guess that’s the tough thing about choice – being able to choose either way.

Amanda Linehan´s last blog post..The Joy of Walking

banji | October 18th, 2008 at 10:19 am

The same thing goes to death, we can only appreciate the life we have, the 24 hour given when we know someday we will die. We have to live the best way possible.

Thanks for the review of the book

Robin | October 21st, 2008 at 2:11 am

Hi Avani – I totally agree with this, and I am glad you said it. I believe we are fully creative beings – we just need to realise it.

Robin´s last blog post..Emotional Balance

Tom Volkar / Delightful Work | October 21st, 2008 at 5:42 pm

This reminded me of the excellent line in Conversations With God Book One. “Without hot we would not know cold.” It’s all in the contrast my friends. We need the contrast for the spice of life.

Tom Volkar / Delightful Work´s last blog post..Leveraging Community