Why God Allows Suffering

Q: Why doesnt God interfere?
A: God cannot change the law without changing Himself. There are certain immutable laws of the universe. One is that suffering came into the world because of original sin. Once it came, it struck both the good people and bad people. Indiscriminate. People say it is unjust that good people suffer. But justice means justice for all. Justice means the criminal must have the same rights as you and me.

Once when we were watching a scene on CSI, Sean said, it's so unfair that the criminal used the loopholes in the law to get himself off scot-free. I told him what my professor said: we may disagree with how a man exercises his rights, but we will defend to the death their right to exercise it. Justice means justice for all, even the criminals!

Imagine if the court decided to bend the law to send criminals to jail. For example, torture people until they confess. Does the ends justify the means? Bending to law to achieve the 'just' result we want, defeats the purpose of having the law in the first place. There would be no respect for law any more.

In the same way, God in His infinite justice made the law of the universe. Accordingly, with sin in the world, there came suffering too. Should God interfere to allow His children to escape suffering? If God now takes away all the suffering in the world, the law would be changed, and changing the law would require changing God's character. In short, if God interfered, God wouldnt be just anymore! Do you want to worship an unjust God who bends the rules, even for you? I dont.

Q: Why can't God just change the law?
A: A famous football manages had 2 of his own sons on his football team. The manager was a person who insisted that football must be played by the rules of the game. In one game, his elder son committed a foul, so the other side got a free kick and scored. Then, his younger son scored a goal but the linesman ruled it was an offside, so it was disqualified.

Sometimes, due to his sons' fault or otherwise, the team loses. But do you think the football manager should change the rules of football just so his sons and his team can win the game? Of course not. Nobody is saying the rules of football are unfair. Only sometimes, because of cheats, match-fixing, poor judgment calls, or bad 'luck', our favourite team doesnt win, even though they played well. It's not the team's fault, but the manager cant change the rules of football just so his team will win. That would not be fair.

God cant change the law of the universe just so we never have to suffer, because that will not be fair. God's law is fair, only sometimes, because of cheats, bad people, the devil, or even no reason at all, people we like will suffer. Or we seem to get the short end of the stick. Does that make God unfair? Nope. Should He change the law to prevent our pain? If every time your team loses you change the rules of the game, would anybody still want to play football? Nope. There has to be consistency for a standard to be set. That's why God doesnt change the law just for us.