Perhaps you're a Christian with questions about the nature of God, or having a crisis of faith due to a tragedy in your life. Or perhaps you're not a Christian, and want to know how we can believe in a loving God with all the suffering and evil happening in the world around us. Agnostic, atheist, or a believer in God, we all have these questions run through our mind on occasion. Even those of us who believe with our whole heart in a loving, powerful God.

The strongest argument most atheists have about Christianity essentially goes like this: "If God is loving, he would end suffering, unless he isn't all-powerful. And if he is all-powerful, he must not be loving, or he'd end suffering."

There are several ways we need to look at this topic. Naturally, we'll look to the Bible for answers, but we'll also have to look at the world around us, and to the way the universe was created, to understand God and his reasoning.

To understand why suffering happens, we have to understand the causes of that suffering. There seem to be two main types of events that can cause suffering in the world. The first, we'll call Natural Evils, and the second, we'll call Man-made Evils.

The natural evils are what we're going to start with. These "evils" include natural disasters, like earthquakes, as well as diseases, like cancer.

If God was so loving and all-powerful, why does he allow earthquakes, famine, drought, cancer, crib death, or a whole host of other things?

The answer to this requires us to look at other things that the Bible tells us about God. It tells us that he is a moral God. He requires clear delineation between right and wrong, and that actions have consequences. The Bible tells us that God is perfect, which means that his creation must follow the rules he sets out. The universe must have order as his nature requires.

So, he created a universe, and a world, with order. It has laws that govern it. The speed of light, gravity, birth and death. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. All things we learn in high school science classes.

Science has shown us many things about the way the universe was created. It tells us about the birth of stars, the creation of the planets, and inevitably, how the earth came to be. God created the universe in such a way that it would lead to life, and eventually, to humanity. So, we have volcanoes, we have earthquakes caused by tectonic plates shifting, we have extreme weather. These are things that the earth uses to keep balance.

Is it God's fault that humans decided to build major cities right along fault lines, where earthquakes happen frequently? Is it God's fault that we built cities right under active volcanoes, or along coastlines known for hurricanes? We should look to ourselves for the causes of these "evils".

What about cancer, or contagious diseases? It could be argued that God could prevent those from happening as well, that they shouldn't have been created in the first place.

Again, we look to science. While controversial, evolution is a very solid scientific theory. While we don't fully understand the complete workings of it, nor do we have a detailed map of the evolutionary tree from start to finish, evolution can be shown to have happened, and cannot be ignored.

Evolution is one of God's greatest achievements. He knew that, in order to create humans, he only needed to start with some single celled organisms, and let them evolve for a few billion years. God is patient. He knew that eventually, we would become who we are today.

However, in order for evolution to work to create us, other things had to come about as well. Single celled organisms are still around. Some of these bacteria are incredibly helpful, or even necessary, for us to survive. But others evolved in other directions, and became the types of bacteria and viruses that cause illness.

The process of evolution is self-correcting. If a genetic mutation benefits a creature, it generally enters the gene pool, because that creature is more suited for survival and breeding. A negative mutation causes illness, and possibly death, but also makes it less likely that that creature will breed and spread that negative mutation.

In humans, however, we have changed the natural order of things. Instead of allowing for poor genetic mutations to be weeded out of the gene pool, we find ways to correct the problems. We have eyeglasses for people with bad eyesight, insulin for diabetics, treatments for all sorts of genetic deficiencies.

We do this because we follow the moral law of right and wrong. We see people suffering, and we, as a species, protect those in need, those with less than we do. This is right, and this is what God wants.

This is a rather long-winded way of saying that we, as humans, are working against the natural order of life, and because we allow these genetic deficiencies to continue in our gene pool, we will continue to see these genetic diseases in humanity.

The second type of evil we need to examine is what I'd call Man-made Evil. Man-made Evil refers to rapes, murder, and the like.

Lots of bad things happen to very good people. Good people get robbed, mugged, raped, or even gunned down by mistake in drive by shootings. How could God allow such evil things to happen to so many good people?

The first part of the answer lies in our creation by God. The Bible states that when we were created, God gave us the ability to choose between good and evil, and to understand the difference between them. He gave us free will.

This means that you have the choice to treat people well, or to hurt people. You can choose to protect those in need, or betray someone that trusts you.

You might ask about the things that happen to you that weren't caused by a choice you made. Nobody chooses to be raped or murdered, after all. However, the choice to hurt you was made by someone else. God protects the free will to make wrong choices just as much as He protects the ability to make right choices. If God were to stop someone from committing murder, He would be removing the murderers free will.

This may not sound all that comforting, but it should be. Consider this: When a bad thing happens to you, how do you deal with it? Do you abandon your faith? Do you cry out for help from God? Do you hide from the world and decide that the world is against you, or do you learn from what happened and become a better person?

The other part of the equation involves God's plan. In God's eyes, time is meaningless. He is outside of time. His plans for humanity might stretch for thousands more years, and to Him, that's an eyeblink of time. At the same time, He works tirelessly every moment for your well-being. He knows that the suffering you experience may make you a better person in the long run.

As an example, consider the story of a young woman. This young woman was asleep in her bed, home alone, when a man broke into her home and brutally raped her. The suffering this woman experienced would be unimaginable for most people. She had done nothing to cause this man to hurt her, yet he went out of his way to do so.

Her reaction could have been to withdraw from the world, withdraw from men, withdraw from human contact. For a while, this may have happened. However, with work, she was able to learn from a horrible experience, and was able to grow and become a better person. Now, this woman, not so young anymore, is a counsellor for women who have gone through similar experiences. Because she has experienced the pain, the trauma, and the fear of a tragic moment, she is able to help other women through their fear, their doubt, and their hatred.

Would this woman have been able to help all these other women, if she hadn't gone through her own trials first?

There is another reason why God allows the bad things to happen. Looking at the way the universe was made, we can see that it was created to have rules, that everything follows very strict guidelines. Again, we look at gravity, the seasons, molecular reactions, and everything else God created as evidence that He requires order. Every action requires a reaction. The Bible tells us that God is perfect. This means that He created the universe according to his nature, and if he were to go against his nature, and correct perceived mistakes, that would imply imperfection. It would also lead to chaos. If God were to interfere with choices being made, to stop a person from doing a bad thing, to stop an earthquake from happening, what would happen to the world? What would stopping those things do to whatever reaction that was supposed to follow?

We do not, as humans, understand God's complete plan for us. We very well may need to suffer in order to become who we need to be, to better ourselves.

So the question remains regarding God's nature. Is he a loving God that wants us to better ourselves, or does he not care at all? Is he involved in our lives, or does he just watch and judge?

There are two stories that might illustrate His love for us, and how He does interact in our lives.

The first happened at a Canadian church, and is the author's personal experience. The church congregation consisted of about 300 people, mostly elderly, with a handful of younger couples and teenagers. The church service normally consisted of a worship band, followed by church announcements, followed by more songs with the worship band, followed by the sermon. While this was normally fun, the music portion could be a tough time to get through, as only a few people there could actually sing well.

On this particular day, many members of the congregation were feeling the loss of a church member. This was a great woman, always helping out with the Children's Church, and was loved by everyone. She had passed away of cancer, and the congregation felt her loss. However, the worship band tried its best to lead the congregation in song. Due to the pain everyone felt, and the

During the last song before the sermon was to begin, everything started as normal. It was difficult for everyone to get the song started, many people didn't know the song, and fumbled with the lyrics, but, everyone caught on fairly quickly, and the song progressed, sounding nice, but not truly great.

However, during the course of the song, as the congregation entered the chorus, something changed. Suddenly, the congregation all fell into exactly the correct tempo, everyone was singing together, and, most amazing of all, everybody was perfectly in tune. The song went from sounding nice, to being completely perfect.

The entire congregation recognized what was happening, and looked around at each other in wonder and amazement. The worship band indicated that they'd go back to the beginning of the song, and repeat it. That sense of wonder, of perfection, continued until the end of the song. As the song came to a close, most of the congregation wept openly, or looked around in awe. The awe was not just inspired by the perfection of the song, but also due to what everybody felt while singing. They felt love, compassion, and a comfort that was more pure than anything they could put into words.

This shows one of the ways God interacts with us during our suffering. He may have called home one of his children, but he was there to comfort the friends and family of the one that was lost.

The second story that can show how God interacts with us, while still allowing us to live by the rules He set out, involves a young woman.

This young woman was involved in a relationship with someone that she was incredibly happy with. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the young woman, their relationship ended very abruptly, at a complete shock to everyone involved.

As can happen when relationships end, the young woman fell into incredible depression, and contemplated suicide. One day, she went to work, worked through her day, then got into her car to drive home. Her drive required that she take a highway, with a long, straight stretch of road followed by a sweeping turn.

As she reached the long, straight stretch, she pressed the accelerator down, and sped towards the turn, with the intention of crashing into the barrier wall and ending her life.

However, as she approached the wall, at speeds well over 100 miles per hour, a voice sounded in her head, unlike anything she had heard before, and said "NO!" Just one word, but it convinced her to slow down, and get home safely.

That young woman is still alive, and has a much happier life than she thought she'd have, because she listened to that voice. This young woman is not a Christian, but she can't explain where that voice would have come from without that possibility coming to mind. However, because she listened to that voice, and obeyed, there is a chance that her life will become, in time, what God has planned for her.

This story tells us the other method that God enters our lives. In extreme cases, He may speak directly to us, and tell us what he wants. He does not force us, however, but leaves us to make a choice whether or not to obey.

In the end, there is one incredibly important thing to consider about human suffering. According to the Bible, your life is dedicated to one thing, and one thing only. That one thing is about making a choice.

You can live your life, being hurt, and taking that hurt personally, hating God for hurting you, or even turning against God for another religion, or lack of religion in your life. You can make that hurt last your whole life. You can make your whole life about nothing except having been hurt. And when you die, the only thing that will have mattered in your life will have been that you were hurt, that you suffered, and your death will mean nothing, because it will only be the end of suffering.

The other option is to make your choice for Christ. Your life then becomes more than suffering. It becomes a chance to be more, to do more with your life, and to try to help those that are suffering. It means the chance to show love, caring, and companionship to anyone in need. And when you die, that one decision becomes the most important thing in your life. Instead of everything being about suffering, that hurt and pain become inconsequential, because when you die, you spend the rest of eternity in perfection, finally together with God, as He wants.

In that perspective, what is more important to you? A comparitive moment of pain, of hurt, or an eternity of love, and eternal joy?

Your choice will make a difference. If you make the right choice, and choose love instead of hate, if you choose to help others instead of being the cause of someone's pain, you can be yet another avenue God uses to show His love for His people. By helping, by being a friend in need, or by helping a perfect stranger, you can lessen the suffering of others, and quite certainly, enrich your own life.

This article was originally published on HisFaithful.com .