Why is there suffering and evil in the world

[puzzled]

This question has been bothering me for many weeks now, to the point where its interfering with my simran/nitnem, making me look at faith from a perspective which is making me question it.  Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? God is something that we can never know but we can experience it or have a relationship with it, other than that we are told that God is "caring"  "provides for all"  "doesn't send anyone empty handed"  "our father"  "God is love and love is God"  etc all that stuff. 

If God is all of the above then why are there so many people suffering in the world? Why is God allowing the suffering and not doing anything about it? 

Why are there millions of starving children in the world, dying out of starvation? why doesn't God, our father, provide for them?  letting them starve to death instead?  In poor countries like India parents are selling organs to corrupt doctors so they can feed their starving children, if God is the provider then why hasn't he provided for those children? but instead leaving parents with no option but to sell their organs?  Which loving God puts his children through that? how is God caring and providing for them? 

Why is God letting toddlers get sexually molested and raped? Countless children around the world are getting raped, why is God letting that happen? that's a very funny way for a "loving" God to show his children that he loves and cares for them. 

Last week a 6 year old dalit girl from U.P was raped in Hoshiarpur by a Sikh man and his Grandfather, they told the little girl they will buy her sweets and she followed them and that's when they raped her. Why didn't God intervene? when this evil act was about to take place? Between the location where they offered her sweets to the location where they raped her, why didn't God intervene?   There are millions of children who are raped like this around the world. Did God not love this child?  if he did then that is a very messed up way of showing her that he loves her. 

When a 5 year old child is about to get gang raped why does God not intervene? why does he let it happen ?   does he not love them?  

You can say it was "Gods will"  well that's a very nasty and fcked up thing to write in someones will by a supposedly loving God, no offense to anyone ....   

I don't know why a loving God would write that in anyone's will. 

Its very easy for us here sitting in the west harping on about how Great God is and how God=Love etc    try telling a father who is deciding which organ to sell next that God "cares" and "loves" his child, try telling a 12 year old girl that has been trafficked and sold to a red light district that God "loves" her and "cares" for her. Try convincing a mother whose 3 year old has been raped and killed that God "cared" and "loved" her child. 

Why would a "loving" "caring" and "all providing" God put his children through all that? 

For us in the west poverty is just a documentary or a news segment not reality, the biggest thing we have to worry about is having to work with someone you don't like, breaking up with your partner, annoying neighbors etc  

Why am i living a comfortable life here in the west, lazy and care free, while a man my age in India is deciding which organ to sell next to feed his starving children. Why ? 

Another thing, why does crime take place in the most holiest of places? like Harmandir Sahib? women get sexually assaulted there and children get kidnapped. I was once reading reviews of Amritsar and a White tourist wrote how his wifes bottom was groped by a man at Harmandir Sahib, he said he complained to the authorities and the authorities said it's the medias fault and how they portray White women. This kind of behavior at holy places is not unheard of. Its been in the news how children have been kidnapped at Harmandir Sahib, I'm guessing their either sold, trafficked or used as sacrifices for black magic. Why does God allow this to happen at these holy places?  Guru RamDas ji is said to reside at Harmandir Sahib, then why did Guru Ji let these crimes take place at Harmandir Sahib?  What hope is someones prayer who has traveled to Harmandir Sahib from 100miles away, when people are getting assaulted and kidnapped at the very place? 

Why is the West which basically has highest % of atheists and irreligious people the most comfortable place to live in, while places like Asia and Africa where most people believe in God are some of the worst places to live in, war zones, poverty and disease ? people are crying out to God for help in those parts of the world, while here in the west people openly mock religion and God, that's a very funny way for God to show his believers he "loves" them! 

why ?

 

 

 

 

[puzzled]

Young people in Punjab in unfortunate situations are staring to question God as well. One of my distant cousins from my mothers side of the family lost his father when he was a young kid and then he lost his mother in his mid teens, he has a younger sister and both live their old Grandfather,  how long will the Grandfather have before he passes?  The boys mama, my mothers cousin, was telling my mother how the boy is now an atheist, he even stops his younger sister from going Gurdwara and shouts at her if she goes. He says, people say bad things happen to bad people, then why did God take both his parents from him when he was just a kid ...   He was telling his mama, my mothers cousin, that there is not God and that its all made up. 

I'v only met the lad twice i think when i was in India, but if i were to meet him again, i wouldn't question his position with God ....     I think he has every right to have the opinion that he has ....  he had a gutti the last time i saw him, wouldn't be surprised if hes cut it off.

Many young people in Punjab in his position are question God

[Kaurr]

Previous karams could be an answer.

[MisterrSingh]

9 hours ago, puzzled said:

 He says, people say bad things happen to bad people...

Yeah, that's the kind of nonsense that's promoted in our culture, and something I grew up believing. It took me a while to realise that our religion doesn't agree with this belief. 

People resort to saying that karma, something which we have no way of observing and proving, is the cause of our suffering. Maybe. It's a matter of faith like all of it is. How far are you willing to put up with it all in the name of faith?

[Akalifauj]

Did Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji suffer while he was being tortured? No.  So what kept Guru Sahib from feeling the suffering?  Once you find this answer you will be able to understand how to uplift your mind and this may result in others to see the light in you and they progress to the highest realm.

 

[puzzled]

On 11/10/2020 at 5:29 AM, MisterrSingh said:

Yeah, that's the kind of nonsense that's promoted in our culture, and something I grew up believing. It took me a while to realise that our religion doesn't agree with this belief. 

People resort to saying that karma, something which we have no way of observing and proving, is the cause of our suffering. Maybe. It's a matter of faith like all of it is. How far are you willing to put up with it all in the name of faith?

Yeah but that't what we are told, you sow what you reap, Aape beej aape he khau. Bad things happen if you do bad stuff. 

That does not make sense if you look at whats going on in the world around you. Jimmy Savile died a happy man with people making tributes, I'm sure his family were sitting around him holding his hand on his death bed. You can say the same about countless evil people around the world.

Yet for millions of innocent people each and everyday is a nightmare. 

None of it makes any sense. And there aint any answers for any of it either. 

[MisterrSingh]

6 minutes ago, puzzled said:

Yeah but that't what we are told, you sow what you reap, Aape beej aape he khau. Bad things happen if you do bad stuff. 

That does not make sense if you look at whats going on in the world around you. Jimmy Savile died a happy man with people making tributes, I'm sure his family were sitting around him holding his hand on his death bed. You can say the same about countless evil people around the world.

Yet for millions of innocent people each and everyday is a nightmare. 

None of it makes any sense. And there aint any answers for any of it either. 

Nobody will give you answers. You have to look for them yourself. 

[imhosingh]

Karma is a git. Bad/good is a perspective thing. We don't know what we got up to in the myriad of our past lives. The Jimmy saville example is a good one, his ego would have wanted a legacy where he was remembered falsely for his charity work etc (the front for his deeds)..but he has no legacy, his name is dirt and who knows the pains he'll get in the next life/lives. Just think of those rulers at the time out gurus...the deeds they ordered and committed...yet no-one remembers them, or praises them now do they? Plus they would have to make up for those in future lives. You can't escape karma, unless you transcend the cycle of birth/death. Saying people are 'innocent' etc...you don't know their past lives. Everyone thinks they don't deserve X,y,z..everyone thinks they are great and nice (the madness of ego) but are we? What did we do before and in previous lives? In a way it is a perfect system. Do you think our Gurus were forced to sit on hot plates, be beheaded and tortured? Or did they see the 'play' for what it is ..and accept it? Bhai Satpal Singh on Nanak Naam addresses this issues quite eloquently. 

[Jai Tegang!]

On 11/9/2020 at 11:49 AM, puzzled said:

Young people in Punjab in unfortunate situations are staring to question God as well. One of my distant cousins from my mothers side of the family lost his father when he was a young kid and then he lost his mother in his mid teens, he has a younger sister and both live their old Grandfather,  how long will the Grandfather have before he passes?  The boys mama, my mothers cousin, was telling my mother how the boy is now an atheist, he even stops his younger sister from going Gurdwara and shouts at her if she goes. He says, people say bad things happen to bad people, then why did God take both his parents from him when he was just a kid ...   He was telling his mama, my mothers cousin, that there is not God and that its all made up. 

I'v only met the lad twice i think when i was in India, but if i were to meet him again, i wouldn't question his position with God ....     I think he has every right to have the opinion that he has ....  he had a gutti the last time i saw him, wouldn't be surprised if hes cut it off.

Many young people in Punjab in his position are question God

When you gave that example, I immediately thought of Guru Ramdass Ji (Jetha Ji) before they met Guru Amardass Ji. They were also an orphan living with their grandmother, while working to fill their stomach at age 7.

There is great hardship and suffering (according to our understanding) visible in the lives of Guru Sahibaan and Gursikhs. But it doesn't register as such. Use the history of Guru Sahibaan to figure out the answers.

Look at how Guru ji dealt with the suffering of humanity around them. Look at what proactive steps they took. Look towards their lives and teachings.

Karma, Hukam, are vastly complex concepts that require more of His Blessing to grasp, as opposed to only our limited intellect. Any attempted explanation will yield a host of surface contradictions that will eventually lead you towards atheism. And where does that get you? A world with no greater power? Now you have the same existing problems, but now there is no incentive to act to rectify them. A world without God means you live like all the other organisms. In this world, those that are suffering and weak will be stepped over by the well off and strong. In this world, weakness of others is the sustenance of the strong.

[MisterrSingh]

Someone got triggered by my earlier reply. I'll clarify my answer.

If a person doesn't undertake the journey of khoj themselves and instead relies on others to fill their head with information without undergoing the process of seeking it, mulling over what they've discovered through introspection, it won't feel like that knowledge had been earned despite it being true. It won't sink in.

I think faith should be rewarded, but I don't know how that system works. I've seen druggies and alkies turn their life around and become Gursikhs after darshan from Guru Sahib, while lifelong Amritdharis beg for similar darshan but get nothing. How does that work? It seems unjust, but we know Guru Sahib isn't unjust. So there must be some system at play that eludes our understanding.