Why Suffering?
Perhaps you have wondered at one time or another how God who claims to be loving and merciful could allow so much evil and violence to exist in the world. While the mystery of how God works with man is beyond the scope of this article or any work, the answer to this question may not be as obscure as you might think.

People tend to have a very linear point of view. That is, we tend to look at life as a journey and picture ourselves traveling from one point in time to another. While this is not a bad way of looking at things, we also tend to only see the things that our closest to our point of view. This tendency can prevent us from seeing the whole picture because our attention is riveted on a certain point in time: namely ourselves.

For the purpose of this article, I am going to ask you to step out of that point of view and, for the moment, consider that you… are God.

Imagine Infinity
You are infinite in all directions. You have no beginning, no end, and no limits. You are perfect in every way—infinitely wise. There is not a thought you have not considered, a point of view you have not examined, a situation you have not reflected on… nothing ever occurs to you. You know everything and always have. You never make mistakes.

You are also infinitely holy and infinitely pure. You have no part in evil; you cannot, it is against your nature. This means that you have an acute sense for what is right and wrong. You are very sensitive to truth and error, for you are the Truth.

These qualities alone make you infinitely suited to be the Judge of all the Earth-and so you are. For you are also the Creator God, and as such you have the right to judge your creation. In time you will right every wrong, punish every crime, and ensure every man receives perfect justice.

There is another aspect of your perfection that we have yet to consider. You are infinitely loving, knowing what is the very best for Your creation in every situation.

	“...two parts of your being begin to collide...”

You also are infinitely compassionate, knowing just how to bring comfort in any circumstance, and you are also infinitely merciful, knowing just how to have mercy on those who turn to you in repentance. In short you are the personification of love.

The Dilemma
Now consider for the moment: Man. The crowning glory of your creation-at least, he was until he choose to rebel against you in the garden. Since that time, he has passed down a sin nature to each of his children which has corrupted each generation. This was not your will, not your desire. Yet you had given man the freedom to choose: for there was no other way given to man to demonstrate his love for you, his creator, than through obedience. And choose he did, but instead of choosing you, he chose something else, or I should say, he chose himself—he chose his own way, his own will, everything contrary to you and your nature.

The Sacrifice
Now, it seems, two parts of your being begin to collide: for while being the God of infinite justice, you are also the God of infinite love. In order for both of these aspects of your nature to be satisfied, an infinite sacrifice is required. And so you choose to sacrifice that which is infinite…yourself.

In the flesh, you come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth. Beginning your ministry at age thirty, you spend three years teaching the world about yourself and what it means to be infinitely good. At the end of that time you are rejected by the world and crucified—taking the sins of the whole world upon yourself and dying for them, taking man's penalty for sin in his stead: “for the wages of sin is death.” In one moment you satisfy both infinite justice and infinite love.

An Opportunity
And now, in your infinite love and infinite justice, you wait: giving opportunity for all men everywhere to partake of that infinite love and receive infinite forgiveness if they turn back to you and repent. But you will not always wait. Justice demands that a time be set: for you are not the only one that has been wronged: many of your people are experiencing pain and grief at the hands of others and sin in the world is still running its course. At the appointed time they will stand before you for judgment and you will judge. Perfectly.

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