Pain & Suffering - Why?
Ouch! Good Question & Glad you asked :)
Let's start off with what causes pain & suffering for us as humans:
Sickness / Health Issues
Being Physically/Verbally/Emotionally/Mentally hurt and/or abused by someone/something (intentionally or unintentionally)
Loss of a loved one
Bad Environment: e.g., pollution, cutthroat culture, lack of community, extreme heat, extreme cold, lack of sun, confined space etc.
Loneliness: feeling abandoned by family, friends and/or even Creator God
Unforgiveness
Hate
and the list goes on etc. ......
Now let's break each one down to see if we can find the reason why that pain & suffering exists:
Pain & Suffering + Reason why
- Sickness / Health Issues:
The human body is an extremely complex & finely tuned system made up of the following 6 complex sub-systems: physical, chemical, biological, electrical, mental & spiritual.
If anything small starts to go wrong with any one of those subsystems - the wheels start to come off and there is a serious danger that things will start to spin out of control, not to mention the pain & suffering it can bring.
We are probably most experienced & knowledgeable with regards to the physical subsystem (except maybe when it comes to how the brain works - we are still working hard on that part).
The chemical subsystem comes in 2nd, in my opinion, and a lot of it is still black magic to us due to the complexities of known elements involved and the different chemical reactions- remember the periodic table you learned about in chemistry class:
We have barely scratched the surface and it is already mind-blowing - poof :)
Thankfully we have 'doctors' (created by Creator God) in each subsystem category working hard to help find cures & solutions to help alleviate our pain & suffering as part of their purpose in life (Purpose of [your] life).
We just need them to meet up with each other at least once a year (or at least the experts in each of those fields) to exchange ideas - but that is a discussion for another day.
Now some would argue that since Creator God created the human body, He should be the one fixing it:
Well, Creator God actually does take full responsibility for it & He is extremely proud of version 1.0, but He would like us to learn & understand how it works and we get to learn by studying, experimenting + experiencing it 1st hand on what it means to live in/with one.
Don't sweat it, Creator God has already created a better version, v2.0 but you will have to wait until you get to Heaven to experience that part. In the meantime you are still in training camp (Purpose of [your] life).
Now some of you are already thinking: if there is a better version (v2.0) why even still mess with v1.0:
Besides the reasons already mentioned - there is another factor to keep in mind: in order to truly appreciate something, you first need to experience the lack thereof...
And "NO" Creator God is not some mighty being that enjoys seeing humans experience pain & suffering:
He created humans to be very intelligent creatures and to be in His image (we look like and act like Him in some ways, just on a much smaller/minute scale).
He wants us as Humans to be motivated (by the short-term pain & suffering compared to eternity) to learn and study & learn as much as we possibly can, in order to not just help alleviate the suffering & pain BUT more importantly, to enjoy & help collaborate on v2.0 eventually.
Wait, I've heard Creator God being described as perfect - this does not sound like perfection to me:
Again, the problem might be in our perception of what perfection means, for example:
I love going to the beach/ocean and walking on the sand while I hear the waves break in the background - it just gives me a sense of serenity, peace & calmness.
But if Creator God had to make it perfect according to my human perception it would end up in a disaster - there would be no waves - it would just be a calm lake (waves = chaos & imperfect water movement) with no creatures in it (who wants yellow water - if you get my drift) - there goes my beach experience.
There is also a big difference between perceived perfection and continuous improvement - one is definitely more inspirational than the other in the long run :)
We are promised (by Jesus in the Bible - it is also a common human desire) that there will be no more pain, suffering, tears, violence, killing, meat eating (sorry omnivores - seems that being vegetarian is the most highly elevated discipline) in Heaven - again: you can't fully appreciate something, until you experience the lack thereof:
While we are on this subject, the same goes for Life:
God created you to enjoy Life, all that He created as well as being in relationship with Him:
It, however does not help, if the human being does not want to live or appreciate life:
There comes a point in each person's life (even Jesus - God's own Son was not exempt from this) where you will feel that God abandons you and lets you "suffer" alone for no good reason - however the reason is that He wants you to learn to stand on your own two feet, use your brain and think for yourself as you move from Spiritual Teen into Spiritual Adulthood. In the process He also hopes that you will learn to love Life & appreciate Life, all that He has created and the beautiful relationship you have - where He is Creator God, Loving Father, Coach & Mentor :)
Sometimes, unfortunately we unintentionally mess things up as well and cause potential sickness & health issues, for example: we don't fully know & understand the repercussions & extend of using so many preservatives & growth hormones in our food - not to mention genetically modified food etc.
As you can see the reasons are many & complex but hopefully you now have a fuller appreciation of the matter :)