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Life of Faith

Why Does God Permit Suffering?

Five biblical reasons why an all-powerful God of love allows pain, violence, grief, and hardship

By Betsy Mayer

I will never forget the pain in his eyes nor the edge of bitterness in his voice as he related his story.

In December 1995, the choir I directed was touring Europe and had just performed a Christmas-themed concert before a packed audience in Strasbourg, France. After the program, a young man approached me.

He was a Rwandan studying at the University of Strasbourg when civil war exploded in his motherland. News of the ethnic massacres terrified him. Anxiously, he waited for word from his family. Had they survived?

Weeks passed with no word. He began to bargain with God for just one family survivor. From the emotion in his voice, I knew how his story would end. Word finally came that his family had been subjected to unspeakable butchery and death. “For me, there can be no God if my family is dead,” he said. With the look of a

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About the author

Betsy Mayer is the managing editor of Last Generation magazine.

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