The suffering of mankind is a reality and, unlike religions and sects which tend to blur the distinction between good and evil, the Bible does not regard suffering as an illusion nor deal with it superficially - suffering is real.

God has created us with the ability to love and be loved, and most importantly He has given each of us a freewill. Sadly Adam and Eve used that same freewill to disobey God's command, thus bringing sin and it's consequences not only to themselves but to all mankind.

Satan is a very real being. Originally created for good - to bring glory to God, instead he chose to use his beauty and power to exalt himself. Satan has been given many different names, one of which is Lucifer, which means morning star. Isaiah chapter 14 is a dialogue of the fall of Lucifer. Verses 12-15 are often quoted when referring to his 'fall from glory'. The New and Old Testaments alike give adequate reference to Satan detailing his dedication to destroying the lives of God's people. He is a key player when it comes to suffering, and his main objective seems to be taking our relationship focus off God and laying the blame for our pain on Him instead.

We only need to read the book of Job to get an inside view of how things are in the spirit realm. God is not one who enjoys our suffering and He certainly isn't usually the one who instigates it. However, often He allows us to feel pain, or to go through hardship. Sometimes to test us, sometimes to help us grow and become refined vessels, and yes, sometimes because we deserve it.

A very precious reason for pain, is because God wants us to grow. If you have a child who is constantly playing dangerously with (for example) hot water, sometimes you can tell him four or five times not to touch the tap because it will burn him. Still he doesn't listen. It may be necessary for you to allow him to dab his finger under the hot water for a moment so that he realises what he is doing wrong. It is the same for us, as children of God. Sometimes we play so dangerously that God needs to discipline us before we realise the danger we are in.

Jeremiah tells us that "the heart is deceitful above all things" (Jer. 17:9). However, Adam was not created with a deceitful heart. Before eating the forbidden fruit both he and Eve had a perfect relationship with God. Because they allowed themselves to be deceived by the serpent, and choose to disobey God they became dead in their trespasses and sins eventually dying a physical death too. (Gen. 5:5)

Adam and Eve suffered as a consequence of sin. Before the fall, things were 'perfect'. People often wish they could make the world a better place, a kind of Utopia, where everyone is at peace and there is no war or anger or hate - which quite frankly is impossible to achieve by ourselves. Only God can bring that about. We cannot even begin to imagine how things were before the fall, but I believe there was more to Eden than just peace and lack of suffering, it involved a perfect relationship with the creator of all things.

"The devil is turning up the heat of sin and pollution in our society, and we, like the proverbial frog in slow boiling water, hardly realise the temperature is rising."

In the same way, not all suffering is caused by human actions, but the greater percentage of t certainly is! A Russian author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said: