Where Did Sufferings Come From?

One day I was having dinner with my colleagues when this question was asked: "Where did sufferings come from?"

Besides myself, there were 2 other Christians on the same table.

The first Christian said, "God gave us sufferings so that we can learn a something from it."

The second Christian said, "God can ultimately bring out something good out of the sufferings because He is in control." Good answer, if it were given to a different question.

I kept quiet at that time, which is quite uncommon when such questions were asked, but I did not want to allow non-believers to see us Christians argue among ourselves about doctrinal issues. I knew that if I gave a third opinion to the same question, it might cause confusion to the non-believers around.

So I waited for another opportunity when I was alone with this first Christian to ask her again the same question. She was so certain that God was the one who gave us humans sufferings and problems (although for our good). She said that all the while this was what being taught to her.

I asked her to go home and think about the question again. I said, "If God was the one who gave us sufferings, wouldn't it make Him a bad god? How can a good God give us bad things?"

A few weeks later... (which is today)

We met up, and I asked her if she had an answer to my previous question. This time round she gave me an even more interesting answer:

1. Sufferings came from God, to teach us something.
2. Sufferings did not come from the Devil - we shouldn't blame the devil for all the bad things that happens to us.

I was shocked! Firstly, sufferings come from God, then, sufferings did not come from the devil. Think about it - all of a sudden God became the bad guy, the devil became the good guy! Just by a slight twist in doctrine the roles were being reversed.

She immediately called up a friend who is supposed to be an authority in the knowledge about God. This friend explained over the phone the concepts in discussion and answered our questions. We later came to a conclusion of what should be the answer.

The Answer:

1. God does not give us sufferings, although He is able to make use of our sufferings to teach us lessons and to build up our character.
2. Most of the sufferings that we go through are self-inflicted, through our own sins, carelessness, neglect, wrong habit patterns, etc.
3. Some of the sufferings were brought about by the devil

This answer sounded fine with me. I'll stick to this for the time being, meanwhile I'm open to any better answers.

I ended our discussion with a humble advise: Don't simply accept what was being taught, although they claim to be teaching from the bible. Study the bible for yourselves and check through their teaching against the bible.