© 1986 Gilles Laverdure
© 1986 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
Why does God let so many people suffer, and why does he allow sin to occur?
For most people who are suffering unduly, simple faith might not be enough as an answer. We often need some logical reasoning to substantiate on the intellectual level what is the only true answer on the spiritual level. To answer the above questions, let us take the example of someone choosing to do evil.
As readers of The Urantia Book, we know that the Father’s plan consists of giving freewill to lowly creatures like us in order that we may gain irreplaceable experience through maximum accomplishment. As human beings, perfection is not our lot at birth, but our eternal destiny. The Father’s plan for personal evolution must then allow each of his children to decide for himself what he will or will not do, Such decisions will obviously result from previous planetary history, social context, and heredity, but it remains a fact that we are free in our actions, be they good or bad, conscious or unconscious.
It is easy to understand, then, that there must be a stage in the evolution of a universe when someone on some planet happens to do something wrong. And victims of such actions might be innocent people just as are victims of an earthquake. We must accept this as part of the Father’s plan. Not that he planned every good or bad thing which is happening. No! His plans are as perfect as they originally were, But we live in the realm of time and space, where the potential of evil must coexist with our own freewill. This is so that we may acquire a kind of wisdom which can only be gained from the experience of adjustments to one’s hardships. To accept this as part of the Father’s plan requires only one thing: FAITH!
Faith which is freely given to anyone who will want to use it as a tool permitting the daily realization of sonship with our spiritual Father. And this is love, Not bad things.
In conclusion, I would like to suggest that we can profit right now, during our material existence, from even our most severe difficulties if we just keep a positive attitude. And this comes about through the acquisition of wisdom, a type of irreplaceable experience which will always be ours during our ascending career through eternity.
— Gilles Laverdure
Greenfield Park. Quêbec