Why does God allow suffering to exist? My take on it is that suffering is part of reality. Of course this is obvious, there is suffering therefore it is real.
What I mean is that our traditional view of suffering as a consequence of sin is misunderstood. Suffering is not punishment and pain is not a negative consequence. Pain and suffering is part of our experience and by learning to deal with it we grow as spiritual beings.
“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
― C.S. Lewis
The problem of evil is one of the great paradoxes of philosophy and religion: if God is all loving, benevolent and good, then why does pain and suffering exist? Why would He, a loving God, allow his children to suffer, often in what seems in a needless, capricious fashion?
Pain and suffering have always been part of human existence. Whether the physical pain of bodily injury, disease, and other cause, or the mental anguish associated with grief, loss, or mental distress, humans have always experienced pain and suffering. It is a natural part of our physical existence, and our emotional and spiritual context.