How could a loving God allow suffering?

I think this is definitely the number one question that people raise, at least in my experience. And the question is where to begin in answering it.

Genesis 1 and 2 paints a glorious picture of a world without suffering and pain because it is world unmarred and perfectly created by God and which is in relationship with him. The Bible has at its other end the future, the new creation which is a world without suffering and pain again a consequence of being in a right relationship with God. The answer to how could a loving God allow suffering is seen in the Bible between those two bookends.

Genesis 3 is the obvious place to go, suffering is a consequence of our rejection of God and a relationship with him, it ruins the perfect world God made and gave. In the chapters immediately following Adam and Eve's rejection of God sin snowballs and suffering abounds. All a consequence of that decision to determine right and wrong for ourselves.

But why does God allow it? The Bible teaches that God has to judge sin. This is hard for us to take with our postmodern views and cultural norms but it is the truth. God hates sin, it grieves him, and he has to judge it, he is also just in the way he does so. So in the account of the flood we see God judge sin which is the cause of suffering.

Ask yourself who deserves to be judged by God? Hitler? Stalin? Jack the Ripper? How about terrorists? Child abusers? Murderers? Why do they deserve to be judged, because they cause suffering for others, or because they break our shifting moral code. God's standard is perfect, it is total obedience to his standards and we all fall short. If God is going to stop suffering he has to judge every one who has caused suffering to others and that includes me.

How could a loving God allow suffering? Because he is giving me time to repent. But also because it is his megaphone calling me to recognise that there is something wrong with the world in which we live. Leprosy is a horrible disease, it works by deadening the nerves so that sufferers lose sensation, that's why they will be missing a finger or toe or whatever. The nerves were dead so they didn't experience any pain when it was damaged, or when the knife or axe made contact with it. Pain is a warning, it tells us something is wrong and to address that situation. Suffering and pain tell us that something is wrong with the world in which we live, the Bible says God didn't make it this way, we corrupted it this way, and God's future for his people is a world where he will not allow suffering.

And the gospels give us a glimpse of just what that world will be like as Jesus heals the sick, casts out demons, and raises the dead and proves that he can bring it about. Jesus shows us that God is going to do something about suffering for those who will put their trust in him, but he wants to judge sin and suffering without destroying us so he sends Jesus to die on the cross in our place for our sins and the suffering we have caused for others, so that God can justly deal with rebellion and yet graciously save us for the future he has planned.