I think some of us in here have said before...the original creation was not filled with pain,or sorrow or tears or hurt. That all was brought on by human effort - in that Adam & Eve didn't believe God when He said for them to eat of any tree in the Garden except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. OK, now you'll ask why the tree was put there in the first place. I wasn't there I don;t know. I do know that,and I said it in my last posting, we are not robots. We are given choices. Mankind chose to not do what was asked of them. I know it doesn't answer the question fully, but allow your struggling to lead you to some answers.

I was led to believe wrongly that I was beyond God's love, that my own questions and even anger could keep me from Him. God has shown me that this is all a lie from the evil one, I felt like I stood on the perimeter of the Church, never being able to belong because of my CSA. That started around 6yo for me, and lasted many years along with the verbal and physical abuse. As proof that God loves me, he directed me to a Christian counselor who taught me first that none of it was my fault, and not to believe the lies. I am woking on understanding it now as I just started T again. I am absolutely sure that I have a renewed and stronger relationship in Christ. No one around me is perfect, Christ is and he has forgiven me even for my anger at Him. I talk to the Spirit daily and I know God loves me. He does not care where I have been, only where I am going. A good book Im reading is called Victory over the Darkness, and it's on Amazon.com. You are loved by Him, as we all are, and we all can move forward in Him too.

Amen Buff. Well said brother

All of your shortcomings all of your past failures
The liabilities in your life are nothing more than opportunity for God
Put God in all of that and it is called a Testimony
Take God out of that and all your are left with is
A life of shame guilt and condemnation & deservedly so
This is why The Savior came to Save us from ourselves
To do His will Not our own will

meaning God is sovereign he knows all things and knowing man has free will he has provided a way out he has given a savior knowing full well the hell on earth we would and could cause each other through sin .
This is sin at work God did not choose to let this stuff happen man in his sinful fallen state chose to let this happen . But what God can and will do is give you a Savior Jesus Christ the only one who can relieve the past the guilt the shame the self condemnation.
If one only denies self the self that brings sin the self that has denied the Christ , he will in fact alleviate the sin the guilt the shame the condemnation for there truly is no condemnation for those who love God .

So I say take God out of all the trauma and child abuse and and the sin we have experienced in out life and we are left with this hell on earth this shame guilt condemnation and powerlessness to sin

Put God in the midst of all that and suddenly there is meaning there is purpose being able to have a testimony to help others out of the mud whole through the power of The Holy Spirit . It is a another story with God in the midst of the situations and circumstances that have gone on in or lives . Put God in all of this and you can look and see all of the time God was in fact there all the times we dismissed him and all the times that he has taken the negative and turned into something wonderful .

The better question here is " how can there not be a God"? For everything , and I mean every single creation there is a creator. Fact. The earth didn't create itself. The oceans just didn't appear.

But I do wanna ask Noah when I see him why he didn't swat the 2 Mosquitos. I mean for real Noah. Help a bro out down here in the south. Them little biting gnats too that are pound for pound the baddest creature on Earth. Haha

Also ask him why he didn't save the dinosaurs

Haha. On the list Steve

Is God consistent with the knowledge of science. Google it but I say yes. As a Christian I believe that here in the natural, vs. the spiritual, God gives us free will. Christians, even children, are not free from the free will of others. Does God care? Yes, He can and has taken all that was meant for my harm and turning toward my good. I am healing now more then every before, because He has led me to the right people who are helping me. Do I understand it all? No, but I know this, my faith has set me free from the lies of the enemy, who told me providing sex was all I would ever be good at and good for. I am no longer defined by evil, and in fact I was never defined by it. God does not care where I have been, only where I am going and the depth of my past indicates the height of my new future now.

If you live your life, true to God, then you will indeed reap the rewards, that you deserve.

very interesting. worth the watch.