How do people respond to

Lesson 6
suffering?
THIS HALF OF TERM:
To consider some Christian responses to the problem of
suffering and respond to it in my own way.

Engagement:
Brainstorm types of suffering!
Types
of suffering
familiar to
you
Use as
much detail
as you can!

Religions cant ignore suffering

Does God Exist?
Why does He allow innocent people to
suffer?
Is there any purpose to suffering?
Why do people suffer?

Investigate:
Christian Responses to
Suffering
What is it?

What are they

trying to say?

Task: Copy this table. Complete it as we look at three Christian

responses to suffering.

Discuss:
1. What does this mean?
2. What does this show
about Christian beliefs
about suffering?

Discuss:
1. What does this mean?
2. What does this show
about Christian beliefs
about suffering?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLxFkoWV0k
Discuss:
1. What does this
mean?
2. What does this
show about
Christian beliefs
about suffering?

Put in order! Agree disagree!

Suffering is Gods test to see whether people
trust that he cares for them.

Suffering challenges people and leads them to

have a greater understanding of God.

Suffering allows people a chance to show

they care for those who are suffering

Suffering is not Gods fault, it is humankinds

Suffering is caused by evil or the devil and is

not Gods fault.

Sources A - leprosy
Leprosy is a disease of the nervous system. It stops
people feeling pain. The problem with this is that, when
people dont feel pain, they also cannot sense when
something is wrong with their body and get help for it

Thank God for pain Paul Brand an expert

on leprosy.

SOURCE B world leaders

Some of the greatest world leaders suffered much in their upbringing. Eg

Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Lenin, Castro. Suffering
does not need to destroy a person; what counts is how the person reacts to
the suffering. Sometimes it brings out the positive in people.

What doesnt destroy me makes me stronger Martin

Luther King
Those who suffer most attain to the greatest perfection.
The plant most pruned by the gardeners is the one
which, when the summer comes will have the most
beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit
Abdul Allah of the Bahai religion believes that suffering
helps to form character.

SOURCE C HOLOCAUST
SURVIVOR

O Lord, remember the fruits we have

borne thanks to this suffering our
comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our
courage, our generosity, the greatness of
heart which has grown out of all this.
This prayer was found scribbled on a piece of wrapping paper near
the body of a dead child at a Nazi concentration camp.

CHOOSE 6 KEY WORDS!

WRITE:
1) a persuasive, creative paragraph
showing that some good can be found in
suffering.
Or
2) A negative, convincing paragraph that
suffering is proof of no God or religion.

EXPRESSION
Now choose the six key words to write
your own response as a poem.