Is it God's will or not?

How does a righteous and holy God allow his people to suffer? or does He actually will their suffering?

Are you referring to something specific?

I remember after 9/11 everyone was talking about how God could let something like that happen. Even a Christian preacher...can't remember who it was...said it was God's judgement on the unrighteous. As if we're living under the law of the old testament.

Sometimes we forget that satan rules on earth. This is his land, his rules. We were not made for this place. We were created with something much greater in mind.

God created us in His image. God didn't create illness or disease. God doesn't strike us down in car accidents and allow planes to drop from the sky. Sometimes Satan causes things to happen and sometimes, things just happen. But, if we allow Him, He will use our suffering, our sadness to His glory.

In the case of 9/11 some people don't realize that while almost 3,000 people died, there SHOULD have been much more. The human capacity in all of the offices, stores and restaurants in the two towers on a normal day at that time, should have been more than 6,000. There are many stories of survivors who were late to work because their kids gave them a hard time, or it was their turn to pick up the donuts. Some people cancelled their flight that day because they "didn't feel right." The airplane capacities on all three planes was also much less than they should have been.

I believe that was God rescuing those He could. Those who heard him. I believe God wept that day, as he does on many days, in our sadness and our grief. No, I don't believe He allows it to happen. But free will and satan, guarantees that it certainly will.

When God created this world, he created it perfect. Bad things did not happen. When man caused sin to enter this world, man brought in death. The presence of Satan in this world causes bad things to happen. Our sin alters the very nature of God's creation. God does not want us to suffer or to hurt, but we disobeyed and sinned and our sin is what causes God's perfect creation to spoil. Its rather difficult to even contemplate or understand, but evil alters everything on a cosmic level. I have even heard it discussed how the sin and evil that prevail in this fallen world have altered the weather patterns from that originally created by God, therefore we have tornadoes and hurricanes. God loves us and does not want us to suffer, but he has given us free will. He does not will for us to be stricken with disease or with deformities. With our free will we sinned against him and allowed death to enter paradise and so now our world is fallen. Bad things happen in a fallen world. In a fallen world things cannot aloways be perfect. Defects, disease, disaster, violence, etc.. are all a result of the evil we allowed in when we sinned in the Garden of Eden. These bad things are the fruit of sin and evil. They are not of God. True, God could stop it all, but God gave us free will and we willfully disobeyed and ushered in the consequences of sin. God had mercy on us in our fallen state and so gave us His Son to bring us Salvation from the death we brought upon ourselves through our sin............