Why Does God Give Illness/Disease?

[Guest]

Why does God give people cancer, especially young kids, or other diseases? Some need kidneys, some have tumors, behavioural problems, etc.
Why does God put these people through a struggle health wise? Is it bad karam they have done in the past years? But then what about children who have just come into this world.

How to cope with a diagnosis that has no cure?

Just want to hear some thoughts. So heartbreaking to see specifically children suffering.

[JeejaJi]

God doesn’t give cancer or diseases and your life is not preset. This is the biggest misconception. You sow the results of your actions and decisions. That’s hukam along with cosmic/physical laws of running this world (e.g. sunset/sunrise). Rest is all randomness or stuff that just happens because people are living their things.
Think of cancer as an event that happens in life from biology. Most people don’t have it but some get it. It doesn’t mean that they are being targeted by god. Think of this as opposite of lottery, it is a random event and some people win and most don’t.
100 years ago, people used to die of diseases because the cure wasn’t invented yet. Now, many people survive heart attacks.

What can we do to help? Find a charity or an org that is working to find the cure. That’s your karma and good deed.

Why does God give people cancer, especially young kids, or other diseases? Some need kidneys, some have tumors, behavioural problems, etc.
Why does God put these people through a struggle health wise? Is it bad karam they have done in the past years? But then what about children who have just come into this world.

How to cope with a diagnosis that has no cure?

Just want to hear some thoughts. So heartbreaking to see specifically children suffering.

[1jyot2moorti]

God made a perfect Earth, providing for everything imaginable and needed to live happily.
All creatures were to be born out of it and die to it
Man chose to expolit the Earth, out of greed.
Man gives cancer and tumour, blasts limbs in battle, blows off legs on landmines ....
Man created money, rich and poor, healthy and impoverished, wasteful and starving.
Not, God.

[JeejaJi]

So what are you suggesting? Should we all start living in jungles?
Why were our gurus living in homes and castles? Was that exploitation of earth as well?

God made a perfect Earth, providing for everything imaginable and needed to live happily.
All creatures were to be born out of it and die to it
Man chose to expolit the Earth, out of greed.
Man gives cancer and tumour, blasts limbs in battle, blows off legs on landmines ....
Man created money, rich and poor, healthy and impoverished, wasteful and starving.
Not, God.

[1jyot2moorti]

So what are you suggesting? Should we all start living in jungles?
Why were our gurus living in homes and castles? Was that exploitation of earth as well?

God made a perfect Earth, providing for everything imaginable and needed to live happily.
All creatures were to be born out of it and die to it
Man chose to expolit the Earth, out of greed.
Man gives cancer and tumour, blasts limbs in battle, blows off legs on landmines ....
Man created money, rich and poor, healthy and impoverished, wasteful and starving.
Not, God.

Your argument is tangential.
Which Guru lived in a castle? Please come forth with proof ....

[JeejaJi]

My argument is not tangential. You are suggesting that humans exploited earth and that’s what is causing illness/disease. I asked if we should all live in jungles? You didn’t answer that. Extending that argument I asked why gurus stayed in homes? Why they build castles? You are trying to deflect by latching on to the sub point. To clarify that, I should have used the word forts instead of castles. Why did they exploited earth by building a fancy building called Akal Takht for peace and justice? Why did they built forts?

Again stick to the main point. Should we all start living in jungles and give up wordly amenities?

So what are you suggesting? Should we all start living in jungles?
Why were our gurus living in homes and castles? Was that exploitation of earth as well?

God made a perfect Earth, providing for everything imaginable and needed to live happily.
All creatures were to be born out of it and die to it
Man chose to expolit the Earth, out of greed.
Man gives cancer and tumour, blasts limbs in battle, blows off legs on landmines ....
Man created money, rich and poor, healthy and impoverished, wasteful and starving.
Not, God.

Your argument is tangential.
Which Guru lived in a castle? Please come forth with proof ....

[Bundha]

This is a very common question, why does God give pain and disease ?

The simple answer is that God does not give us pain, disease, sorrow, it is all our own doing.
We reap what we sow, Guru Nanak Dev Ji states this in Japji Sahib as does Guru Arjun Dev Ji is Sukhmani Sahib.

When things are going so well for us (due to past actions but we do not acknowledge this we think we doing it all now) we become bold and daring, this is when we make mistakes. We become full of ego and we say and do things that we have no idea the consequences of. What ever action we have done, cheated, caused harm to others, whatever we say, slander, backstabbing, causing pain to others all create KARMA. This karma will come round, maybe next week, next year, maybe in ten years, but come it will. And when it does, bang ! We get knocked for six, we suffer and we get pain. We may get disease, or chronic condition and of course we have forgotten our past actions so now we cry out O' why has God done this to me? I am a good person, I do my paath, I go to gurdwra, I do sewa why is God being so bad to me? The answer is that is was all our own doing, we are the culprits.

God still loves us and is stood with open arms all we have to do is love him like we love our own mother or father of our spouse or like we love our children. But we do not, our love of Guru Ji is false, we love Him when we need Him and the rest of the time we pay lip service.

So what of the cure? Naam, Simran and loving Guru Ji without condition, like we love our children. Make a relationship with Guru Ji, that of Father and son. or Father and daughter. Love Guru Ji and keep Him in mind all the time. When you go out, say "Guru Ji lets go to Tesco, we need some milk", when we have a cup of tea say "Guru Ji this sip is yours, this is mine" . . . . . this way you start living with Guru Ji and Guru Ji will be pleased, then all your paths will be cleared and Guru Ji will look after you. This is not to say that you will not get any bad times, you still have to work through your karam but now you have your Guru with you and He will cut most of the karam.

[JeejaJi]

You started out on a good note but lost me with the blind faith argument.

Is karma the reason why an infant is born with a terminal illness? Or a child becomes an orphan?
And second part of your response about saying things like “god, lets go to 7-11 for a slurpee” will please god and give you slack on karma makes no sense.
How about getting in the car, closing your eyes and hitting the gas pedal and sayOmg “guru ji auto pilot to 7-11”. How about asking him/her to accompany on a trip for theft/robbery? May be he/she will cut you some slack because you asked him/her to join you in the act.

This is a very common question, why does God give pain and disease ?

The simple answer is that God does not give us pain, disease, sorrow, it is all our own doing.
We reap what we sow, Guru Nanak Dev Ji states this in Japji Sahib as does Guru Arjun Dev Ji is Sukhmani Sahib.

When things are going so well for us (due to past actions but we do not acknowledge this we think we doing it all now) we become bold and daring, this is when we make mistakes. We become full of ego and we say and do things that we have no idea the consequences of. What ever action we have done, cheated, caused harm to others, whatever we say, slander, backstabbing, causing pain to others all create KARMA. This karma will come round, maybe next week, next year, maybe in ten years, but come it will. And when it does, bang ! We get knocked for six, we suffer and we get pain. We may get disease, or chronic condition and of course we have forgotten our past actions so now we cry out O' why has God done this to me? I am a good person, I do my paath, I go to gurdwra, I do sewa why is God being so bad to me? The answer is that is was all our own doing, we are the culprits.

God still loves us and is stood with open arms all we have to do is love him like we love our own mother or father of our spouse or like we love our children. But we do not, our love of Guru Ji is false, we love Him when we need Him and the rest of the time we pay lip service.

So what of the cure? Naam, Simran and loving Guru Ji without condition, like we love our children. Make a relationship with Guru Ji, that of Father and son. or Father and daughter. Love Guru Ji and keep Him in mind all the time. When you go out, say "Guru Ji lets go to Tesco, we need some milk", when we have a cup of tea say "Guru Ji this sip is yours, this is mine" . . . . . this way you start living with Guru Ji and Guru Ji will be pleased, then all your paths will be cleared and Guru Ji will look after you. This is not to say that you will not get any bad times, you still have to work through your karam but now you have your Guru with you and He will cut most of the karam.

[Bundha]

You know the story, two friends would go separate ways, one to a gambling den and the other to sangat. The man who frequented the gambling den ended up finding a gold coin, the man to went to sangat ended up with a thorn in his foot. When they asked Guru Ji He told them that the first man was going to inherit a sack full of gold coins but his bad ways resulted with only the one coin and the second man was going to suffer great pain but this turned into a thorn in the foot due to his good service. This simply illustrates the law of karma but more importantly the company of sangat and what better sangat then God himself? If you live your life without God then so be it, you live your life go through your karma, make new ones and a new life is ready and waiting for you when you die. If you want to break from the circle of life and death then what better way to make God your closest friend, in fact why not acknowledge God as your true father, who He really is. When you come under Gurus umbrella then Guru Ji will look after you, just as a father does with his son/daughter, he ignores many of his sons misdemeanours because he is his son, in the same way if you regard God as your father then He will treat you as His son and will wave away your shortcomings. This is not a matter of cutting you slack, it is a matter of a deep love of father and son. This is preme dha khade or preme bhagti just like Bhai Lehna Ji and Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Even when Guru Ji asked him do jump into a cesspit and puck out a cup Bhai Lehna Ji had blind faith and love in his Guru. Even when Guru Ji at the end had harsh words for him and even beat him, Bhai Lehna Ji said where will I go other then your lotus feet my Lord.
Remember when at school and something had happened in class and the teacher would demand who had done it and sometimes a person would put their hand up admit responsibility and the teacher would be less harsh on him because he had owned up. In the same way even when we are about to do something bad and we know its wrong, even if it is a robbery, then it is best to do benti first and ask Guru Ji to accompany you. It may be wrong but you have taken Guru Ji with you and H will always look after you. Sukhmani Sahib Ji says Simar Simar har karan karna - Remember Him with every endeavour. Again it is not about cutting slack because then you are like everyone else only using Guru Ji when you need Him and then forgetting Him the rest of the time, the point is that you are keeping Guru Ji with you at all times, even when you may be involved in bad things. Bhai Biddi Chand was Guru Hargobind Sahib Jis Sikh he was a robber but he was pure of heart and Guru Ji was with him at all times.

[JeejaJi]

I can’t make sense of your response but will try. You skipped past my questions and dumped bunch of stuff about loving god like your father/mother so that he/she can save you.

According to your example, if a child is born with terminal illness, it is all good because it could have been much worse (eg it is a thorn compared to a lot more pain). What could be worse in this case? What does karma has to do with anything in this case?

Your second example, a thief should do benti so that God can join in the action and can look after you. How? Somehow praying before committing a crime reduces its severity when the judgement day comes?

You know the story, two friends would go separate ways, one to a gambling den and the other to sangat. The man who frequented the gambling den ended up finding a gold coin, the man to went to sangat ended up with a thorn in his foot. When they asked Guru Ji He told them that the first man was going to inherit a sack full of gold coins but his bad ways resulted with only the one coin and the second man was going to suffer great pain but this turned into a thorn in the foot due to his good service. This simply illustrates the law of karma but more importantly the company of sangat and what better sangat then God himself? If you live your life without God then so be it, you live your life go through your karma, make new ones and a new life is ready and waiting for you when you die. If you want to break from the circle of life and death then what better way to make God your closest friend, in fact why not acknowledge God as your true father, who He really is. When you come under Gurus umbrella then Guru Ji will look after you, just as a father does with his son/daughter, he ignores many of his sons misdemeanours because he is his son, in the same way if you regard God as your father then He will treat you as His son and will wave away your shortcomings. This is not a matter of cutting you slack, it is a matter of a deep love of father and son. This is preme dha khade or preme bhagti just like Bhai Lehna Ji and Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Even when Guru Ji asked him do jump into a cesspit and puck out a cup Bhai Lehna Ji had blind faith and love in his Guru. Even when Guru Ji at the end had harsh words for him and even beat him, Bhai Lehna Ji said where will I go other then your lotus feet my Lord.
Remember when at school and something had happened in class and the teacher would demand who had done it and sometimes a person would put their hand up admit responsibility and the teacher would be less harsh on him because he had owned up. In the same way even when we are about to do something bad and we know its wrong, even if it is a robbery, then it is best to do benti first and ask Guru Ji to accompany you. It may be wrong but you have taken Guru Ji with you and H will always look after you. Sukhmani Sahib Ji says Simar Simar har karan karna - Remember Him with every endeavour. Again it is not about cutting slack because then you are like everyone else only using Guru Ji when you need Him and then forgetting Him the rest of the time, the point is that you are keeping Guru Ji with you at all times, even when you may be involved in bad things. Bhai Biddi Chand was Guru Hargobind Sahib Jis Sikh he was a robber but he was pure of heart and Guru Ji was with him at all times.