This is the brochure that is sold with the T-Shirt. It is designed to equip the wearer of the T-shirt with some basic knowledge required to explain and defend what is on the shirt.
Q. Why does God allow suffering?
A. God desires love, which must involve free will and the possibility of pain.
Contents:
A. Quick overview.
B. Basic Answers.
C. Suggested Arguments to use.
D. Suggested Arguments not to use.
A. Quick Overview
The problem of pain and suffering and evil has always been difficult for Christians to wrestle with. The notion that God would allow suffering, even though we say that he is all-good (omni-benevolent), all-powerful (omnipotent), and all loving, seems grossly incompatible. You will hear people say that if God allows suffering then he is not omni-benevolent, and if he can’t stop it he is not omnipotent. However, Christians have offered many possible resolutions to the problem through the centuries. While we do not want to ever give the indication that we minimize someone’s pain or gloss over such atrocities like the Holocaust, it is worth mentioning that many of the counters to Christianity’s answers are emotional and not rational. This is, again, not to minimize the force of the emotion, but to illustrate the fact that just because the answers are difficult to swallow does not mean that they aren’t good answers. We will be focusing on a number of answers. For example, the preconditions necessary for free will to exist and the fact that God’s delay is not evidence of his inabilities.
B. Basic Answers.
1. Free Will. Not withstanding the fact that Christians believe that our free will is among our human attributes that have become corrupted after the Fall of Man, we still experience a strong ability to make decisions. Why God might value free will can easily be seen when we consider our own interactions with people, namely the people that we love. We much prefer people love us freely, and when we see people try to coerce others into loving them, we recognize this as a pale imitation of genuine love. In order for God to have his creatures genuinely love him, they have to have the capacity to reject him. But to reject him is to invite pain and suffering and evil, as this is what ultimately results from such rejection. Essentially, we are all paying the price of Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey.
2. God’s Delay is not Evidence of Inability. The truth is that the Scriptures constantly record the fact that God is not pleased by the fact that there is pain and suffering in the world. For example, in the story of Sodom in Genesis 19, God was responding precisely because there was an ‘outcry’ against the city. Jonah is sent to the Ninevites because God cares about those who don’t even know their right hand from their left (Jon. 4:11). The whole point of God becoming flesh in Jesus is that God here entered into the ordeals of our world. In Revelation, it is said that God will wipe the eyes of those he loves. Romans 8:28 says that we know that in ‘all things God works for the good of those who love him.’ In other words, just because God reluctantly allows terrible things to happen doesn’t mean he likes it. It doesn’t mean he is not doing anything about it. It doesn’t mean that he hasn’t already done something about it (Jesus’ death and resurrection). It doesn’t mean that he’s not going to do something. He says he is coming again. God understands our pain and wishes it were some other way. He has demonstrated it by his willingness to undergo death on the cross (1 Timothy 2:4 “[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth).” His delay means more people being saved. Ultimately, it is God’s decision whether it is worth it or not. So by considering our loving relationships with others and how those work, we can gain glimpses of our own as to its worth.
3. Parents and Children. Recalling the argument that God cannot be all powerful if he cannot end pain and suffering, we have in our family an analogy that can help us understand. You see, Christians certainly believe that God could end pain and suffering- but what would be the consequence? It would mean that people couldn’t make free decisions. It might mean that people would be coerced into believing in God’s existence. Parents have the capability of keeping their children from suffering, too. When a child is learning how to walk, the parent could constantly hold the child and never let the child fall. The parent has the ability, but by doing so will the child ever learn to walk? Parents decide that the price to pay to have a mature child that can handle himself is worth the temporary pain. It is reasonable to see that God could be acting the same way. Parents could keep their kids locked up in padded rooms, and this would keep the kids from doing anything that harms them or exposes them to others that would harm them. But is this really loving? God knows if the price is worth it.
C. Suggested Arguments to Use
When discussing the problem of pain one should always make it plain that you are not trying to minimize it. The chances are good that the person has experienced a lot of pain. If they haven’t, they will. We all do. We need to focus on a few things when we discuss this:1. We are not suggesting that God is particularly happy that there is so much suffering.2. God has done things in the past and promises to do more in the future. He is not absent; he is strategic.3. Whether or not the price of having free will, freedom, and genuine love is too high is not ours to decide.4. It is not as though he hasn’t entered into our pain. He has. He’s not ignoring it; he’s doing something big about it, in his time.5. We can think of many examples where we have the ability to spare someone from pain but realize that it is better to let them make their own decisions. No one who thinks the amount of suffering in the world is unwarranted also argues that every human should be locked into a padded room to make sure it never happens. Despite the risks of living free, we see value in it. Why can’t God be making a similar judgment?
D. Suggested Arguments not to use.
There is a common line of argument that says “There had to be a reason.” Or, “God has a plan.” These types of responses can come across as trite and unappreciative of the scope of human suffering in human history. We certainly do believe that there is a reason and a plan on a grand scale, but to apply that to something more local is to put the responsibility on God’s shoulders. For example, tragic car accidents occur daily. Are we really going to argue that God is planning these deaths? He could have stopped them but didn’t… was that his plan? Not at all. The promise (again, Romans 8:28-39) is that God will work even in these things for the good of those who love him. In other words, God is not going to sit by and allow the Enemy to operate uncontested. As a result of sin, bad things just happen. God promises to be present in our pain and work within our circumstances for our benefit and toward his ultimate goals. For a good example of a list of arguments you should not use, consult Wikipedia’s page on theodicy (the word describing this issue) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy (accessed 9/8/07). In the examples section you will see a list of proposed solutions and the reader will recognize that none of them represent the solutions offered in this brochure. They have all sorts of problems, but note that a precondition for free will and genuine love is not mentioned, nor is there any hint that God has entered our pain (as in the incarnation) and is working good in and through the bad things that do happen. And he will set things right.Please see www.apologia315.com for additional sources. CS Lewis’s “The Problem of Pain” and “A Grief Observed” and podcasts by Eleonore Stump make for a great start.
Copyright Apologia315.com 2007