God, and the Problem of Suffering

8/18/2019 God, and the Problem of Suffering

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GOD, AND THE PROBLEM OFSUFFERING

by

Philip St. Romain, M.S., D. Min.

- all rights reserved -

Published by

Contemplative Ministries, Inc.

Through Lulu Press

2015

ePub and pdf versions of this work are available

free of charge.

See http://shalomplace.com/psrbks.html

Scripture quotes from www.biblehub.com

New International Version

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Contents

Introduction - 3 - Acknowledgements - 5

1. God, and Human Suffering - 6

- Five Causes of Suffering - 6- Moral Evil - 8- Accidents - 12- Natural Evil - 16- Growth, Sickness and Death - 22

2. The Critique of Atheism - 27

3. Christian Spirituality - 32

- Faith and Love - 33- Redemptive Suffering - 37- Hope for the Future - 40

Summary - 44

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Introduction

Schoolyard shootings, devastating hurricanes, plane

crashes, genocide, child abuse, cancer: where is Godwhen these and other tragic events happen?

God gets blamed for many things. I recall when my

wife, a sixth-grade religion teacher at the time, had a

discussion with her class about a famine in Ethiopia,

and she asked the students what they thought about it.

Several stated that the reason the Ethiopians were

starving was because they probably were not

Christians. Others stated that God was punishing them

for something they did wrong. These comments might

be excusable for children, but several said this was

what their parents had told them.People in every walk of life struggle with the issue of

God’s involvement in suffering and evil. Consider, for

example, this quote from Sidney Hook, a contributor to

Free Inquiry, a journal of secular humanist ideas.

I ask: How could an all-loving and all-powerful

God exist if he permits the innocent to be

tortured and the wicked to prosper? If he is all-

loving and cannot prevent it, he is not all-

powerful; if he is able to prevent it but will not,

he is not all-loving.

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What’s the answer to this dilemma? Has Mr. Hook

painted God into a corner?

How we understand God’s role in suffering and evilhas a significant impact on our faith. How difficult for

those sixth-graders taught by my wife to feel

compassion for the hungry if for some reason their

plight is deserved. The dilemma presented by Sidney

Hook in the above quote has significant implications for

faith. Indeed, it seems that for many people today, it is

a primary stumbling block.

The reflections which follow are intended to help

shed light on God’s attitude and response to suffering.

Ultimately, we are dealing with a mystery here, which

is not to say that we cannot comprehend anything aboutit, but that the topic goes beyond the capacities of

human reason and its manner of understanding things.

Indeed, we must rely, to some extent, on divine

revelation to help us comprehend God’s attitude toward

suffering and evil. After all, a critique of God’s

complicity in these matters implies some kind ofconcept of God, of which there are many among the

world’s religions. The response given herein will be

from the perspective of Christian theology, which is

based in large part on the revelation of God presented

in the Judeo-Christian tradition. It will be a sketch on

how to approach and respond to this topic rather than a

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scholarly thesis, of which there are many.

Acknowledgements

This work was initially published as a much shorter

pamphlet in 1989 by Liguori Publications, whose

editorial staff provided assistance in shaping its

structure and expression. Critical feedback and

evaluation for this present publication was provided by

Ann Axman, Derek Cameron, Sr. Jolene Geier, Fr.

Kerry Ninemire, Theresa St. Romain and Todd St.

Romain, Evangeline Truex and Jerry Truex. Thank you

all for helping to make this a better work. I also

presented a webinar on this topic using the approach

taken in this work in August 2015; comments and

interactions of participants have also been taken into

consideration.

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1.

God, and Human Suffering

We begin by recognizing that there are different

causes of pain and suffering in our human lives, each

having different implications for how we might

understand God’s role.

Five Causes of Suffering

1. Moral Evil: suffering caused by the misuse of

human freedom. Poor eating habits, smoking, and lack

of exercise are examples of poor choices made by

individuals; heart attacks, cancers and other problems

are possible consequences. Guilt and shame resulting

from lying and other immoral behaviors are also

conditions that we bring on ourselves. No one is

surprised when a smoker gets lung cancer or a liar has

relationship difficulties. Individuals hurting others

through violent actions is another example of this type

of suffering. Child abuse is a sad but fairly common

example, but so is gossip that damages another’s

reputation. The list could go on.

Social injustice is also caused by the misuse of

freedom under the influence of social biases. Racism,

sexism, and other forms of bias are common examples,

as is persecuting people for their religious beliefs.

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Genocidal movements have claimed millions of lives

during the past century.

2. Suffering caused by accidents. For example, a carwreck because of a tire that blows out is unplanned and

not completely preventable. Neither is tripping and

breaking one’s arm, and a wide variety of other mishaps

and mistakes. Accidents are in their own category

because they are unintended and unpredictable. They

are often ascribed to “bad luck” or similar phrases,

prompting different kinds of questions concerning God’s

role in the situation.

3. Natural evil. Suffering occasioned by nature is

quite common. This can include tragedies brought on by

weather (tornados, floods, lightning, blizzards, etc.) andgeological phenomena like earthquakes and volcanoes.

These natural causes are sometimes called “acts of God”

by the insurance industry, as there is no human being

or social entity to assign blame to them. Biological

factors like birth defects can also be assigned to this

type of suffering, as are unavoidable forms of mentalillness.

4. Suffering caused by sickness. Even though one

lives in a country where social injustice is minimal, and

one manages to avoid accidents, natural disasters, and

poor choices, we all get sick at some time. This is

unavoidable, as our immune system is not invulnerable

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to every kind of virus or bacteria. Sickness — even the

common cold — is painful, not to mention a stress on

our caregivers.

5. Suffering rooted in the growth process derives

from our creatureliness. As we grow older, it is natural

that we stretch our physical and psycho-spiritual

boundaries. From the reproductive and birthing process

to teething and learning to walk to the adolescent’s

search for identity to aging and death, there is pain

accompanying growth. These pains cannot be

prevented. They are part of life.

Sometimes we find combinations of these causes of

suffering, as when a hurricane makes landfall in a

country that is poorly governed and unable to provideassistance to those in the path of the storm. To make

matters worse, looters might move in, further

worsening the situation. Small children and the elderly

will be most vulnerable to the stresses of inadequate

food and medical care. A hurricane is a powerful,

destructive force to begin with, but all the more sowhere there are many poor.

Moral Evil

Now that we have examined the five common

sources of human suffering, we can reflect on the

problem of moral evil. Keeping in mind the theological

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understanding of evil as “the absence of good,” let us

consider the question: What would God have to do in

order to prevent evil from happening?

Since moral evil is the natural and logical outcome

of the misuse of freedom, the way to prevent it would be

for God to somehow prevent people from doing harmful

acts to themselves and one another. For example, God

would have to deter the child abuser from beating his

child, or disallow the unjust laws imposed by a dictator

from being implemented. Obviously, God does not do

this. Why? Because to allow humans to make only good

choices while preventing us from making and enacting

bad ones would be no freedom at all. We would be more

like robots if that were the case, but that is not how God

has created us.

Still, it seems that this explanation lets God off the

hook completely. After all, God is the one who created

us with freedom, and who sustains in existence those

who create evil acts. Therefore, God has a living

connection with evil-doers; without the gifts of life andexistence, they could not do anyone any harm.

There is great mystery in all this, but what we can

say from our biblical tradition is that God, who is love

(1 John 4:8) created us in his image and likeness (Gen.

1:26). This is to say that we have a spiritual nature

coexisting with our bodies, enabling us to act as

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rational beings and make free choices. Love cannot

exist outside a context of freedom; it cannot be required

or demanded. Nor is love on the spiritual level a blind,

instinctual drive; it is a decision made in freedom. This

freedom must include the possibility of choosing self-

will over friendship with God or it is no freedom at all.

God created us free to accept or reject God’s love. He

knew that most of us would reject Him some of the

time, and that a few would deny Him most of the time.

He also knew that the gift of free will would enable men

like Hitler to rise to power, that the Cains of this world

would kill the Abels, and that death squads would

torture innocent children. Nonetheless, God knew that

some human beings would finally, in spirit and truth,

choose to love Him in return. Why does God allow evil?

He must have thought that those who would accept his

offer of friendship would make it all worthwhile.

Still, even though God allows evil to happen, it does

not follow that God approves of it. God loathes moral

evil (Ps. 26:5).

Following the biblical story of the Fall of Adam and

Eve (Genesis 3), we read of the spread of evil

throughout the human race, corrupting our awareness

of God’s love and our reverence for truth. This was all a

natural and logical consequence of our First Parents’

betrayal of the spiritual enlightenment they had been

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blessed with. Their own darkened consciousness

contaminated their children’s, whose darkness was

passed along, generation after generation, becoming

politically and economically enculturated through the

centuries.

God did not leave us to ourselves, however. The

biblical story is one of God taking the initiative to invite

us to live more responsibly and lawfully with one

another. When the time was right, God became

incarnate as a human being, Jesus of Nazareth, to

stand with us in the battle against evil while

empowering us with his very Spirit to become loving

children of God.

Jesus’ position was always to resist evil withoutfurther escalating it; his power was demonstrated

through love, not aggressive coercion. Through his

death and resurrection, Jesus broke the hold of evil in

this world, demonstrating that the power of goodness is

stronger than evil. We see, too, that God’s power is not

negated by evil, for the resurrection of Jesusestablished a spiritual foundation from which all

creation shall eventually be renewed. It is this same

power that God shares with us in the gift of the Holy

Spirit — to help us love as Christ Himself loved.

So we see that God is very concerned about human

evil and has even suffered, through Jesus, a most

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unjust process of torture and death from powers of evil.

God empathizes with those who suffer because of moral

evil, and has done everything possible to help us face

the powers of evil without revoking the gift of freedom

that enables the precious possibility of friendship with

Him. During this epoch of salvation history, we live in a

world where forces of both good and evil are in conflict,

knowing that God is with us through the struggle. This

world and this age are but part of the ongoing story ofcreation. In the end, God’s will shall prevail. The

resurrection of Christ is our hope and promise that evil

shall not have the last word. More on this in a later

section.

Accidents

If it is possible to believe in a good God who

nonetheless permits evil, and a powerful God who will

not use his power to negate human freedom, then the

question of God’s role in suffering brought about by

accidents naturally emerges. One might say: “OK, so

God cannot be blamed for a ruthless dictator’s rise topower nor for the evil of social injustice. Why, then,

does God not warn us about accidents? God could surely

alert us to tires that were about to blow out, or a bridge

that was going to collapse. This would not violate our

freedom; we could still choose to take a risk and travel

on the tire or bridge, or to do something else. So why, if

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God is good, are we not warned about accidents to spare

us this type of suffering?”

One common response to these questions is toconsider all accidental occurrences to be part of “God’s

plan.” One often hears people saying this after an

accident of some kind. Even the statement, “God works

in mysterious ways” presumes that God has some kind

of role in engineering the accident. In this view, the

thousands of people killed in plane crashes through the

years were called by God to die in that manner.

Perhaps we might say, “it was their turn to go,” or

something like that to try to make sense of it. Those

who ran late and missed those fatal flights were

somehow saved by an act of divine intervention as “it

wasn’t their turn to go.” This view represents a

misunderstanding of God’s power, providence and

sovereignty.

Accidents happen, and God has nothing to do with

it. Those who maintain that God somehow has a role in

bringing about accidents as a means of selecting thosewhose time on earth is up fail to make a distinction

between primary and secondary causality. Primary

causality is the theological affirmation of a God who

creates things that can act according to their own

nature. Secondary causality is the recognition of the

actions of creatures to one another. This is to say that

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God makes creation (primary causality), but is not

responsible for the actions taken by the creatures

(secondary causality), including the failures of even

things like tires and airplanes. Tires and airplanes

were made by people, and so their failures — even

though unintended — are to be laid at the feet of

humans, not God. Build a better tire and there will be

fewer blowouts; make a better airplane and there will

be fewer crashes (both have, in fact, improved throughthe years).

Can God prevent accidents? Yes, of course; God can

do anything! But this would require that God somehow

forewarn us so we could avoid them. It may well be that

God sometimes does alert us of a problem by nudging us

internally away from a certain destructive course of

action; many people have given testimony of this kind of

experience (usually with the clarity of “20-20

hindsight”). For example, I recall a situation years ago

when I was about to take a trip, and felt very strongly

that I should check the lugs on the wheels of my car

before doing so. As it turned out, they were very loose,

as I hadn’t completely tightened them after rotating my

tires a few days before. It’s possible that this awareness

had been percolating in my unconscious and finally

caught my attention, but it might also be that the Holy

Spirit had something to do with bringing it to my

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awareness. Another example: around 350 people

changed or canceled their flight plans for the planes

that were hijacked on September 11, 2001 in the U.S.

This is an extremely high number compared to similar

days on these flights. Coincidence? Warning from God?

Impossible to say, in most cases, though some have

stated that they had received an inner warning or sense

of danger.

It seems, however, that God usually allows us to

experience the natural and logical consequences of our

lives on earth so that we might become more

responsible as a people. If God warned us every time a

tire was ready to blow out, we would not have had the

initiative to build a better tire. We would probably be

lax in our efforts to address social problems if God

directly intervened by forewarning us of the approach of

a madman with a gun, ready to shoot whoever is in

sight. If God stepped in to prevent these kinds of

occurrences, it would probably undermine our incentive

to correct these kinds of problems.

The reality of accidental suffering and death should

be a sobering reminder to us that we never really know

when we will die. Because an accident can take us away

from this life before we are ready to go, we must live in

such a manner that we are always ready to stand before

God to give an account of our lives.

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Suffering caused by accidents also calls us to be

compassionate to those who have suffered such

misfortunes. One of the ugliest and most insidious

myths prevalent today is that we all get what we

deserve — including accidents. This is a pagan view,

unworthy of Christians. There is that fascinating

passage in Luke 13:1-5 where Jesus refers to eighteen

people who were killed by a falling tower in Siloam. “Do

you think they were more guilty than anyone else wholive in Jerusalem?” he asked the crowd, rhetorically.

“Certainly not!” he exclaimed in response. Sometimes

one is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The

most appropriate response to suffering cased by

accidents is to do what we can to reduce them while

providing compassionate support to those who, throughno fault of their own, fall victim to this type of suffering

in our imperfect world. The last thing we should do is to

blame God for the accident and ensuing suffering.

Natural Evil

The term “natural evil” has been used to indicate

suffering brought about through natural processes.

Some writers have even considered sickness and death

to be of this type, but we will discuss those types of

suffering separately. What we are most concerned with

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here are largely tragedies related to weather and

geological processes.

Of course, it is difficult to completely subtracthuman influence from even this type of suffering. For

example, much has been written during the past few

years concerning climate change — how emissions of

greenhouse gasses (CO2, methane) from industry,

automobiles and cattle has contributed to broad

changes in weather patterns. Although it is difficult to

prove the degree to which climate change is related to

extreme weather patterns, climatologists insist there is

a connection. The prediction is that we will see more

weather extremes in the decades to come, one

consequence being more human suffering from such

natural causes.

Human agency is also implicated in other kinds of

natural disasters. The dust storms in the Great Plains

of the United States during the 1930s were caused, in

part, by irresponsible land cultivation methods that left

the topsoil unprotected from the prairie wind. Humansdepleting the rain forests also influences weather

patterns and leads to more flooding. The examples

could go on.

Even in a world where humans lived in perfect

harmony with nature, we would sometimes suffer from

an earthquake, volcano, hurricane, and so forth. These

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so-called “acts of God” have been happening for a very

long time — long before humans came onto the scene.

They are part of the way the earth’s natural geological

and climatological processes unfold. The problem for us

is that we are often “in the wrong place at the wrong

time,” unprepared or unable to cope with these

situations.

In Kansas, where I now live, we have numerous

tornadoes every year. Some of these can be very

powerful, destroying virtually everything in their path.

They are generally less than a half-mile wide, however,

and it often happens that a house on one side of the

road will be destroyed, while one on the other side will

be untouched. The path of a tornado is often erratic,

prompting some to speculate that they express some

kind of divine purpose — destroying this home and that

barn for reasons known to God, but sparing others just

a few feet away, or seemingly in the direct path because

of divine mercy.

As tempting as it is to consider tornadoes and othernatural forces to be agents of divine justice, I am sure

this position is not theologically defensible. As always,

good people suffer from these forces, and bad people

escape unharmed. There is no moral intent expressed in

natural forces. As was the case with accidental

phenomena, we need to make a distinction between

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primary and secondary causality. Climate and geology

operate in the realm of secondary causality.

Thanks to scientific progress, we are now able toavoid some of the causes of natural suffering better

than in the past. When a hurricane destroyed

Galveston, Texas in 1900, no one knew it was coming in

advance and so there was no evacuation of the island.

Thousands died. Now, we can track hurricanes from

their early formation and provide ample warning time

to encourage evacuation. This will not diminish the

damage done to property in its path; those who wish to

avoid this risk can consider living elsewhere. Likewise

for those who live near geological fault lines. Early-

warning systems for earthquakes don’t give much

advance notice, but they can help one to at least get out

of a building before serious damage is done. Also,

knowing where earthquakes are likely to occur provides

information to consider when planning where to settle.

San Francisco, California is a lovely city, and it’s easy

to understand why anyone would want to live there.

But no geologist would be surprised if a major

earthquake caused extensive damage to the city at any

time. Science can also help to predict situations where

tsunamis will arise, as well as give warnings about

flash flooding, severe thunderstorms, and volcanic

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eruptions. The more we learn, the better we can adjust

our lives to natural forces.

I have placed birth defects in this section becausethey can seemingly turn up randomly and without

warning. As with other natural causes of suffering,

however, they are not completely disconnected from

human actions. For example, a woman who drinks

alcohol and/or uses drugs during her pregnancy can

harm her developing fetus, sometimes severely. But a

wide range of handicaps can arise in the children of

healthy women and marriages. With a better

knowledge of the genetic heritage of both parents, it

might be possible to predict some of these possibilities,

but not necessarily prevent them. Genetic testing of

fetuses is also possible, raising the ethical dilemma of

how to deal with those who will be born with handicaps,

especially severe ones. Church teaching on this issue

gives priority to the right to life of the unborn, and that

is helpful in sorting out the ethical issues at stake.

Bringing a handicapped fetus to term and caring for

him or her will surely present extraordinary challenges

for the parents, however.

I think God’s attitude toward suffering from natural

causes is similar to that of accidents — first and

foremost encouraging compassionate assistance to those

who are victims of such tragedies. During the flooding

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of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I

heard people say things like, “well, if you live in a city

below sea level, you’re asking for it!” Not exactly

compassion! God also prompts us to learn more about

the earth and its natural systems that we might live in

more safety and harmony with these mighty forces.

Better levees have been built around New Orleans, for

example, and more care is being given to inspecting the

pumps that are supposed to remove flood waters (mostwere not operative at the time of Katrina). Couples who

know they at risk for bearing children with serious

handicaps can better decide if they want to take this

risk, or to find other ways to be generous with their

lives — like adoption, for example. God gave us

intellects that we might become more responsible forhow we live our lives, and the Spirit of God has been

given to guide us in our studies and discernments.

On a purely fantasy level, I can imagine that God

would be delighted if we dropped the phrase, “acts of

God” in reference to tragedies brought on by nature.

The term gives the wrong impression, ascribing blame

to God and thus discouraging people from turning to

God when they need Him most. God is always with us,

loving us in all of the circumstances of our lives. How

about “acts of nature” as a substitute?

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Growth, Sickness and Death

All life forms undergo a growth process, struggle tofind adequate food, experience illnesses, and finally die.

It is no different with humans. Between the time the

egg is fertilized in the mother’s womb through birth,

toddlerhood, adolescence, adulthood, and finally old age

and death, we are challenged and stretched to let go of

what has been to realize more of our potential. The

growth process need not be too painful if one is healthy

and supported by a loving family, but that is not always

the case. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that

life is often difficult, stressful and wearisome.

Our days may come to seventy years,

or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

(Ps. 90:10)

As with the other causes of suffering, things can be

made better or worse depending on the kinds of choiceswe have made in our lives, and those we continue to

make once the difficult times arise. The research is very

clear, for example, that diet, sleep, exercise, and

relationships are strongly correlated with health. No

doctor is surprised when an obese person develops

diabetes, or an alcoholic has liver diseases. Children

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who grow up in homes where the parents frequently

quarrel will often develop low self-esteem, which is a

painful psychological consequence they will struggle

with for years, in many cases. Obviously, we cannot

blame God for illnesses brought about through our own

poor lifestyle decisions.

Even in the best of circumstances, however, sickness

and death can intrude unexpectedly. We are probably

all aware of someone — a “health nut,” we might have

called him or her — who was careful about diet, sleep,

exercise, and managing stress, but suffered a stroke or

heart attack at an early age. In one case I am familiar

with, the man, aged 42, had had a physical exam, with

excellent numbers to boast of. He dropped dead during

a jog the very next week, leaving his wife and three

young children behind. Statistics are in favor of those

who make good self-care decisions, but there are no

guarantees. Death can come at any moment.

I suppose most people would have little quarrel with

God if they knew they could count on a long life withfew illnesses and a rather quick dying process,

surrounded by family and friends, with joyful

anticipation of the heavenly world to come. After all,

everything that lives eventually has to die, so one has

no right to feel exempt from that fact. But the later the

better, and with as little suffering as possible, most of

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us would say. Indeed, some people are granted such a

gift, but of course they do not know that it will happen

this way, and most likely have experienced times of

stress thinking about their eventual death.

What needs to be noted in all this is that, from a

biblical perspective, God did not will that humans

should know suffering and death as we now experience

it. With the creation of the first humans, God breathed

into them an immortal spirit that transformed even

their bodies with a fullness and glory that was resistant

to illness and death. We do not know how that would

have worked, of course, as this metaphysical situation

was lost with the Fall in Eden. Even though those early

chapters in Genesis are mythological in construct, they

do describe a change in the status of human nature and

its capacity for suffering. Genesis 3:16-19 describes the

curses humans were to experience in our new, fallen

state — mental anguish, struggle, loss of harmony,

contentious relationships, to name a few. Then God

gave them “animal skins” to clothe them for life outside

of Eden, signifying that we are now like the other

animals, who will experience disease and death. There

is also a new capacity for “knowing good and evil” (Gen.

3:22), which is to say a judgmentalism that we can

apply to any situation. God did not will that we

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experience this “fruit of the tree of Knowledge,” which is

the source of so much of our misery.

Human judgmentalism must be ranked among thechief sources of human suffering and misery. It is bad

enough that the shoe of life pinches tightly at times, but

we make things worse by judging that this is a bad

thing and something to loathe, maybe even blame

someone else (including God) about. Making mistakes is

inevitable, but judging oneself to be a bad person and

failure for doing so is quite another. Animals become

frightened when they perceive a threat, but unlike a

cat, who calms down when the dog is finally out of

sight, we continue to scare ourselves by fantasizing

other threatening situations. We create inner

disharmony through our mental mismanagement,

compounding the pains we experience from illnesses

and other difficulties. Granted, these are but more

examples of suffering brought on through poor choices,

but what we are naming here is a kind of spiritual

disease that biases us to make such choices in the first

place. We are our own worst enemy, and that is perhaps

the worst suffering of all, for it disposes us to be

hopeless and despondent.

I do not understand what I do. For what I

want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And

if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the

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law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who

do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that

good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my

sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is

good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the

good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do

—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not

want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin

living in me that does it.

(Rom. 7:15-20)

God knows all about our misery, of course, and has

done something about it, as we shall soon see. What

needs to be affirmed here, is that God wills that we be

compassionately responsive to the pains and struggles

that we all undergo through the growth process,

sickness and death. We see Jesus doing so on many

occasions in the Gospels, and he calls us to do the same.

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2.

The Critique of Atheism

The fact of suffering and death is one of atheism’s

strongest criticisms of belief in a loving God. What

follows is a quote from Dr. Bart Ehrman, a biblical

scholar who is also an atheist, in large part because he

found the biblical response to the problem of suffering

to be inadequate:We live in a world in which a child dies every five

seconds of starvation. Every five seconds. Every

minute there are twenty-five people who die because

they do not have clean water to drink. Every hour

700 people die of malaria. Where is God in all this?

We live in a world in which earthquakes in theHimalayas kill 50,000 people and leave 3 million

without shelter in the face of oncoming winter. We

live in a world where a hurricane destroys New

Orleans. Where a tsunami kills 300,000 people in

one fell swoop. Where millions of children are born

with horrible birth defects. And where is God? To

say that he eventually will make right all that is

wrong seems to me, now, to be pure wishful

thinking.

(from http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/

blogalogue/2008/04/why-suffering-is-gods-

problem.html)

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As we have seen in our reflections on the different

causes of suffering, Christianity does indeed have a

response to Professor Ehrman’s objections. God’s love

and omnipotence are not in conflict, especially if we

recognize that God grants a measure of freedom to

humans and indeed all of creation in its operations.

Without such freedom, the universe would simply be

like a machine, with creatures going about and doing

things according to causes they could not resist orchange in any manner. Yet the fact that humans are

capable of changing their attitudes and behavior is

proof enough that our lives and actions are not pre-

determined. Freedom of mind and action is inscribed in

the heart of all humans, and to a lesser degree in other

creatures as well. Such freedom implies the possibilityof doing harm, even in the face of the experience of

negative consequences.

Some atheists will grant the role of free-will in

human suffering, but complain about God creating a

kind of universe where natural evil, birth defects,

growth pains, sickness and death take place. Change

and even violence are found throughout the universe,

from the birth and death of stars, to the cataclysmic

changes that planets undergo through volcanoes,

bombardment by meteors, and so forth. Life on earth

has come forth in such a context. Animals eat plants

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and other animals. Species arise, and eventually go

extinct; such is the way of the universe. The atheist

might want nothing to do with a God who creates a

universe where suffering and evil are possible, but it’s

not as though they have a choice about which one they

will live in. Neither is it obvious that they could have

done a better job!

Of course, it’s possible that God could have designed

a universe where free creatures would be compelled to

do only good. In fact, such a place actually does exist,

according to Christian theology. It’s called heaven — a

state of existence where the goodness and beauty of God

are perceived so fully that its inhabitants are are

irresistibly drawn to goodness and love. Another way of

considering the atheist’s complaint, then, would be to

inquire why God didn’t create only heaven and skip the

step of this mortal life with its struggles and pain?

There could be no arguing about existence of God if that

were the case, nor of God’s goodness and power, for that

matter. God could have done things that way, but God

did not, so there must be a reason for His plan.

What we know about God’s ultimate plan and God’s

reason for working it out in the context of this physical

universe is extremely limited, however. As the Apostle

Paul noted, “For now we see through a glass darkly,” (1

Cor. 13:12) and the great prophet Isaiah stated: “Who

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can know the mind of the Lord, or teach Him

anything?” (Is. 40:13) And (God speaking) “As the

heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways

higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your

thoughts.” (Is. 55:9) God has His reasons for having

created a universe where creatures could experience

suffering and evil. The Bible is generally silent on this

matter, as it does not occur to its authors to question

why God created this kind of universe and not another.What is unequivocally affirmed, however, is that this

universe is good — indeed very good (Gen. 1:31). It is

more than adequate for accommodating life:

For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens

and earth and put everything in place. He made the

world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos.

(Is. 45:18)

One thing we can all say, however, is that the

universe is not lacking in beauty and grandeur!

Atheists are often very much in touch with this, but

they do not recognize a Transcendent Source behind

and within it all. For the religious person, creation isiconic, or revelatory of a greater Goodness, Beauty and

Intelligence. This is why the Apostle Paul wrote: “For

since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities

—his eternal power and divine nature—have been

clearly seen, being understood from what has been

made, so that people are without excuse.” (Rm. 1:20)

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Creation itself stands as a witness to the existence of

God, for it cannot account for its own origin and

existence.

Atheists, then, are inescapably shackled to a

materialist perspective that even the most noble of

their humanists cannot overcome. Their hope to leave

the earth a better place for the next generation is

laudable, but does not address the deepest aspirations

of the human soul and its yearning for complete love,

knowledge and meaning. For them, death is believed to

be the end, including the extinguishing of the light of

individual consciousness. Perhaps they feel some degree

of satisfaction in their protest against a God whom they

believe to be unjust and mean-spirited, but such self-

righteousness is small compensation for the harsh

reality of an eventual death and annihilation.

Nevertheless, the number of atheists is growing, in no

small part because many of them are ignorant of the

hope Christianity holds out in the face of evil and

suffering.

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3.

Christian Spirituality

Christians share with atheists a sense of

responsibility for the social and ecological future of the

planet. We recognize the work for good that they are

often doing, and we stand with them in many ventures.

As the Apostle Paul wrote long ago, “whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything

is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such

things.” (Phil. 4:8) There are many such “excellent and

praiseworthy” writings and initiatives carried forward

by atheists. With regard to scientific research, in

particular, it makes little difference whether thescientist is an atheist or a religious person. Science

proceeds by following a method of inquiry that helps to

clarify facts, and what is most important is fidelity to

this method.

How to act upon and understand the meaning of

scientific data necessitates consideration of ethical and

sometimes even theological principles, however, and it

is here that one often finds disagreements. We can

collaborate on mapping the human gene code, for

example, but what to do with this information is

another question. Other complicated areas include

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embryonic stem cell research, birth control methods,

and assisted suicide. Should we proactively and

painlessly terminate the life of a person suffering from

a terminal illness, for example? Is it ethical to perform

late-term abortions when the mother’s life is not at

risk? Science cannot resolve these questions as they are

ethical considerations.

Christianity has no quarrel with advances in

technology that help to relieve suffering and extend life.

Although our symbol is the Cross, we do not believe

that suffering in itself is a good thing. As noted in a

section above, the kind of misery and strife we

experience at this time in history was not God’s hope for

us, and so it’s a good thing to do whatever we can

through scientific means (medical, pharmaceutical,

psychological, etc.) and otherwise to work to alleviate

suffering and to reverse the conditions that bring it

about. Chief among these conditions is the misuse of

human freedom — a topic about which Christian

spirituality has much to offer.

Faith and Love

The misuse of human freedom is the cause of

enormous misery and destruction: relational, social,

political, economic, environmental, and so on. If we

could eliminate this cause, we would still have natural

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evil, accidents, growth pains and sicknesses to contend

with, but we could deal with each of these problems

much more effectively.

It’s obvious that making rational and loving choices

would make things better in any circumstance, so one

wonders why we would ever choose to do otherwise?

The answer is because our choosing is deeply influenced

by three negative factors: ignorance, selfishness, and

social bias. These three are often entwined to twist our

consciousness, thus distorting our perceptions,

judgments and decision-making. All of the world’s

religions and many atheists as well are aware of these

destructive influences, but countering them is another

matter.

In Christianity, the problem of ignorance is

addressed in a variety of ways. Christians support

educational endeavors such as the pursuit of the arts,

science, math, and so forth. The greater problem of

moral ignorance is also addressed in several ways.

Biblical revelation confronts us with the TenCommandments, for example, and moral theologians

today reflect on the application of ethical principles in a

wide range of situations. But it is the example of Jesus

that sets forth the clearest expression of what it means

to live a good and moral life. His teachings on love and

his example of living a life of love inspire us to do

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likewise. Because Christians believe that Jesus is God-

incarnate, we find in Him the focal point to draw the

mind and will in the direction of goodness.

The problem of selfish bias is more difficult to

overcome. As the Apostle Paul noted, the Jews had the

moral Law, but their history betrays an inability to live

up to its requirements. The reason for this has less to

do with a disregard for the Law than with a deep

woundedness that leaves the human psyche polluted

with fear, shame and resentment. These negative

emotions exert considerable influence on the will and

reason, moving us to seek our own good first without

regard for the needs of others. Christianity responds to

this inner bias by calling us to conversion — to

renounce our selfish ways and to open ourselves to the

love of God through faith. Faith also enables us to open

to the power of the Holy Spirit — a deeper Will and

Energy at work within us — Who heals the deep

recesses of the soul and gifts us in power to love God

and one another. Of course, it’s painfully obvious that

many who call themselves Christians seem to have

missed out on this inner healing and empowerment.

But what should also be obvious is that this kind of

religious transformation is not an option offered by

atheism, which, in fact, denies its very possibility

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despite the example of countless saints and mystics in

our day and through the ages.

Finally, the influence of social bias (racism, sexixm,excessive nationalism, etc.) is offset by Christian

community, where we find support and encouragement

for growing in faith and living by moral values.

Through the preaching, teaching, fellowship and

Sacraments, we are nurtured in our growth in Christ.

We are also sent forth to live a life of love in our

families, workplace, and in the larger culture.

We see, then, that Christianity does offer a positive

response to the problem of individual and social bias,

and the case could easily be made that the world today

is a better place because of the influence of Christiansthrough the ages. The record is tainted by scandals,

inquisitions and so forth, but it would be wrong to

consider these to be characteristic and definitive.

Wherever such wrongdoing has occurred, it has

eventually been condemned by Christian teaching. Far

more characteristic has been transformed individualsand relationships, with schools, hospitals, and religious

communities responding to a wide variety of needs.

Much remains to be done, of course, but the spiritual

means to do so has been richly provided for by God

through Christ and His Church.

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Redemptive Suffering

Even with the responses of education, faith,spirituality and community described above, everyone

will suffer at some time. It is during such times that the

question of a good and loving God becomes most focused

and urgent. Sometimes people become angry with God,

holding God responsible for their situation, or at least

wondering why God doesn’t rescue them from it

somehow. In the worst of cases, they reject God

completely, including spiritual disciplines and

Christian community. This can lead to the experience of

non-redemptive suffering .

All pain moves us to focus on self, our problems, andpossible solutions. When we fully give in to this

movement, we can shut others — including God — out

of our lives, and become more withdrawn, isolated, and

hopeless. This non-redemptive suffering makes a

difficult situation worse by straining relationships and

leaving us with a sense of meaninglessness. The lifecircumstance from which we suffer is bad enough, but

we compound it because of our negative, judgmental

attitude, perhaps going so far as to become bitter and

closed off to life. Alcohol and drugs might provide

temporary relief, but we have little hope for

experiencing happiness. This is a tragic mistake, for

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Christianity holds out a very different way of

responding to a painful situation.

The message and example of Christ is that God iswith us in every circumstance of life. That’s why the

response of faith discussed above is so important; it

helps us to be open to God and to extend God’s

compassion to others. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you

who weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest.”

(Mt. 11:28) He is the promised Immanuel (God-with-us)

from the Book of Isaiah (7:14). He is with us when we

suffer, offering his love, friendship, guidance, and hope.

If our suffering is a consequence of poor or selfish

choices, he holds out his forgiveness, inviting us to

make amends, if necessary, and move on. Even from the

Cross, where he was being mocked by those who had

tortured Him unjustly, he persisted in love and

forgiveness. Jesus reveals that nothing can separate us

from God’s love — not trouble or calamity, persecution,

hunger, poverty, death, demons, powers and

principalities (see Rom. 8:31-39).

The promise of redemptive suffering is that we can

continue to grow in our relationship with God, self and

others even during times of pain. In the book, Man’s

Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl noted that even in

the experience of a Nazi concentration camp, it was still

possible for individuals to choose their attitude in this

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horrible situation. Christ did the same during his

passion, and he can strengthen us as well through His

Spirit dwelling in us. There is no guarantee that the

cause of our suffering will be resolved. One still might

have the cancer, or the destruction left by a tornado, for

example. The main point is that one can go through this

difficult time open to God and loving, or one can

withdraw from life in bitterness. The choice is ours.

At the heart of the Christian spiritual life is a

dynamic called the paschal mystery. The paschal

mystery refers to Christ’s dying and rising from the

dead, and we experience this pattern in our own lives.

Sometimes things fall apart, but if we stay close to God

and persevere in loving relationships, we come to

experience transformation. Looking back on such an

experience, we can see how close God was to us, and

how much we learned and grew through it all. As the

Apostle Paul observes, “we also glory in our sufferings,

because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope

does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been

poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who

has been given to us.” (Rm. 5:3-5)

The paschal mystery is another answer to the

question, “Where is God during times of suffering?” God

is with us, loving and supporting us, deepening our

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capacity for compassion and insight. We are “grown” by

God through times of suffering just as surely as we are

when things are going well — maybe more so. While

suffering is not a good thing in and of itself, God can

bring forth good from suffering, and even make use of it

to teach us lessons we would not learn otherwise.

Hope for the Future

“Religion is the opiate of the people” is a summary of

Karl Marx’s critique of the role of religion in society. He

saw that the promise of a heavenly future held out by

religions could often serve to distract people from

taking responsibility for improving life in this world.

Even worse, teachings about heaven in combination

with an unhealthy emphasis on the nobility of the Cross

and suffering played into the hands of the wealthy, who

used it to oppress the working class. Hence, for Marx

and the communists who made use of his teachings,

there could be no place for religion in their socialistic

society.

Marx had a point, of course. Sometimes religious

teachings have been used to manipulate people. As

always, however, these distortions have been confronted

by Christian teachings themselves, with the errors

pointed out and exaggerated emphases corrected. The

solution to the problem Marx pointed out was not to get

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rid of religion, as the communists did, but to reform and

renew it, as has been done many times through the

centuries. Religious traditions participate in the

paschal mystery in a manner similar to that of

individuals, with structures and emphases that worked

in one age eventually falling apart and then rising

again in another form with different emphases. Church

history tells the story of these dyings and risings, which

continue to this day.

The truth is that we need a little of the “opium” that

Marx was protesting against. A better name for this

would be the virtue of hope, which looks to a better

future for individuals and the world. After all, if this life

is all there is, then the future ends with death and its

annihilation of everything we know ourselves to be —

body, psyche and spirit. What kind of future is that?

And yet there’s no denying the fact of death, so what

would be our basis for hoping for a future beyond?

Some religions (Hinduism, New Age) respond by

proposing that the human spirit survives death, but isembodied again to go through another life as a human

or perhaps, even, as another kind of animal, or even a

creature on another planet. This process continues

through many lifetimes until one finally attains

complete oneness with the divine and the universe.

Like the drop of rain that falls into the ocean to become

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one with it, so, too, does the individual soul eventually

lose itself in the great ocean of existence. This view

tends to encourage people to try to live a good life to

attain a better rebirth, but it can also lead to a certain

fatalism concerning the future.

The Christian basis for hope in a future beyond is

based on the resurrection of Jesus. The risen Christ is

the individual, Jesus of Nazareth, transformed in body

and soul to fully participate in the life of God. This

revelation is held out as a promise to those who are in

Christ — that we, too, will be resurrected as Jesus was,

to experience eternal life with God. Christ was raised

from the dead, “the first fruits of those who have fallen

asleep.” (1 Cor. 15:20) The encounters with the risen

Christ reported in the Gospels give us a glimpse of our

own glorious future.

The resurrection has implications beyond that of the

destiny of individuals. A spiritual transformation of

society and the world are promised as well, fully

overcoming the various causes of suffering. Christiansbelieve that Christ will come again in glory, ushering in

a new age in which the reign of God will exist on earth

as in heaven. In this new world, God will “wipe every

tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or

mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things

has passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)

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The Gospel of Christ holds out a glorious future to

hope in — for our individual destiny, and for that of the

world. Because of this hope, we can hold our heads high

and more cheerfully endure the inescapable sufferings

of this life. This hope is “pie in the sky,” to some degree,

but that’s not a bad thing — especially if we can taste

the pie in this life. That’s why God left us the Holy

Spirit, God’s enduring presence with us through this

time in history as we wait for the promised fulfillmentto come. Through faith, prayer, and spiritual

disciplines, we can experience a glimpse of what this

new life will be like. As the Apostle Peter writes,

“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and

even though you do not see Him now, you believe in

Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith,

the salvation of your souls.” (1 Pet. 1:8-9) The utopian

future hoped for by Marxists and other atheists pales in

comparison with this hope for resurrection.

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Summary

We live in a time of biblical history between the fall

of our first parents from fullness of relationship with

God and the triumphant second coming of Christ. We

are both fallen and redeemed — deeply wounded by

shame, fear and selfishness, but also gifted with the

love of God made available through Jesus Christ. We

continue to experience suffering brought on by our own

bad choices, and also from accidents, natural evil,

sickness and growing pains. Often it does not seem to

make sense that God allows us to experience such

misery, but biblical and church teaching note that this

was never God’s plan for the human race. Nevertheless,

God is still with us, and nothing can separate us from

the love of God poured out in Jesus Christ. If we claim

God’s love through faith, we can experience God’s

presence during times of suffering, and even continue to

grow in character. Suffering need not deprive us of

meaning or hope. There will come a time when God’s

reign will be fully established on earth and suffering

will be no more, but in the meantime, we are all

vulnerable, and we all shall one day die. As a people of

God, we are called to extend the compassion and

consolation of God to one another as we journey through

life.

God, and the Problem of Suffering

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