Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?
I have encountered numerous intellectuals, authors, scientists and philosophers who have rejected the Christian faith because they could not find an answer to the question “Why does God allow pain and suffering?” It seems to me from their writings that throughout their lives they tried to answer that question but when they could not, they concluded that a good God could not exist.
What is very unfortunate is that the Bible answers this question quite well. But if the Bible is so clear with its answer, how could so many intelligent people miss it. Frankly, I’m not exactly sure, but I do have a conjecture. And it all starts by asking the right question.
Why does God allow pain and suffering? The reason why people get stuck at this point is because that’s the wrong question to begin with. It is an unnecessary question that burdens our minds with more than it can handle. In a way it’s like asking what every ingredient in cold medication does. We don’t really need an answer to that question; we just need to know that the cold medication will get rid of your cold. When we ask why God allows suffering, we are not really after the specific reasons why God allows the suffering. We are more after the understanding that the reasons are good enough. We need to know that this suffering is worth it. Asking for the details of why suffering is allowed is just another way of justifying the permissibility of the suffering. But if we can justify the suffering without finding out the reasons why it is permitted, then we don’t have a logical problem.
Think about it. Let’s say you are going to a skilled mechanic to get your car repaired. The mechanic tells you that you need to replace the whatchamacallit and buy a new thingamajig. If you don’t trust the mechanic, even though he is skilled, you are going to ask him to specifically explain why those things need to be changed. You want to justify the repairs and make sure that he’s not trying to pull a fast one on you. But if you trust the mechanic, say he is a lifelong friend for example, you won’t need to ask the questions because you know he has good justifiable reasons. You don’t know why the change needs to be made. You just know it does.
It is the same with our suffering. We want to understand that the suffering that’s happening has a worthy purpose behind it. If it does, then we can still have a good God who allows suffering. We don’t necessarily need to know the exact reasons. It would be nice to know the reasons, but it’s not a logical requirement. All we need to know is that God has good reason to allow this suffering. The right question, then, is not “why does God allow suffering?” but “does God have good reason to allow suffering?” And the answer to the latter question, to the real question, is an undeniable and provable “Yes”.
The answer is surprisingly simple. We can know that God has good reason to allow suffering because he subjected himself to that same suffering. When Jesus left the peace of heaven to come to earth, he went through the same sufferings we go through. He went through loneliness and rejection. He went through pain and sacrifice. He saw hunger and poverty. He himself was hungry and poor. He saw friends and family die. And finally (and I am cutting the list short), he himself was tortured and killed – and killed even on the cross. God talked the talk and walked the walk. Therefore, God must have good reason to allow it. Breaking the logic down statement by statement, it could look something like this.
1) A person does not subject himself to suffering unless there is good reason
2) God subjected himself to human suffering
--> Human suffering has good reason
Going back to our skilled mechanic example, let us say that the mechanic has his own car that is very much like yours. And let us say that his car also has the same problems as yours. If he remedies his car’s problems the same way he recommends you remedy yours, then you can know that his recommendations are good. Since he put himself through the same expenses and same difficulties and since he knows best, you are safe in trusting this mechanic. Likewise, since God subjected himself to the same suffering you are safe in trusting him during your suffering.
Just a little aside here, please, do not get me wrong. I do not in any way claim that the suffering is good. Some of the sufferings that humans have experienced are of the most abhorrent kind. I cannot even imagine anything worse. I am claiming, however, that the reasons to allow it are good enough.
In a way it’s a little too simple – painfully simple at times. When a mother watches her handicapped son sit on his wheelchair while all the other kids play, when a proud father learns that his newly married daughter was killed in a car accident, when hundreds of innocent families get swept away by a tsunami, when all these things happen, we just want to scream “Why God? Why?” And the notion that there could be good reason to allow all this is so incredibly repulsive that our hearts cannot even begin to consider it much less accept it. But the undeniable fact is, and I confess am unable to admit it most times, there is good reason. God himself went through the same human suffering and when he looked at it all he said, it would seem almost with a sigh, “let it be so.”
What is very unfortunate is that the Bible answers this question quite well. But if the Bible is so clear with its answer, how could so many intelligent people miss it. Frankly, I’m not exactly sure, but I do have a conjecture. And it all starts by asking the right question.
Why does God allow pain and suffering? The reason why people get stuck at this point is because that’s the wrong question to begin with. It is an unnecessary question that burdens our minds with more than it can handle. In a way it’s like asking what every ingredient in cold medication does. We don’t really need an answer to that question; we just need to know that the cold medication will get rid of your cold. When we ask why God allows suffering, we are not really after the specific reasons why God allows the suffering. We are more after the understanding that the reasons are good enough. We need to know that this suffering is worth it. Asking for the details of why suffering is allowed is just another way of justifying the permissibility of the suffering. But if we can justify the suffering without finding out the reasons why it is permitted, then we don’t have a logical problem.
Think about it. Let’s say you are going to a skilled mechanic to get your car repaired. The mechanic tells you that you need to replace the whatchamacallit and buy a new thingamajig. If you don’t trust the mechanic, even though he is skilled, you are going to ask him to specifically explain why those things need to be changed. You want to justify the repairs and make sure that he’s not trying to pull a fast one on you. But if you trust the mechanic, say he is a lifelong friend for example, you won’t need to ask the questions because you know he has good justifiable reasons. You don’t know why the change needs to be made. You just know it does.
It is the same with our suffering. We want to understand that the suffering that’s happening has a worthy purpose behind it. If it does, then we can still have a good God who allows suffering. We don’t necessarily need to know the exact reasons. It would be nice to know the reasons, but it’s not a logical requirement. All we need to know is that God has good reason to allow this suffering. The right question, then, is not “why does God allow suffering?” but “does God have good reason to allow suffering?” And the answer to the latter question, to the real question, is an undeniable and provable “Yes”.
The answer is surprisingly simple. We can know that God has good reason to allow suffering because he subjected himself to that same suffering. When Jesus left the peace of heaven to come to earth, he went through the same sufferings we go through. He went through loneliness and rejection. He went through pain and sacrifice. He saw hunger and poverty. He himself was hungry and poor. He saw friends and family die. And finally (and I am cutting the list short), he himself was tortured and killed – and killed even on the cross. God talked the talk and walked the walk. Therefore, God must have good reason to allow it. Breaking the logic down statement by statement, it could look something like this.
1) A person does not subject himself to suffering unless there is good reason
2) God subjected himself to human suffering
--> Human suffering has good reason
Going back to our skilled mechanic example, let us say that the mechanic has his own car that is very much like yours. And let us say that his car also has the same problems as yours. If he remedies his car’s problems the same way he recommends you remedy yours, then you can know that his recommendations are good. Since he put himself through the same expenses and same difficulties and since he knows best, you are safe in trusting this mechanic. Likewise, since God subjected himself to the same suffering you are safe in trusting him during your suffering.
Just a little aside here, please, do not get me wrong. I do not in any way claim that the suffering is good. Some of the sufferings that humans have experienced are of the most abhorrent kind. I cannot even imagine anything worse. I am claiming, however, that the reasons to allow it are good enough.
In a way it’s a little too simple – painfully simple at times. When a mother watches her handicapped son sit on his wheelchair while all the other kids play, when a proud father learns that his newly married daughter was killed in a car accident, when hundreds of innocent families get swept away by a tsunami, when all these things happen, we just want to scream “Why God? Why?” And the notion that there could be good reason to allow all this is so incredibly repulsive that our hearts cannot even begin to consider it much less accept it. But the undeniable fact is, and I confess am unable to admit it most times, there is good reason. God himself went through the same human suffering and when he looked at it all he said, it would seem almost with a sigh, “let it be so.”
Labels: God suffering pain christianity apologetics proof allow loving
posted by Mark at 4:53 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting blog! I don't agree with your analogy at all because some enjoy learning and like to question things (ie: your mechanic analogy is just horrible).
I also think that you haven't experienced the loss of someone close. Such as a sibling or parents in the most horrible way by a disease or an accident. Someone who you've always seen as great.
If that day ever comes for you (I hope it never does) I'd be very curious to see if your opinion would change!
In reply to Anonymous... it is not wrong to question and to learn at all. I'm just saying you don't need to know the answer to be satisfied that the answer is good enough. It is enough to trust the person giving the answer.
You also did not explain why my mechanic analogy is not good in proving the point I was trying to make.
Thankfully, I have not experienced loss of the kind that you have described. In a way that does put me in a disadvantage in relating towards this issue. But in another way i am at an advantage to be able to reason though this issue without being clouded by emotions.
If something like this did ever happen to me, i still hope to be able trust Jesus, who went through even worse kinds of pain, and believe that He has good reason to allow it.
Post a Comment
<< Home