Suffering
Suffering is an emotive issue which has been debated and questioned for centuries and one that arouses the interest of both the Christian and the unbeliever. Such interest manifests itself in the form of questions such as:
Why is there so much evil in the world? If there is a God, why did He allow an earthquake to strike Haiti? These are valid and common questions. Many speculate on the reason for earthquakes and acts of terrorism but rather than speculate on why certain disasters happen, it's maybe more profitable to follow the Scriptures as to how one should respond. Ajith Fernando believes ‘that western theological education is not preparing Christians adequately for suffering, and that this is having negative influences upon the church in the non-western world’.[1]
When confronted with suffering and sorrow, people tend to respond out of their religious background. The Buddhist or Hindu will attribute it to Karma – fate or destiny. The Muslim will say it's the will of Allah, and the Christian, depending on what influences have shaped his or her theology could formulate several opinions. Some will say it's the Sovereign will of God while others will attribute suffering to an attack of Satan.
E.C. Gordon states that ‘the presence of “evil,” mingled together with what we call “good,” constitutes the problem’.[2]
The simple answer to the question ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world?’ is, because of the fall of man and sin coming into the world.
Luke 13: 1-5 perhaps provide the most relevant verses on suffering in the New Testament. Jesus was being questioned about the cause of a recent massacre in the temple. A sacrifice had been in process, when Roman soldiers burst in and caused slaughter and bloodshed. The question put to Jesus in light of this massacre was simply ‘why?’ Why had this happened? Behind their question was an inherent human characteristic and that was to pass their own judgment on the matter. They assumed that those who perished were wicked and living sinful lives because of Jesus' response when He said: ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?’ (Luke 13:2). He supplies the answer: ‘I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish’ (v. 3). Jesus cited a further tragedy where a tower in Siloam fell and killed eighteen people to reinforce His point. Jesus however was not saying whether or not a group of people were more sinful and wicked than another. Furthermore, He used such tragedies to provoke his hearers to examine their own lives. Such catastrophic events should have the effect of causing one to examine his or her life to ensure upright living with repentant hearts before God. The lesson being that mortal human beings will face God’s final judgment one day, and unless they have repented and followed Christ, they too like the Jews in the temple and the eighteen crushed by the tower, will perish.
When Jesus addressed these issues, it is apparent that He could accommodate suffering as part of His teaching. He did not deny its reality, but had an opinion on it and He could speak freely about such tragedies without in anyway blaming God for them. It’s a staggering thought, when one considers the fact that Jesus - the Son of God went about doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, working miracles and yet could accommodate suffering as part of His way of life.
When God created the universe and everything in it including humanity, He declared it was ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31). He gave a simple command to the first man Adam who was responsible for sharing it with his wife. When Satan in the guise of a serpent, tempted Eve and she subsequently succumbed, sin entered into the world and the human race. Sin was like a deadly poison which spread affecting the environment, wildlife and human relationships. With sin, came sickness and death. Some may ask, ‘why didn't God intervene and prevent Eve and Adam from disobeying His command?’ The answer is provided in God’s nature. God is love (1 John 4:8) and He seeks loving intimacy with His children. If God had intervened He would have had to override Adam's freewill, which would have meant taking away the capacity to love. If God had overridden free will, there old have been no evil or suffering, but there would have been a universe without love. In creating people with a free will, there was the possibility of evil occurring.
If there is a God, why is there so much evil?’ It's human nature to latch onto the latter part of Augustine's remarks. Given the tendencies of human nature, if God was to remove all suffering and grant every desire for every person, the world would be worse than it is today, as it would effectively house thousands of people who would be tantamount to ‘spoilt children’. Jeremiah says that 'everyone is greedy for unjust gain' (Jer 6:13). When one asks the question: ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’, it's important to recognize that the human definition of ‘good’ is different from God’s. We are not saved by good works. Good works alone do not meet God’s standard. Isaiah says our righteousness – our acts of goodness are as ‘filthy rags’ (Is 64:6). Sin is still in the world and man still has a sin nature.
Many struggle to make reconcile the fact that if God is good as Christians believe, and if He is all powerful and all wise, why then do evil and suffering exist? Those statements are all true, but perhaps one’s interpretation or understanding of one of them may be faulty. The fact that God is all powerful means He can do everything that is possible, meaningful and that which makes sense. For instance, God cannot make good evil, or make mistakes.
People are well aware that it times they ‘have to be cruel to be kind’. Human bodies are surgically cut to remove cancerous tumours in order that good health may be restored. Teeth have to be drilled and filled by dentists to alleviate toothache and prevent decay. On occasions, one’s actions are misunderstood and on the surface don’t reflect goodness, but the end result produces goodness. Parents who love their children don't always give them what they want when they want it. The reasons being firstly, children could grow up spoilt and have serious character deficiencies, and secondly what the child wants, may be harmful or not good for the child to have. From the child's understanding and perspective, the parent is unfair and not good.
God is also ‘all knowing’. He knows the events which will unfold in this world and in individual lives. Many babies in the womb are miscarried and some are still-born. God knows the future that a miscarried or still-born child would have faced and so in His wisdom called that child home. At times to the mortal, finite mind, God's ways seem illogical. The idea of sending His Son to die for human beings who He loved would have seemed illogical to Satan. For hundreds of years he persecuted and killed God's prophets. When Jesus came, Satan inspired Pilate, Herod, Caiphas and Roman soldiers to kill Jesus. He heard Jesus cry
out: ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken me?’ Satan would have assumed victory, yet it was his ultimate defeat and God's ultimate triumph. Scripture states that God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55:9).
The simple answer that sin is the cause of suffering has led some to reach incorrect conclusions. Many who believe that sin is the cause of suffering, logically conclude that if Christians are suffering, then it denotes some sin in their lives. While there can be a link between sin and suffering, Jesus demonstrated that this is not always the case.
‘And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him”’ (John 9:2-3).
The story of Job also demonstrates that Job’s sufferings were not as a result of sin. In reading Job, we see that Satan was the one who afflicted Job and brought about the tragic events. However Satan simply could not afflict Job, without God’s permission. God’s sovereignty shines through in Job’s story. God set the boundaries by deciding what Satan could and could not do. As God is just, then what people suffer is deemed by God to be just. He permits suffering and as in ‘nothing happens to us that is not ultimately controlled by the knowledge, love, wisdom, and power of our God of all comfort’.[3]
Christians believe in a suffering Saviour who was sacrificed for sin in order to provide salvation. When an individual decides to follow Christ as a disciple, God seeks to change that person to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). Jesus said that the disciple is not above His master (Matt. 10:24) and so effectively what happened to Jesus can potentially happen to His followers. Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered (Heb. 5:8). He learned that the pathway of obedience to God involves suffering. Christians therefore can expect no less.
Paul writes:
‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh’ (2 Cor. 4:8-12).
‘Paul did not represent Christ, embody the gospel he preached, or mediate the power of the Spirit through great displays of rhetorical power, political savvy, and personal strength, but by suffering’.[4] When Paul states we carry in our bodies, the death of Jesus, he gives practical examples as to how this occurs in our daily lives. The death of Christ is exhibited in the Christian’s life through, ‘being afflicted, persecuted, perplexed and struck down’. There must be a death before there can be life and Paul shows that Christ’s life is exhibited in the Christian’s life by ‘not being crushed, not being driven to despair, not being forsaken and not being destroyed’. Paul’s use of the phrase ‘but not’ to link the death and life of Christ together, shows God’s sovereignty in suffering. In experiential terms, it means that God in His wisdom allows the Christian to be afflicted, persecuted etc and then at a certain moment, He steps in and halts it.
Paul shows what the Christian response should be to suffering. He tells us that God comforts us in our tribulation so that we might be able to comfort others. There is a Divine purpose in suffering and it is so that we may comfort others with the comfort that God has given to us (2 Cor. 1:4).
When People suffer, God is doing something in their lives that is aligned with His eternal purpose, purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. C.S. Lewis states:
‘The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word ‘love’, and look on things as if man were the centre of them’.[5]
It was for God’s pleasure that mankind was created, not the reverse. While God loves people, He doesn’t necessarily love them just the way they are. Out of His love, He seeks to change them and purify their heart and motives, and suffering is the means He often uses.
To conclude, there are reasons why God allows suffering, but it’s important that one doesn’t try to select the reason for each individual situation.
[1] Anonymous. ‘The SBJT Forum: Biblical Perspectives on Suffering’ in Southern Baptist Journal of Theology Volume SBJT 04:2.
[1]
[2] Gordon, E.C. ‘The Problem of Evil’ in Bibliotheca Sacra Volume BSAC 078:310.
[3] Walters, Larry J. ‘Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job’ in Bibliotheca Sacra Volume BSAC 154:616.
[4] Hafemann, Scott. ‘A Call to Pastoral Suffering: The Need for Recovering Paul’s Model of Ministry in 2 Corinthians’ in Southern Baptist Journal of Theology Volume SBJT 04:2.
[5] Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. London: Harper Collins, 1940, p40.
Why is there so much evil in the world? If there is a God, why did He allow an earthquake to strike Haiti? These are valid and common questions. Many speculate on the reason for earthquakes and acts of terrorism but rather than speculate on why certain disasters happen, it's maybe more profitable to follow the Scriptures as to how one should respond. Ajith Fernando believes ‘that western theological education is not preparing Christians adequately for suffering, and that this is having negative influences upon the church in the non-western world’.[1]
When confronted with suffering and sorrow, people tend to respond out of their religious background. The Buddhist or Hindu will attribute it to Karma – fate or destiny. The Muslim will say it's the will of Allah, and the Christian, depending on what influences have shaped his or her theology could formulate several opinions. Some will say it's the Sovereign will of God while others will attribute suffering to an attack of Satan.
E.C. Gordon states that ‘the presence of “evil,” mingled together with what we call “good,” constitutes the problem’.[2]
The simple answer to the question ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world?’ is, because of the fall of man and sin coming into the world.
Luke 13: 1-5 perhaps provide the most relevant verses on suffering in the New Testament. Jesus was being questioned about the cause of a recent massacre in the temple. A sacrifice had been in process, when Roman soldiers burst in and caused slaughter and bloodshed. The question put to Jesus in light of this massacre was simply ‘why?’ Why had this happened? Behind their question was an inherent human characteristic and that was to pass their own judgment on the matter. They assumed that those who perished were wicked and living sinful lives because of Jesus' response when He said: ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?’ (Luke 13:2). He supplies the answer: ‘I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish’ (v. 3). Jesus cited a further tragedy where a tower in Siloam fell and killed eighteen people to reinforce His point. Jesus however was not saying whether or not a group of people were more sinful and wicked than another. Furthermore, He used such tragedies to provoke his hearers to examine their own lives. Such catastrophic events should have the effect of causing one to examine his or her life to ensure upright living with repentant hearts before God. The lesson being that mortal human beings will face God’s final judgment one day, and unless they have repented and followed Christ, they too like the Jews in the temple and the eighteen crushed by the tower, will perish.
When Jesus addressed these issues, it is apparent that He could accommodate suffering as part of His teaching. He did not deny its reality, but had an opinion on it and He could speak freely about such tragedies without in anyway blaming God for them. It’s a staggering thought, when one considers the fact that Jesus - the Son of God went about doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, working miracles and yet could accommodate suffering as part of His way of life.
When God created the universe and everything in it including humanity, He declared it was ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31). He gave a simple command to the first man Adam who was responsible for sharing it with his wife. When Satan in the guise of a serpent, tempted Eve and she subsequently succumbed, sin entered into the world and the human race. Sin was like a deadly poison which spread affecting the environment, wildlife and human relationships. With sin, came sickness and death. Some may ask, ‘why didn't God intervene and prevent Eve and Adam from disobeying His command?’ The answer is provided in God’s nature. God is love (1 John 4:8) and He seeks loving intimacy with His children. If God had intervened He would have had to override Adam's freewill, which would have meant taking away the capacity to love. If God had overridden free will, there old have been no evil or suffering, but there would have been a universe without love. In creating people with a free will, there was the possibility of evil occurring.
If there is a God, why is there so much evil?’ It's human nature to latch onto the latter part of Augustine's remarks. Given the tendencies of human nature, if God was to remove all suffering and grant every desire for every person, the world would be worse than it is today, as it would effectively house thousands of people who would be tantamount to ‘spoilt children’. Jeremiah says that 'everyone is greedy for unjust gain' (Jer 6:13). When one asks the question: ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’, it's important to recognize that the human definition of ‘good’ is different from God’s. We are not saved by good works. Good works alone do not meet God’s standard. Isaiah says our righteousness – our acts of goodness are as ‘filthy rags’ (Is 64:6). Sin is still in the world and man still has a sin nature.
Many struggle to make reconcile the fact that if God is good as Christians believe, and if He is all powerful and all wise, why then do evil and suffering exist? Those statements are all true, but perhaps one’s interpretation or understanding of one of them may be faulty. The fact that God is all powerful means He can do everything that is possible, meaningful and that which makes sense. For instance, God cannot make good evil, or make mistakes.
People are well aware that it times they ‘have to be cruel to be kind’. Human bodies are surgically cut to remove cancerous tumours in order that good health may be restored. Teeth have to be drilled and filled by dentists to alleviate toothache and prevent decay. On occasions, one’s actions are misunderstood and on the surface don’t reflect goodness, but the end result produces goodness. Parents who love their children don't always give them what they want when they want it. The reasons being firstly, children could grow up spoilt and have serious character deficiencies, and secondly what the child wants, may be harmful or not good for the child to have. From the child's understanding and perspective, the parent is unfair and not good.
God is also ‘all knowing’. He knows the events which will unfold in this world and in individual lives. Many babies in the womb are miscarried and some are still-born. God knows the future that a miscarried or still-born child would have faced and so in His wisdom called that child home. At times to the mortal, finite mind, God's ways seem illogical. The idea of sending His Son to die for human beings who He loved would have seemed illogical to Satan. For hundreds of years he persecuted and killed God's prophets. When Jesus came, Satan inspired Pilate, Herod, Caiphas and Roman soldiers to kill Jesus. He heard Jesus cry
out: ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken me?’ Satan would have assumed victory, yet it was his ultimate defeat and God's ultimate triumph. Scripture states that God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55:9).
The simple answer that sin is the cause of suffering has led some to reach incorrect conclusions. Many who believe that sin is the cause of suffering, logically conclude that if Christians are suffering, then it denotes some sin in their lives. While there can be a link between sin and suffering, Jesus demonstrated that this is not always the case.
‘And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him”’ (John 9:2-3).
The story of Job also demonstrates that Job’s sufferings were not as a result of sin. In reading Job, we see that Satan was the one who afflicted Job and brought about the tragic events. However Satan simply could not afflict Job, without God’s permission. God’s sovereignty shines through in Job’s story. God set the boundaries by deciding what Satan could and could not do. As God is just, then what people suffer is deemed by God to be just. He permits suffering and as in ‘nothing happens to us that is not ultimately controlled by the knowledge, love, wisdom, and power of our God of all comfort’.[3]
Christians believe in a suffering Saviour who was sacrificed for sin in order to provide salvation. When an individual decides to follow Christ as a disciple, God seeks to change that person to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). Jesus said that the disciple is not above His master (Matt. 10:24) and so effectively what happened to Jesus can potentially happen to His followers. Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered (Heb. 5:8). He learned that the pathway of obedience to God involves suffering. Christians therefore can expect no less.
Paul writes:
‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh’ (2 Cor. 4:8-12).
‘Paul did not represent Christ, embody the gospel he preached, or mediate the power of the Spirit through great displays of rhetorical power, political savvy, and personal strength, but by suffering’.[4] When Paul states we carry in our bodies, the death of Jesus, he gives practical examples as to how this occurs in our daily lives. The death of Christ is exhibited in the Christian’s life through, ‘being afflicted, persecuted, perplexed and struck down’. There must be a death before there can be life and Paul shows that Christ’s life is exhibited in the Christian’s life by ‘not being crushed, not being driven to despair, not being forsaken and not being destroyed’. Paul’s use of the phrase ‘but not’ to link the death and life of Christ together, shows God’s sovereignty in suffering. In experiential terms, it means that God in His wisdom allows the Christian to be afflicted, persecuted etc and then at a certain moment, He steps in and halts it.
Paul shows what the Christian response should be to suffering. He tells us that God comforts us in our tribulation so that we might be able to comfort others. There is a Divine purpose in suffering and it is so that we may comfort others with the comfort that God has given to us (2 Cor. 1:4).
When People suffer, God is doing something in their lives that is aligned with His eternal purpose, purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. C.S. Lewis states:
‘The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word ‘love’, and look on things as if man were the centre of them’.[5]
It was for God’s pleasure that mankind was created, not the reverse. While God loves people, He doesn’t necessarily love them just the way they are. Out of His love, He seeks to change them and purify their heart and motives, and suffering is the means He often uses.
To conclude, there are reasons why God allows suffering, but it’s important that one doesn’t try to select the reason for each individual situation.
[1] Anonymous. ‘The SBJT Forum: Biblical Perspectives on Suffering’ in Southern Baptist Journal of Theology Volume SBJT 04:2.
[1]
[2] Gordon, E.C. ‘The Problem of Evil’ in Bibliotheca Sacra Volume BSAC 078:310.
[3] Walters, Larry J. ‘Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job’ in Bibliotheca Sacra Volume BSAC 154:616.
[4] Hafemann, Scott. ‘A Call to Pastoral Suffering: The Need for Recovering Paul’s Model of Ministry in 2 Corinthians’ in Southern Baptist Journal of Theology Volume SBJT 04:2.
[5] Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. London: Harper Collins, 1940, p40.