Why Does God Allow Suffering
One of the most asked questions by those struggling with God and Christian faith is: Why is there suffering in the world if God is a good and loving God? Truth be told, it’s one of the main struggles for Christians, as well. If my loved-one, if my spouse or child suffers, why does God allow that? Doesn’t he love them? Doesn’t he want what’s best for them?
It is a subject tackled by Lee Strobel in his book The Case for Faith. He starts by telling the story of Charles Templeton, once a close friend and partner with Billy Graham. But as time went by, he had what he termed as intellectual issues – doubts he just couldn’t settle. It came to a head for him one day when Templeton saw a magazine picture featuring an African woman holding her dead child. She was thin and starving, her child had died of malnutrition, because they had little food in their area and no rain for many months causing their crops to fail and water supply to be almost non-existent. “Why,” Templeton thought to himself, “would a loving God allow that?” He stated, “It became crystal clear to me that it is not possible for an intelligent person to believe that there’s a deity who loves.” He didn’t become an atheist, just an agnostic. His thinking, “If God exists, surely he is not the loving God the Bible describes.”
How does a Christian respond to that? As mentioned above, many Christians struggle with this issue, as well. Lee Strobel went to interview Peter Kreeft, philosophy professor at Boston College (and a Christian). Following is some of what transpired, with Kreeft answering Strobel’s questions, mixed with a few of my own thoughts.
First, Kreeft said, only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist. If God made himself so evident that no one could doubt him, there would be no choice, no need for faith. Of course that was the case back in the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve sinned. Faith wasn’t needed. But once sin entered the world and messed things up, once Satan entered the picture as an adversary of God, things changed. Now that we can doubt, God still provides plenty of evidence for the true seeker. The whole creation cries out for a Creator. Statistics make human evolution almost laughable to the true scientist. And then the Bible says, Seek and you shall find. Only those whose heart is set on finding God, will. And we certainly need faith when faced with the sufferings people go through in this life.
Second, Kreeft said faith is an active verb, it demands a response. Struggling with such issues as suffering is OK as long as the person continues on the path of seeking God. God is fine with tough questions, just don’t abandon him because there are tough questions. Jesus and his resurrection are the cornerstone we must plant our faith on. There is overwhelming evidence for that! Once that is settled, we may continue to struggle with suffering, but we have that firm foundation to stand on.
Why is there suffering? The simple answer: because of sin and free will. Sin broke the perfect environment that existed in the Garden and caused this fallen world, and we all contribute to that. It is the basis of all bad things that happen in this life. And for free will to truly exist, God must allow the consequences. Unfortunately, that touches both good people and bad people.
Strobel probed: “But evil people get away with hurting good people all the time. Surely that’s not fair. Why does God allow people to get away with that?” Kreeft answers, “Remember what I just said about free will. And here’s another thought. Evil people are not getting away with it. Justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. There will be a day of judgment and reckoning, where people are held accountable.” Stroble continued, “But couldn’t God curtal some of the evil and suffering?” Kreeft, “If God allowed six Jews to die in the Holocaust instead of seven, would that be acceptable? Or, if he allowed 6,000 instead of 60,000? There can’t be such a dividing line. And as always, God brings good from bad, suffering can lead to repentance. To quote C.S. Lewis, ‘God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. Pain is the megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” The question is, will we listen.
Kreeft continues with a C.S. Lewis thought, that we are not imperfect people needing a path to improvement, instead we are rebels who need to lay down our arms and surrender. Why does a good person suffer? Jesus once said to someone who called him “good teacher”, “Why do you call me good? There is only one who is good. No one is good except God alone.” We are all sinners in this fallen world in need of the only one who is good. Meanwhile, with sin and free will, suffering touches all of us to some degree. And if we follow Jesus, one day in heaven all will be made right, and those with the Lord will finally find the peace and absence of suffering they’ve sought for so long. It’s that promise that gets us through and overshadows all the suffering of this life.
In Hebrews 11 we find the “faith chapter” where examples of faith are given. We are told they were tortured, suffered mocking, were flogged, put in chains and imprisoned, they were stoned, some sawn in two, killed with the sword, went about destitute, afflicted, mistreated. Then we’re told “of whom the world was not worthy.” The point – they suffered. Maybe you suffer too. Seek the faith they had and have confidence in the promises they stood on. God is not the cause of our suffering, but he provides the answer.
Question: When have you (or a loved one) suffered in a way that caused you to question God’s fairness? What got you through that time? Do you think people who neglect church and Bible study have the needed resources to stand firm in such tough times?
It is a subject tackled by Lee Strobel in his book The Case for Faith. He starts by telling the story of Charles Templeton, once a close friend and partner with Billy Graham. But as time went by, he had what he termed as intellectual issues – doubts he just couldn’t settle. It came to a head for him one day when Templeton saw a magazine picture featuring an African woman holding her dead child. She was thin and starving, her child had died of malnutrition, because they had little food in their area and no rain for many months causing their crops to fail and water supply to be almost non-existent. “Why,” Templeton thought to himself, “would a loving God allow that?” He stated, “It became crystal clear to me that it is not possible for an intelligent person to believe that there’s a deity who loves.” He didn’t become an atheist, just an agnostic. His thinking, “If God exists, surely he is not the loving God the Bible describes.”
How does a Christian respond to that? As mentioned above, many Christians struggle with this issue, as well. Lee Strobel went to interview Peter Kreeft, philosophy professor at Boston College (and a Christian). Following is some of what transpired, with Kreeft answering Strobel’s questions, mixed with a few of my own thoughts.
First, Kreeft said, only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist. If God made himself so evident that no one could doubt him, there would be no choice, no need for faith. Of course that was the case back in the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve sinned. Faith wasn’t needed. But once sin entered the world and messed things up, once Satan entered the picture as an adversary of God, things changed. Now that we can doubt, God still provides plenty of evidence for the true seeker. The whole creation cries out for a Creator. Statistics make human evolution almost laughable to the true scientist. And then the Bible says, Seek and you shall find. Only those whose heart is set on finding God, will. And we certainly need faith when faced with the sufferings people go through in this life.
Second, Kreeft said faith is an active verb, it demands a response. Struggling with such issues as suffering is OK as long as the person continues on the path of seeking God. God is fine with tough questions, just don’t abandon him because there are tough questions. Jesus and his resurrection are the cornerstone we must plant our faith on. There is overwhelming evidence for that! Once that is settled, we may continue to struggle with suffering, but we have that firm foundation to stand on.
Why is there suffering? The simple answer: because of sin and free will. Sin broke the perfect environment that existed in the Garden and caused this fallen world, and we all contribute to that. It is the basis of all bad things that happen in this life. And for free will to truly exist, God must allow the consequences. Unfortunately, that touches both good people and bad people.
Strobel probed: “But evil people get away with hurting good people all the time. Surely that’s not fair. Why does God allow people to get away with that?” Kreeft answers, “Remember what I just said about free will. And here’s another thought. Evil people are not getting away with it. Justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. There will be a day of judgment and reckoning, where people are held accountable.” Stroble continued, “But couldn’t God curtal some of the evil and suffering?” Kreeft, “If God allowed six Jews to die in the Holocaust instead of seven, would that be acceptable? Or, if he allowed 6,000 instead of 60,000? There can’t be such a dividing line. And as always, God brings good from bad, suffering can lead to repentance. To quote C.S. Lewis, ‘God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. Pain is the megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” The question is, will we listen.
Kreeft continues with a C.S. Lewis thought, that we are not imperfect people needing a path to improvement, instead we are rebels who need to lay down our arms and surrender. Why does a good person suffer? Jesus once said to someone who called him “good teacher”, “Why do you call me good? There is only one who is good. No one is good except God alone.” We are all sinners in this fallen world in need of the only one who is good. Meanwhile, with sin and free will, suffering touches all of us to some degree. And if we follow Jesus, one day in heaven all will be made right, and those with the Lord will finally find the peace and absence of suffering they’ve sought for so long. It’s that promise that gets us through and overshadows all the suffering of this life.
In Hebrews 11 we find the “faith chapter” where examples of faith are given. We are told they were tortured, suffered mocking, were flogged, put in chains and imprisoned, they were stoned, some sawn in two, killed with the sword, went about destitute, afflicted, mistreated. Then we’re told “of whom the world was not worthy.” The point – they suffered. Maybe you suffer too. Seek the faith they had and have confidence in the promises they stood on. God is not the cause of our suffering, but he provides the answer.
Question: When have you (or a loved one) suffered in a way that caused you to question God’s fairness? What got you through that time? Do you think people who neglect church and Bible study have the needed resources to stand firm in such tough times?
Posted in Waking Up Eutychus