Christianity & a World of Pain and Suffering

Does Christianity have an answer for pain and suffering?  Yes and no.  Does any other religion or atheism have an answer? No.  So, it's illegitimate to discount Christianity just because the world is full of pain and suffering.  In fact, the Christian god has an amazing, poignant response to our questions about pain and suffering.  He says: "Look to the Cross--my Son died there--I know pain and suffering just like you do."

First, let's briefly examine the proof for Christianity.  If Christianity is true, then whether it has a definitive answer to pain and suffering is irrelevant.  Second, let's see what atheism has to say about pain and suffering--a very unsatisfactory response.  Finally, let's look at Christianity's response to, if not explanation for, a world full of pain and suffering.

Thesis One--There is a God--He is most likely the Christian God


Either there is or there isn't a God.  Most atheists argue that we must turn to scientific proof to determine whether God exists, but then their logical analysis is stilted, dishonest, and falls woefully short of the scientific method.  At this point in history, it appears that the universe started at "one point in time--The Big Bang."  The question is what caused the Big Bang.  Did the Big Bang occur out of thin air--this is what many believe.  (I understand where they are coming from--I want solid proof of God.  The great thing about Christianity is that we have solid proof in the person of Christ.)  Or, did God cause the Big Bang.  Of course, if God caused the Big Bang, we ask: "Where did God come from?"

Well, the Christian theory of God is that He has always existed.  In fact, this seems to be the theory of most, if not all, religions.  If God has always existed, then He had no creator--God just was.  So, one can either go with:  1)I don't know what caused the Big Bang;  or  2)God, consistent with our theory of an eternal all-powerful entity, caused the Big Bang.  One answer, the first, is illogical;  the second is logical.  But most of the atheists won't go with logic.  Hmmmm.  It seems that most atheists, like many so-called Christians, have so many pre-conceived notions that logic flies out the window.

One of my pet peeves with many people who claim to be Christians is that they think the Bible is a science book--they think the universe was created in 144 hours, irrespective of the evidence to the contrary.  The Bible is not a science book--that belittles the significance of the Bible.  What's more, the Muslims say the same thing about the Koran--"It is the Word of God.  Just believe it."  The difference with the Christian Bible is that it reveals a God different from the other gods--it reveals a God that suffered with us.  It reveals a God who revealed Himself to us, not just in word, but in flesh.  This is why the Bible is important, not that it teaches us how to live, or teaches us science, or teaches us history, but that it reveals the God who became flesh for the sake of mankind.


Thesis Two--Atheism has no Satisfactory Response to Pain and Suffering


Most atheists are Darwinists.  But Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest and advocated for it.  Rather than believing that the more fit should provide for the less fit--that the more blessed should proved for the unfortunate among us, Darwin believed that the strongest should survive and the weak should die!  The one good thing that you can say about Darwin is that he was intellectually honest.  There is no such thing as moralism in the context of atheism.  If one doesn't believe in God, then Nihilism is the only logical answer.  So, under Darwin's theory, pain and suffering is fine--it thins out the herd--it leaves the strongest and their progeny alive.  But, no Christian, and most atheists, would ever suggest that we should allow the strong to destroy the weak.  In fact, if man were allowed to carry out his violent pre-disposition, if man were allowed to be his natural self, this is exactly what would happen.  The strong would inflict pain, suffering, and even death on the weak.  So, atheism has no satisfactory response to pain and suffering.  In fact, atheism suggests that pain and suffering is necessary to "weed out" the weak, the dumb, and the poor.

Thesis Three--the Christian Response to Pain and Suffering


God's response to our complaints and questions about the unfairness of pain and suffering is--the Cross.  The Cross doesn't explain the "why" of pain and suffering, but it does reflect that God, the all powerful creator of the universe, submitted himself to pain and suffering the the death of His son.  God did this willingly!  Would any of us?  While some of us might give our own lives for another, would any of us give the life of our son or daughter for another?  No, most decidedly no.

When we go through pain and suffering, what word(s) do we want to hear?  Do we want someone to tell us:  a)that things aren't as bad as they seem;  b)that pain and suffering makes us stronger;  or  c)that it will be alright in the end.  Perhaps the last, but definitely note the first two.  But what we really want is a sympathetic ear, better yet an empathetic ear:  "Yes, I've been there.  I've walked that path.  I carried my own cross.  Tell me about it, my son."  That is what we find in the Cross.

What's more, God didn't just willingly send Christ to experience a gruesome death, He sent Christ knowing that He would experience all of the troubles and travails of life in this world--He would be homeless, He would be estranged from his family, and He would be rejected by society.  God sent Christ not only to die, but also to live a life of perfection in the midst of the troubles and travails that we experience.  No other purported or supposed god is reputed to have lived through the troubles and travails of this world and then died a gruesome death for us, for mankind.  Christ's life and death is an emphatic, multi-faceted, beyond belief statement of solidarity and comradery between God and man in the midst of pain, suffering, rejection, and the travails of this world!

Now, there are other responses, but none are as satisfactory, at least to me, as the empathetic ear--the solidarity in pain and suffering.  First, life is so, so short.  Eternity it just that--forever.  Heaven is God's promise that all pain and suffering from our "flash in the pan" lives will be swallowed up in our eternal presence before and with God--the perfect expression of Love.  Tim Keller says:  "Sin and death have been dealt with;  everything else is simply flea bites."

Second, mankind is free to sin--and, therefore, free to love.  We don't want others to love us out of compulsion or necessity, we want them to love us freely.  This is how we love God when we understand Him.  Because we are free to love God or to reject Him, we are free to act badly, to sin, to inflict pain and suffering upon others.

Third, given our imperfect nature, we cannot understand good without experiencing evil, we can't experience joy without knowing pain, and we can't see the light except in juxtaposition to the darkness.  So, pain and suffering is necessary for us to experience joy.

When Debbie and I first began trying to conceive a child, it was fraught with difficulty.  One doctor told me that I needed to freeze my sperm for the future, since it was dying.  It turned out that he was wrong.  Another doctor wrongly diagnosed what was going on with Debbie.  Finally, after two years of exasperation, pain, and suffering, we finally found a doctor who knew what she was doing.  We now have three children.  I know that, even without the difficult of conception, we would love our children.  But the difficulty, pain, and suffering of conception makes us that much more appreciative of the gift of our children.

Our experience is not unique.  Debbie and I both have friends who have told us that their cancer experiences have brought joy into their lives.  One said that it was the "best thing that had ever happened to him."  (But I still don't want to have cancer.  None of us needs to seek out pain or suffering, it will come in God's good time.)  One of my best friends lost his brother when he was in elementary school and lost his mother when he was in graduate school.  Yet, this pain and suffering has not turned him against God.  Instead, he says that God is good.  Wow, what a testimony.

So, pain and suffering certainly causes us to question God.  But we know that God has solidarity with us in our pain and suffering.  And, at some point, not while we are going through it, but later--we will be able to see how the pain and suffering wrought joy in our lives.