There are perhaps no greater issues that rack a believer and “drive” people to atheism then the issues of why God permits evil and suffering in our world.
While the issue of evil can be explained via the free will that all humans have- free will to do good and free will to do evil- a free will that is only free if humans are free to be good or evil, the issue of suffering is another matter.
We suffer because of evil, yes, but also because of the nature of the world we live in.
The world is the way it is because it can be no other way.
We have tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and many other “natural disasters” that cause suffering, a suffering that many people thing that God should “do something about”.
While we all agree that natural occurrences are just that and that there is nothing evil about them, they still cause suffering.
Then we have the issue of suffering caused by death and pain, either our own or more typically, our loved ones.
Both from illnesses or diseases or simply the natural order of things – we grow old and then we die.
People wonder why their heart-filled prayer, their sincere and loving devotion to God, doesn’t somehow “protect” them and their loved ones from this suffering.
First off, lets us realize that for the atheist that doesn’t believe in God or the supernatural that the issue of why God permits suffering is NOT an issue at all, one can hardly have an issue with someone or something that doesn’t exist.
Let is turn to the believer then.
In all of nature, perhaps no other creature understands and is outraged about suffering and death than Humans.
We feel that we should NOT suffer, should not die, that there MUST be a reason for suffering and that suffering is no fair or just, especially it seems the humans that believe in God.
No other animal feels this way about life or suffering or death, animals typically view these things as part of life and the natural cycle of things, they don’t stop and yell out to the heavens, “no fair “!!
Theology tells us that it is because of humans being made in God’s image that we have these feelings, these beliefs that drive us to say that life is not fair, to right wrongs, to correct injustice, to do what is right.
It is also this belief in a God that DOES care and CAN do something about suffering that makes us ask “Why do we suffer?”
Why can’t God just stop the suffering? Why can’t God just stop all illness? Cure all diseases? Keep people from dying?
God made the universe and the universe is the way it is because God made it so, it is neither “good” nor is it “bad”, it is the way it is because it can be no other way.
God is revealed to us not only in the Bible, not only in His Living Word, His Son Jesus Christ, not only via the power of the Holy Spirit but by the universe that we know, the universe that we discover, the universe that God created from nothing, God is revealed in ALL his creations and the Universe is THAT creation.
Nature is part of that universe and nature has Laws, Laws established by God and nature has a life cycle, a cycle established by God, Nature is what God made it to be.
Death, illness and disease is part of that nature, all living things live and die, some are killed, some simply die when their allotted time is up, some die from illness or diseases, but all living creatures die, they are finite.
Let’s leave the issue of the spirit and the resurrection for later and let us focus on why we suffer and why it is such an issue for us.
If we were not made in the image of God, death would not lead to suffering, it would not even be conceivable to suffer much less complain about death, it is a part of life an inevitable part of life.
But we are made in God’s image and as such we know LOVE, that all powerful force that drives us to be more than we are, to be more than an animal that simply exists to propagate his or her genes into the next generation.
Love is what makes us say “not right” to an injustice, to make us correct a wrong, to forgive a wrong, to give more of ourselves than any other creature on this planet.
In short, Love is what makes us in the Image of God.
It is also what makes us suffer.
Let that sink in, love makes us suffer.
“Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all”.
Tennyson was right of course, no matter how painful losing someone we love is, it is that very love that makes us Human, makes us in God’s image.
See, we suffer because we love, we rage against death because death takes away those we love.
No love, no suffering.
God can take away suffering and answer our prayers, but since we suffer because we love that means taking away our capacity to love, in other words, taking away what makes us in God’s image.
Not only would God never do that, God is not cruel, deep down we would never want that.
Nothing defines us more than Love and nothing strengthens us and drives us to great heights (and lows) than Love.
We suffer when our pet dies because we loved that pet, we suffer when we see children, even those we don’t know, suffering because we love each other and we know, we sympathize, we have empathy, for them and their families (also traits we have because we are created in God’s image).
Certainly if we felt nothing we would not suffer.
It is not incorrect to say that to truly know and understand, to truly love, we must know what it is to lose love, and we must know suffering.
The words “passion” that we use for that all consuming love is also the word for suffering.
Let that sink in.
Some will say why can’t God keep love and get rid of suffering?
Did God take away the suffering of His Only Begotten Son? Did God not suffer with him?
At one point Jesus, who had been in the bosom of His Father since before the creation of the universe, cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus felt alone, felt lost, felt suffering like never before, just like we do.
God did not forsake his Son; God does not forsake Us and know one knew this better than His Divine Word, His Son.
And yet, even Christ felt “forsaken”, Christ was never as human as that moment when he carried all the sins of the world unto himself, so we certainly shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we do ask, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”
We just need to remember, as proven by Christ, that Our Father has not forsaken us and never will.
God’s nature is love; he can no more take away suffering and love than he can change His nature that is unchangeable.
Why does God permit suffering?
Because the alternative would be unfathomable, unthinkable and most of all, far more cruel than the worse possible suffering we can imagine.
is The Shack. It uses a narrative approach that illustrates how our view of God's character shapes our answer not only to the nuts and bolts of the question, intellectually but also how the view we take of God conditions us to how we respond emotionally and spiritually toward God.
