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May 28, 2006

Even the Pope Wonders Why People Suffer

One of the most difficult questions faced by those who believe in a loving God who is personally involved in the lives of each individual is why does God allow suffering?

Even the Pope asks that question. During his visit to Auschwitz today, he said:

"In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence, a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"

Christians have come up with a variety of answers that satisfy the mind of someone who really wants to believe them:

The suffering of this world makes us long for our eternal dwelling with God in the heavens.

Who could argue with the notion that suffering makes us want a perfect world without suffering? But the more in-depth answer for those who keep asking is a bit more sinister, in my opinion:

We ourselves do not establish the standards of what is right. Only the Creator of all reality can do that. We need to settle it, in our minds and hearts, whether we understand it or not, that whatever God does is, by definition, right.[…]

Since "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), there is no one who has the right to freedom from God's wrath on the basis of his own innocence.

As far as babies are concerned, and others who may be incompetent mentally to distinguish right and wrong, it is clear from both Scripture and universal experience that they are sinners by nature and thus will inevitably become sinners by choice as soon as they are able to do so.

This view, that we all deserve to suffer, is the natural probable consequence of a belief built upon one primary concept: that one can only be saved from the well-deserved punishment for their sins through the blood of Christ. The belief forces one to come to all sorts of unsavory conclusions, such as that even good people who never had a chance to hear about Jesus will burn in the eternal fires of hell, and they deserve it.

The Christian salvation concept includes the notion that Christ will come into one's heart and have a personal, one-on-one relationship with each individual who accepts his sacrifice; hence the "why does God allow Christians to suffer" dilemma. And really, no answer that I have ever heard satisfies that question. Christians claim to feel "safe in the arms of Jesus," yet simultaneously accept explanations of the book of Job that point to a punishing God who uses suffering to discipline his people. It is an extreme version of the "spare the rod and spoil the child" philosophy that serves only to terrify if you really think about it, because it means that once you belong to God, anything horrible that happens to you is a punishment or correction from God and you must bear it humbly.

I suppose many Christians would say Auschwitz and the rest of the Holocaust nightmare was God's attempt to punish/correct the Jewish people who had rejected the Messiah. The Old Testament is chock full of punishments visited by God upon Israel, and this fits right in.

Personally, I don't believe in a God with a personal interest in individuals or a desire to interfere with the natural ebb and flow of good and evil that constantly convulses our planet. I guess I subscribe to a form of the yin and yang concept that the universe is in balance in all things, whether black and white, good and evil, male and female, or living and dying. You see this concept throughout the universe, even to its very origins in which matter and antimatter were created from nothing.

And if I may be so blasphemous, I would point out that the Bible itself recognizes the fundamental yin/yang balance throughout the universe: the reason God did not want Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden tree was that they would become like God, knowing good and evil.

"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness. Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise- why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool- why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes." -Ecclesiastes 7:15-18

Posted by Becky at May 28, 2006 03:06 PM

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