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some thoughts about suffering, evil, and the existence of God
I have been recently thinking about how I consider the presence of suffering in the world - or more specifically, my own. (Yes, it seems a bit odd to think about one's own thoughts, but doing so is sort of a hobby for me.) To put it mildly, I am unsettled at the injustice, or at least the unfairness, of my situation. But I know I am not alone in these thoughts. It seems that everyone else also has an inner outrage at something in the world relating to suffering or evil. For some, it is a simple inner revulsion at a particular form of political oppression or hypocricy. For others, it is an inner angst at the unfairness of suffering. For still others, the presence of injustice in the world causes them an uneasiness.
Much is made about the presence of evil and suffering in discussions concerning the existence of God. It is often said that the presence of suffering is inconsistent with the existence of God. But I would submit that outrage at suffering or evil is inconsistent with the non-existence of God. We humans have a sense that things in the world are not "right". We cry out to our Creator and ask "why?", either consciously or subconsciously. We have a sense of what "ought" to be, even though it is not. This oughtness, I submit, is based on a degree of knowledge of our Creator and his purpose.
C.S. Lewis puts it this way: "When I was an atheist...my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A person does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line...Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning. "
As to whether the presence of evil is inconsistent with the Christian God, who is said to be loving and gracious, I would simply point to the reference source of Christianity, the Bible. I will readily admit that the light-weight, simplistic, Christianity found in much of America is indeed inconsistent with the presence of evil. But authentic, historic Christian faith is not. The Bible is full of honest reckoning with evil. It does not deny evil and suffering, unlike the situation where no one wants to speak about the 500-pound gorilla in the room. Rather, the Bible confronts evil directly and presents Christ as interacting with, confronting, and having victory over evil. While some might say the Christian God cannot exist with suffering in the world, the Bible implies that we cannot even conceive of the true Christian God without it!
This victory over evil as described in the New Testament is not yet complete. The resurrection of Christ is called a "first-fruit", which happens to be one of my favorite Biblical terms. As a first-fruit, the resurrection is both the taste and the guarantee of the ultimate consummating victory over evil. Whether one agrees with this is one thing. But one cannot say that Christianity is inconsistent because of the existence of evil and suffering. After all, it only exists intertwined with it.
All this is to say that authentic Christian faith cannot be shaken by the presence of suffering. In fact, it cannot exist apart from a true reckoning with suffering. This is not to say that the heart does not wrestle with these things. Mine certainly does! I even find solace in the idea that the heart must wrestle with suffering if it is to find God. One might even say that only in suffering is God most clearly understood. Drawing again from the words of C.S. Lewis: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Posted by Greg at July 21, 2003 05:30 PM | Comments (7)