Jesus We Talk About Why?
Dear Thomas,
In question twenty-two you ask, “If God is truly loving, how can He allow so much suffering in the world to go on for such a long time? Mankind has witnessed the Roman persecution of Christians, violent religious movements, the Holocaust, multiple genocides, man’s general inhumanity toward other human beings, pain, slavery, and the mass starvation of countless children. Where is God, and what relevance does He have in all this suffering? Isn’t the survival of the fittest the real truth about life?”
My answer reflects some aspects of your question nine, which was addressed in chapter 11, “The Good Life.” This question poses a struggle for Christians and non-Christians alike.
The question has often been asked how anyone can believe in a caring and loving God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present when so much pain and suffering has existed in the world for such a long time.
If God is God, why doesn’t He stop it? What good can come from all this suffering in the world? Some people look at all the pain and suffering and just conclude that if God is God, He is not good.
So what is going on here? Did God intend for His creation to go through all this pain and suffering? No, certainly not, as God is agape love personified.
When God created the world, He declared that it was very good. However, we all know the story of mankind’s fall as recorded in Genesis 3. The result of that sin was enormous! That enormity was felt both by God’s creation and by God Himself.
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was only part of the cost to God. God also hates giving up on those who choose the way of sin, self-centeredness, rebellion, and lawlessness.
From cover to cover the Bible is all about the cost of sin to God (man’s choice to live outside a relationship with God). The Bible tells the story of the loss of the gift of perpetual holy rest, which was replaced by unrest, anxiety, separation, and death.
The Bible also tells of the promise of all things being created new in a restored earth to come. In the meantime, we all know that the whole creation is groaning in agony (Rom. 8:22). Obviously something has gone terribly wrong. As someone might say, “Life stinks. And death doesn’t look so hot either.”
God so often gets blamed for pain and suffering. Floods, typhoons, tornados, killer earthquakes, lightning strikes, droughts, and storms are often labeled “acts of God.”
Likewise, we also thank Him for beautiful weather and for needed rain. He gets the credit for controlling the weather both ways. This leads some to conclude that it is best to keep away from God. By keeping our distance, God won’t find us to bother us.
Some look at pain and suffering as God’s judgment of the world’s rebellion. If He is a just judge, then He must punish the sins of the world, or so the thought goes.
This goes back to the law-based, performance-andjudgment notion of the gospel, which I have said I personally reject. God is not anxious to be judge, jury, and executioner as expressed in my letter addressing your eighth question (chapter 10).
Too often in the discussion on pain and suffering, Satan, the Evil One, is ignored. It is as if we make God both good and evil. Many spiritual belief systems do indeed view it just that way. However, in Revelation 12:7-9, we read,
Now there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven.
And the great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent, called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray—He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Another Scripture verse says,
Satan delights in the destruction of God’s creation and in destroying man through whatever means available. To the extent possible, he will use the forces of nature to do his destructive work.
His goal is to turn man’s heart and mind against God. He would have us curse God and life. He is the deceiver. He is the destroyer. He is a liar. He is the promoter of coercion and force. He is the purveyor of power and control for self-serving ends.
It was Satan who worked in the hearts of Eve, Adam, Cain, and on and on. Sometimes his activity and destructive power have been so successful that it seemed as though God would lose nearly all of His creation to eternal separation and destruction.
The drastic measure of the great flood, where only Noah and his family were spared, was needed not because God wanted to destroy or punish mankind but as a desperate attempt to save, lest all mankind be lost to sin and rebellion. “God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
We are living in a war zone, the center stage of a cosmic conflict. The extent of the complexities of the causal chain that leads to any specific event is beyond our ability to know.
The evil we know and experience is caused by the Evil One, who is the full personification of narcissism. The depth of Satan’s narcissistic hate for God knows no end.
He would have followed his path of self-destruction and the destruction of others without empathy or compassion. He is pure evil.
This is not just a balancing force in the universe. It is not yin and yang. It is not God equals good and Satan equals bad as if two equally dynamic forces continually oppose each other, and we humans are caught in the middle, suspended like electromagnetic particles.
I must add that man, through his own free will choices, can choose the way of hate, self-centeredness, and narcissism. He can become a monster of evil in his own right.
Satan has many partners in this fallen world who are exercising damage to themselves and others consciously and unconsciously, which has environmental, physical, mental, and generational consequences. It is the cumulative effect of this damage that is at the heart of evil and suffering.
There is no intrinsic good in pain and suffering. That was never God’s intent. Pain and suffering do not square off as an eternal condition of love with all that we understand love to be.
And when we get caught in and experience a variety of pains and sufferings, it drives us right back to the question of why.
Scripture gives us the how long in terms of earth’s future end-time events, while Satan and all the results of his work are the why.
So what is an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God doing about it? In other questions, I have discussed the big picture. The plan of salvation, the good news of the gospel, and the restoration of all things are all part of that big picture.
Again, as stated previously, Scripture gives us in eschatological terms the how long in yet undetermined time. And there is comfort in knowing that however pain and suffering come to us, whether because of our brokenness, the brokenness of others, the brokenness of a fallen world, or as a result of the work of the Evil One and his agents, “we know that all things work together for good to those who love him” (Rom. 8:28).
The good spoken of in this verse refers to the good of moving us along the path of our redemption and ultimate salvation. It is the discovery that we are not alone or abandoned in our pain and suffering at any point along the way. To have the assurance that “this too shall pass” and “oh death, where is thy sting?” as expressed by the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:55) does instill hope and mitigate some of the pain. We are often awed by those who can face adversity with a smile and praise on their lips. Not all of us do that well.
So how should we relate to the fact that none of us escapes the problem of pain and suffering? It is pretty evident, whether from external physical, economic, or political sources, from other people, or from the malfunction of our bodies because of accidents, disease, or old age, pain and suffering cannot be escaped.
There is a natural evil that exists and operates in this broken world. But be that as it is, one thing is certain. We do not have to go through any pain and suffering alone.
Jesus and His indwelling Spirit can and will provide the necessary strength and courage to meet any situation. It is here that we have a choice.
Do we get angry and throw God out, or do we let God hang on to us with a loving, psychological, emotional, and spiritual embrace?
We have a free choice in the matter. We have free will. We have some say-so in dealing with life’s circumstances. The problem is that others, both currently and down through history, have had some say-so as well.
The issue is always how we react and deal with life’s tragedies, pain, and suffering. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16, the Bible says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; experience a variety of pains and sufferings, it drives us right back to the question of why.
Scripture gives us the how long in terms of earth’s future end-time events, while Satan and all the results of his work are the why.
So what is an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God doing about it? In other questions, I have discussed the big picture. The plan of salvation, the good news of the gospel, and the restoration of all things are all part of that big picture.
Again, as stated previously, Scripture gives us in eschatological terms the how long in yet undetermined time. And there is comfort in knowing that however pain and suffering come to us, whether because of our brokenness, the brokenness of others, the brokenness of a fallen world, or as a result of the work of the Evil One and his agents, “we know that all things work together for good to those who love him” (Rom. 8:28).
The good spoken of in this verse refers to the good of moving us along the path of our redemption and ultimate salvation. It is the discovery that we are not alone or abandoned in our pain and suffering at any point along the way.
To have the assurance that “this too shall pass” and “oh death, where is thy sting?” as expressed by the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:55) does instill hope and mitigate some of the pain. We are often awed by those who can face adversity with a smile and praise on their lips. Not all of us do that well.
So how should we relate to the fact that none of us escapes the problem of pain and suffering? It is pretty evident, whether from external physical, economic, or political sources, from other people, or from the malfunction of our bodies because of accidents, disease, or old age, pain and suffering cannot be escaped.
There is a natural evil that exists and operates in this broken world. But be that as it is, things are certain. We do not have to go through any pain and suffering alone.
Jesus and His indwelling Spirit can and will provide the necessary strength and courage to meet any situation. It is here that we have a choice.
Do we get angry and throw God out, or do we let God hang on to us with a loving, psychological, emotional, and spiritual embrace?
We have a free choice in the matter. We have free will. We have some say-so in dealing with life’s circumstances. The problem is that others, both currently and down through history, have had some say-so as well.
The issue is always how we react and deal with life’s tragedies, pain, and suffering. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16, the Bible says,
Note that it does not say to give thanks for all circumstances but in all circumstances. To thank God for all circumstances would be wrong and imply blame.
The why of pain and suffering, though it has its source in Satan, goes beyond merely assigning the blame to Satan and his agents. It also includes the way God created us as human beings.
We were created in His image, and the main essence of that image is free will. We are not robots, puppets, or machines. However, the granting of free will created the other possibility as well.
Thus, the opportunity for pain and suffering exists for the sake of freedom and love. Unfortunately, humanity made the wrong choice in the Garden of Eden, and ever since, humanity has continued to make a myriad of wrong choices. History records its effects.
Physical pain makes us pay attention to the cut, keeping us from bleeding to death. Pain makes us pay attention to a splinter that could cause a bad infection. Our systems are wired for fight or flight for the sake of self-preservation.
From mental pain, we can recognize bullying, punishment, rejection, intimidation, etc. From physical and sexual abuse, beyond the physical pain, we recognize emotional pain.
It seems apparent that without pain we would also not learn empathy. In our broken world, it seems that pain has its place.
What does God want out ofall the pain and suffering that results from the evil that exists in the world? God wants us to have faith, hope, and freedom from the guilt of evil, even though we experience it, suffer because of it, and even knowingly or unknowingly at times cause it. Scripture says,
This is called our glorification or our full restoration, but it only comes after Christ’s second coming. It is obvious that we now live in an environment where we experience fear, mourning, crying, pain, and death.
Again the pain and suffering in life are not caused by God. God is more outraged with all of mankind’s history of brokenness, pain, suffering, and sorrow than we could ever be.
We have not been abandoned or betrayed by God because we experience life’s misfortunes in all its forms. He never intended life to be this way.
It took the incarnation and suffering of Jesus all the way to the cross to do something about it. Because of the fall of Eden, where Satan became the prince of this world, we are mortal human beings caught in a broken world that continues to be influenced by Satan and his agents.
This broken world extends to distortions within weather, ecosystems, and other elements. We also make bad choices on our own and are hurt by the bad choices of others.
But whatever the cause of our misfortunes, God does not abandon us when they come. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:35-39,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes, survival of the fittest has always been the truth about life. But the fittest is Jesus Christ, from His birth to His crucification and resurrection. The fittest is our freedom in Christ. The fittest is love.
Could God stop our pain and suffering? Yes, He could. But what might be the result? Would people flock to Him only for the purpose of relieving their pain and suffering? Once the pain and suffering were gone, they might have no further use for Him.
Jesus experienced some of that while He was on earth. That is not God’s desired end. He wants to build a relationship now that will last into eternity.
Such self-serving motives might hinder that. The stakes are eternal life, not just our temporal life with the desire for ease and comfort.
My efforts may not be totally satisfying in answering a specific why question. That answer may never come until we are in heaven and look back on all the events that gave rise to the event in question.
Then we will know and see clearly a gracious and loving Savior dealing with His broken people In their broken world through all the causal chain of events within this mortal life.
What we can see is God’s ever-present support within and through our pain and suffering in this mortal life as well as His ultimate rescue from it all because of and through Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder that we need this Jesus we talk about?
Your friend,
Matt