I. Why do we have suffering in our lives?
A. Suffering is not an authentic (real) existence
Influenced by Neo-Platonist philosophy, Augustine stated that
evil is not something which exists in its own right, but is rather
the absence or lack of good. For example, lust is misdirected
love. Blindness is the absence of perfect eye-sight. In this
sense, God is not responsible for evil i.e. God creates good things
but evil is out of the absence of good.
B. Suffering is inevitable
Our nerves can sense both pleasure and pain; our emotion can feel
both happiness and frustration; water can clean and drown us;
fire can warm and burn us. We either accept both the good
and bad features of everything, or abandon everything! If you
don't want to take the risk of relationship breakup, don't date
and marry. If you want to avoid the frustration of receiving
a poor grade, don't go to school. Some branches of Buddhism, which emphasize "emptiness" and "nothingness," appear
to be a cure to pain. Actually, the so-called solution is simply not to pursue anything!
C. Suffering is still the best of all possible
Lebniz stated that there are many possible ways of things happened.
We humans, as finite beings, can only experience one possible
outcome. The almighty God, however, foresees all possibilities
and gives us the best of all possible worlds. For example, if
I were hit by a car in Mill Ave., I might regret not to go somewhere
else. But if I had gone to University Ave., I might have been
run over by a truck.
D. Suffering is the result of natural laws
God has created a world governed by natural laws. If we violate
these laws, we suffer the consequences. If two cars crash into
each other at 70 m.p.h., the passengers, according to the laws
of physic and biology, will be seriously injured. Can God change
His laws at that moment of collison? He can, of course. If so,
then we would have lived in a much worse world--a chaotic and
unexpected, rather an orderly and certain world.
E. Suffering is the by-product of good things
Teilhard de Chardin, a well-known Catholic theologian and paleontologist, asserted that evil and suffering are the by-products of evolution. In his view, both God and the world are changing (evolving). Eventually the world will reach the Omega point (the destiny) but evil and suffering occur throughout the evolutionary process. This abstract theological thought is well-expressed in the movie "The shoe of the fisherman." In the movie, a Russian priest who had spent twenty years in jail was released by the Soviet Union. Later he became the first non-Italian Pope. This new Pope shocked the Archbishops by several "radical" actions and speeches. For example, he wanted to appoint a young theologian who endorsed the thought of Chardin. Further, he told the Archbishops that he almost killed a guard in the Soviet jail when he attempted to protect a prisoner; violence seems to be justified at that moment.
F. Suffering is the result of free will
i. We humans have the free will to choose to do good or evil for
ourselves and others. Can God stop me when I exercise my free
will to rob, rape and murder? Again, He can. But if so, this is
a world of human robots! More importantly, without free will,
good is no longer good and evil is no longer evil i.e. hunting
a rabbit by a lion is not considered "a murder"
because this act is out of instinct.
ii. Because of our free will, we humans should take full responsibility of our actions. Dr. Roberta Hestenes, Chair of World Vision (the world largest Christian relief organization), said, "I have never forgotten and will never forget walking into an orphanage ward in Rumania where every child had AIDS. They had used a needle to infect these children. Any my cry, which was deep and still goes on, was not why does God do that? My cry was Why have humans used their freedom in such a horrible way-to wreak this kind of destruction on innocent children."
ii. It does not imply that evil resulted from our free will is
not under the control of God. God can turn evil into good. For
example, imperial British took over Hong Kong out of their profit-mind.
Later God let Hong Kong becomes a safe Haven for refugees from
Communist China. Driven by self-serving purposes, Europeans conquered
the North American continent and brought tremendous suffering
to native Americans . But God makes America to contribute to
the whole world.
G. Suffering is not losing but reverting
Spinoza argued that suffering is painful if we think that we are entitled to own our properties. But originally we do not possess anything. Losing what we have is just to revert to our original state. For example, being blind is painful when we compare a blind person with one who has healthy eyesight. But what if we compare him with a stone that cannot see at all? In the beginning of the universe neither humans nor stones take their current forms and no one or nothing have eyesight. When I am a fetus inside the womb of my mother, I didn't have eyesight, neither. Job said, "I came to this world with a naked body. And I will leave the world in the same way. The Lord is the giver and the Lord is the taker, too"
H. Suffering may be the work of Satan (Job 1:6-12; 1 Pe 5:8-9)
i. Why does God allow Satan to test us? Because
God is able to make good out of evil. e.g., An American
asked a Chinese: 'Why, if God loves us, does he let the church
in China suffer so much?' The Chinese Christian's response: 'Why,
if God loves us, does he let the church in the West suffer so
little?' Lev Timofeyev, imprisoned by the Soviet KGB, wrote, 'The
most vivid prayers of my life were in my prison cell, which is
the closest place to God.' One of the saints said, 'The cross
is the gift God gives to his friends.'
ii. The bottom line is that God does not let
Satan test us beyond our limit . As promised in Paul's letter
to the Corinthians: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]. (1
Co 10:13)
I. Suffering is the work of God
i. Pains may be inflicted by God as a chastisement
(Deu. 8:5; Pro 3:11-12; Re 3:19; Hebrews 12:5-9; 1 Co. 11:31)
when we commit sins and do not correct ourselves. Recently I suffer
from allegery. A friend warned me that some anti-allegery drugs
counter the symptom by desensitizing your nose. It may be dangerous
because your nose may not be able to sense warning signals even
if the air is harmful to your health. Pain is 'good' when it alerts
us to problems that need to be fixed.
ii. Bad things happen to good people. We are not in a position
to judge others' suffering as a consequence of sin. In contrast,
suffering may be a blessing from God--God intends to train us
to be mature and robust.. There is a common saying states"
"No pain, no gain."
II. How should we respond to suffering?
A. Moral calling--"How" but not "Why"
When pain happens, there is a moral calling. God makes us suffer
in order to let us be sympathetic to other people's pain (2 Cor.
1:3-4; Romans 12:15). It is our moral responsibility to help
others out. Thus, encountering pain we ask the question of "how"
(What to do to relief suffering?) instead of "why" (Is
it caused by natural laws, humans, God or Satan? Is suffering
an authentic existence? Is the consequence the best of all possible
worlds?). First, it is unlikely for us to find the answers to
the preceding questions. Second, even if we find the answers,
we have no control over them. However, in regard to the factors
that are controllable, we should still ask why (e.g. Is the cancer
caused by air pollution? Should we tighten the law of vehicle
emission?).
B. Watch out warning signals
In 1994 when I attended the conference of the Judgment and Decision
Making Society in St. Louis, a psychologist presented a paper regarding the serial
nature of tragic decision making. i.e. a severe consequence results
from many decisions and some of them seems to be "no
big deal." For example, before Titianic hit the iceberg and
sank, the captain had received at least seven
iceberg warnings but chose to ignore them. Ten miles away from
the coordinate of Titianic, there was another ship. When Titian
was sinking, it sent out both the SOS telegraph and rockets many
times, but that ship did not respond! Watch out signals from
God and don't be a spiritual Titianic.
C. Hope for the best
Suffering is the ultimate test of character. Tolstoy in his Confessions
says people respond to tragedy four ways. Some are scared and
mentally fly from it, perhaps soaking in drink to forget. Some
despair and commit suicide (or want to). Some are grimly stoical:
their heads are 'bloody but unbowed'. Finally, there are those
who meet it bravely, believing there is sense in it somewhere.
Christianity goes a step further, and asserts that suffering can
be used: many works of social justice have followed a tragic event
or experience (Rowland Croucher, 1995). In this sense, we still
hope for the best during suffering.
D. Prepare for the worst
In the book of Job, at last God gave back everything that
Job lost. Some theologians argued that the beginning and the end
were inserted later to the book. Here I will not go into the debate
of Biblical textual comparison. But, what if Job did not get back
those God took away? When we suffer, we somehow hope that eventually
God will alleviate our pain and even return us something better
than before. If God still keeps silent, shall we still love God
and do good? Sir Henry Moore said, "If we are being rewarded
for every good deed, then every body will choose to do good. But
that is not the case, and therefore, we need the courage to do
good."
Related article
Evaluation of free will defense in
the perspective of philosophy of science
