Christian Response When It Hurts

People want to avoid pain and suffering more than anything else besides death. Atheists and secular/natural humanists pose provocative and misguided questions about the existence of God, citing the presence of evil and suffering as their basis. People around the world are agonizing due to diseases, hunger, global food crises, war, terrorism, and natural disasters—earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes. The pain and suffering caused by these problems have provided atheists with ideas to formulate their arguments against the supremacy of God. The ultimate arguments skeptics have are about a benevolent God allowing suffering.

Christians have a suitable answer, but it doesn’t apply to those in pain. First, we have to address the issue on two levels—philosophically and practically. We must speak truth with integrity, as people are going through pain. C.S. Lewis also had to deal with his intellectual and emotional problem regarding pain and suffering in his life. Basically, we suffer from moral evil and natural evil. Even today when we remember the Holocaust, our hair bristles. We remember Adolf Hitler for killing six million Jews during World War II. We line up Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot of Cambodia with Hitler, who were morally corrupted and evil in their deeds. In these cases, the argument of whether God is all-good is invalid because the outcome stemmed from an evil doer’s lack of an absolute moral standard. Therefore, moral evil proves that human beings are fallen creatures who inherited sinful nature from the Garden of Eden. This is a clear picture of human depravity.

On the other hand, natural evil is the natural forces that cause suffering. It seems like evil has no part in the natural disaster. Recently, a 7.9 Richter-scale earthquake in China claimed the lives of approximately 14,000 people. Recent tornadoes in the US killed hundreds of people and left others homeless. On 24^th December 2004, the Indian Ocean Tsunami killed nearly 300,000 people. Why did the ocean sweep away hundreds of thousands of people? Has God no control over nature, or has God allowed nature to destroy people? It is reported that approximately 1500 people die each day in the United States due to cancer. HIV/AIDS has swallowed all adults in Africa. Can God stop this painful suffering in the lives of those children who are left orphaned? These questions are laid before us to ponder. Neither can we avoid these questions by simply ignoring the fact.

To some extent, the natural disasters are the consequences of our free will. Art Lindsley writes that “God did not create evil, but he did create within human beings the capacity to choose evil” (55). HIV/AIDS is the result of sexual immorality. Gradually, we have to cope with global warming due to our unaccountability to the earth that God has created. We have no way to blame God for the possible consequences from these natural disasters, because we are responsible for what is happening at present and what is going to happen.

Some godly people suffer pains and have lost lives due to incurable diseases. What shall we say about these people? They feel abandoned, afflicted, and angry at God. He seems far away and hidden in the secret place. Sometimes, question after question arises in the mind: “Why me and not others?” Truly, our limited human minds cannot fully comprehend divine purpose. Lewis claims that we have no answer for all these questions except trusting in God.

Eventually, we have to just trust and depend on God, whom we know is real. We may never get the answer to our suffering or understand his divine weaving to share his glory with us. However, we can provide comfort to people who are experiencing various difficult situations, such as the loss of a loved one, battling incurable diseases, searching for the truth, or enduring pain that they do not deserve. Our logical arguments and truths of the world become incomplete and worthless for those who are suffering unless we demonstrate the benevolence of God through our lives.

If I had to visit anyone who is suffering from an incurable disease, I would sit close to him. I would listen to him and just pray for comfort. In the midst of all anguish and pain, many words from my mouth could become a bitter gall in his wound, as Job experienced more pain from his three friends’ continual talking. Therefore, it is better to be a compassionate listener than an idle babbler when you sit close to someone who is bereaved. Many times we try to philosophize things of the world, but our well-reasoned answers do not help when people are suffering. People have broken marriages, lose their jobs, get sick, etc., and our shallow head knowledge becomes more superficial if we open our mouths wide. Thus, we better listen to them, cry and mourn with them, stand with them, and pray with them. God did not make a mountain that he cannot move. God will bind the bandage to the wound of his children.

Work Cited

Fayed, Lisa. How Many People Die of Cancer Each Day? 14 Jan. 2006. Medical Review Board. 15 May 2008 <http://cancer.about.com/od/cancerfactsandstatistics/f/dailydeaths.htm>. 

Lindsley, Art. “The Problem of Evil.” C.W. Lewis’s Case for Christ. Illinois: IVP Books, 2005.