What good God would allow so much suffering into the world?
“Not only so, but we also boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces patience, patience produces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4.)
There is no one singular reason as to why God permits suffering to occur in the world. Although tribulation exists, the severity to which it affects people at an individual level is relative. The world operates under a set of natural and supernatural laws and the very things necessary for human flourishment can be the very things that cause such hardships; the fire which warms you can burn you, the water that nourishes you may very well drown you. This is the arena we are given to operate within, with the sole purpose of establishing a relationship with God (but that’s a blog for another time.)
When posed with the question of suffering in an attempt to try and disprove Gods existence there are three distinctions that must be addressed before properly refuting the question.
Is it impossible for God and suffering to co-exist? Because just simply saying ‘suffering exists’ does not disprove that there may very well be a reason that an all-loving God may permit the suffering in the world to take place. (Suffering exists – logical leap – therefore God cannot exist.) (Suffering exists – God may have a just cause to allow suffering.)
Why is it that he allows people to do harm onto others? Before diving into the importance of free will, something must be addressed. From the Atheistic world view. what is necessarily ‘wrong’ with causing harm to another person? Afterall we are all just purposeless balls of stardust that came into being by cosmic accidents. Morality doesn’t really exist, it’s something that humans made up, therefore what is wrong with two clumps of random stardust bumping into each other? It is no different than two rocks colliding in a stream. They must borrow from a religious world view where supernatural truths exist. In a naturalistic worldview, the only truths are that of which exist in the physical realm. To say something is ‘right or wrong’ is only to pedestal one’s ideas over someone else’s.
Mankind is not simply Gods pets who he must provide the most safe and comfortable setting for. Gods will is and was to make us free creatures. He did not want to create a world full of robots, for there would be no chances of discovery and growth. In-order to be free creatures, we must have the freedom to disobey Gods rules. Humans causing harm to other humans is simply them using the free will granted by God in-order to defy his moral order. God is incapable of doing something which is logically impossible. For instance, he cannot make a circular triangle. Therefore, he cannot make free people incapable of denying his rules, that would be logically inconsistent.
Why would he then allow us to suffer from the daily atrocities that exist in nature? For example, a tsunami annihilating a hospital in India, or a child having to battle cancer. There are a multitude of answers that can be given here, but there is one answer in-particular that best helps us come to terms with Gods reasoning for such heinous acts. It is called the Kimberly Argument. Kimberly was a sweet fun-loving seventeen-year-old girl with the most benevolent of attitudes whose life was taken by Meningococcal disease one week before her senior prom and graduation. It is contracted by between six hundred and one thousand people annually. Of those who contract it, the mortality rate is 12 percent. She had been vaccinated against four of the five strands of the disease, the one which prevents the ‘B strand’ was not yet available in the United States. Now one may ask, why would God ever allow such a bad thing to happen to such a sweet young girl? Suffering that may seem pointless in our limited scope may have an overall greater purpose. A foundation was made in Kimberly’s name, they make sure parents are aware that because your child may be vaccinated against Meningitis, that does not mean they are vaccinated against every strand. Thanks to Kimberly’s story being presented to the floor of the CDC, the Vaccination to prevent the B strand has been approved for use in the United States. Although the test sample is low because of how rare the disease is, ever since the dose became available, number of deaths from Meningococcal disease continue to decline. A nursing scholarship has been established in her name as well. How many lives will those future nurses go on to save that would’ve otherwise never had the opportunity? It would be far too cynical and logically unsound to believe that her death was in vain. A ripple effect must first begin with a rock being thrown into the water. It’s easy to be short sighted when the tragedy first occurs, but it must be considered that there may be a silver lining that which we aren’t able to see or comprehend just yet.
Solutions for most instances of suffering are often evident to mankind yet we still choose to allow the door to suffering to remain open. We choose to eat the donut while being fully aware of the health risks involved. We step in MMA octagons knowing the risk of serious bodily harm. It seems hypocritical of mankind to coddle the suffering we choose to expose ourselves to in one hand, while simultaneously pointing the finger at God and blaming him for the rest of the suffering we may endure throughout life. It is as if we sit comfortably in his lap in-order to slap him in the face.
Is all suffering necessarily bad, and where is the line drawn between the good and the bad forms of suffering? ‘To suffer’ is a relative term, and what may be difficult for one person to endure may be child’s play for another. In gym class there is always someone who doesn’t mind running the mile while others may hide under the bleachers. As Paul clarifies in his letter to the Romans (as stated earlier) some suffering is necessary when regarding character development. Imagine how difficult the death of a loved one may be if you were never conditioned to endure some minor semblance of suffering through your life. Paul had a great understanding that suffering in this world is a slight momentary affliction and that those hardships are miniscule compared to the everlasting joy that is only achieved by trusting the Lord.
It’s no coincidence that the countries around the world which have endured the severest of hardships are where we can observe Christianity growing at its fastest rates. Meanwhile in the more indulgent westernized cultures of the world the number of Christians remains rather stagnant. (Operation World. Patrick Johnstone.) Although suffering may be the best objection one can make to refute the existence of an all-loving God, God ironically remains the sole solution to such tribulation. “There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
A Prayer For The Reader