Wow. I thank you for the invitation! May you have a very cool holiday.
Dennis!
Thank you, Randy, for the very unique inquiry! I truly enjoy a chance to share from my heart along with a chance to learn from others.
Well, beginning by ignoring the lawyer advertisements offering to inform me how much money my pain and suffering were worth (!), I read the articles on the first page. Then read the ones on two more. This lead me to read up on Job, which lead to the first five chapters of the The First Book of Enoch, which reminded me of the last two chapters of Isaiah and the last three chapters of The Unveiling (Revelation). Then back to Job. I then remembered an article in Guideposts that my wife once showed me about the success Bryan Doerries had using the Book of Job, presented as a dramatic reading, to help the people of Joplin, Missouri deal with tragedy and loss after a devastating tornado.
Then the Joy of Christmas put all that contemplation aside, for awhile. Well, except for that theologically pesky thing of Pain and Suffering we call,“The Slaughter of the Innocents.”
So, picking it up again, refreshed in my spirit for the time I spent reflecting on the birth and death and resurrection of Earth’s Redeemer and King, did I find anything of excellence to share?
Well, most of the answers Christians gave were well thought out and presented, but they were not unfamiliar answers for being a theodicy derived from what I call, “Modern medieval theology” - Calvinism/Arminianisim repackaged for 20th, and now 21st Century, human beings.
Thus, for this being the core theology derived from our English Bibles, most Christian theodicy has, understood within it, the theological postulate that, because Jesus is the Lamb crucified from the foundation of the world, God must have known, as a fact, that Adam and Eve were going to fall before He created them.
This then leads to the logical conclusion that God intended for the events of that time to happen, and thus the world and Us are exactly as He intended It to be simply because He created it, which includes the redemption of at least some, if not all human beings.
Or, it leads to the logical conclusion that, for knowing He couldn’t stop those events, He created us anyway, always intending to redeem at least some, if not all human beings.
So, I must report that, for this underpinning in modern Christian theodicy, I did not find anything of excellence.
That does not mean that I reject it. Far from it! There is much good written that applies well to how we might respond to the fact that there is Pain and Suffering in the world, even if we can’t explain why a good God would allow it.
Now, the atheist apologist’s answers were the expected non-answers because I perceive that atheist don’t ask The Question intending to hear and learn, but rather ask it to prove their point that it is unreasonable to assume that God exists; for, if God is Good, as religions claim, then there should not be any Pain and Suffering in His creation! Therefore, He must be only a wistful creation of the human mind as it deals with the forces of Evolution. That is to say, He cannot exist any more than Santa Claus exists. Now, go forth and be a good, moral and enlightened soul as you deal righteously, according to your internal morality, with the Pain and Suffering others cause you.
However, putting that necessary comment on atheist theodicy aside, what I noticed is that many Christian apologists begin their answers by assigning categories to our Pain and Suffering, which they then address, one by one. Roughly outlined the categories are:
Pain and Suffering caused by Nature, which are euphemistically called, “Acts of God.” These include the serious health issues that result from our DNA being, “naturally,” or artificially altered, as well as the disease and pestilence and disasters perpetrated, “naturally,” by Our Hostile and Lively, but Indifferent Earth.
Pain and Suffering that result from the wickedness of others on whom we depend for our own needs. Wives and Husbands, Fathers, Mothers and Siblings, Employers, Friends, and Persons of Authority, whose abuse of their position result in injustice, are the perpetrators of this.
Pain and Suffering that come from the Evil actions of others which result in Trauma; like those unthinkable actions of horror we hear on the nightly news, committed by our, “neighbors,” and the stories we hear about atrocities committed in the wars between nations and ethnicities, and the unspeakable horrors done to human beings by other human beings that justify themselves through their religion or their politics. This includes psychological and physical torture, acts of vengeance, terrorism, murder, genocide and creative forms of mass-murder, enslavement, and forced sexual acts.
Pain and Suffering that come from the Tragedy created by others immoral or improper actions while inebriated or while using intoxicating drugs.
Pain and Suffering that result from the misunderstanding of others who act improperly from that understanding for assuming that they are right in their understanding. We often call this unfairness.
Additionally, I will add this category: Pain and Suffering that comes from adults misappropriating, for personal gratification, the link between human love and our sexuality. This includes Adultery, Fornication and other conscience-confusing couplings of human beings that we claim as consent between adults and capture, for our enjoyment, in Pornography.
And finally, Pain and Suffering that come from our own Improper Actions, our own Misunderstandings from which we act, our own Wickedness that leads to Injustice or the neglect and abuse of those who depend on us for their needs, and our own, “Unthinkable,” actions of Evil.
Of these categories, I perceive that it is the very last category that leads to all the others, except the first.
I must be honest with myself if I am to expect the forgiveness of Jehovah, for I am guilty of doing many things that will slide all too easily into one of these categories: things of shame and dishonor, things of sexual misconduct, lawlessness and iniquity, things of selfishness, and even, “unthinkable,” things.
And so, that’s the rub, as I see it: The vast majority of Pain and Suffering in the World is caused by me - and all who are just like me.
I am only exempt from the first category; for I cannot control Nature: It is only over myself that I have any semblance of control.
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There is a criminal under my own hat.
I know him well and must admit that he deserves incarceration - at the very least he should have been stopped dead in his acts of overt and subtle violence and self-righteousness - that is if he cannot, or will not, be rehabilitated. And I note that he has perpetrated many acts of wickedness and iniquity with seeming impunity. Well, apart from the natural laws of consequence that follow actions that violate his conscience. And I’m glad he didn’t get what he deserved, because I don’t want to die, much less be punished.
So if this good God that I know exists because I perceive that His attributes are incorporated into His creation, which includes the conscience He put into me, did not stop me dead when I should have been (and I knew I should have been), but seemed to let me continue on as I created Pain and Suffering in others, then why should I expect this good God to stop others when they create Pain and Suffering for me?
And so the question for me to answer is not stated as, “If God is good then why is there so much suffering in the world?” Rather it is stated as, "God is good and I am sentient and know the difference between right and wrong, so why do I create so much Pain and Suffering in the world?
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Would you be willing to follow a mental exercise with me?
I’d like you to imagine, if you will, our Earth, exactly as it is now - that is, dangerous and very evolutionary in its capriciousness - but which never gave Its air to a human being for breath; an Earth on which no human foot ever trod, and from which no human being ever extracted Its resources to manufacture shelter in defense of his and her self from Its cyclical capriciousness.
There were never any cities, nor machinery, nor manufacturing nor the cultivation of good vegetation over bad; no mass raising of animals for food; no scaring of the Earth from manipulation for the purposes of commerce.
The cycles would continue. Land vegetation would grow unchecked, keeping beautiful and beneficial plants choked out and frequently creating huge vegetation fires as the dead matter piled up.
Oceanic vegetation and the erosion from the interaction of water and land would be constantly changing the border between the two, affecting life on both sides of that border.
Animals on land and in the waters would continue to kill and be killed as the Earth maintains Its Perennial Destruction and as they battle for food and shelter and for their need to satisfy their sexual drives.
Hurricanes and Tornadoes, Hail and Rain Storms with Lightning, Earthquakes, Floods, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall would continue on and on and on…
But to what end?
For what purpose does all this life and growth and death and destruction exist?
If Evolution brought it forth, then Pain and Suffering must logically be just the unfortunate outcome of survival in the face of forces unable to accomplish anything different. Randomness and Chance brought it all, imperfectly, into existence, and so, It failed to develop us.
Thus, I perceive through this thought exercise that all questioning itself is meaningless without human beings, because, “The Question of Why,” can only be drawn forth from sentience; and there is no sentience in this Universe of our imagining because the Universe never produced us!
So, if through our imagining, we can recognize that even an Earth brought forth through Evolution should bring forth sentient beings in order for there to be meaning in the Universe, how much more so would a Universe created on purpose by Sentience require Sentience in His creation for there to be meaning in anything He did?
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Therefore, I recognize that without me (and without at least one more of you), there is no meaning! Thus, for what I observe for being sentient, this makes me and you the center of something either Grand or Sinister. But which is it?
As human beings we ourselves are often both Grand and Sinister. So, is God also this way?
There is no way I know to answer this question… apart from the conscience I possess and for a Little Supernatural Intervention every now and then, recorded for posterity, that I might have something from which I can study and learn.
For my conscience is capable of guiding me into understanding right and wrong, and the Supernatural Events of Human History are recorded that I might discover, for myself, an answer that satisfies me as to The Question.
And in those Recorded Events I discover that our Earth was not created to be the way I am experiencing it - that is capricious and indifferent as it turns through each the year in hostility toward its inhabitants. Rather, it was created to sustain me, well cared for!
And then came The Turning. A momentous and consequential event in our History that leaves me breathless in my comprehension for what was lost when the first human beings failed to acquire virtue before they acquired a conscience.
In other words, way back then, at the beginning, something that was not supposed to happen did happen, and something that was supposed to happen did not.
As a result the Creator turned the Earth from Home to Hostility because the Creator said it was for our benefit, given that we will now be human beings who have no desire for virtue, despite our knowledge of the difference between Good and Evil. In that misstep, which resulted from a lack of faith in the goodness of God, we failed to become complete. Therefore, we do not, naturally (not yet anyway), reflect all the attributes of the Creator Who said we were created to resemble Him.
So, to sum it up: He is virtuous and we are not, not yet.
Thus, the actions of this good God are now bent toward redeeming His creation, if I understand the Book of Historical Stories correctly.
This means me.
He is bent on redeeming me.
And He has provided well for my rehabilitation, and eventual redemption, if I will only trust and believe in His provision, that is, have faith, in a Stunning Historical Figure Who was named before His Birth, Y’Shua, which name means in His native language, “He will Save!” For this Human Being claimed (if the Historical Records are accurate), to be the Son of this good God and that He was sent so we might know the true personality of this God through Him; for He went about doing good and healing all those with affliction.
That means that He is bent on redeeming you, too!
And I need to respect that. Because I recognize that He must be working in you in much the same way He worked in me to resire me through holy spirit that I might be given His virtuousness, and everything else I might need to live my life doing what is right and good, for being born anew!
So, just between you and me, I don’t think He will lose a single one of us for we are taught in this Book of Our History that just as the First Human brought death to all, so this New and Divine Human will restore life to all!
Therefore, for me, the reason why there is so much Pain and Suffering in the world, despite their being a good God, is because of me, and others like me.
But, now I recognize that He cannot redeem all of us by continually acting as a Policeman and Judge. And so, we will all have to face Pain and Suffering caused by others and by a Hostile Earth until all He promised is fulfilled and we are all redeemed and dwelling on a New and Homey Earth which is Itself the Center of a New Heaven, even as the Book of History proclaims this to be His intention for all of us.
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At this point I wish to include this sanguine quote from the Catholic Church’s answer to The Question. It explained well how some can respond courageously to Pain and Suffering, while others retreat to cowardice. I keenly felt the truth in this answer:
I have a great reason to live. But not just live out my life, rather to live it virtuously; my Resurrection!
In my Day of Deciding, I hope to hear my Redeemer say, “Well done, you good and faithful servant!”
So, the one who caused so much Pain and Suffering in the world, before, is now among the ones who are earning an allotment in the Kingdom of God. Only a God Who is good could accomplish such an amazing thing!
Let Earth receive Her King!
And so that is why I say: “Be good, my fellow humans, for that is what you were created to be!”
Dennis!