My Sunday morning sermons are available online here. I can't presently make my Sunday night teaching available through recording, so I thought it wise to blog the content of the talks. The Sunday night ministry itself is seeking to engage skeptics and non-skeptics alike who have common questions regarding Christianity, the Bible, or just overall social issues. We gather, eat dinner, worship, and then I give a talk on that night's topic. We've had three meetings so far, and I'll blog the content of the second and third -- the second today, and perhaps the third (this past Sunday night) tomorrow.
How can a good God allow suffering?
I began answering this question by citing Job's response to a similar question from his wife. Job was a righteous, godly man on whom God had inflicted an incredible amount of trial and suffering. In the beginning of the suffering, Job seems to think back about all of the good God has richly blessed him with in the past, sure of the rightness and goodness of God's intentions. His wife, however, seems unconvinced. Job responds to her, "Shall we not receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). He knew that God brought both incredible blessing, and some trial.This reveals to us that when suffering is experienced and life is incredibly difficult, we should always remember all of the good that has accompanied us the rest of the time. Even while we sit and ponder our suffering, we are able to think, reason, breathe, etc., all at God's provision and because of His grace.
The Curse
It is also important to remember that God's creation is not in the state in which He created it. He has put it under a curse, in response to the human race's rebellion against Him. This is seen in Genesis 3, where the first thing that is lost is the intimate relationship between man and his God. In this man loses his own self and identity. Man then becomes defensive when he's held accountable, and ultimately, we find the marriage relationship losing its bliss as well (notice Adam blames Eve). Finally the work of man's hands is made difficult. Practically speaking, this means there isn't an easy job on planet earth. All jobs are rife with thorns.Much of the suffering we experience can be connected back to what happens here in Genesis at what theologians call "the Fall". God has willed that His creation, which has rebelled against Him, be placed under a curse, wherein suffering and hardship is essential (Gen. 3:14-19, Rom. 8:20).
Thus God is only working with a cursed creation and people who sin. Some are under the impression (along with much ancient philosophy) that the cosmos is engaged in some comic-book style "war between good and evil/bad". Actually this isn't true. God's creation is not "good vs. evil/bad", but "good-gone-evil/bad". He created it good, and then it went bad. This is important when making distinctions between "fair" and "unfair", which inevitably comes in suffering. If we were the ones that rebelled, trading in the truth of God for a lie (Rom. 1:22), we shouldn't expect that our categories of "fair" and "unfair" to be trustworthy. We aren't in the seat of judgment anymore. Rather, we are the judged.
The Flip
The best way for God to triumph over evil wouldn't just be to have the aforementioned comic-book style "good vs. evil" fight, where good wins. The best triumph would be if He were actually to flip the purposes of evil for good in the end. In other words, God will defeat evil not by just burying it in the ground, but by turning it upside down for good in the end.In the Jim Carrey comedy "Fun With Dick and Jane", Carrey is Dick Harper, who works for a major corporation which endures complete liquidation because of economic recession. Not only does he and all other workers lose their jobs, but also their pensions. The CEO, McCallister (played by Alec Baldwin), doesn't seem to lose anything amidst the debacle, but is well-off. Harper and his wife then resort to theft, and this makes the movie funny in that they are "nice thieves". Sparing you all the details Harper comes to realize that McCallister had emptied out the company's pension plans before the liquidation into his own account. Harper then hatches a plan to sneak into McCallister's bank and steal his money through clever maneuvering. The film climaxes with an encounter at the bank, McCallister having caught Harper. McCallister threatens Harper, who, with tears in his eyes, puts a gun in McCallister's side and says, "Do what you want when I leave, but after what you've put me through, I'm not leaving here empty-handed." McCallister then writes Harper a tongue-in-cheek check of $100, "to show you how much I think you're worth", and leaves.
The next scene, the movie's finale, has McCallister arriving home at a later date, bombarded with cameras and news people thanking him for his generosity. Of course he is stunned and has no idea what's happening. In the meantime Harper and his wife had taken McCallister's signature from the $100 check, and forged it to empty out his stolen money back into the former company employees' pensions. The CEO's own evil actions were flipped for the good of many.
To use a more Biblical example, Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery out of pure hatred. When Joseph ended up a major player in Egypt, the brothers came to him for food amidst an awful famine. They apologized for their previous actions, afraid of what he might do to them. Joseph responds, "Brothers, what you meant for evil, God meant for good, to preserve for us a people alive, as we are this day" (Gen. 50:20). Note that Joseph doesn't say that what they meant for evil God used for good, but that what they meant for evil God meant for good. They had an evil intent, but God had a good intent the whole time. How these seemingly irreconcilable truths work together is a mystery to the human mind. But since the Scripture is the mind of the Spirit, let us all just stand amazed at God's unsearchable wisdom and abilities, in flipping the evil intent of some for the good of more.
Perhaps the greatest example of this is the cross. While the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem hanged Jesus on the cross out of evil and hatred, the Bible says that Jesus was in sovereign control the whole time. He offered Himself as a sacrifice of his own accord, uncontrolled by anyone (John 10:18). Further it was the Father who "delivered (him) up according to (His own) definite plan and foreknowledge" (Acts. 2:23). Repeatedly the New Testament says that God offered Jesus (Rom. 3:25, 2 Cor. 5:21).
The point is that in the Biblical narrative, we already find God flipping the evil purposes of sinful men for the good of his people. Truly it is of much consequence that Romans 8:28 says that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. The proof is seen everywhere!
Four reasons God allows suffering
1. To get peoples' attention, because otherwise he never would.Ps. 119:67, 71, 75: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word ... It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes ... I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
The psalmist had gone through a great affliction, and having made it to the other side, he was not only glad for the affliction, but he acknowledges that it was God's good plan and intentions that brought it on him, for his own good. Now he can keep his Word, whereas otherwise his own faithfulness would have surely lapsed. As CS Lewis has rightly said, "We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." This was the psalmists experience.
2. To bring people to seek Him and ultimately depend on Him.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9: For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
Frankly, we all have a god-complex. Our "thinking self" largely keeps us in a mindset of walking alone, not dependent on the God who created us and provides for us every moment. We tend to assume that all good comes because of our own work and dedication, and not God's. Godliness does not run in our veins, but rebellion does (Rom. 3:9-10). We want God to leave us alone and let us live our lives how we want. It is into this state of mind that God brings affliction and suffering. Without it we would remain autonomous and independent, with no clue that our hearts are hardening not only to God but to those around us. We don't want God to interfere with us. But God does interfere, and we're never the same. Like Jacob we walk away limping but better. Paul is making this exact point in 2 Corinthians, drawing on his own affliction.
Tim Keller has rightly said, "Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep in the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine."
3. To get us to better identify with and empathize with other sufferers, so we can comfort them as we've been comforted by God.
2 Cor. 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
We tend to box ourselves in from the suffering of those around us. When confronted with it, we try to slide out the window like Peter Griffin and the gang as Joe cries his eyes out at the thought of retiring from the Force. This is because we haven't been through personal suffering ourselves, and have no sensitivity. So God brings it on us, to soften us up and make us sensitive to the needs around us. He then comforts us in kindness, so that we can then give that to others as well.
4. Because there's something better He's preparing us for.
James 1:2-4: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Trial produces endurance in us, and it is through endurance that we attain "perfection", meaning that we are complete in our joy in and trust in Christ. Note that this is how James opens his epistle. Trial is just a normal part of the Christian experience. Only through trial are we made ready for Christ to return, bearing fruit in keeping with our readiness. When he returns we'll all be made perfect, and joy will be the song for eternity. Our trials prepare us for that moment.
Speaking of that moment, Jesus told his disciples and all believers to "stay awake". We must feel the weight of the evil around us (and in us, in our flesh). Otherwise, we, like the disciples the night of Jesus' arrest, will take a nap while Jesus is laboring. The requirement is, "Stay awake"; the provision is, "Here is trial." Count it all joy when they come!
In the movie Cinderella Man, Russel Crowe plays Depression-era boxer James Braddock. As a boxer he is notorious as a right-hander with a weak left. He then breaks his right hand on a mistimed punch, and has to take time off away, working at a loading dock. While there he is obviously must lean on using his left hand to get work done. After his manager gets him a random, unexpected fight later (against the number one Heavyweight contender in the world, which he is obviously expected to lose), he is now for the first time able to fight with both hands. He wins handily, and goes on a few fights later to win the World Heavyweight Championship. (And this is based on the true story of James J. Braddock).
In essence, God gives us trial to break our right hand so we'll learn to use the left. Then and only then are we truly ready to fight for the big stakes. Thus as James 1 says we should count it all joy when God brings trial on us -- He's making us ready and able, whereas before, we weren't.
The next post will be this past Sunday night's talk on the validity of the Bible: Is the Bible true? What is it's message?
