Wrong Answers to the Question of Suffering – Part 1

The first post in this series can be found here.

We are looking into the problem of suffering and whether the Christian claims about the nature of God are in conflict with the presence of so much suffering in the world. Because this is a question about the internal consistency of Christianity, we need to see if the original Christian sources (IE the documents compiled in the Bible) give any good answers.

Before I go into answering the big question of how the Bible explains why God allows or causes suffering, it’s very important to show what the Bible does not say. There are a lot of misconceptions around both inside and outside christian culture, and some of these are pretty toxic if believed! So this post and the next will deal with a couple of big misconceptions:

Don’t blame the sufferer!

In multiple places we have indications that we definitely shouldn’t think all suffering is ‘just’ or ‘fair’ or ‘deserved’ by the sufferer more than anyone else. It may be in some cases but it may not be, so don’t presume. The Biblical wisdom book Job (the ‘o’ is pronounced like the one in ‘go’) is all about this! In Job 1-2 the title character suffers massively whilst being literally declared innocent by God himself – twice! The rest of the book is largely the humans debating about why Job has suffered so much. Most of Job’s friends think he is being judged for some hidden sin, and eventually start hypothesising lists of possible sins he must have committed. Job himself starts well, but gradually gets more annoyed with them and (knowing his own innocence) starts accusing God. Job asks that God show up to explain himself (Job 31:35-37). Surprisingly, at the end (Job 38-42) God does appear to Job and demonstrates that both he and the other humans are just guessing in the dark and actually have no idea about the things they were each confidently asserting. Job may have been innocent originally but (in Job 42) admits that he spoke foolishly…and the other humans are told they need to ask Job to pray for their forgiveness. That’s a stern warning to us; not to accuse God himself of wrongdoing, yet also not to accuse the person who suffers!

In various places we also are told there is a fair and completely proportionate accounting coming, when God will finally act and restore justice to the world. This coming day of judgement seems take into account both our conduct and the circumstances we faced. (Acts 17:30-31, Revelation 20:11-13, Luke 12:2-7, 47-48, Luke 16:19-25)

Jesus makes the same things clear:

54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’, and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

13 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
So the presence of unpredictable suffering (including death) should warn us all generally that something isn’t right, and we don’t know how long we have before we face God’s true judgement. But we should not assume any suffering person has ‘earned it’ – we may even deserve that suffering more than they do!

Luke 12:54-13:5

So although there are general principles that God does use suffering to discipline sometimes (and it is healthy to at least consider when we ourselves suffer), we cannot know for sure and thus should never condemn other people who suffer.

Part three of the suffering series looks at a very popular yet deeply unhelpful answer to ‘If God exists and he is good then why is there so much suffering in the world?’ which I have heard plenty of times on the street. Generally, coming out of the mouth of one of a fellow believer – Click here to read