Suffering Pt1

Moral interpretation

Suffering is part of the human condition and can be witnessed operating at all levels:

1. Global – war, earthquake, tsunami, famine etc.
2. Community – plane crash, building fire, bomb etc.
3. Individual – sickness, unemployment, unrequited love

Our problem with suffering begins when we attempt to attach meaning, explain it, understand the cause, fit it into our moral/spiritual sense etc…We ask questions like, "why did God allow/cause that to happen?". Someone young we love dies so we ask, "why?". We loose a job and look for a deeper meaning…"does God have something better for me?" Some suffering we don't feel outraged by…a murderer is caught and punished (good)…and some we do…a child maimed by a terrorist bombing (why). The greater the moral outrage/ our sense of unfairness, the harder it is to explain. The closer we are to the suffering/the more keenly we feel it the greater the imperative to find a reason. If an innocent stranger dies in another part of the world it concerns us much less than if we are diagnosed with terminal cancer.

We could make things simpler for ourselves if we operated without faith/ purely from the perspective of reason then suffering is just and unfortunate event caused by circumstances beyond our control. If it happens to others then that's too bad. If it happens to us then we work out how to reduce the risk of the suffering from occurring again. Simple, yes? Our faith adds a further dimension to suffering.

Why do we feel the need to explain suffering? I think we look for an explanation so that we might avoid pain the future; it a protective response. Failing to find a moral explanation for say, the random nature of a car accident, we look to heaven and try to understand the thinking of the almighty. Our faith extends the search for an explanation past the natural into the supernatural.

Of all religions, our has one of the harder jobs explaining suffering. The bible has plenty to say on the topic but doesn't offer up a ready made doctrine which will answer all of our heart's questions. You see we believe in an all-good all powerful God (this is not the case in all religions). It seems reasonable to us that an all-good God would want his creation to be happy, yes? It also seems reasonable to us that an all-powerful God could deliver happiness to us at will, yes? So, if we are less than happy then either God is not all-good or he is not all-powerful or both, yes?

But in faith we know that God is indeed all-good and all-powerful so there must be another larger reason for why God allows us to suffer…so look at what does the bible says:

Historical context

There is a historic context for human suffering…it is time limited.

Before the fall there was no suffering in the world (Genesis 1-2). When Adam & Eve sinned God passed judgment upon them and the judgment was suffering. Man would have to toil and labour for his food and woman would have pain during childbirth (Gen 3;16-19). Further they would be separated from God (no longer allowed to remain in the Garden).

At the other end of the story, when Jesus returns and a new heaven and earth is established (Rev. 21) we are told that once again there will be no suffering.

Suffering is a result of the fall and will be correct in due course. So, we are fortunate in all of eternity to be alive enough to experience such a narrow window of suffering…aren't you pleased?

We need to have an eternal perspective of suffering. Romans 8: 18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Causes of suffering

God allows us to suffer and even delivers the suffering himself; sometime for our sake, sometimes for sake of others, sometimes for no sake at all. We need to be comfortable with a sovereign, awesome, powerful God who acts not just in the interests of us as individuals but also the interests of communities and indeed, globally. It is vain and self-important to place oneself in the centre of things. We have no right of claim of God's protection or blessings. When should have the attitude of gratefulness and humility before God. God, who loves us, acts according to his own good purposes many of these we will never understand; they are beyond us.

Why does suffering occur?:

1. Probably the easiest to understand is suffering as a consequence of our sin. We know from experience that we reap what we sow.
   Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."
2. We can also easily accept God's judgment upon sinners. 2 Kings 19-27; Acts 5:1-11
3. We presume what we are told about God's judgment against whole communities like the the story of Sodom & Gommarrah. Though it's hard to believe that in such a large city only Lot's family were found to be worthy of sparing.
4. We are taught that when natural events produce suffering we should not presume that God is delivery judgment against sinners. John 9:1 "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." Also, Luke 13: 1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
5. At a more personal level we also should not presume that suffering we might experience is caused by our own sin: take the story of Job for example. Peter talks about suffering for doing good. 1 Peter2:19 "For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God."
6. Most suffering is "allowed by God" as a consequence of giving us free will; that is we sin against one another: murder, adultery, recklessness, selfishness, sexual abuse, theft, unloving parents, slander, unkindness, deceit etc… There is enough food in the world to feed the hungry. War kills more innocently than natural events like weather etc.
7. So we can see God permitting the suffering and delivering the suffering for his own very good reasons so that just leaves the innocents caught in the middle…what about them? The bible teaches us that the notion of the "fallen world" extends beyond the moral into the physical environment. The garden produced all that Adam and Eve needed but when the fall occurred, the land was cursed… Genesis 3:17"To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field." Also, Romans 8:20 "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." Innocents suffer because of the global background of sin. The physical consequence of our moral failure. The world is God's creation as well are so it should not surprise us that in the same way we bear the consequences of our sin, so there are flow on effects in creation more broadly.

Suffering has a purpose

The wonderful thing about having a biblical/spiritual view of suffering is that we have a promise that God will use it in our lives to produce fruit.

Hebrews 5: 7"During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 12: 7 "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13"Make level paths for your feet,"[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."

1 Peter 1: 6 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

John 15: 2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful."

So let us have a larger perspective on suffering and trust that God is indeed trustworthy. Let us be grateful for what he has given us and not expect an easy life. Suffering is part of the growth process and should be entered into with faith and eagerness…

Romans 12: 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.