How Can a Loving God Allow Pain and Suffering?

An atheist relative said that she can’t stand it when Christians say that bad things happen for a reason, for example, in response to a painful loss. To the non-believer this ambiguous statement, while well- intentioned, provides little comfort in the face of sadness and grief. How can a Christian explain to an unbeliever that our God allows pain and suffering? How is this consistent with the concept of a loving, all-powerful God? Why should anyone trust a God who would allow people to suffer?

In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Problem of Pain, he said that Christianity creates the problem of pain (in an apologetic sense). We Christians believe that an all-powerful God is both loving and righteous yet we live in a world where people experience great pain. So the reasoning goes, either our God lacks goodness or power or both. How does a person reconcile the reality of pain, suffering, and senseless tragedy with belief in a righteous, loving God who has the power to make it easy for us?

In Christian Apologetics, Douglas Groothius asks: if evil appears to be pointless, is it? If you can’t conceive of a reason for pain and suffering, does that mean there is no reason? Christians are just as aware of pain and suffering as people who don’t believe in God. We sometimes ask God, Why is this happening? What is the purpose of this? Why don’t you stop this suffering? So how did Christians come to believe that pain and suffering are compatible with belief in a benevolent God? 

Christians have a few beliefs that are central to our understanding of pain and suffering. One, we believe in a God who is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (present everywhere). Second, we believe in a perfect, Holy God who is the source of human morality. Third, we believe that mankind continually breaks the code of ethics God gave us and as a result, we feel guilt and remorse. Fourth, we believe in the incarnation - that God became human to redeem mankind from our sinfulness. Christianity is the only religion that makes this claim – that God became fully human and experienced human suffering firsthand. Jesus subjected himself to temptation, rejection, ridicule, pain and death. He understands our suffering because he took it upon Himself.

What kind of love is this?

People reject the Christian God, because they question how God can love people and yet allow them to suffer. But reconciling the reality of pain and suffering with the concept of a loving God is possible only if you do not trivialize the word love. The love of God is analogous to the love of a father for his son or a shepherd for his sheep. It is the love of the Creator for the created. God does not exist to serve man just as painting does not exist to serve the artist. We are an expression of his love and creativity and he loves us more than we can imagine. He forgives over and over again, even as we reject him. But he is not indulgent. He is not content with our disobedience. He does not enjoy punishing people or seeing them in pain. He is present to guide, protect, and comfort those who love Him.

The Laws of Nature Versus the Power of God

Even in the absence of belief in a higher power, death and destruction are part of the natural world. Those who believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution believe that natural selection weeds out the weak. The weak die so the strong can live and perpetuate their seed. Forces of nature like floods, fire, blizzards, tornadoes, famine and drought cause pain, suffering, death and destruction. So with or without a supernatural creator, we acknowledge the destructiveness of nature. How is this evidence against God? As Groothius writes, if you believe that the natural world is full of evil, then you must have in mind a supernatural ideal as the basis for your belief.

The rejection of the Christian God based on the problem of pain presupposes that the Christian God lacks the power to make things right. For those of us who believe that God is omnipotent, we do believe that God is capable of suspending the laws of nature to prevent pain. We do believe in miracles and that on occasion God changes the natural course of events. But we don’t expect God to break the laws of nature.

Imagine that I am about to drive my car straight into the path of another vehicle at a high rate of speed. My God, as the supremely intelligent designer of the universe, could certainly intervene to prevent an accident. He could instantly change the mass and/or velocity of our vehicles to lessen the impact. He could even cause my car to fly over the other car and land gently on the other side. But if God did interfere with natural laws, they would not be laws; they would be general rules. We couldn’t count on nature to behave in predictable, measurable ways. If we expected God to prevent the suffering that nature and free will make inevitable, life, as we know it, would no longer exist.

Morality and Man’s Separation from God

As difficult as it is to understand the cruelty of nature, it is even harder to understand the pain humans inflict on each other. As C.S. Lewis observed, we cause pain when we’re born, we inflict pain on others while we’re living (and suffer on the receiving end), and we often experience pain and suffering in death. Humans have a long record of committing crimes, abuse, and other unspeakable acts against each other. We intentionally hurt each other physically and with words. We can be extremely cruel and indifferent to the pain and suffering of others. What’s worse, because we have the ability to reason and to feel, we understand the pain we cause.

I believe that God created us as intelligent beings with the free will to choose. That free will came with a risk – the risk that we would choose evil and reject God. The biblical story of Adam and Eve describes the first sin as an act of disobedience to God – the choice to eat fruit God had specifically forbidden. The choice to eat the forbidden fruit was a choice to turn away from God and turn to the self. Some have called this original sin pride. C.S. Lewis said that as soon as we become aware of God as God and self as self, we have the option to make God or the elevated Self the center of our universe.

I also believe that we have a moral conscience. Regardless of our cultural backgrounds, we know that it is wrong to lie, to cheat, to steal, to betray others. But we tell ourselves that we should not be ashamed when we do wrong. We give ourselves too much credit for how “good” we are. In our own minds, we lower our standards of what constitutes good behavior so we can escape our feelings of shame and remorse.

Yes, we deceive each other and ourselves about our sinfulness. One way we do this by focusing on outward appearances of goodness. We compare ourselves to others and conclude that we are not that bad. But many of our sins are hidden in the heart. We don’t openly confess to each other the awful, bad things we are thinking. We judge others as good or bad without knowing the full picture.

We also pretend that there is safety in numbers. Everybody does it. Even if the group or culture accepts and even promotes bad behavior, it doesn’t make it right or good. The virtues of love, justice, mercy, kindness and self-control remain the high moral values that ought to guide our behavior as children of a righteous God.

Another lie we tell ourselves is that time erases sin. We even laugh about the sins of our youth as if someone else committed them. But time does not wash away sin. We can only be cleansed of our sins by confessing to the One we have sinned against and by asking for forgiveness.

The reason I bring up human sinfulness in the context of pain and suffering is not to condemn others or to say that we deserve it. After all, good people have suffered greatly at the hands of the truly wicked. The reason I raise the issue is because we all fall short of a holy God. Our sin separates us from God and prevents us from enjoying a relationship with him.

The Problem of Hell

If I didn’t address the issue of hell, I would be ignoring another big question: how can a loving God condemn anyone to hell? Jesus warned about hell saying that there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” I don’t know what hell is like, whether it is literally a fiery oven. But I do believe that it is a place where those who reject God will be in an eternal state of torment and regret, separate from God and believers.

Jesus told a parable of the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus (Luke 19:31). Both died; the rich man was sent to hell and Lazarus was sent to heaven. The rich man recognizes Lazarus at the side of Abraham. He asks Abraham to send the beggar over to give him a sip of water as he was in agony. Abraham says that there is a great chasm separating us from you. We can’t cross it. So the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers so they would not also come to this place of torment. Abraham said no, they have Moses and The Prophets. If they do not listen to them, they will not listen to a messenger from the dead.

We have been warned. God has made himself known to man.  “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20).” People choose to reject God. What would we have God do? Do we really think that God should let those who turn against him, those who deny him, spend an eternity thinking it is right to do so? We have been offered forgiveness. But we have to admit our guilt and accept forgiveness to escape eternal punishment. If we choose to reject God, we also choose the consequences.

God’s Power is Made Perfect in Weakness

The apostle Paul wrote that he was given a thorn in his flesh to prevent him from exalting himself, to keep him from becoming conceited about all the amazing things that had been revealed to him. We don’t know what this affliction was but Paul pleaded with God to take it away. God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Paul said that he was delighted in his difficulties and hardships (which included being beaten, stoned and imprisoned) because “when I am weak, then I am strong.” He knew that there is purpose in suffering. Suffering leads to perseverance, perseverance leads to character, and character leads to hope.

Pain is God’s Megaphone

C.S. Lewis said that pain is God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” When things are going well, we have a tendency to push God aside and to put ourselves at the center. We live with an “illusion of self-sufficiency.” God reveals what we lack by letting our lives become more difficult. Sometimes our illusion of self-sufficiency must be shattered to save our souls. Sometimes our surrender to God takes pain. Many people call on God when they are at their lowest point, perhaps struggling with loss, a crippling addiction, or a broken relationship. The good news is God is merciful. He has what Lewis called “divine humility.” He is not proud; he does not mind our choosing him as a last resort. His love never fails. He heals hurting souls.

As a Christian, I acknowledge that bad things happen to good people and that the world I live in often seems cruel and unjust. Try as we might, we cannot explain away pain. But many of us have seen a glimpse of a purpose in our own lives and in the lives of others. We see the light in the darkness. When we look back through painful experiences, we see how they have made us stronger. We see the building of character, the smoothing of our rough edges. We learn humility in our struggles. We learn what is important and to appreciate what we have. We see the goodness that comes out in the face of tragedy and adversity. Sometimes it takes distance and healing to see the big picture. When we’re in the midst of our struggles, we see the puzzle but don’t see how the pieces fit together. We see only in part in this life, but a Christian believes that someday we will know fully.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. -- 1 Corinthians 13:12