This last eve of 2005 came without the usual merriment of past years. How could it be otherwise? The ever increasing death toll in Southeast Asia from a merciless tsunami cannot but dampen the heartiest of spirits. And there are the other grim reminders that all is not well on planet earth: the never ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the ongoing genocide in Sudan, the grinding, guerilla war in Iraq, sickness, financial collapse, depression.... Such anguish, such suffering. You can almost hear the collective cry...
Why?
In western societies especially, many fall under the illusion that personal misfortune is a kind of anomaly, a glitch in the natural order of things. We like to think that by following some basic principles, like getting a good education, eating right, exercising and so on, that we can generally avoid life’s thorns.
But life‘s a storm. The darkness descends, the tempest rises and our feeble sense of security reels from adversity’s cruel assault. The source matters little. When it comes we are suffering and more or less alone.
Misfortune is easier to bear when there’s an obvious cause and effect relationship. It’s hard not to feel more sympathy for the AIDS patient stricken through a blood transfusion over one who got it through promiscuous sex. We accept that chronic smoking can lead to cancer and persistent laziness - poverty. What we instinctually object to is suffering that appears malicious or without any meaning. Acts of terrorism, the debilitating birth defect, Alzheimer’s, cancer in all its myriad forms, killer tsunamis, the list is endless. Suffering is the grim shadow no one fully escapes. But the question persists...Why?
The short answer: I don’t really know. I don’t think anyone else does either. I don’t say this glibly. I am over fifty years old, have been a Christian my entire adult life, but have yet to discover a satisfying answer to the question of suffering. Please, do not misunderstand. I do both comprehend and believe that, ultimately, suffering entered the universe as a result of cosmic rebellion. Angels, followed by men, sinned (and keep sinning) against a Holy God, bringing corruption and suffering to the entire creation.
But this knowledge fails to satisfy the questions of why the innocent suffer along with the wicked, or why suffering seems so often indiscriminate and random. The theologian’s answer that there is no such thing as a truly "innocent" person is only a little helpful, despite the fact that I agree with that assertion. But I would never use that line to explain to a grieving parent why their six-month old baby is dying of cancer. And I don’t believe Jesus would either. It’s the particulars of suffering that so vex the finite mind. Why, for instance, did that 20-day-old baby survive the tsunami on a rubber air mattress while hundreds or thousands of other babies perished? It stretches credulity to think this blessed survivor was less sinful or offensive to God than the others. There must be another explanation.
Of course, if you’re a strict materialist than all of this is moot. Things happen and that’s just the way it is. (The question of “evil”, however, cannot be so easily dismissed). But truly committed atheists are few in number and for the rest of us the problem is ever there.
In the end I've come to the conclusion that suffering is one of those great imponderables, like the nature the evil, that God has not equipped the human mind to fully understand, this side of eternity anyway. I tend to believe this more because of what the Bible does not say about the reasons for suffering, than what it does.
For instance, when some people asked Jesus about the “Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were guiltier than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish’”(Luke 13: 1-5).
This passage is telling because Jesus gives the same answer in regards to two very different episodes: suffering brought by men and suffering brought by “natural” forces. The suffering that Pilate inflicted was deliberate. The tower that toppled over and killed eighteen people seems not to have been deliberate – at least not by men. But Jesus gives the same, multi-faceted, response for both. First, in neither incident were the victims
notoriously sinful. Second, unless the hearers repented, they too would all perish. Jesus’ message here seems clear. Repentance implies guilt, and the people asking Jesus the questions were as guilty as the victims they were inquiring about.
I doubt if Jesus’ answer was what his hearers expected. It seems harsh, until you consider that perhaps those asking were more interested in justifying themselves. It’s hard to know. Regardless, Jesus does not specifically answer
why the victims were allowed to suffer so, whether by man or falling stones. The specifics remain a mystery. I will say more on this in another post, but for now, and before we threaten to accuse God unreasonably, it is good to be reminded that an innocent God subjected Himself to the most gruesome kind of suffering in our place.
As if we needed one, the tsunami in Southeast Asia is yet another, albiet grim, reminder that we live in a broken, war torn world, a world suffering the consequences of
the fall. Happy New Year? Well, yes, so long as we view the occasion in perspective. The new year, like all new beginnings, bring fresh opportunities to both do and experience goodness. And that is certainly cause for celebration. But consider, particularly in light of the recent events all around the globe; we ought not to confuse celebration with nihilistic revelry. Circumspection, at a minimum, might be in order. For as Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes:
Sorrow is better than laughter; For by a sad countenance the heart is made better . Eccl. 7:3
Or as Paul said it…
For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Cor. 7:10
With this in mind, I bid you Happy New Year.
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