January 19, 2010: If God is good, then why so much suffering?
Posted on : Jan 19th, 2010 | By office | Category: Bread for the Journey
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion
is to look out to the earth,
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless humankind now.
(Teresa of Avila)
As the horror and devastation unfolded in Haiti last week one could not but ponder once again an age old question: If God is all good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, how can God allow a disaster such as the horrific tragedy in Haiti to occur? As bodies were piled up in the streets one could not but wonder where God is in this suffering? If God is a benevolent God, why all the suffering? It’s a question countless theologians, pastors, philosophers and Biblical scholars have tried to answer through the centuries but with no real satisfying answer. The existence of evil we can understand; as humans we are capable of causing unbelievable harm to one another – after all, that’s the price for free will – but natural disasters? Suffering is not new to Haiti – they have suffered much in their history, and especially in the past few years. Why then would God allow such suffering to a nation of people whose lives have been nothing but a bitter struggle? So this disaster seems especially cruel. “God, why Haiti?” a devastated Haitian called out to the heavens last week.
Why does God allow natural disasters? Some say it is a way to punish people. I have difficulty accepting such an explanation. For God’s sake, little children died! Do we really think God is a sadist? Why would God punish the innocent? If we believe God is benevolent, then surely this cannot be the answer. Regarding this, a well known pastor, Jim Wallis, wrote the following last week: I also want to say a word about God and evil. Pat Robertson said that Haiti’s earthquake was caused because of the country’s “pact with the devil.” I don’t even know what he means, nor do I care. But I want to say this: My God does not cause evil. God is not a vengeful and retributive being, waiting to strike us down; instead, God is in the very midst of this tragedy, suffering with those who are suffering. When evil strikes, it’s easy to ask, where is God? The answer is simple: God is suffering with those who are suffering.
Why does God allow natural disasters? Some say it is to test or strengthen our faith. Some will remind us of how God tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice Isaac. True, except Isaac was saved by God – he didn’t die. That’s not what happened in Haiti – thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people died and will die in the coming days. I don’t understand precisely how the faith of the people who died was tested or strengthened.
Why does God allow natural disasters? Some dismiss this question by saying God’s ways are beyond our comprehension. We should just trust and believe in God. In other words it is beyond our human thought to understand why things are the way they are. This is sort of the conclusion the writer of Job reached in Scripture as he struggled with the question of why bad things happen to good people. On one level this answer seems to be valid but on another level it is emotionally unsatisfying. When the prophet Isaiah tells us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways, he is not trying to explain why bad things happen to good people. No, he’s trying to explain the amazing grace God extents to humans – in spite of all we do, God loves, forgives and cares for us. It is easier for some people to believe in a wrathful God, than in an all-loving, all-forgiving, all-compassionate God – such a loving God’s ways are beyond our comprehension.
So far all the answers seem to be unsatisfying. So, maybe we are asking the wrong question. In ancient times people saw disasters, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, as the byproduct of one or another feud between the gods. In monotheism, there are no other gods, so people reckoned that God must be angry with us and thus punishing us. Some saw God as a vengeful tyrant. But Scripture gives us a different view of God. As Christians we discover in Jesus’ life, ministry, teachings, death and resurrection a God who deeply loves and cares for us. God is for us and not against us. God’s love for us is a self-sacrificing love. So deeply does God love us, that when we suffer, God suffers.
The truth is that we are all aware that in good there is bad and in bad there is good. Life is very precious and rare, so any scientist will tell you. Just the right conditions must exist for life to be possible. The odds for all the right conditions to exist on one single planet are astronomically small. Yet, amazingly, earth is such a planet. For life to be possible on our planet, the earth must turn. For life to be possible on our planet, the crust of the earth must move around the molten core of the planet. And when we live where those tectonic plates rub up against one another, earthquakes happen. The reality of life is that in good there is bad and in bad there is good.
Maybe we should rather ask why every time a disaster happens, we ask the question: “Why does God allow it to happen?” Maybe it is because we usually live every day with the illusion that we have control over our lives. Some part of that misconception is that we see God as an idealized parent – all good, all powerful, and nurturing who will protect us against all hardship, even against the very laws of nature God put in place to ensure that life is possible. The truth is that we will never be able to control enough of our world to feel completely safe and we will never know when a tragedy is going to befall us. Every time a disaster happens we are once again confronted with the reality that we have no control, and faith in God is not a way for us to ensure that we have total control over our lives in order to ensure a specific outcome.
We cannot control our lives; we cannot guarantee a specific outcome for our future. We can’t ensure our lives will be free of tragedies, disaster or suffering. But we can control how we react to it. Blaming, defending, or even trying to explain God’s role in tragedies does not change the reality that it happens – all the time. Finding comfort in God’s presence amidst suffering gives us hope and strength to go on, but it doesn’t guarantee us a specific outcome of reality and the future. But, we do have control over how we respond to tragedy and suffering. As Teresa of Avila reminded so eloquently centuries ago:
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion
is to look out to the earth,
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless humankind now.
Let us all keep the people of Haiti in our prayers. And let us all give and do what we can to help in the relief efforts,
Kobie