What will happen if we disappear? Not “we” as in Earth’s upright and most capable digit-users, though I’m sure we’ll deal with that over the course of time, but “we” as in progressive thinkers in the church. What will happen if we disappear?
I've been a Christian all of my adult life. However, I continue to be troubled by the problem of human suffering. I believe in God. My question is why does God allow all the human suffering?
Dear Yvette,
Your question is, of course, one of the timeless questions of Christian faith--or of any faith, for that matter. Over my many years as a local church minister, now and then I would hear of a minister, theologian, or biblical scholar who had decided they were an atheist. When asked why, invariably it had something to do with the timeless problem of human suffering. Why all the suffering?
Most traditional Christians believe in the God of supernatural theism or the "God in the sky." This is the God who is external to the universe and independent of human beings. This God is thought to orchestrate life here on planet earth, intervening only at times of God's own choosing. The larger problem, however, is that this conception of "God in the heavens" (wherever that is) is inadequate to our modern experience. More and more, people do not believe in this God. We need new conceptions of God.
In thinking about God, it is not God's nature to work independently of life, both human and other forms of life. God is about Life (with a capital "L"). As Christians who believe in God, it is important we understand this. Life is what God calls us to in the dawning of creation (metaphorically speaking). Life is what God affirms in the covenants (with the Ten Commandments, for example). And life is what Jesus lifts up in his lofty teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). It is God's nature to work in and through life.
God does not cause human suffering. If we think about it, what sense does this make? For example, God doesn't cause wars, human beings do. God doesn't shoot guns, human beings do. God doesn't cause natural disasters, random occurrences in nature do. God doesn't cause disease, random events in our bodies do (consistent with some measure of inherited predispositions and sometimes poor human decision-making).
In all candor, God did not cause the Holocaust. Indeed, the Holocaust could have been prevented had human beings acted with courage and conviction enabling God to work in them and through them to prevent the horror that followed. We humans have to take responsibility for our life-situations and when we do, God, as spirit and love, works in us to bring healing and wholeness. God's omniscience (all knowing) and omnipotence (all powerful) need to be understood in new ways--in terms of God's capacity to work in and through us (and other forms of life).
In summation, where is God in human suffering? There are no easy answers to this enduring question. The only answer I know is that God is there in the midst of all the suffering--grieving, loving, showing compassion, doing whatever God can do to bring new life and new hope to our human situation and circumstances. Imagine the deep feeling and pathos of this loving God.
~ Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz
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