One of the biggest stumbling blocks that people have when they think about God, church and religion is the issue of suffering. “Why, if there is a God of love, does He allow suffering?” they ask. For some of them, that very issue has prompted them to become atheists.
Such was the case with a young fellow I recently spoke with who told me he was a doctoral candidate in psychotherapy. We got to talking about things religious and he informed me that he did not believe in God. I asked him why not. He replied, “Because of all the suffering in the world. If there is a God of love, why does He allow it?”
I responded to him, “Well, let me begin to answer that by asking you a question. Let’s suppose that you are right; there is no God. No such Being exists. So now, you tell me why there is suffering in the world?” He looked at me with a stunned look and said, “I have absolutely no idea.”
“So,” I went on to say, “if there is no God, then atheists need to come up with a reason for suffering. Now, here is the dilemma: since there is no God to now blame for the existence of suffering, what do you, as an atheist, do when suffering happens to you? How do you respond? All you can do, as an atheist, is to yell and scream and rage at nothing and no one for the suffering you are now enduring.
“Now suffering happens to both Christians and atheists. No one gets to skate through life problem free. But when I as a Christian experience suffering, here is how I look at it: I choose to believe that there is an all-powerful sovereign Being who is in final control of all things. And when the storms of life hit me, I choose to believe what this all-knowing God who has promised me: that somehow and some way, He will bring out of that suffering, something good. that’s because I believe God’s promise to ‘cause all things to work together for good for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.’ And I comfort myself in that knowledge in the midst of my pain.”
My young psychotherapist friend listened as if he had never heard anything like this before. I went on to say, “Now suppose that I go through life comforting myself through my suffering with these thoughts. Then I die and I find out, ‘Hey! I’ve been mistaken! There is no God. There is no ultimate good to be redeemed out of suffering!’ What then?”
“I’m still better off,” I went on to say, “having lived in that delusion (which, by the way, I am convinced I am not) than my atheist friend who has had to spend his life raging and cursing fate for crushing him.”
There are no easy answers to suffering (though Christianity maintains all suffering ultimately comes from humankind’s choice to reject God’s way and to choose sin) but at least one can have peace in the midst of the turmoil by the conclusion that God is in control and working out all things for good.
My young psychotherapist friend and I parted and I often wonder where he ended up on the topic of why a God of love allows suffering. I hope what I said caused him to consider the value of a relationship with this amazing, sovereign God.
Henry Ozirney was the founding pastor of New Life Church in Stonewall, where he served from 1970 until he retired in 2014. He is currently Interim Pastor at New Life Church in Teulon, Manitoba. He can be reached at [email protected] or 204-461-1105.
