Chapter 7: Suffering
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- - Contents
- - Preface
- - Introduction
- - 1) The Physical Universe
- - 2) The Human Mind:
Cognition and Conscience - - 3) Love
- - 4) Tackling Arguments
Against a Designing God - - 5) Jesus
- - 6) The Resurrection
- - 7) Suffering
- - 8) Christianity and Politics
- - 9) Other Religions
- - 10) Heaven and Hell
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In Chapter 7, Williams tackles the oldest and best argument against the existence of a
loving God: the incidence of suffering.
The prevalence of suffering in the world - especially suffering by the innocent - may be the most understandable reason to deny the existence of a loving God. Any God, so the argument goes, must be malevolent, or at best indifferent; thus it is preferable to believe that there is no God at all.
Many sincere people think this way. Even so, after careful thought, I am
convinced they are mistaken. The existence of suffering can be reconciled with
the existence of a loving God. More than that, suffering is an integral aspect
of God's Creation.
At the outset of this discussion on suffering, it is only fair to make a blunt acknowledgment. In my own life, I have not experienced suffering of anything like the intensity that other people over the ages have endured, and that many still endure today. As an Australian born in 1963, to devoted parents blessed with affluence, I have enjoyed a most fortunate life. War, famine, disease, bereavement, homelessness: these and other horrors have thus far not touched me closely, or at all. It may therefore be objected that I have no real authority to speak on this issue.
Yet I am not deterred from embarking upon it, and for a number of reasons.
First, the existence of suffering is just too big an issue for anyone to ignore. The American science writer and thinker, John Horgan, has gone as far as to say that 'there is only one theological question that really matters: If there is a God, why has he created a world with so much suffering?'. This is not the only important question, but it is certainly one that any believer or inquisitive non-believer must confront - whatever his or her own personal circumstances. Indeed, it behoves the more fortunate to consider the issue the more carefully. As Jesus warned, 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked' (Luke 12:48).
Second, I believe that I am 'qualified' to talk about suffering. Although I have lived a most fortunate life, I have still experienced suffering. No doubt it has not been as severe as that endured by many other people, but it has been suffering nonetheless - the same in kind, if not the same in degree or duration. The period of most intense suffering has, indeed, coincided with my emergent belief in Christianity, and with the writing of this book.
Third, and most importantly, I have reached the conclusion that, far from casting doubt on the existence of God or the doctrines of Christianity, the phenomena of suffering - and its by-product, grace - are among the strongest pointers to the truth. Suffering is not something that a Christian need shy away from or merely explain away. It should be a central plank in your argument.
Atheism arising from repugnance at suffering in the world is understandable, but illogical. C.S. Lewis explained why by tying the issue back to conscience. Anyone who feels about suffering a sense of outrage, or something akin to it, is really saying that much in the world offends his or her notion of justice. But to believe in justice necessarily involves acceptance of an ideal of right and wrong - an absolute standard against which events and human conduct are to be judged. The existence of that standard is of itself suggestive of the existence of God as the setter and enforcer of that standard, and as the Creator of each of our consciences. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has made the same point. In his words, if you are an unbeliever who regularly challenges suffering and injustice, 'you have more faith than you think you have ... [b]ecause actually you want to believe in a just world, and that is the first movement of faith, the belief that what we do on this earth is not insignificant.'
To put the matter more bluntly still: In an atheist's world, why does evil matter? Why does the fate of human beings matter any more than the dinosaurs' 'pointless bellowing rivalr[ies] across primeval swamps'? The atheist's indignant complaints about evil are hollow.
Buy God, Actually and read more...
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Sweet are the uses of adversity.
Sweet are the uses of adversity.
The prevalence of suffering in the world - especially suffering by the innocent - may be the most understandable reason to deny the existence of a loving God. Any God, so the argument goes, must be malevolent, or at best indifferent; thus it is preferable to believe that there is no God at all.
Many sincere people think this way. Even so, after careful thought, I am
convinced they are mistaken. The existence of suffering can be reconciled with
the existence of a loving God. More than that, suffering is an integral aspect
of God's Creation.
At the outset of this discussion on suffering, it is only fair to make a blunt acknowledgment. In my own life, I have not experienced suffering of anything like the intensity that other people over the ages have endured, and that many still endure today. As an Australian born in 1963, to devoted parents blessed with affluence, I have enjoyed a most fortunate life. War, famine, disease, bereavement, homelessness: these and other horrors have thus far not touched me closely, or at all. It may therefore be objected that I have no real authority to speak on this issue.
Yet I am not deterred from embarking upon it, and for a number of reasons.
First, the existence of suffering is just too big an issue for anyone to ignore. The American science writer and thinker, John Horgan, has gone as far as to say that 'there is only one theological question that really matters: If there is a God, why has he created a world with so much suffering?'. This is not the only important question, but it is certainly one that any believer or inquisitive non-believer must confront - whatever his or her own personal circumstances. Indeed, it behoves the more fortunate to consider the issue the more carefully. As Jesus warned, 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked' (Luke 12:48).
Second, I believe that I am 'qualified' to talk about suffering. Although I have lived a most fortunate life, I have still experienced suffering. No doubt it has not been as severe as that endured by many other people, but it has been suffering nonetheless - the same in kind, if not the same in degree or duration. The period of most intense suffering has, indeed, coincided with my emergent belief in Christianity, and with the writing of this book.
Third, and most importantly, I have reached the conclusion that, far from casting doubt on the existence of God or the doctrines of Christianity, the phenomena of suffering - and its by-product, grace - are among the strongest pointers to the truth. Suffering is not something that a Christian need shy away from or merely explain away. It should be a central plank in your argument.
Atheism arising from repugnance at suffering in the world is understandable, but illogical. C.S. Lewis explained why by tying the issue back to conscience. Anyone who feels about suffering a sense of outrage, or something akin to it, is really saying that much in the world offends his or her notion of justice. But to believe in justice necessarily involves acceptance of an ideal of right and wrong - an absolute standard against which events and human conduct are to be judged. The existence of that standard is of itself suggestive of the existence of God as the setter and enforcer of that standard, and as the Creator of each of our consciences. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has made the same point. In his words, if you are an unbeliever who regularly challenges suffering and injustice, 'you have more faith than you think you have ... [b]ecause actually you want to believe in a just world, and that is the first movement of faith, the belief that what we do on this earth is not insignificant.'
To put the matter more bluntly still: In an atheist's world, why does evil matter? Why does the fate of human beings matter any more than the dinosaurs' 'pointless bellowing rivalr[ies] across primeval swamps'? The atheist's indignant complaints about evil are hollow.
Buy God, Actually and read more...
