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THE QUESTION OF SUFFERING
Brian Harris • Sep 03, 2021
From a 'thin' to a 'thick' theodicy...
Anyone who has followed Jesus for any length of time is likely to have come across the theodicy
question - even if they didn’t know that is what it is called.
Once you have met it, you find it comes back again, and again. What is theodicy? It is the defence of God’s goodness and love in the face of the suffering and evil in the world. Put differently, it tries to answer how a loving God can allow so much pain to exist in the world.
The dilemma is usually expressed as being four-fold. If God is all loving, all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present, why is there suffering - especially suffering that goes well beyond the minor irritants that are a normal part of being human. It’s the combination of the four that makes the question tricky. After all, if it turns out that God isn’t loving, the problem is solved. We can quickly answer, "there is suffering because we have a God who doesn’t care." Likewise, if God isn’t strong enough to change things, or doesn’t know, or is not present, the problem is solved. Why didn’t God help? Because God wasn’t strong enough, or didn’t know, or couldn’t get there. But this is not what we believe, hence the dilemma.
Naturally theologians have made an attempt to address the question. The answers provided (if you consider them answers) fall into five key categories:
1) Eschatology (God puts all things right in the end)
2) Providence (God knows best and works for good, even if we can’t spot it)
3) Incarnation (God is with us in the midst of our suffering)
4) Soul-making (God uses our suffering to strengthen us)
5) God is inexplicable (and don’t cheapen God by trying to provide a tidy answer - rather let God be God, and back away from unanswerable questions)
Used lightly, they make up what can be called a “thin” theodicy. Thin, because they get rattled out too quickly. Thin because they leave the sufferer and those who love the person suffering annoyed by their sheer glibness. Thin, because they pressure you to say “yes, I suppose so” when your heart is crying out, “no, no, you don’t understand at all”.
Over the next few weeks we will attempt to move from a thin to a thick theodicy. We know we can’t answer all questions, but know that when a crucial question is ignored it leaves a gaping hole. In the end we might simply have to cling to the promise of Rev 21:4 “and God will wipe every tear from their eyes”, but until then, let’s explore. Even as we do so, we recognise that for some this will be an exercise of the head (Hmmm, not sure that explains it), but for others it is the cry of the heart (why, why, why Lord?). We hope you will be willing to participate in the discussion as it develops.
Sometimes, we categorise people out of Gods kingdom because they don’t meet the brief, they don’t fit our preconceived ideas and expectations. So, this Christmas, when I put my nativity in pride of place to celebrate “the King has Come”, I am reminded that a King didn’t come, at least not in the eyes of all those waiting on one. The nativity was the ultimate Kris Kringle (maybe the first!), where we quite simply don’t know what to expect and should always be prepared for a surprise, but it will be a gift.
For something new to grow,
something else must fade.
Death isn’t just the end of life it’s also the beginning.
St John of the Cross wrote: “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.” When we can’t see, and can’t make any sense of things, keeping on can be the deepest form of trust. It can serve a profound purpose, for the dark night of the soul is sometimes the space between who we have been and who we will become.
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FAITH WITHOUT FEAR BY PROVIDING SPACES THAT CULTIVATE
SPACIOUS HEARTS AND
CURIOUS MINDS.
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