“WHY?”
A young man, barely in his 20’s… lies dying of cancer with only a few months to live. He is a good man, never did anything bad in his life. He goes to church, and is even a member of the Deacons and … well… he WAS very dedicated about visiting the sick and shut-ins. Everybody loves him, and everyone is just shocked that he… of ALL people… has cancer. It just doesn’t make any sense… such a good person… such a shame. WHY?
She is walking home from the fourth grade the way little fourth grade girls often do. She is singing and staring up into the clouds… picking out shapes. She strays into the street and is struck by a motorist and killed on contact. WHY?
A young couple, barely married two years, sit in the hospital room holding each other. The baby they spent nine months preparing for… was stillborn. They look up from their tears, and you can read their eyes… WHY?
WHY? It is a question we have dealt with quite a lot lately here in this church. Friends and family members… fighting cancer. Friends and family members… passing away. Flooding. Recession. Family problems. Health issues of all kinds… some of them shared… some of them kept silent and hidden. And we stand there… wondering why? God is a good God right? God is a powerful God right? Then someone needs to explain this to me. Why do bad things happen to good people?
It is a problem for those of us who believe. It isn’t really a problem for non believers, they just know it is part of life. But us… we believe in a powerful and good God. How can things like this happen when we have a powerful and good God on our side. And in our faith… we struggle to understand. We seek to make sense of the disparity.
If God is powerful and good, why is there still evil in the world. Surely God could have prevented those cells from turning into cancer… surely God could have stopped that car… surely God could have kept that baby alive. Why didn’t he? If God is powerful and good… why wouldn’t he?
As our faith has sought understanding… it has produced several different answers to “The Theodicy Problem” i.e. the question “Why do bad things happen to good people.” Some of them are helpful… some… not so much. As we wrestle with these questions ourselves… I present the most popular answers to you now for your consideration, and will even share my own view… for what it’s worth.
A. Protest Theodicy:
Perhaps… the solution to our dilemma… is that we have misunderstood God. Perhaps… God is NOT good. This is the stance of a Theodicy known as Protest Theodicy. It takes it’s standpoint from the tradition of Jacob who wrestled all night with God… from the tradition of the Psalmist who asks “How long, O Lord?” and with one voice it protests against a God who by appearances seems to enjoy chaos… suffering… and pain. A God who is like a small boy… torturing ants with a magnifying glass… entertaining himself with our suffering. Protest theology looks at all the pain and suffering in the world and declares IF there indeed is a God… there is no way he can be a good God.
Yet… I think this view takes far too much for granted, and relies far too little on the biblical witness found in scripture. You look to scripture, and… while you can indeed find a vengeful God… you also find a God nurturing and loving his people… fulfilling the promises he made to them… blessing them. You see a God seeking goodness for his people, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” And time and time again he fulfilled his promises to his people Israel. In the light of scripture… I must declare… God is a good God.
B. Process Theodicy:
Now if we determine that God must indeed be good… then we are still left with the problem of evil in the world. Enter another Theodicy known as Process Theodicy that declares… “Well, if God is indeed good, then he must NOT be all powerful.” In some ways, he has handcuffed himself where he can no longer act in the world. He has set up rules against himself that have made it so he is powerless in this world. Indeed God always intends the good to happen, however he can not stop it from happening without breaking the laws of physics, or breaking free-will. God didn’t want puppets… he wanted free willed creatures… and that is what he has gotten himself into!
Yet… again I think this view takes far too much for granted, and relies far too little on the biblical witness found in scripture. The God who formed creation out of chaos… the God who rose Lazarus from the dead… the God who spoke and calmed a storming sea… is not a God without power in this world. In the light of scripture… I must declare… God is powerful!
So where does that leave us… we have a God who IS good… we have a God who IS powerful… why then… is there still evil… still pain… still suffering.
C. Person Making Theodicy:
Perhaps… it is for our own good. That is the stance of the Person Making Theodicy. I’m sure you have heard this one before… it is a fan favorite. It is bunched in with a bunch of Sunny-Side up responses. “Surely, it is just part of God’s bigger plan.” “Somehow… this will work out for the good.” The Person Making Theodicy believes that God will somehow use pain and suffering in your life… to make you better, and to make you stronger… to prepare you for something in the future. We are athletes… and pain and suffering are the treadmill we train on.
I can personally see why this one is such a favorite one… there are several things in my life that were just plain awful to go through… but they’ve made me a better person… a better pastor. Those trials indeed made me stronger.
But brother’s and sisters… this one too – falls short. Try going to the bedside of someone dying and say… “This is going to make you stronger.” “Don’t worry… something good will still come out of this!” Make sure you duck when they take a swing at you.
It is my humble position, that there are some things in this world… so awful… that there will NEVER be anything good to come from them. There is suffering so great… that it can not be justified. There is pain so overwhelming… that there is no making sense of it. There is evil so vile, that there is no light in it.
So… what do I do with this fine mess I’ve gotten myself into? I’ve closed the door on God being evil… I’ve closed the door on God being weak… and now I’ve even closed the door on the “It’ll be good for you” tract… finding all of them to be insufficient.
I present to you, the view that I personally have found the most helpful… it is closest to the Liberation Theodicy. It is a Theodicy that recognizes that God is both good and powerful, and it doesn’t pull any punches trying to water down pain and suffering. It admits that this world is full of great evil, pain, and suffering. Evil is a consequence of the world we live in. But it is more than that… evil is so rampant that even creation moans. As in Romans chapter 8:
Romans 8:18-23 18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
This world is broken. This world is held hostage by sin. All of creation groans for salvation, from the pain… the suffering… the evil. In this broken world… what hope can be found. As long as we are in this world, we will never EVER be free from pain and suffering. One day… death will reach every single one of us. And what has God done about it? What has the all powerful and good God done about it?
Our answer is found in the scriptures. Our answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ. God saw the broken world, and made the boldest move to reconcile it back to himself. He reached out to the entire world as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(Quote from Faith Seeking Understanding – Migliore 115) Far from being aloof, apathetic, and immutable, God freely became vulnerable out of faithful love for the world. The destructiveness of evil in creation could only be overcome by an act of divine love in which the suffering of the world is experienced… and overcome by God. When we see Christ on the cross… we see God’s struggle against evil. When we see Christ risen again, we see God’s promise of the final victory by God over evil.
Just think about the pain experienced by God at the crucifixion. At the cross, the Son of God experienced suffering and death out of love for the world. But the Father who sent him also experienced the grief of loss of the beloved son. And in that moment… the greatest agony of all was experienced.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus declared on the cross, “My God, my God… why have you forsaken me?” Literally, why have you left me? Liberation Theodicy believes that in that moment, the tie that connected Father and Son was broken… and Jesus… for the first time in his life… felt separated from God. Alone. His suffering was complete. All of the suffering of the world: encompassed in the affliction of the Son and the grief of the Father. (end quote)
In the face of the great question WHY… the answer becomes… because we live in a world tainted by sin… a broken world. When faced with the question “What has our powerful and good God done about it?” the answer becomes… he has taken the pain… he has taken the suffering… he has put every bit of it onto his shoulders… and carried it with him to a cross. There he died… carrying every bit of it to the grave with him. Three days later, he rose… leaving all the pain and suffering behind in the tomb.
When we suffer, we have a God who knows what suffering is. When we look to the world and see the senseless violence, we have a God who tells us that it has all been taken care of. When we cry, we have a God who cries with us. Do you know what the shortest verse in the bible is? When Jesus found Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, crying it great pain after Lazarus pass on… do you all remember what he did? He didn’t go out there and say, “It’s part of God’s plan.” He didn’t say, “Something good will come out of it.” He didn’t say anything. Chapter 11 verse 35, “Jesus wept.” Two words… a full sentence… a complete action… Jesus wept.
For me, that paints the best picture of what God does for us in the face of evil. He sees our pain, he knows our pain… and he weeps besides us. Still, he is not entirely silent on the matter either:
John 14:1–4, 18–19, 25–27
[Jesus said,] "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."
The final thing I add I bring out of the end of these verses. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. The role of the Holy Spirit can not be overstated. The Holy Spirit dwells in places of darkness, and there gives strength, hope, and peace to those who call on the Lord.
And this is a proven fact. There have been a ton of studies done in hospitals about survival rates and recovery rates. Age, race, gender, hair color, eye color… you know the only factor that was proven to show increased survival rates and increased recovery rates? Belief in God and belief in Jesus Christ. Some call it the power of positive thinking. I call it the power of God with us.
In the midst of pain and suffering, we have God the Father who loves us and cries with us, we have God the Son who died for us and walks beside us, and we have God the spirit comforting us, giving us strength, and giving us peace. In the light of the great WHY… these thoughts bring me comfort.
Now I don’t claim to know all the answers. I don’t know if any of these Theodicies are right or wrong. You may find a different Theodicy to be more helpful to you, find that your faith has led you to a different stance, and that is ok… this is simply where I stand after struggling with this question… as I am sure many of you have.
Brothers and sisters, pain and evil are real, but so is God’s love and so is God’s response to evil. As we go throughout this life… and see the pain and suffering… we may wonder why… Jesus knows… he has suffered. Why… the Father knows… he has mourned. Why… the spirit knows… he has comforted. For me, it really doesn’t become a question of “Why” anymore. It really boils down to a different kind of question for me… in the face of pain and suffering… we can either hurt with God, or we can hurt without him, which is it going to be?
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
