“Until the evil man finds evil unmistakably present in his existence, in the form of pain, he is enclosed in illusion. . . . No doubt Pain as God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.”
The Problem of Pain p. 95

Some may ask “Just what is the Problem of Pain?” Here’s a classic formulation of the problem of pain you’d find in any philosophy 101 class. It’s a good starting point.

1 – God exists.
2 – God is omnipotent (all-powerful).
3 – God is omniscient (all-knowing).
4 – God is omnibenevolent (all-loving).
5 – God created the world.
6 – If 1-5 are true, the world should not contain evil.
7 – The world contains evil, therefore God does not exist, or does not possess one or more of the above attributes.

Source: J. L. Mackie – Evil and Omnipotence, 1955

Seems pretty air-tight at a first glance. What do you think? If you’re a Christian reading this and you don’t have an answer to it, you’d better watch your words in a conversation about evil and suffering. Do us all a favor. Think it through before you glibly quote Romans 8:28 to someone in the middle of a painful experience. There is way out of the logical trap, but it’s not what you’d think at first.

Pain can make you jump. Ever had a doctor push someplace on your body, needlessly asking: “Does that hurt?” Of course it hurts! One time I had a rash of headaches my doctor discovered the source of by pressing below the temple on the right side of my head. Yeowch! TMJ! Muscle relaxers and massage therapy for two weeks before any sign of improvement developed. Pain tells us something is wrong. It sometimes makes us want to take a swing at our doctor. And it’s a good thing we catch ourselves before we do!

Pain can make us take a leap away from God as well if we’re not careful. Since our concept of God is one of competent benevolence (like the gentleman in our video says)its natural to take a swing at him too when we feel pain. Or, like yelling at a nurse we deem incompetent, it’s easy to vent at Christians trying to speak up for God on the touchy subject of pain.

The Christian maintains that indeed we do live in a pain-wracked world. There’s no denying it. The Christian also has to admit that it’s a world God has created and allowed to be scarred by pain. But it’s a big fat leap to conclude that just because God has allowed undeserved suffering that we can “no longer distinguish between good and evil.” God can and does differentiate between good and evil. Contrary to our You-Tube presentation he is not obligated to immediately punish all wrongdoing on the part of his “chosen people” in order for his justice to be upheld by other means or on another time-table. God’s judgment will be retributive on the unrepentant, but not always in this life. Sometimes doctors don’t have pain killers or meds that work all that fast. Sometimes law enforcement takes it’s time to catch the killer if they can also get the accomplices in the process.

Come join us for Gathering again this week as we turn the discussion from Natural Evil to Moral Evil. How can we live in a world where people work wrong on each other? Why does God allow people to wrong each other with such devastating consequences? Come hear a story about a Christ follower who experienced extreme cruelty from a parent, but is finding hope and healing.