My Mom Asked Me Why There is Suffering in the World.

So my Mom asked me why there is suffering in the world.

There is no answer for suffering, and that is precisely why there is suffering. We can blame world hunger, rape, and slavery, amongst other great evils, on men and/or mankind. We can say, “there is evil in the world because men abuse their free will,” but what about tsunami’s? What about children diagnosed with cancer? What about those evils? Who do we blame?

Thomas Merton writes that there are two kinds of evil in the world, Sin and Suffering. One is a single faucet that will lead only to dejection, pain, and more evil, Sin. The other, Suffering, leaves us with the opportunity to find healing and hope, or to turn to anger and bitterness, which will only breed more suffering and sin. Thus, suffering has the opportunity to be labeled either as an Evil or a Joy.

{C.S. Lewis defines Joy as a longing for, or momentary attachment to something deeper or greater than oneself. Joy is like a sign on the road that gives us direction to the true peace and substance that is found in God. Joy is not pleasure, Joy is not happiness, essentially Joy is a momentary escape from the drab falsities of this world into the unutterable truths of Heaven, and thus, Joy should be savored, even in suffering}

We, mankind, are a fallen and a dying race. We have a father who wants ALL of us to draw close to Him before this world ends. Why, Because He loves us, and he has our best interest in mind. He is the only source for true Joy and peace in this broken universe. Without suffering, we would never draw close to that lifeline of strength and peace. We would never TRUST in Him. Trust is the cornerstone to our relationship with God. Trust is bred by faith and hope. It is the greatest love we can give to God, and therefore the most adhesive substance in our becoming bound to His great Goodness.

So, again…Why Evil? Well, what else is God to do? What else could ever compel us to run in his direction and rely totally on Him? We are selfish, and inevitably we will seek out what is best for ourselves. (That is until our spirits our honed by Joy and Suffering). Therefore we must suffer. Sure, God could shower us with gifts in hope that we would turn to him with love and gratitude, but would we? Of course not. He already gave us two of the greatest gifts ever given, so flawless and selfless that I hesitate at calling them gifts at all out of fear of diminishing their value and glory. God gave us life, and God gave us salvation, under the penalty of His death.

(Some might be bitter that they were given life without permission, and therefore do not see it as a gift, but rather, a curse. To those of you who feel that way, I want to say two things. First, I am sorry. I really am. Life has been hard, and I by no means am attempting to diminish that with this post. I have known little of suffering compared to others. Second, I implore you, seek out the Joy I have described, Joy in Christ Jesus, it is the only solution to the life you hate, because it offers you a brand new one. That’s all I can say without going too far off into a tangent.)

We suffer, that we might trust. There is no answer or solution to the pain inflicted by natural disaster or illness. There is no one to blame. The world is a hostile and dying place. There is no answer. But there is hope. There is comfort. Suffering is best employed when it thrusts us into the arms of our Father. Unanswerable suffering has the greatest capacity to do this, because an answer can become a cheap alternative to trust in God.

This is why scripture is so full of passages that ask us not only to endure suffering, but to consider it pure Joy. God is the only hope for Goodness and Peace, and suffering is the surest road at attaining Him. Therefore, to suffer temporarily, and to trust wholeheartedly is to Love fully.  To Love fully, is to be bound by Joy to our only hope at escaping the suffering.

                       

Again, I know little of suffering. This is just my meek attempt at making sense of things that make no sense to me.

Trust in Him. Live for the next life, and you will find peace in this one.

“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither."

 –C.S. Lewis