The Problem

There is a sense in which the problem of suffering is obvious. God, according to the Christian tradition, is perfect love and absolute power. On the human level, no loving parent wants to see children suffer, so on the divine level, a being of perfect love must want to eliminate suffering. Given that this being is absolute power, this being must be able to eliminate suffering. So we arrive at the problem of suffering. Why does a being of perfect love and absolute power allow suffering?

Although the problem on one level is obvious, let us explore some of the complexities, which can be grouped into two types. The first type is the range of forms that suffering can take, and the second type is why precisely suffering is a challenge to faith.

The forms of suffering

Theologians have been thinking about the problem of suffering for centuries, and the following list of types of suffering has emerged. These are:

1 Suffering as a result of moral evil.

2 Group suffering.

3 Suffering caused by nature.

4 Animal suffering.

5 Demonic and Satanic suffering.

Let us look at each in turn.

The first is suffering that is a result of moral evil. This is the suffering that humans inflict on each other through their decisions to be unkind and cruel. This can be everything from the relatively trivial moments of driving inconsiderately, all the way up to the Holocaust. The death of six million Jews (and other victims) by a ruthless use of a state's military machinery is a classic illustration of the human capacity to inflict cruelty upon each other.

Although the Holocaust has many unique features, it is just one of many illustrations of systematic human cruelty. From the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 to the Bosnian Genocide of 1995, humans repeatedly allow and participate in horrendous crimes against each other. But it is important to stress that suffering through moral evil includes the countless acts of selfishness that we all perform every single day. These include the decision to be extravagant instead of giving to a person in need, the act of gossip, or the hurtful comment that we hurl in the middle of an argument to a spouse. All of this is covered under the first (and very large) category of suffering that is a result of moral evil. So the question arises: why does God allow us to inflict so much pain on each other?

The second type of suffering is a subsection of the first. This is suffering endured by particular groups. It is important to recognize that some groups suffer more than others. It was the African American philosopher, William R. Jones, who in a highly influential and provocative essay asked the question, is God a white racist? In the essay, he offers a critique of various classical theodicies of why African Americans have had to endure such a racist history. He finds all the theodicies implausible. Jones invites us to really live with the question: why does God allow particular groups to suffer so much more than other groups? If God is in control of history, why is it that some groups (such as the Jews or the African Americans) seem to have had such a disproportionately hard time?

The third type is suffering caused by nature. Nature might be beautiful, but it isn't sentimental. There is a brutality in nature. The calm ocean can easily turn wild; when it does so, lives can be lost in a major storm. Rain is a precious gift when it waters crops, but it can become treacherous when it becomes a flood. The wind is a natural process that moves clouds across the sky, but a hurricane can devastate entire towns. Nature is indiscriminate; it takes out the innocent as well as the guilty. A young child is as likely to be killed as an aging man who has led a sinful life. When it comes to suffering caused by nature, it looks like God is the primary agent. Although there is a connection between human agency and the climate, most forms of weather-related disasters (an earthquake, for example) are not due to human actions. So the question arises: why does God allow a child to be killed by a flood?

The fourth type is animal suffering. Now this is a subsection of the third type. The food chain is pretty brutal. Smaller animals suffer as they are eaten by larger animals. The whole process of evolutionary history is parasitic on the emergence of countless species that then die out as they fail to adapt to the changing environment. If in some sense the goal of creation was the emergence of humanity, then the processes of evolution are a long, wasteful, and deeply painful route to the goal. Why does a God create natural structures that are so painful to so many sentient creatures?

The fifth and final type is the suffering caused by the devil and by demons. Now at this point, some Christians solve this problem by simply saying that such entities are implausible and unlikely to exist. However, demons are a major part of the Gospel narrative, which describes Jesus constantly "casting them out." So the obvious question is this: why does God allow these evil entities so much space in the world? It is especially puzzling when one remembers that according to Scripture, God will ultimately triumph over the devil. If this is the ultimate plan, then why doesn't God speed up the process and get rid of the devil and demons right now?

As one looks at all the different types of suffering, one can understand the atheist who stops right here. These questions are simply unanswerable. As Sam Harris puts it,

The problem of vindicating an omnipotent and omniscient God in the face of evil (this is traditionally called the problem of theodicy) is insurmountable. Those who claim to have surmounted it, by recourse to notions of free will and other incoherencies, have merely heaped bad philosophy onto bad ethics. Surely there must come a time when we will acknowledge the obvious: theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings.

At this point, it is important to note that Christians should never be afraid of questions. God created us with minds that have the capacity to think, so we need to enter in and enjoy the questions. However, let us make the questions a little more complicated. Why precisely is suffering a problem to faith?

Digging down into the problem

Philosophers like to be very precise with language. They want to move from the obvious sense in which suffering is a problem of faith (the simple question of "Why does God allow this?") to the more precise. Now some background is necessary at this point. Coherence is very important when it comes to belief. It literally means that beliefs cohere together. They make sense; it is an option because one belief does not cancel another belief out. So for example, if I started talking about drawing a "square circle," then you would rightly be puzzled. How can you have a square circle? We all know what a square is — it is a shape with four equal sides and four equal angles. We also all know what a circle is — it is a shape with no sides and no angles. So how can you draw a shape with both...