KindiakMath

In the previous posts, we have established why Christianity is plausible, why Christianity is probable, and how Christianity is practical.

• Plausibility: Science points to the existence of a maximally great Being who created all things, and this Being exists in at least two co-eternal persons.
• Probability: Historical evidence points to the existence of a Jesus of Nazareth who claimed to be God, died by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, and whose resurrection is witnessed by the least likely of candidates.
• Practicality: On the basis of the Protestant Bible as the Word of God, we resolve the three biggest questions of human existence and its implications in living as Christians—who is God, who are we, and what are we here for?

Now we address some emotionally heavy apparent contradictions, beginning with the strongest argument against God—the problem of suffering.

The central claim is that the existence of the God as described by orthodox Christian doctrine is fundamentally incompatible with a world of evil and suffering. After all, this God is all-loving and all-powerful. Therefore, this God is willing and able to rid the world of suffering. Yet, suffering still exists.

Elsewhere, we have made a similar case that far from debunking the existence of an all-loving and all-powerful God, the existence of evil implies the existence of such a God. The case for suffering implying God can, in principle, take a similar shape. Suffering only is meaningful when compared to a benchmark of positive experiences, which we shall describe as “blessing”. Therefore, the ultimate blessing must exist in order for our assessment of a reality as “suffering” to be internally coherent.

Therefore, suffering can actually exist, and the existence of such suffering actually points to an actual God as described by orthodox Christian teaching. However, since we are addressing the more tangible implications of Christianity, the real question arises in how we process suffering. I am no pastoral expert in this problem, and any person who claims to be probably isn’t either. There are individuals far more experienced than I to write this, and what I write is far from complete.

Nevertheless, here are some of my contemplations on how Christians can and should process suffering with relative clarity.

Lemma 1. The God in Christianity is, fundamentally, a God of perfect love and perfect goodness, in Whom is perfect blessing, and no suffering.

Proof. Jesus has revealed the one God to exist in three co-eternal Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. [Matthew 28:19–20]

Among these Persons, prior to creation, they have existed in co-eternal love, and being unchanging in nature, remains existing in co-eternal love in the past, and the present, and the future:

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. [John 17:24]

Being maximally great, their love must be perfect, their morality must be perfectly good, and in them is included perfect blessing:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [James 1:17]

Lemma 2. The potential for turning away from God is a necessary consequence of genuine creation.

Proof. Out of God’s mutually life-giving love, the Father creates all of creation as a love-gift through His Son, and for His Son:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [Colossians 1:15–16]

In this creation, God creates human beings as His children who would willingly conform to His life-giving existence, by Him and for others:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [Romans 8:29]

For this conforming to be genuine, there must exist a real option between conforming to God or not conforming to God:

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. [Deuteronomy 30:15–18]

Therefore, there exists an option to not conform to God, and hence, there exists a potential to turn away from God.

Corollary 1. If suffering does not exist, then there has been no genuine choice to choose good from evil, and hence, the God who exists is not all-loving.

Proof. Lemma 2.

Corollary 2. The potential for suffering is necessary for God’s creation of love to be genuine.

Proof. Corollary 1.

Therefore, if God is truly loving, there must be an option to turn away from His love. By turning away from this love, we experience a life cut off from God’s blessing, which is what is meant by curse:

And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.” [Genesis 3:17–19]

Humanity’s decision to turn away from God is the origin of human suffering:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. [Romans 5:12–14]

However, we must be cautious to attribute any one particular suffering to any one person’s possible sin, since we would very like have insufficient evidence to make such a conclusion:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. [John 9:1–7]

Lemma 3. Left to their own decisions, humanity will remain trapped in a downward spiral of sin, death, and suffering.

Proof. Humanity begins by rejecting the reality of God and His goodness:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [Romans 1:18]

In dishonouring God, they dishonour His good order for creation, turning their ultimate attention to God’s creation rather than God:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. [Romans 1:21–23]

As a loving and just response to their decision to rebel against Him, God honours their wishes as they plunge themselves deeper into the cycle of sin, death, and suffering:

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. [Romans 1:26–27]

What remains is an inescapable habitual lifestyle thoroughly infected with sin, death, and suffering:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. [Romans 1:28–31]

Lemma 4. God’s solution to save humanity is to cleanse our sinful hearts through Jesus, so that we would have clean hearts who would turn to Him as the rightful source of all blessing.

Proof. Only humans with clean hearts can dwell with the holy God:

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. [Psalm 24:3–6]

However, there is none who seek God:

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD? [Psalm 14:2–4]

God promises a new covenant that results in clean hearts that turn to Him:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” [Jeremiah 31:31–34]

The prophet Ezekiel describes this heart change as being turned into a ‘heart of flesh’ that obeys God:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. [Ezekiel 36:25–27]

God actualises His plans by sending Jesus to die on our behalf of our sins:

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. [Hebrews 10:12–14]

Through Jesus, Christians get to reign in life, rather than reigned by death:

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. [Romans 5:15–17]

Theorem 1. Christians can be confident that there exists some point in time such that their suffering ends, and they will live in perfect blessing forever.

Proof. Recall that a Christian is not a person who merely has ‘Christian’ on his national identity card, but is a person who regards Jesus as his Savior, King, and God. For Christians, Jesus is their God, and they are His people:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” [Revelation 21:3–4]

Therefore, their suffering will definitely end (i.e. pass away) when Jesus returns. Furthermore, since this time is an upper bound, it is entirely possible for specific forms of suffering to end before Jesus returns, according to His will:

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. [Matthew 24:36]

Theorem 2. Until the end of suffering in Theorem 1 whose timing cannot be revealed to us, Christians ought not to ignore suffering, but to let suffering provoke them in the direction of Christ-likeness.

Proof. God’s intends human evil, and therefore its effects of suffering, for good:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. [Genesis 50:20]

The sufferings of the present moment only serve to usher in an infinitely greater glory at Jesus’ return:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. [Romans 8:18–22]

Christians too groan at the reality of present suffering, not pretend that it does not exist. Yet, they have the confident expectation of God’s certain and good plan to end all suffering:

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [Romans 8:23–25]

Furthermore, because God lives in Christians through His Holy Spirit, they can and should use the reality of suffering to turn to Jesus. Certain that this suffering will end, though uncertain of when, God’s Spirit would pray in and for us, to conform us into the likeness of Jesus:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. [Romans 8:26–30]

Jesus has already won over sin, and hence suffering, and will bring suffering to its end. Our task now, therefore, is to stubbornly and relentlessly remain in Jesus and be changed into His image:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain [1 Corinthians 15:58]

None of our discussions negates the extreme pain and sorrow that would, more often than not, provoke us into questioning God’s goodness:

• Loss of a child
• Childhood abuse / sexual assault
• Terminal illness / prolonged suffering
• War / genocide / mass atrocities
• Natural disasters
• Severe depression / mental illness
• Betrayal by religious leaders or institutions
• Extreme poverty / chronic injustice
• Unanswered prayer in desperate moments
• Suffering of innocent animals

This post far from sufficiently addresses God’s action (or apparent inaction) in the face of these instances of suffering and innumerably many more instances not account for in this list. Yet, these would have all been averted if humanity lived according to God’s love from the very beginning, instead of determining good and evil for themselves:

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. [Genesis 3:2–7]

In God’s coming kingdom, which having promised to bring it, He will certainly bring to pass, such evil will be no more, but only what is real love, good, and true:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [Galatians 5:19–24]

Therefore, we pray He comes quickly, and until that happens, we pray that He changes our hearts to become more like His’.

—Joel Kindiak, 24 Dec 25, 2016H