Reading: Final Review

In this session, what we're going to do is launch into what I think are failures of the argument from undeserved suffering. The argument that says, "God can't be real because there's undeserved suffering in the world. If he were really good and powerful, he could prevent it. If he was genuinely good, he'd want to prevent undeserved suffering. And if he was all-powerful, he could prevent it. So, there'd be no such thing. Since there is undeserved suffering in the world, there's no good god in charge, who's both all good and all powerful, or even enormously good and enormously powerful." We've looked at the three objections that are made to that argument from the point of view that God is the being with all and only perfections.

What happens now if we take the other view? If you adopt what I call the Orthodox and Reformational view of God, we come to know about God's attributes because he has revealed them. We know that he is completely in control. I don't think we'd want to say God has the perfection of being all-powerful. That perfection, by the way, even faces objections. So, it's challenging to uphold. I'm going to assert that it's not a perfection, but God has created all the powers in heaven and earth.

Now, I know what you will say to that, because I've heard my AAA theorist friends say that it's too sloppy. But bear with me.

What God would need is the power to create, right? This capability is a feature of creatures. We must have the capacity to do something to execute it; we have to have the power to act to act. However, remember that the very essence of God is beyond our comprehension. We come to know God by the created manifestations of himself that exist in space and time and possess the characteristics of creatures. That's our method of understanding him. Creatures are subject to laws, like the law of non-contradiction. While we can grasp that, the very originating essence of God remains beyond our grasp. It's erroneous to say that what's true for us has to be true for God. We don't understand how God bestows all the powers there are. But we're sure he reigns sovereign over them all. We shouldn't hastily attribute to him an innate capacity inherent in creatures. His essence is beyond our understanding, so it's wrong to blindly ascribe to him what's true for us. Thus, all we genuinely know is that God created all the powers in heaven and earth and governs them. And we recognize that God has given promises. This concept of a promise takes shape in what we call a covenant or a religious treaty with God. God has promised his love, forgiveness, and everlasting life. Whether to attribute these promises to something termed as "perfections" is another matter. People in this tradition typically don't lean towards that. They prefer to adhere to what Scripture reveals about God rather than impose a theory originating from a pagan concept of divinity.

So, on this Orthodox and Reformational foundation, how would we respond to individuals like Porphyry who present the problem of undeserved suffering? Why does undeserved suffering exist in the world? How could it if God is exceedingly good and powerful? If God possesses the benevolence to prevent undeserved suffering and the might to stop it, why does it persist? The initial point to realize is that it's not a flaw in God's determination to allow undeserved suffering. It becomes a moral failure on God's part only if the norms of justice and love automatically apply to him as they do to us. We're bound by the norm to be just in all our dealings and to be loving to others. But is God?

The answer is no. God is the creator of these norms, which aligns with our understanding of the laws of logic. He instituted them. Thus, they don't automatically bind him, but that doesn't imply he can't adopt them. He can and does, especially in his interactions with us. Yet, they don't inherently apply to him. Therefore, we're not in a position to use these standards to assess God's actions. We can't determine whether his deeds align with one norm or another because he isn't inherently bound by them.

Interestingly, and as Scriptures detail, even though these laws don't intrinsically apply to God and don't oblige him to act in a certain way, God has voluntarily chosen to make us the recipients of his love and care. Scripture describes his love as surpassing our understanding. In the AAA view, this would be comprehensible. If God acts justly and lovingly, he is compelled to do so by his perfections – it's part of his nature. However, Scripture doesn't convey this notion. God, not being compelled, has nonetheless chosen to favor us. He's determined to rescue us from death and extends his immense love and compassion through these covenantal promises.

But we're not in a position to judge him is the main point. And I put that up again. The next thing I want to call attention to is that there's a book of the Bible that deals with this issue. And the name, that name is not "Job" as in a profession, it's "Job", the book of Job, that's a man's name.

The Book of Job deals with the issue of undeserved suffering. And I want to go through that story a bit with you. It's worth taking the time, I think. What happens here is Job is a very wealthy man. He's so wealthy that when his children get married, he gives each one of them a ranch as a wedding present. And so each of them is well off right at the start of their married life. But he's not only a generous man and a wealthy man, but he's also a good man. He's upright before God. He keeps the laws. He doesn't oppress the poor, cheat in business, or run around on the side. He's a good guy. And he does so because he loves God and wants to please God with the way he lives.

However, God decides to test him. We have this conversation pictured between Satan and God. Satan says, "I could test Job, you know, he'd curse you if you weren't so blessed and rich." And God says, "Well, you can try it, but it's not going to work. I think Job's faithful." And so, what happens in this story is that Job loses all his wealth, his ranch, some of his kids are killed by a tornado, and one disaster follows another. Finally, he breaks out in some kind of communicable skin disease. In those days, they called all diseases like that leprosy, and he had to go live in the valley of the lepers, and his wife leaves. It's a total disaster.

Then, in the story, several of his friends come, you know, the guys he used to play golf with on Saturdays, they show up to comfort him. And when they show up, Job says, "Let the day perish, on which I was to be born. In other words, it was one damn day when I was born. May that day be in darkness? God Himself should think so. Why couldn't I have died at birth? I'd be better off." He's really in the dumps. Now, keep in mind what he said there. He said it would have been better if he had never been born, and God should think so too. We're going to come back to that.

Now his friends then decide they're going to cheer him up. And the way they try to do that is by advocating a view of God, like that triple A view we've been talking about, where God has all these perfections that compel him to do what he does. The first friend says, "Can a human really be just before God? Accept the discipline of God. Look at what's happened – you've been wiped out. All your wealth is gone, your family's gone, your wife's left you, and now you're a leper. That's the discipline of God." Job responds, "Have I ever taken a bribe? Tell me what I've done wrong, and I'll shut up. Show me my sin."

Job then addresses God, "Have I sinned? What have I done to offend you? Why have you made me your target?" The second friend then speaks up, saying, "Do you think God can pervert justice? Does the Almighty do what is unjust? If your children sinned, then they got what they deserved." Job is in disbelief. The friend continues, "This is what happens to those who forget God. God wouldn't reject a man of integrity, and He wouldn't support evildoers. So if your kids were wiped out, they must have done something really bad."

Job responds, "Though I'm guiltless, God treats me as though I'm guilty. But I am guiltless. Therefore, I conclude that He treats the innocent and the wicked alike; there's no difference between them. The wicked prosper. If God didn't allow that, how else could it happen?" Job certainly sees what's called the problem of undeserved suffering. And he's rejecting his friend's claim that even if we can't see how, God's always perfectly just. Job goes on, "I would say to God himself if he came here, 'Don't condemn me. Why do you treat me this way? I've done nothing to deserve this.'"

Then another friend speaks up, "Do you think you can justify yourself by the length of your speeches? That we'll be silenced while you sit there and boast about yourself? God knows falsehoods and sees sin. If you only made your heart right with Him and put away your wickedness, you'd be secure and have nothing to fear." Once again, I withdraw from here and ask, is it true that that's what God has promised? Has God promised that if you trust Him, you'll always be secure and no undeserved suffering will befall you? If you know anything about the content of Scripture, the answer is a resounding no. God never promised that to anyone.

So what these people are doing is the same as our AAA theologians, the same as Augustine, and Aquinas. As gifted thinkers as they were, and as sincere Christians and saints of the church, they got the nature of God wrong. God is not to be identified with Platonic perfections. We can hold God to His promises, but not apply the rules that apply to us, to Him.

Job answers again, "I would tell God Himself, I've not done anything to deserve all this. Why do you smear me with lies? I wish you'd just keep quiet. You think you're defending God, but you're not telling the truth about Him." Another friend pipes up, "I'll show you there's more to be said on God's behalf than you're allowing. He doesn't keep the wicked alive. He gives justice to the afflicted. He doesn't withdraw his approval from the righteous." Does God promise, I ask again, that nothing bad will ever befall you if you trust God? No. In fact, the New Testament says, "all who live godly in Christ Jesus WILL suffer persecution." You can just expect some.

And there's the example of God's own Son, a man who never did anything evil or wrong. A man who was in total communication with God and His will. He healed the sick, made the blind see, and brought salvation to mankind. And his reward? To be crucified. So far as this world is concerned, that was his reward.

So, in the Book of Job, they go back and forth. I commend it to your reading. There's a great deal more than they say to each other, pages and pages more. But what it comes down to is this: at some point, at the end of the story, which is the point of all Hebrew literature, God does come down and appears to them. He chews out Job for saying that he should never have been born. Notice, Job didn't say, "I wish I had never been born." He said it would have been better. He's judging God's policy of allowing his birth. And God doesn't take kindly to that. And then God says, "Who is this that gives orders to God? Where were you when I made the world? Do you know how deep the ocean is? Have you ever been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon? Do you know how far the stars are from the earth? Do you know how it is that birds fly?" He asks Job one question after another about the natural world, the wonders of the natural world. God's basically saying, "Who are you to question me? I know what I'm doing."

The point of the story of Job, I believe, is that we are in no position to question God. We are not in a position to judge Him.

So I hope that clarifies the issue for you and that it has been of some help. Remember, don't judge God. Don't try to apply our rules to Him. But trust in His promises, and know that He is just. Sometimes we may not see the justice right away, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Trust in Him, and you will not be disappointed.

So, how does this answer the question: Why is there undeserved suffering? Okay, so God allows the world to be that way or causes the world to be that way. Maybe it's God who oversees the suffering. Perhaps it's to test me to see how faithful I will be. Maybe it's for soul-making? Maybe it produces other goods? And it's certainly an exercise of my free will. But why wouldn't I be better off not having to suffer at all?

Why does God do this? All of us have asked that question. Even those of us who know and love God and want to serve Him often ask, "Why, Lord? Why couldn't this have turned out better? Why did that person have to die instead of getting well?" The short answer is that we don't know. This is what the Orthodox theologians call a "mystery." They don't use that term to mean a puzzle we can solve if we put our minds to it. They mean something to which there's no answer at all. On this view, we do not know the very being of God. God's ultimate purposes and why he created the world the way he did are mysteries buried within the depths of God's own being. It's not something we can access. It's beyond our ken.

We can grapple with the things that befall us and ask, "Why does this have to happen?" We won't get an answer. Or we could ask on a grand scale: Why did God make the world this way at all? If he wanted to create heaven at the end, why didn't he start with it? Just make it so all people are righteous and good, all people have eternal life, all are in a relationship with God, and all work to develop his kingdom without end. In that kingdom, there won't be any tears, sorrow, sadness, mourning, death, sin, or suffering. Why didn't he just make that to begin with? The answer remains elusive. We don't know.

But let's consider another mystery. Why did God make covenants of salvation with humans? Why did God promise His love, forgiveness, and everlasting life in His Kingdom? There's no clear answer to this either.

A great skeptic, Bertrand Russell, once quipped that there's a problem of evil, but no one asks about the problem of good. We question the presence of evil because we feel we don't deserve it. But we rarely ask, "Why is there good?" It's just as mysterious. I don't often agree with Russell, but on this point, I concur.

We don't know why God made a world in which he permits undeserved suffering. We don't know why each of us has to suffer particular misfortunes. We don't know why sickness and death claim those we love, sometimes prematurely. But as the hymn goes, "Take what He gives, and love Him still, through good or ill, whoever lives." We don't possess answers. God allows both the good and the bad in the world. If we suffer, it's because He has permitted it, just as He has allowed the blessings in our lives. The reasoning remains unknown.

However, one thing is clear. We also don't know why it's all going to end with God redeeming the human race through the work of Jesus Christ, granting us His love, forgiveness, and eternal life. We can be certain of this because God has promised, and He does not renege on His word. Thus, both the questions of why God permits evil and why He creates the most profound good for us remain unanswered. We simply know that He does. And that's the point where we must leave it.