Responses to evil and suffering

What is evil?

Suffering and evil present a serious problem for every Christian. The question they have to
ask is: ‘How can a God, who is all-powerful and loving, allow suffering and evil to exist?’ If
God is all-powerful, He must be able to do something about suffering. If God is all-loving, He
must want to do something about suffering. Suffering, however, continues to exist.

Some Christians believe that there is evil in the world because of Satan. ‘Satan’ is an ancient
Middle Eastern word meaning ‘the accuser’. In Christian belief, Satan, or the Devil, was once
one of God’s chief angels but he rebelled against God by challenging his authority. As a
punishment, God expelled Satan from heaven and he made his home in hell. From that
moment, he set himself up in opposition to God and set himself the task of trying to lead
everyone astray. Most Christians today do not believe in an actual Devil. They believe that
he is a symbol for all that is bad and evil in human nature.

Christians believe that there are two kinds of evil leading to suffering in the world. They are:

1. Moral Evil
Moral evil is evil that a person brings upon themselves, or on others, by their own
behaviour, ignorance or selfishness. It can be because they are cruel or dishonest.
This moral evil takes place because God has given all humans free will. God has
shown all humans how they should live but it is up to them whether they do what
God tells them to or not. If they do not live as God intends, then they will eventually
bring suffering on themselves.

2. Natural Evil
Natural evil shows itself through natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes,
floods and disease. This does not appear to be anyone’s fault. The problem with
natural evil is not so much that it happens, but the unfairness of it all as it can affect
the lives of good people.

There are six different Christian responses to the problem of evil and suffering.

1. Suffering is a necessary part of life. You cannot have life as we know it without some
kind of suffering. The Christian writer, C S Lewis, lost his wife to cancer less than two
years after he married her. After this very sad experience, Lewis wrote ‘Try to
exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of
free will involve and you will have excluded life itself.’ He said this because he
believed that suffering presents a challenge to humans to search for inner strength.
In a world without suffering, people would have nothing to fight against or to strive
for. It is largely this that makes us the people we are. While people are undergoing
suffering, or when they come out of the experience, they are much stronger.

2. After death, all the suffering and evil in the world will be forgotten in the joy of a
new risen life. The Apostle Paul wrote: “I consider that our present suffering are not
worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8.18) Those
people who suffer most in this life have most to look forward to after death.
 3. The sufferings of Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, was put to death by his
enemies. This is the supreme example for all Christians who are suffering. Yet
Christians believe that God brought him back from the dead. Light and hope came
out of his suffering and death. The same will happen to us. Christians believe that the
resurrection of Jesus is the strongest guarantee that we will be raised from the dead
as well.

4. Suffering is caused by sin. Sin is part of human nature and affects us all. Sin is not
just doing wrong, but a whole attitude of heart and mind that leads us away from
God and suffering is the result. Much of the suffering that we experience can be
traced directly to foolish or sinful actions – either by ourselves or someone else.

5. Humans have free will – they are free to choose between good and evil. If people
were to become more aware of themselves and others around them, the world
would be a much better place. The world could be free of such things as war,
disease, violence, cruelty and oppression. Humans could prevent so much of the
suffering that is in the world – if they changed the way that they behave.

6. God suffers alongside his people in the tragedies of the world. God is not outside
looking in, but is part of the struggle that involves us all. Christians who believe this
say that God actually suffers when other people suffer. They say that God suffered
when He saw His Son, Jesus, dying on the cross.

Christians do not believe there is a single answer to the problem of evil and suffering. They
do, however, believe that everything in the end will be made clear – including the reason for
suffering. In the meantime, they have to accept that God’s will is always done.

Challenge: A THEODICY is an explanation for the existence of evil. Two theodicies have been
offered by Christian monks:

1. Augustine:
• Evil itself is not a creation of God.
• Moral evil began with the Original Sin committed by Adam and Eve in the
garden of Eden.
• Natural evil is a result of the breakdown of the natural order after Adam ate
from the forbidden fruit.
• Therefore, evil is a result of mankind’s mistakes.
• But mankind can be saved from it by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus.
2. Irenaeus:
• Different from Augustine; Irenaeus says that evil was part of God’s plan for
humans.
• Suffering makes us stronger and makes us more perfect in the image of God
until we are ready to enter paradise.
• Many evils still occur because of our sins, but we learn from our suffering and
make our souls better.
• Some people only go through this soul-saving in the afterlife, but eventually
we all go to heaven, some of us just take more time than others because of
our sins.