Christian Responses to Evil and Suffering
Christian Responses to Evil and Suffering
Evil and suffering are linked together because evil is wrong and most people think it is wrong for people to suffer. Usually, evil also causes suffering. For example if I do wrong by attacking you, my evil actions will cause you suffering.
Philosophers often divide evil into two types:
Moral evil or human-caused evil: suffering which is caused by human beings doing wrong things.
Non-moral evil or natural evil: suffering which is caused by the way things are in the world, for example the suffering caused by an earthquake, a hurricane or a tsunami.
Evil and suffering cause problems for religious believers because:
• If God is good or benevolent, he must want to get rid of suffering.
• If God is all-knowing or omniscient, He must have known what suffering would result from creating the world.
• If God is all-powerful or omnipotent, he must be able to prevent or get rid of suffering.
As there is suffering in the world, it would appear that God cannot be good and all-knowing and all-powerful.
As most religious people believe that God is all-knowing, all powerful and good, this is bound to cause them problems.
Theodicy is the term used to explain why there is suffering in a world made by a good and all-powerful God.
Christians believe that the suffering of Jesus shows that God cares about our suffering.
Christians respond to suffering in different ways. Some responses may be practical, while others are more theoretical. Many Christians would try to combine the two.
Christians’ main response to suffering is generally a practical one – they try to help those who are suffering. There are two ways they will try to do this. The first is by prayer. These prayers involve asking God to help those who are suffering. This kind of prayer is called intercession. It features in nearly every act of Christian worship. The other way that they will try to help is by service. This means actively helping those who suffer. Many Christians help in hospitals and hospices, organise food, clothing and support for the homeless and help raise money to help those in less developed countries. Jesus’s advice in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats is sometimes cited as the reason they choose to do this:
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me.’
Matthew Chapter 25 Verses 37-40
Many Christians associate the idea of free will with evil and suffering. According to Chapter 1 of Genesis, God created mankind in His own likeness which means He created us with free will. He wants us to be free people who decide for ourselves whether to believe in God or not. Being free means being able to do either good or evil. If follows therefore that God could not have created free people who always did good. Evil and suffering are the consequence of people’s misuse of free will and so are not God’s fault.
Other Christians point out that this world was not created as a paradise. God created this world as a preparation for paradise. Paradise is the heaven our souls inhabit after death. In this world then we have to live in such a way that we improve our souls and become good enough to enter paradise. These Christians also believe that to do good requires evil – for example, ‘I cannot share my wealth if there are no poor people to share it with.’ God then made this world with the possibility of evil, but in the next world there will be no evil or suffering.
Many Christians believe there is no point in worrying about the problem because we cannot understand God’s reasons for doing things. God must have a reason for allowing evil and suffering, but there is no way we can know what it is because we are not God. However we know from the life of Jesus that even God’s own Son had to suffer. Moreover Jesus commanded his followers to respond to suffering by helping those who suffer. Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry and even brought the dead back to life. It follows that we should respond in the same way – by helping to remove suffering.
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