Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The brilliant man in the video was asked whether he believed in God. He said the amount of suffering he sees in the world makes it hard for him to believe in a God who is good and loving.
This is a common argument among skeptics. Suffering is bad, so God must not be good. He’s either too weak to do anything about it or unconcerned with it.
For an atheist to make the whole suffering argument, however, is inconsistent with atheism, which can have no objective morality. He doesn’t believe in God, but he’s somehow confident that suffering is bad. It’s so bad, in fact, that its prevalence in the world makes God’s existence doubtful. But, without God, “good” and “bad” are only statements of personal preference. They can’t be talking about real moral value.
The smart guy is repulsed by human suffering. Therefore, it must be evil. It must be something that a good person would oppose. He didn’t get to this conclusion from science.
Sickness, starvation, suffering, injury, violence, and death are the most common things in the world that we can observe in nature. As Tennyson poetically called it: “nature red in tooth and claw.”
Suffering in nature is everywhere. Supposedly, that’s how life survives and thrives. The fittest manage to survive the suffering and impose it on others, who don’t. I know it’s cold and harsh to our ears, but this is merely how it is. What right, then, does the atheist have to complain about suffering? It’s simply the way business is done.
Some of the same folks who use this argument against a good God also say things like, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Or, they work out in t-shirts that say, “No pain, no gain.” These are admissions that some pain and suffering may be good for us in the long term.
Skeptics may also be in favor of strict punishments for some crimes. Somebody obviously needs to pay a price for bad things that were done, and this includes prices that make the bad guy suffer.
The concept of human suffering is not a problem the Bible shies away from. I’ve hinted at a couple of possible answers above (long-term good and punishment of evil) as to why a good God might allow such things. But there is a lot more. A little column in the newspaper isn’t going to be able to do it justice.
Read the short book of Ecclesiastes, for instance. It’s so negative and depressing at times, it’s caused people to wonder why it’s even included. The point is, it’s honest. If you’re really looking for an answer, and not merely an excuse for unbelief, give it a read. God knows what he’s doing. The fact that there is darkness doesn’t mean light doesn’t exist. The fact of human suffering doesn’t mean God is absent, either.
The best people I know have all come through great hardship and trials. They’ve suffered losses and setbacks that many don’t recover from. They follow a Lord who, though he suffered death, knew the way out of the grave.
Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at: