God and Suffering (General)

by Mark , Monday, November 17, 2008, 15:36 (5646 days ago)

I would like to test out a thought that occurred to me recently: - To many people the primary difficulty with belief in God is suffering. If God is good and the cause of all that is, why has he made a world with so much pain? In response it can be suggested that in order to make a world which has its own integrity, in which there are free, responsible creatures, suffering is unavoidable, at least along the way to something better. To me, this is reasonable. But it still leaves this question, which is often asked: Even if there is perfect peace at the end of the day, is it worth it? As it is starkly put in The Brothers Karamazov, if the torture of just one child were necessary, would the project be justified? - To answer that question is to explain suffering, and I don't believe we can do that. But I think there is something which can be said to those who still insist that God could not be just. And here is my thought. As humans we have freedom and responsibility. We can choose whether to continue to live or not. Many people are able to choose whether or not to bring more humans into the world. Collectively we can choose whether or not to keep the whole show going. We did not begin the project, but we have a choice about whether it continues. So,I ask this question of anyone who accepts that our freedom must limit God's ability to protect us from evil, yet still believes that God cannot be a loving creator: How can you also believe that it is loving to have children, when you cannot guarantee their protection from horrific suffering?