Concert with Jim Cowan next Fri, Nov. 13, 7:30 pm, St Stephen Martyr. Jim Cowan is a renowned singer, songwriter, and worship leader for conferences at Franciscan University in Steubenville for 25 years. Come and be renewed in the Lord’s healing presence.
------------------------------------
One of the most common questions that people have in regards to God is “why does God allow suffering?”. It is really the same question as ‘why does God allow evil?’. We have covered these questions in pretty good detail on this site over the years. You can google a question and include “gw catholic” and you’ll probably find the posts and comments here of which I am speaking. One of these posts is from March 15, 2006; I have included it below.
Some of you students might wonder how an all-powerful, all-loving God could exist with so much evil and suffering in the world. The very short answer to this is free will. In other words, it’s more about us than it is about God. There is so much evil in the world because people choose to do evil....they choose to sin. There is also so much suffering in the world because suffering is a result of sin, as I write below.
You might know all of this already, and so you would then ask, “but why does God allow it? Why does He allow so much violence? Why does he allow so much poverty? Why does he allow bad things to happen to good people?” These are all very good questions. At the heart of all of this is a mystery. I don’t claim to have all of the answers. But, I’d be happy to tackle questions like this if you have them. Just post them here, email me, or come talk to me about them. General questions can be posted, but question about specific circumstances should be brougght to me privately (email or in person). It is important, though, to make sure we have some theological understanding about evil, suffering, and free will. So, please read this below and then post your comments and questions.
When God created the world, it was a natural paradise. Everything he made was good and beautiful. There was no suffering or pain. There was no death. The creatures, plants, and trees were full of life; "it was good" (Gen 1:4). When God created man (male and female), He saw that "it was very good". God created man to be like Himself - good, beautiful, intelligent, etc. - in His own image. God Himself is free, so he created man to be free.
The free will that God has given man means that man is truly free. God gave him free will so that he would choose to love God and be in friendship with Him. This was His Plan for man...that he would be with God in this life and for all eternity, and He gave him much help to choose good. But, like any good parent or friend, God couldn't force man to love Him. God knew that man could reject Him, and thus do evil.
When man rejected God for the first time and committed Original Sin (Adam and Eve), suffering and death entered the world. Suffering is a natural result of sin, whether through individual sin or another's sin. It is in and of itself not good; it is a natural evil. God never wills suffering, death or evil: "God did not make death, he takes no pleasure in destroying the living" (Wis 1:13).
Rather, God allows suffering; it is part of His permissive will. God allows suffering because He allows us to choose to reject Him. He has given us free will, and truly respects our freedom. He is no less God and doesn't lose any of omnipotence if we choose evil. He is, always has been, and always will be an all-powerful God. He has created us so that we will choose Him, but knows that we can abuse the freedom He has given us.
On a natural level, then, suffering is not good because it is not from God. God most likely feels the way the prophet Jeremiah did when He sees His people suffer: “my eyes stream with tears… over the great destruction which overwhelms… my people…" (Jer 14: 17-18). Because of His great love for us, however, God will bring a supernatural component to suffering that will bring good out of evil. He will win victory over suffering, death, and evil through his Son, Jesus Christ...
2 comments:
Hi Father Greg,
I'm not a GW student, but was searching the web for the answer to the this question to see what I would find. I fully agree with and understand your explanation, but I was wondering about natural disasters... hurricanes and volcanos and tsunamis and such that destroy so many lives and cause so much suffering to both good and bad alike... Does God will that suffering on us in order to make us stronger as some say? Or are natural disasters simply a result of Original Sin? Or are they just scientifically necessary in order to keep creation in balance and sometimes we just get in the way? Thank you so much!!
when the world will end the suffering will still have occured and only God will be able to erased is that right?
Post a Comment