Man Creates Much of His Suffering

• Suffering Series: Article 2 of 3
• First Article: How Can A Good God Permit Suffering
• Next Article: Working With God to Relieve Suffering

Before we look at man’s role in his own suffering, let’s first examine God’s power. Some theologians (scholars who study the nature of God) take the approach of Harold Kushner, a Jewish rabbi who lost his young son to a cruel and debilitating disease. In his popular 1981 book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Kushner concluded that God is infinitely good, but He is not all-powerful.

Of course, we know that God cannot do things that contradict His own perfect nature, such as lying. He also cannot do things that are logically impossible, like creating a square circle. However, the powerlessness Kushner describes does not match the God revealed in the Bible.

Restrained Power

Although God has the power to stop all suffering, doing so would harm essential human qualities. If God removed all suffering, we would lose our free will. Free will requires the choice to rebel, and rebellion naturally brings painful consequences. Without suffering, our faith and hope would weaken, and we would have little desire for heaven.

Parents often practice a similar restraint of power. They sometimes allow their children to make mistakes or experience minor accidents so they can learn, grow, and develop character and perseverance.

Similarly, God created a world where suffering is possible, but He does not decree (command) it. The natural order allows actions to have consequences. As writer Leslie Weatherhead famously noted:

“If I give my boy a pair of roller skates, I immediately make it possible for him to get a bad bump. That is a very different thing from taking him by the neck and banging his head upon the ground.”

Sinful People Inflict Suffering on Others

God created a world capable of both good and evil, compassion and hatred, ease and suffering. While God originally created a perfect world, human sin corrupted that world, introducing pain and suffering into creation.

Therefore, suffering is a byproduct of human rebellion, not something God actively created. Much of the world’s pain happens because people misuse good resources. They use their power to oppress and subjugate (dominate) others, hoarding wealth while leaving their fellow human beings in destitution (extreme poverty).

Think about how we use everyday tools. If you have ever moved, you were probably grateful to rent a U-Haul truck. Likewise, fertilizer is a wonderful tool that boosts food production to feed millions who might otherwise starve.

However, in 1995, Timothy McVeigh filled a U-Haul truck with fertilizer and chemicals to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. We do not blame the truck company or the fertilizer manufacturers for this tragedy. We recognize that a good product was simply misused to cause harm.

God commands us to live holy lives. The standards in Galatians 5:19-21 explain how God wants us to behave:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Imagine how different our world would be if everyone followed God’s commands in Galatians 5:

• Would we have murder if people refused to hate, be bitter, or hold malice (ill-will) toward others?
• Would we suffer from deadly sexual diseases if everyone practiced purity before marriage and lifelong faithfulness after?
• Would we feel the pain of broken families if spouses loved each other selflessly, just as Christ loved the church?
• Would we need locks and alarms if no one was covetous (greedy for others’ possessions) and stealing did not exist?

The chaos in our world comes from people rejecting God’s law. Because we share this planet, we inevitably suffer from the wicked actions of others. It would be unjust for God to force people to do good, as that would strip away our free will and humanity. Therefore, we must not blame God for the evil that arises from human choices.

Man’s Role in Natural Disasters

Sometimes, human decisions increase the suffering caused by natural disasters. Many natural events only become major tragedies because of short-sighted or negligent choices.

Consider these examples:

• Building on barrier islands: Constructing homes on places like Santa Rosa Island exposes them to extreme hurricane damage. Barrier islands exist naturally to absorb waves and storm surges, not to support housing.
• Settling in flood plains: Building in low-lying areas that are meant to absorb excess rainwater leads to lost lives, homes, and businesses.
• Living near volcanoes: Building houses near active volcanoes guarantees destruction when they eventually erupt.
• Encroaching on forests: Forest fires are a natural way nature clears underbrush. When we build deep in the woods, we put ourselves directly in harm’s way.

Political decisions also play a role. For example, during the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the massive earthquake made a tsunami likely. Yet, many victims lived in crowded, flimsy coastal shanty towns because they had no other financial options.

Furthermore, political friction delayed life-saving warning systems. Even though experts proposed a tsunami warning network years earlier, governments did not fund it. The neighboring nations, divided by hostility, did not cooperate until after the disaster had already claimed thousands of lives.

Acceptable Risks

We often make decisions that knowingly increase our risk of pain, suffering, or death. For instance, California and Japan sit on major earthquake fault lines. Yet, millions of people choose to live there because they decide the benefits of these locations outweigh the risks.

To minimize these dangers, these communities build earthquake-resistant structures and install warning systems. However, as the 2011 disasters in Japan showed, nature can still overwhelm our best preparations.

We see this same choice in everyday life. Driving carries a high risk of injury or death. Yet, most of us accept this danger. If you have a 30-minute commute to work, you accept a higher risk of an accident because you value your job and home. If an accident occurs, it is unreasonable to blame God when we willingly chose to accept that risk.

Ultimately, suffering is a part of the human experience. In our next article, we will examine where God is during our darkest moments and how we should respond.