Suffering and the purpose of life
The lesson 'The Problem of Evil and Suffering' set out the puzzle of evil. This lesson gives the answers Christians offer.
Christians believe the purpose of life is to know and love God, to love other people and to share life with God for ever. Many believe suffering was not part of God's first plan: remember, the Fall tells how sin spoilt a good world. So they ask why suffering happens, and how it fits into a life meant for growing closer to God.
Key terms:
- Privation: a lack of something that should be there.
- Soul-making: the idea that the world is a place where people grow into the people God wants them to be.
- The Passion: the suffering and death of Jesus.
- Intercession: prayer for other people, such as people who are ill.
Punishment for sin, or proof of faith?
⚡ Suffering as punishment for sin
Parts of the Bible link suffering with sin. In Genesis, God sends a great flood because of human wickedness, and only Noah's family is saved.
But Jesus refused to make this a rule. When his disciples asked whose sin had caused a man to be born blind, he replied, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned' (John 9:3). He also said that eighteen people killed when a tower fell in Siloam were no more guilty than anyone else (Luke 13:4-5). So most Christians today do not tell a suffering person that God is punishing them.
🔥 Suffering as proof of faith
Other passages see suffering as a test that proves faith is real. The first letter of Peter compares faith to gold, which is proved pure by fire (1 Peter 1:7). A faith that lasts through hard times is shown to be genuine. This fits the purpose of life: the believer comes through closer to God.
The story of Job
The Book of Job is in the Old Testament.
- Job is a rich man who is 'blameless and upright' (Job 1:1). Satan claims that Job only loves God because his life is easy, and God allows Satan to test him.
- Job loses his animals, his servants and his ten children. Yet he says, 'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised' (Job 1:21). Then he loses his health too.
- Three friends insist that he must have sinned to deserve this. Job knows he has not, and asks God for an answer.
- God speaks from a storm and asks, 'Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?' (Job 38:4). God gives no reason for the suffering, and Job accepts that he cannot understand all God's ways.
- God says the friends were wrong, and gives Job twice as much as he had before.
Christians draw three lessons from Job. Suffering is not always a punishment. It can test and prove faith. And humans cannot understand all God's reasons, so they must trust.
The questions for Christians
Remember, Christians say God is omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent. They cannot drop one of these to solve the puzzle, because Christian teaching holds all three. So the questions are sharp: can God not stop suffering? Did God not know it would happen? Does God not care?
The Bible itself asks these questions. Psalm 22 begins, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Christians say this shows that honest questions are part of faith.
Theodicy: two Christian explanations
🔓 Augustine: free will
Augustine (354-430) was a bishop in North Africa. He taught that:
- God made a world that was wholly good.
- Evil is not a thing God created. It is a privation of good, as darkness is a lack of light.
- Evil began when angels, and then the first humans, misused their free will.
- Moral evil is sin. Natural evil is the result of sin, because the Fall upset the order of nature.
So, for Augustine, humans, not God, are to blame. He said God lets it go on because he will not take back the gift of freedom. This is the Christian form of the free will defence.
Critics ask: how could a perfect world go wrong? And science suggests that death and disease are far older than humans.
🌱 Irenaeus: soul-making
Irenaeus was a bishop in Lyons, in what is now France, in the second century. He taught that:
- God made humans in his image, but they were immature, like children.
- They have to grow into God's likeness, and that takes time and free choices.
- A world with real challenges lets people develop qualities such as patience, forgiveness and trust.
So, for Irenaeus, God created a world containing suffering on purpose, as the best place to grow. The modern thinker John Hick developed these ideas and called the world a place of 'soul-making'.
Critics ask: could God not teach people more gently?
For Augustine the world began perfect and was spoilt. For Irenaeus it was never finished: it is still on its way to what God intends. Augustine's view has shaped most Catholic and Protestant teaching. Many Christians who accept evolution prefer Irenaeus. Others, thinking of Job, say suffering remains a mystery.
The suffering of Jesus
For many Christians the deepest answer is an event, not an argument. The Gospels say Jesus was betrayed, flogged and crucified on the orders of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. On the cross he cried out the opening words of Psalm 22 (Mark 15:34).
This matters for three reasons:
- God shares suffering. Christians believe Jesus is God the Son, so God knows pain and loss from the inside.
- Good came from it. Christians believe the Passion brought forgiveness and salvation. So they trust that God can bring good out of other suffering.
- Suffering is not the end. Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead, so pain and death do not have the last word. This hope is studied in the lesson 'Heaven, Hell, Judgment and Resurrection'.
How Christians respond
🙏 Prayer
Christians pray for strength, and offer intercession for others. Some Christians pray for healing, while others pray mainly for comfort and courage.
💖 Trust
Like Job, Christians try to keep trusting when they have no explanation. Paul wrote, 'in all things God works for the good of those who love him' (Romans 8:28). They take this to mean that God has not left them, not that suffering is good.
🍞 Practical help
In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus says that feeding the hungry and visiting the sick is done for him: 'whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me' (Matthew 25:40). So Christians run food banks and support charities such as Christian Aid and CAFOD.
Common mistakes
Do not write that Christians believe all suffering is a punishment from God. Jesus rejected that in John 9. Do not mix up the two thinkers: Augustine looks back to a perfect world that was spoilt, and Irenaeus looks forward to people still growing.
Exam-style question
Paper 1 style. (a) and (b) test AO1; (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three ways in which religious people may respond to suffering. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about why people suffer in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain beliefs in this religion about why God allows evil and suffering. [6 marks]
(d) 'A loving God would never allow people to suffer.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Model answer
(a) 1. Praying (1). 2. Giving to charity (1). 3. Visiting people who are ill (1).
(b) Christianity. Some suffering is a test that proves faith (1), as in the story of Job, who lost his children and still praised God (1). Suffering came into the world through sin (1), because Augustine taught that the misuse of free will at the Fall spoilt a world God had made good (1).
(c) Christianity. Many Christians follow Augustine. He taught that God made a good world and that evil is a privation of good, which began when angels and humans misused their free will. God allows it to continue because he will not take back the gift of freedom. This means humans are to blame for evil, not God.
Other Christians follow Irenaeus. He taught that humans were made immature and must grow into God's likeness. God allows suffering because a world with real challenges lets people develop qualities such as patience and trust. This is called soul-making.
Some Christians say suffering tests faith. In the Book of Job, God allows a blameless man to suffer and never gives the reason, so they trust God without a full explanation.
(d) Plan. For: a benevolent God would want to stop suffering and an omnipotent God could, so some atheists say there is no loving God; a loving God could teach people more gently; natural evil such as disease is hard to blame on human free will.
Against: Augustine: evil comes from humans misusing free will, a gift God will not take back; Irenaeus: suffering allows soul-making, as a parent lets a child face challenges in order to grow; Christians believe God suffered in Jesus on the cross, which shows love.
Possible conclusion: I disagree with the word 'never'. A God who respects freedom may have to allow some suffering. But the amount of innocent suffering is the hardest point for Christians to answer.
Exam tip
In parts (c) and (d), name the thinker with the idea: Augustine with free will and the Fall, Irenaeus with soul-making. Then add the cross as a third, different kind of answer.