The other day I heard someone share about a recent struggle her family went through after the death of a close family friend. Although she mentioned how this difficult time brought her already close-knit family even closer, she then went on to say that she does not believe –unlike many Christians –that God had a bigger purpose in allowing this grief and heartache.
At first I was kind of shocked at hearing this but it got me thinking about several things. I started thinking about all the “cliché” (I know this is such a cliché term) things Christians often say –things we often say perhaps without much thought? For example, to explain suffering, many Christians –almost every Christian I know –will often say “God has a purpose in allowing ________ (name whatever act of suffering or evil).” I know I am guilty of quickly testifying to the seemingly greater good that has been brought out of an apparent evil or wrongdoing. We obviously reason this way mostly because it’s a comforting line of reason…but is it biblical? I mean I’m not God so why do I think I know the reason for what God allows? Can we be so certain that there really is a greater good in terms of every single act of evil?
First of all, I think there is much confusion that surrounds the ontology of evil. I am not so convinced that evil even has an ontological status in of itself. For instance, coldness is simply the absence of heat. Cold isn’t a thing –it’s a way of describing the reduction of molecular activity resulting in the sensation of heat. Similarly, evil is the absence of good, a privation of good, not a thing in itself.
Evil exists in order that free moral will can exist. Suffering has brought about a lot of good under God’s direction. Some acts of goodness necessitate some acts of evil. For example, there cannot be forgiveness if there is not first a wrongdoing. I believe God is capable of making much good come out of bad things. Without sin there would be no mercy. Imagine a sinless world, how would we ever come to know God as a merciful God without ever experiencing mercy since there would be no need for mercy in a sinless world? This is why I am so thankful we live in a sinful world and we worship a merciful Savior who will one day make us whole again. Maybe God didn’t have to allow evil in order to still reveal His attributes to us, but the point is He did. This is where I see the beauty of suffering –it allows us to experience God’s mercy, grace, and love. I believe this is ultimately the greatest good that results because of suffering.
But, can we accurately say that God allows such and such suffering to occur to really bring about a greater purpose? Was there ultimately greater good that was brought about when the above mentioned girl’s young, very talented friend died in a tragic car accident? Could not God have spared this young man’s life and yet still revealed His mercy, grace, and love in other ways? Are we, as Christians, in the position to quickly justify this seemingly injustice by saying “God has a greater purpose in taking his life?” Only God is in a position to accurately answer that question.
God brought the greatest good (the redemption of all humanity) out of the worst evil (the torture and murder of the Son of God). If God can do this, then what sin or suffering can He not redeem? Yet, some situations are so devastating that it is hard to imagine what good could follow from them. But our inability to imagine what good God may bring out of our suffering is irrelevant to His actual ability to do so.
God does allow a privation of good (evil) to influence our lives for ultimately good purposes. But are we really in the position to think we can easily justify every single act of evil by claiming that God definitely has a bigger purpose in mind? What about those evil acts that seem to just pass away without any apparent good ever resulting from them? I believe God has given us the understanding and reassurance to know that ultimately He has a reason for allowing the privation of good, but I do not believe He has given us this knowledge in terms of the ability to judge on a case-by-case basis. (But does such a case-by-case basis even exist, or is this all relative?) If we knew this information, how would we ever come to know and trust in God’s sovereignty? Similarly, without suffering, how would we come to know God as being merciful and gracious?
I do think many people truly believe that God will bring greater good out of every act of suffering or evil, but I also think there are many people like me who make regular claims without really thinking hard about whether or not we are entitled to make those claims.
Sometimes I wonder how many other sayings we frivolously throw out there without really pausing to think about what we are actually saying.
Sometimes I also wonder how many blog entry titles are frivolously thrown out there….like this one.
