A Storm of Questions

A major topic of conversation in our office this week, like in most offices up and down the country and round the world, has been what’s happened in the Philippines.

How do we respond to such horrendous suffering? How do Christians begin to trust a good God in the face of such facts?

In some ways, now is not the time for anything other than sorrow, giving what we can, and, in a Christian’s case, prayer. But still, some people demand answers from us: here, for what it’s worth, is what we think we might try to say.

• It’s natural that suffering like this makes us question very deeply whether there’s a God, and what He is like. That’s because we instinctively think suffering is “wrong” and a “problem”, even when it happens to people we’ve never met.
• What’s strange to think is that if there is no God, then our feelings that suffering is “wrong” have no basis; suffering is just what happens to happen to some people who happen to be the wrong place at the wrong time. As long as we’re OK, it doesn’t really matter.
• If there is a God and since there is suffering, then our feeling of “wrongness” makes sense. Something has gone very wrong, either with God or with the world. And God in the Bible says that it’s the world that has gone “wrong”. It is less than the very good world he made, and this has had catastrophic consequences.
• Jesus gives uncomfortably clear answers to why the world has gone wrong, and the significance of suffering. But actually, answers are usually what people watching from half a world away demand. What people in the middle of suffering want and need is hope. Not an answer for the suffering; but a hope beyond the suffering.
• Again, atheism has no hope for the injured, the destitute, the bereaved. Many religions don’t either. But Christianity does.
• One day, there will be no suffering. There’ll be no pain, or even death. God will remake the world perfectly for people to enjoy, “and he will wipe every tear from their eyes”. God will dwell in this world, and His presence will guarantee its perfection (Revelation 21 v 3-4).
• That’s a world open to anyone, simply by asking God-as-man, Jesus, to give them a place in it. That’s hope; and the people I know who’ve suffered far more greatly than me need hope more than they need a neat pre-packaged answer.

US blogger Denny Burk has gathered a few resources from the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, which are helpful for dealing with the questions that many will have about God's sovereignty. Maybe you know of other helpful resources. Please do share them in the comment box below.

Note: Most of the contents of this post first appeared on our blog back in March 2011, in response to the tsunami that hit Japan.