Comedian and outspoken atheist Stephen Frye was asked what he would say to God in the unlikely event he happens to find himself at the pearly gates. “I’ll say, ‘Bone cancer in children? What’s that about? How dare you? How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault.’ Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?”
Having seen such suffering in HD, one sympathizes. I cared for a five year old with a grapefruit size tumor perched on his right shoulder that twisted his head into a perpetual side glance. It would be easier to accept his 7 month life expectancy if I knew he killed an archbishop, or enjoyed decapitating grasshoppers or something deserving a brief expiration date. But he was just a happy kid snuggling a stuffed rabbit.
The pain of life causes us all to question God, his existence or his goodness, but the suffering of innocent children is the hardest to stomach. When we can attribute suffering to randomness instead, as Frye attempts to do, it can feel easier to deal with. That same chaotic slurry of chance and mutation which gave rise to your daughter over the eons, is now scrambling her osteocytes, is preferable to an omnipotent being who allowed this. Sometimes mutations don’t act in our favor -these things happen. At least if God is not in the picture then there is no one to be angry at. One less problem to deal with.
In general there are two types of people who ask these questions. One is the mom whose kid actually has bone cancer and is trying to keep her head above water. The other is the philosopher sitting at his desk nibbling the end of his pencil, having just thrown another log on the fire.
All I want to do here is make a simple observation, one that is not meant to trap or OWN anyone, but one which may provide some level of comfort to the emotionally distraught and challenge the philosopher trying to outthink God.
Embedded in the claim that there is too much suffering for a good God to exist is a hidden standard – one of extent. When the needle on the sufferometer is redlining and steam is hissing through the rivets, the conclusion is that God’s existence is not possible. Because the pain is at such a high level, we cannot allow God to claim such audacious characteristics like goodness, love or existence.
This begs the question, however, how much does the suffering need to be lessened before it is a tolerable amount for God to exist? If we back the suffering off to the yellow zone would that be compatible with God’s goodness?
As Frye has established, the suffering of bone cancer is too great for God to be good and loving. Very well, God does not exist or if he does he is no bueno. I think most would include the Holocaust, the rape and murder of a child, starving African babies with swollen bellies and flies in their eyes – all of these are horrific and cause that needle to be buried deep in the red.
What if we back it off to a kid with leukemia? More curable, by far, and less painful. Or a the African kid is no longer starving, but has polio and has to walk through life like a newborn foal? Or a father abandoning a family? That amount of suffering seems slightly less horrible still, plus it adds the human caused element of suffering and let’s God off the hook a bit. Will we allow God to exist and still be good with this level of suffering?
Ah, a hard negotiator, eh? Ok, let’s back it off to a spinal cord injury, or ulcerative colitis in your teenager. Can we believe in a God who is omniscient and omnipresent with this attenuated level of suffering? Have we reached an appropriate level yet? With that needle idling in the green, do we have a deal? Or do we have to back off the suffering to omit even the banal injuries, hurt feelings and inconveniences? Your high school kid did not get the scholarship to Brown University – no good God could allow this kind of human suffering.
When we make human suffering the reason why we refuse to believe in God’s goodness or existence we become the arbiter and judge of the universe and make pain – allowing this, disallowing that, with the criteria of pain and suffering as the ultimate guide. But we cannot see all ends. And when we disallow God’s presence or his goodness based on the results of our faulty judgements, we also prevent that presence from bringing comfort and salvation to our souls.
God is not bashful about his actions in the world. He doesn’t snipe at us from the clouds and then move along the trenches to his next fortified position where he will take the next shot. He does not make excuses for his actions and does what he does on purpose. This means the suffering, even if the needle has circumnavigated the gauge, has purpose and intent. And he is big enough, and gracious to handle our anger when we burst before his throne with clenched fists and hot tears falling.
Thought Butter 