On Suffering

A couple days ago I was watching Piers Morgan Tonight and Joel and Victoria Osteen were on his show. Piers asked Joel what he thought of the suffering of 9-11 and the age-old question "Why doesn't God stop things like this from happening?" Joel gave an average answer (he seems like a very even-keeled guy, so I wouldn't expect anything deeply controversial to come out of his mouth), but later I kept mulling over what an amazing response would have been...

The attack of 9-11 was an atrocity, a horrific cause of suffering. So also is child sex trafficking, which occurs even here in the United States; so also are the brutal rapes and murders that happen every day; so also are genocide, forced starvation, child abuse. There are people suffering horribly everywhere and at all times. How does God decide which acts to stop and which ones to allow? Does he pick the ones that affect the most people? The ones done against children? How can a just God allow some suffering and prevent other?

If we say God should stop and/or prevent one instance of suffering then, logically, we should expect a just God to stop them ALL.  But that is where the problem comes in. God has set a limit on himself that currently doesn't allow him to stop all suffering on earth. That limit is us, our free will. God cannot stop all suffering because to do so would take away our free will, our right to choose to do evil, what does -- in essence -- make us human.

But some suffering IS ended, and I'm sure some suffering is also prevented. How? I don't believe God is up in heaven picking and choosing who to spare and who not to. What I do think, though, is that because he can't stop all suffering, there's got to be some connection between us and the suffering he does choose to stop. I believe that connection is our free will exercised through prayer and action. (After all, our free will is what causes the suffering so it would make sense that our free will also contains the answer.) God is able to stop sufferings when we ask him to and partner with him in taking action against sufferings.

We look to God to end suffering, when perhaps He is waiting for us to do it with him because he cannot do it on his own (without ending the world as we currently know it). If we exercise our free will to ask God for change and to take action, I believe God can and will stop the sufferings we take action against. For instance, if we pray against the forces behind sex trafficking and get involved in efforts to thwart it, I believe God can end that suffering through us.

We are people created in the image of God. We have amazing power even on our own. When you put that power with the power of God, there is NOTHING that is impossible.

We have the power to hurt; we have the power to heal; it is we who need to take action.