Background and Advance Apology
I’ve been hesitant to write about suffering and Christian hope, because I have very little experience or knowledge of either, having lived a mostly sheltered life. I fear that my posts might be too superficial, even offensive, to people who are in the midst of suffering.
But, I somehow backed myself into this position, by writing two blog series that converge on the subject of suffering, one is a series on evolution, and the other on Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. I can’t close them without touching on the subject, so it has been in the back of my mind. More importantly perhaps, I’ve also had some personal experience in the past five months that I need to process through reflection and writing. I’m hoping to articulate the life lessons I’ve learned, which might benefit my readers. Or, failing that, you’ll forgive me for writing things I know little about.
So, reader discretion is strongly advised, and reader feedback is much appreciated.
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24
To many people in the Western World, suffering is a problem for belief in God. It is not for me, never has been. When I was an atheist, suffering was not a problem, but a fact of nature, like birth, aging, sickness and death; after I became a theist, it is not a problem either, because suffering, not matter how minute, no matter how devastating, has both meaning and purpose. I don’t know of any religion or philosophy that provides a more coherent, meaningful and practical answer to the question of suffering than Christianity.
One of the great paradoxes of Christianity is that life comes through death, triumph through suffering. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, all believers become children of God and have life in Him [1]. It is also through dying daily that believers live triumphantly in Christ.
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Notes:
1^. With good reason, therefore, one of my favourite Christmas songs, Adeste Fiddles, should be sung on Easter.