There is no heavier burden for the pastor or apologist. As the theologian John Stott observed, “The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith.” The sheer randomness and scale of pain in our world can feel like an insurmountable intellectual and emotional obstacle. It is a question that we cannot meet with easy platitudes, but must approach with humility, compassion, and the deepest theological resources of our faith.
The Intellectual Challenge: “If God is Good, Why is There So Much Pain?”
This objection is not an abstract philosophical puzzle; it is a raw, human cry. Charles Templeton’s journey away from faith reached its climax when he saw a photograph in Life magazine. It depicted a woman in Northern Africa, in the midst of a devastating drought, holding her dead baby in her arms and looking to the heavens with a forlorn expression. The image shattered his faith. He asked:
“How could a loving God do this to that woman?… it is not possible for an intelligent person to believe that there is a deity who loves.”
This is a sentiment echoed in the personal experiences of many. Lee Strobel recounts his own journalistic encounters with the “underbelly of life,” from the rotting inner cities of Chicago to the filthy slums of Bombay, where he came face-to-face with a malnourished, diseased ten-year-old boy who had been “drained of all hope.” These firsthand experiences with depravity, heartache, and anguish solidify the objection in the mind.
Philosophically, this is the ancient problem formulated by Epicurus:
Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to; or he cannot and does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, and does not want to, he is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, then how comes evil in the world?
This is the core of the challenge we face: How can an all-good, all-powerful God coexist with a world so full of pain?
A Reasoned Response: Insights from Dr. Peter Kreeft
When we engage with this raw cry of the heart, the insights of philosopher Dr. Peter Kreeft provide us with a framework for a reasoned, yet deeply compassionate, response.
- The Limits of Human Perspective: Dr. Kreeft argues that it is intellectually arrogant for a finite human to declare what an infinite God should or shouldn’t do. He uses the analogy of a hunter and a bear in a trap. The hunter, out of compassion, must first tranquilize the bear (which the bear perceives as an attack) and then push it further into the trap to release the spring (which the bear perceives as more pain). The bear, with its limited perspective, concludes the hunter is an enemy. So too, Kreeft asks, how can we be certain that God is not allowing short-range evils for long-range goods we cannot possibly foresee?
- The Necessity of Free Will: God created the possibility of evil by granting humanity free will. A world with genuine freedom but no potential for moral evil is a logical contradiction, like a “round square.” This freedom is the necessary condition for true love to exist. Real love must involve a choice, and with that choice comes the possibility that people will choose to hate and to sin, unleashing suffering into the world. God created the potential for evil; humanity actualized it.
- The Purpose of Pain: Suffering can serve as a tool for moral and spiritual education. Hardship can build character, perseverance, and hope. C.S. Lewis famously wrote that pain is God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” The universe can be seen as a “soul-making machine,” and part of that process involves learning and maturing through difficult and painful experiences. Even Jesus, Scripture tells us, “learned obedience through suffering.”
- The Ultimate Answer in Christ: Dr. Kreeft’s central point is that the final answer to suffering is not a philosophical proposition but a person: Jesus Christ. God did not remain distant from our pain; He entered directly into it. The crucifixion is the ultimate demonstration of God’s solidarity with a suffering world. He became “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” taking all the pain of the world upon Himself. God did not just offer an explanation for suffering; He put Himself on the hook of the cross.
- The Eternal Perspective: The reality of heaven radically reframes our experience of earthly pain. When compared to an eternity of joy in the presence of God, even the most atrocious suffering on earth will be seen, as Saint Teresa of Ávila stated, as little more than “one night in an inconvenient hotel.”
Here we see that apologetics is not about winning arguments, but about gently clearing the intellectual brush so that the light of the Cross can be seen more clearly.
Pastoral Strategy: Ministering in the Midst of Pain
When we engage with someone in the throes of suffering, intellectual arguments must always be secondary to our compassionate presence. Dr. Kreeft offers a clear pastoral path.
- Start with Presence, Not Platitudes. Our first and most important response is not to say anything. Our goal is to listen, to be present, to see their pain, and to feel it with them. Lovers, Kreeft notes, don’t want explanations; they want presence. In the face of tragedy, our primary role is to be the tangible presence of a God who has not left us alone.
- Embody God’s Compassion. A cartoon of two turtles shows one saying, “Sometimes I’d like to ask why he allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it.” The other replies, “I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.” We are called to be Jesus to the hurting—to minister, love, comfort, and embrace them. Our faith must compel us to alleviate suffering wherever we can through practical acts of service.
- Gently Point to the Cross. After establishing a ministry of presence, we can gently introduce the concept of a God who is not immune to pain. The image of the crucified Christ is the ultimate evidence that God meets us in our suffering. As John Stott wrote, “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross…. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death.”
Having sat with the grieving in the shadow of the Cross, we must now prepare to stand with the skeptic in the light of the laboratory. For many in our scientific age, the problem is not God’s goodness, but His very ability to act in a world governed by natural law. Let us now turn to this great challenge: the problem of miracles.