"Not for me - not yet. Not much," I said. "But my small happiness and small unhappiness - that's all irrelevant,' I continued.

"Yes, but if instead of cosmically including the globe in your gaze, you start with your life, you might find that you don't have this certainty about God's nonexistence anymore. You might say to yourself: 'I am healthy, happy, purposeful, loved. And I was undeniably created by someone or something.' That is quite a good start. And, by the way, exactly how is your atheism saving people from starvation in Africa or rescuing children from Romanian orphanages?"

"Well, but how is religion helping them? I'm surprised at you. You know perfectly well that I don't have to prove that atheism can alleviate pain. I simply have to show that the existence of pain is not compatible with the idea of God. Atheism isn't a practice, it's a principle."

"Or, more precisely, it's a belief," said Tim.

"Okay, it's a belief, a rival belief. And I believe that this world vandalizes the face of God. I don't believe that any God worthy of worship or comprehension made this world."

"What interests me is your certainty," said, Tim. "It's one thing to say that the world is a horrid place - if indeed it is - but it's another to say, 'Ergo God doesn't exist.' I'm not sure you can make that leap. I mean, if you suddenly lived in a world without any suffering, without any pain at all, would you then say to yourself, 'This is such a happy world that I am convinced that God does exist?' I don't think so. Arguments from design are always a bad idea, whether practiced by believers or atheists, and that's what you're doing."

"I simply repeat that either God doesn't exist, or if He exists He is not a creator worthy of worship, love, or even comprehension," I said.

"Well, hang on a minute, if He exists it's not up to you to decide if He is worthy of worship, love, or comprehension. You don't have any choice in the matter."

"If He exists," I continued, in a kind of rage, "He is Satan." (pp.170-172)

James Wood, is a literary critic and senior editor at The New Republic. Raised in a devout Christian family, he writes that the problem of evil is for many people the real affront to belief in God. "This was the hot crux that obsessed and tormented me when I was a child, and that broke open my religious adherence. People do evil things to each other and cause each other pain, equally, we live in a world of natural uncontrollable pain and suffering - earthquakes, cancer, mental and physical handicap. The existence of this pain is an obstacle to belief because it seems either to limit God's power or to qualify his goodness." (THE BROKEN ESTATE: Essays on Literature and Belief, p.260)

The discovery of the theory of evolution, and its central tenets of natural selection through random mutation and adaptation has reinforced an understanding of the world as containing much suffering and pain over hundreds of millions of years. How can such suffering and waste in the universe be compatible with the existence of a loving, good and powerful Creator?

Despite new scientific knowledge, this question has been around long time. It is at least as old as Job.

Central to the answer of God to Job's complaints (which sound similar to Tom's), is the great superiority of God to human beings.

"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?

Tell me, if you understand." (Job 38:2-4)

The difference between the vision and wisdom of God and that of humans is roughly as an adult human's is to a one-month-old infant. It is obvious that such an infant is unlikely to discern most of the purposes of the child's mother. In the same way, it is unlikely that a human being could discern the purposes of an all-knowing God. Because we cannot discern any purpose in the suffering of the universe as it evolves and life develops, does not mean that there isn't any. We are presumptuous to claim that we can see anything from God's point of view unless he reveals it to us. We don't know enough about God and creation to be able to tell what the place of suffering is in the scheme of things. (c. Stephen Evans, FAITH BEYOND REASON, p.133)

We can presume that if we were God, we would have created another kind of world in which there were less or no suffering. But who are we to claim that we know better? We do not know enough to pass any judgments, our knowledge is too limited. What do we really know about universe-making? God questions Job's credentials to question God. The limits of our reason sharply limit our ability. We do not know why God allows evil and suffering in the world. That does not mean that God does not have a good reason. It only means that we don't know, and that bothers us. We feel that we have the right to know, and that God needs to justify himself to us.

God puts Job straight about his hubris,

"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let him who accuses God answer him1"

Then Job answered the LORD:

'I am unworthy - how can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

I spoke once, but I have no answer - twice, but I will say no more.'

Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm.

'Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you will answer me.

Would you discredit my justice?

Would you condemn me to justify yourself?'" (Job 40:1-8)

This answer to the problem of suffering, is not the whole answer. The frequency of evil and suffering in the world is still a problem for those who believe in God. Even if we do not know the reasons why God allows evil and suffering, Christian believers have come to know that God is good and loving in Christ, and we trust in him. We can give God the benefit of the doubt. If we have experienced the love and goodness of God, through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, we trust that God is working out his purposes for good in life. We can do this because we believe that God has revealed himself to us through a story of suffering.

Jesus has come amongst us, not just as a prophet, but the Word made flesh, God incarnate. He comes to live as one of us, to share our suffering, to take upon us our suffering, to die a cruel death, and to rise again from the dead to give meaning to life. God, who created the universe, who develops life through much suffering and seeming waste, himself suffered with us and for us.

"Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps. 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:21-24)

Jesus provides us with assurances of God's love and compassion. It is the assurance of the God who cares enough about his world to share in the suffering of his fallen and limited creatures. It is also a demonstration of how God can bring good out of evil and provide victory over both moral evil and death.

I shall know why, when time is over,

And I have ceased to wonder why,

Christ will explain each separate anguish

In the fair school-room of the sky.

He will tell me what Peter promised,

And I, for wonder at his woe,

I shall forget the drop of anguish

That scalds me now, that scalds me now.

(Emily Dickinson)

"Father God, I have struggled so with this anguish, and I am weary and heart-sick. I do not understand why you permit this suffering, or how it can enrich either the world or me. So now I cry to you as Jesus cried to you: Father, if it may be so, take this terrible burden from me...

But Father, taught by him, more than anything I want to hold on to you, and be held by you, even through this. So as I struggle I ask above all that you be with me:

- holding me steady against the tides of anger and despair;

- giving me courage to bear with fortitude;

- strengthening my faith in your ultimate victory over all that has power to hurt us, disease and death, bereavement and loss, penury and betrayal, the unkindness of our fellows, and the vast impersonal forces of societies and nations.

And Father, do not let me be so trapped in my own pain that I cannot look outward to those around me, in compassion or thanksgiving. I pray for others who at this moment groan, or grieve, and ask that the comfort for which I ask may be theirs also.

And I thank you for all those who, by words or deeds of goodness and kindness, have come alongside me and shared my load. Be with them, and let my thanksgiving for them be taken up into your blessing of them. And keep us all safe from that which would destroy the soul. Amen." (Ruth Etchells, Just As I Am, p.158)

An audio version of the sermon may be found on www.ameliachapel.com

Amelia Plantation Chapel,
Amelia Island Florida