Why suffering, instead of being a reason to turn us away from God, can be the way that we find him

The existence of suffering in the world has been a tremendous challenge to the idea of God’s existence. It would seem that if suffering exists, then we have a God who doesn’t care about suffering, who actual desires people to suffer, or is unable to prevent it. Can suffering be somehow reconciled with the idea of God?

The assumption here is that physical or emotional pain is somehow wrong, evil, or suboptimal. The implication is that comfort and pleasure are right, good, and optimal. However, we can easily think of ways in which we could both suffer and yet find fulfilment. In contrast, we can also think of ways that it is possible to have the best of all comforts and advantages and be distinctly unfulfilled and find no purpose or meaning.

People who work as doctors or psychologists or social workers live lives of stress where the work they do is rarely met with appreciation or gratitude. Many of them struggle to balance family and any form of social life against their highly demanding jobs. Such people could easily find less stressful work and yet something drives them to pursue these career choices.

Why? Perhaps one reason is because these same people can go to bed at night with the knowledge that… (register to read the rest of the article)