Years ago I had lunch with a client distraught over his wife’s recent death from cancer. He sighed, “I just can’t believe God would allow such suffering.”
My client was personalizing an age-old philosophical question: How can an all-powerful and all-good God allow suffering? The argument goes: “Either he is good but not powerful or powerful but not good.” There are reasonable answers to the question, and there is a time and place for debate; in that moment I just listened.
But over the last few years, I’ve heard various versions of my client’s cry that are less valid. Unlike my friend’s quiet lament, they are asserted with a kind of officious, self-conscious bravado:
- I would never believe in a God who asks us to fear him.
- I just can’t believe in a God who would allow hell.
- I refuse to believe in a God who forbids ____________.
- I will not believe in a God who wills someone to be sick.
I understood my client’s grief-stricken “I don’t believe” statement because anguish speaks without filters. When C. S. Lewis’s wife died, he wrote his famous, A Grief Observed, a book that expresses a wealth of doubts about God’s goodness (so much so, he wrote it under a pseudonym). Suffering uncovers a lot of doubt in all of us.
But why would we reject God simply because we dislike some part of his self-revealed nature?
Challenged
When Jesus hung on the cross, he died alone, deserted by everyone, because all of Israel (and every disciple) stubbornly clung to their own assertion, I refuse to believe in a God who ….
- The Pharisees rejected any God who would heal on the Sabbath.
- The Zealots hailed a conquering general but refused to accept a suffering servant.
- Thousands loved a God who multiplied bread but abandoned him when he claimed to be the bread of life.
- The disciples championed a rising King but bolted when their King was raised on a cross.
We face the same danger of abandoning Christ with our simpleton bravado. If God is infinite, then he is infinitely beyond either our simplistic minds or our greatest understandings. (But I repeat myself.) There must, by definition, be something about him we cannot understand.
A limitless God must always challenge our limited thinking.
Let God Be God
A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into the mind when we think of God is the most important thing about us for we tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.”
That is, our soul begins to worship the God our mind pictures. If we refuse to let God be who he says he is, we create a God as a figment of our imagination. That’s exactly what the Israelites did after crossing the Red Sea. They said to Aaron, “We refuse to believe in a God we cannot see,” so he fashioned for them a calf out of gold.
All self-made gods are idols, even imaginary ones.
Man-made gods lose their infinite nature, so they no longer can challenge us; but they also no longer can save us. They are like Caspar the feeble ghost. Such impotent idols have eyes that can’t see, mouths that can’t speak, and ears that can’t hear.
And “Those who make them become like them” (Ps. 115). Imagining our own gods should scare the hell out of us.
If God is powerful enough that we criticize him for not doing what we think is right, isn’t he also great enough to have reasons we are too simple to understand? When C. S. Lewis read Tozer’s comment, he quipped,
I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing about us is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important.
Does God ever think, “I just can’t believe these people refuse to believe …”?
Sam
Pretty Ugly Moralism
I was thinking about a very similar line of thought just this morning and so was especially excited to see you discuss this topic. I appreciate the fresh way in which you’ve addressed it. (Not new things but said newly)
Considering that honest, God-fearing, Bible-reading Christians throughout the ages (and currently) come to a number of very disparate beliefs about certain moral topics, I think it’s reasonable to expect that every one of us has a belief about what God would have us do that is wrong. In short, we have some moralistic or otherwise idolatrous hill that we are willing to die on. When we meet Christ, will we be willing to drop that belief? Will I? If he came right now and told me which belief was wrong, could I truly drop it?
After all, I already know which ones are a bit shaky, especially the ones that I say one thing, but truly, deeply must believe something else as shown by my actions. And I haven’t dropped those yet.
Love your comment.
I remember reading a famous theologian once (I think it was Karl Barth, but whoever it was, it was a well recognized person). He said, “The very best theologians, in the very best moments of their very best days, are only 75% right. The problem is, none of us know what is wrong.”
I loved the humility of that comment.
Sam
“Simpleton bravado!!!!” Love it! This was such a great article. Thanks for the good thinking, Sam!
Hi Lori,
I love it when people love those tiny word choices. I really liked that one too!
Sam
Like you, Sam, I hear people make statements directed to a god that they may not even know or believe. Because they have run out of people or things to blame, God seems to be their final excuse. Emotions and circumstances can cause us to shout out what the flesh demands. I thing of Job and David and Paul and even Jesus. Under distress, most will respond first in the natural – ” Why have you forsaken me ? ” I believe the evidence that one is established in God, for who He truly is, this will be followed by – ” blessed be the Lord “. For many I think this may take a season of time, depending on their closeness to the Father. For those of us who are viewing this crushing blow, I think silence may be the greatest blessing. We may not have the means or ability to look at God in that moment helplessness and accept what we are going through. God who is love, will gladly wait for the proper time to reveal that He is a God of comfort and love. Len Wisniewski
Hi Len,
Thanks for sharing. Yes, it’s amazing the words God gives us (in the Psalms, Lamentations, and Job) to voice these doubts and fears to God.
But I also think we say, “I refuse to believe …” when we simply don’t like what he says. How many people reject all kinds of Biblical truths simply because they disagree with this moment in cultural history?
As though we know better than all humanity (or God) before us.
Sam
Thanks, Sam. Good work, again. I don’t want to believe in a God that I don’t understand…well, maybe most of the time. If I did understand God all the time, He would not be much of a God.
When things go wrong, loved ones are hurt or suffering (or I am hurt or suffering), I still often fall into “WHY GOD? Why did you do this? Would it not also be much more appropriate for me, when I experience an abundant blessing, to have the same enthusiasm in saying, “WHY GOD? Why did you do this?
Hi John,
Great comment. Yes, I suppose he couldn’t be God if we fully understood. Great point. He’s infinite. We aren’t.
And I think falling into “Why God?” is a great place to be. God chastised Israel for grumbling about him to each other, but he praises Job when he asks the same questions to God himself. God encourages us to go to him.
Sam
I liked your article. You might like a book I’m reading – “The God-Shaped Brain – How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life” by Timothy R. Jennings, M.D. It’s very thought provoking.
I’ve heard it is a great book.
One more … to add to my pile of “Must Read!”
Thanks!
Your message made me wonder…What if our suffering is happening for us not to us?
Hi Lucy,
That is beautiful.
Sam
Hi Sam, Good post of a common complaint against God.
As you know, I cover this point in some detail in various places my book, “Like Eating Jelly with Chopsticks” (Amazon.com 2019) In fact in 2018, when I read about the duck boat sinking in a storm in Table Rock Lake, I hadn’t done much writing yet. I felt I heard God speak to me to say,”Why don’t you write about that duck boat. A woman lost all her children and was the only survivor. Do I operate from standards which are different than yours?” I cover that incident , as well as the unusual restoration to life of a young man who drowned under the ice in the movie “Breakthrough”, It’s a true story BTW. I remember Rabbi Kushner wrote the book.”Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People” after his teenaged son died of an incurable illness. This was in the 1970’s. The Rabbi said that after considerable time in prayer and meditation, he had to conclude that God, although capable of being “all powerful” and “all restoring”, has in most cases of human affairs, voluntarily “limited Himself”. To many at the time, this was Heresy, and to many, it still is.
But Kushner’s point is that an all powerful God who could have saved everyone and prevented all wars, has limited Himself by allowing us humans to choose our own paths. He allows us to make errors and experience the consequences of our actions. That is REAL freedom. God is not a dictator.
Under the “Old Covenant”, with 613 rules. If we broke a rule, we could expect to suffer the consequences. “Rule Breaking” and “Rule Keeping” are no longer who we are in Christ, as believers. We are under a “New Covenant” since Jesus died for our sins, once and for all time (Hebrews 10:10). He was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.
Nowadays, things are not so clear cut as they were in Moses time. I can’t put “God in a box” He is too big to fit even the biggest box. In short, life is full of mysteries. We can ask all those “Why Questions” when we get to be with Him in eternity. But, we probably won’t even be able to think of them, then. “I can only imagine”.
So for now, why not just say that God “acts in mysterious ways” which are beyond our comprehension. We DO need to know, 1: God Loves us beyond anything we can imagine, even before we are “saved” and 2: He DOES answer prayer, but not always in the way we were expecting. If we are grieved about the passing of a loved one and are angry with God for “taking them”… we might ask ourselves, “Who am I to deny this person their rightful seat at the banquet table in Heaven?” Points to ponder for sure.
Another good topic Sam
The irony of my comments (I think) is that what I think may or may not have any relationship to what God thinks. Whether I can’t believe in an aspect of God’s nature or in His very existence doesn’t change the world, only how I deal with it on a daily basis – and if I dismiss God then I’m working under a false premise (that my mind knows God’s mind), and I end up going through the unknown unknowns landscape like Indiana Jones with a whip. I’m smart enough to KNOW that I don’t know enough about God, other that He exists, rules, knows, allows etc. My fear of lightning prohibits me from informing you further about the nature of God.
I love your comment. Let’s all be smart enough to know that we aren’t smart enough to know!
And, avoiding the lightning strike sounds like a great plan.
Sam
When I read your first couple of paragraphs, I was thinking along the same lines as John DeWitt’s comment. Many years ago, during my college days, my church had a special Good Friday event. They set up a room with 13 chairs around a table, then allowed 12 people at a time inside. After we sat down, they played a tape of the pastor reading some of Jesus’ words at the Last Supper.
A thought immediately popped into my mind, “Why me?” Why should I enjoy the immense privilege of sitting down to eat with the Son of God?
Skeptics ask how we can believe in a good God in the midst of the trials and sorrows of this life. As I grow in my faith, as my relationship with Him deepens, as I get a little closer to understanding the enormity of what He’s done through Christ’s death and resurrection, I marvel over a different question: Why should this most perfect, most powerful, absolutely free God even care about me, much less make the greatest sacrifice possible so that I can have a relationship with Him?
In comparison to that and to the consequences that it brings, the worst trouble imaginable is hardly worth mentioning. Not that the suffering is so trivial, but that this relationship with God is so very great. (Adapted from my blog at https://thosewhoweep.blogspot.com/2019/04/he-is-risen.html.)
I wish I could say that I live each moment with this thought in mind, but there are still times when I find myself doubting God’s goodness and needing a fresh reminder of Who He is. (I’m glad He’s patient, as well as good.)
I love your statement, “Imagining our own gods should scare the hell out of us,” with its double meaning!
Thanks for writing so faithfully.
Ann
I think there are two categories of “I can’t believe in a God ….”
The first is when we suffer. And I think this is the most valid. We can’t understand, our pain erupts into questions, doubts, and even accusations. What I find beautiful is that God even gives us words to pray our pains and doubts (in Psalms, Job, Lamentations, and elsewhere).
The second kind is more of a self-justification in not liking some trait about God. We like his love but don’t want to fear him; we like his “my peace I give you” but we don’t like his sexual commands; we like his healing but we don’t like when he brings us into the desert. So we reject him. I don’t think this is a spiritually valid position.
And thanks for liking my “scare the hell out of us” line. I like it when others get my humor.
Sam
were you to spend eternity in some sort of spiritual existence with our Father you might look back at your so-called “suffering” and be thankful for the lessons you learned.
Amen … but in the middle of the suffering, it feels like eternity. Alas.