Theology Question #9: How has the practice of ministry affected your experience and understanding of suffering and evil in the world?
Written 2017
The practice of ministry both within my own family and through the local Church has provided me with many opportunities to wrestle with suffering and evil in the world. For more than two centuries Christianity of its intellectual tradition have considered the problem of evil, and have themselves confronted the reality of suffering and death.
Regardless of where I've served in ministry I can’t think of any Bible study or counseling session where the issue didn’t arise and I was looked at to provide a Biblical answer that would suffice. The majority of these people, including myself grew up with an understanding of God that was very much influenced by classical theism and the predominant fundamentalist preachers of our communities. Within this tradition God is seen as all-powerful and completely in control of everything that happens in our lives. Consequently, nothing happens good or bad, that isn’t part of God’s plan. An acquaintance of mine, a Southern Baptist/Calvinist preacher drunk on divine sovereignty attributed the hurricane Matthew that struck Haiti in 2016 to God’s wrath against sinners. He also claimed these divine acts of God against humanity reveal attributes of God that without we might not otherwise know.
My understanding of evil and suffering has since been positively influenced by attending seminary, practicing ministry, working with a mentor, associating with other residents in ministry and continues to develop within this positive light allowing me to have peace amid suffering and evil. I can now offer my parishioners other thoughts and theologies for consideration.
My most recent encounter with the problem of evil and suffering came as the result of a suicide bombing that claimed the lives of innocent young people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England on May 22nd. I knew this would be a topic of discussion at our Bible study so I planned accordingly. I had copies prepared of The Articles of Religion of the United Methodist Church, a sermon from John Wesley ‘Satan’s Devices’ #42[1], a letter from Reverend Sloane Coffin[2] to help understand, ‘God is dead set against unnatural deaths’ and highlight inappropriate responses to suffering and evil. Along with these printed resources I had my own notes from books that I had been reading recently.
As we began our lesson for the night I opened in prayer during which I included those affected by the recent events in England. Following the prayer, Luanne, an 81-year-old lady claimed, “God allows evil in the world and this just isn’t right!” Of course the group felt this view needed help. I allowed others to give their opinions, they made comments such as, “Bad times help us appreciate the good, and they make us realize we need God.” “The bad things that happen teach us what it means to have hope.” “The evil in the world give us an opportunity for ministry.”
As I deemed the moment appropriate I interjected a few thoughts. I began by saying; “I don’t fully understand innocent suffering nor do I need to make an apology for God, but I do know that evil is God’s enemy.” I explained evil as anything contrary to God’s character.[3] I noted the two categories of moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is a result of free persons making wrong moral choices. This could be understood as sin, and includes examples such as lying, stealing, adultery, murder etc. and it extends to include the suffering resulting as a consequence of sin. Natural evil would include suffering caused by contact with the laws of nature or the unintentional acts of man. There is no one to blame. Examples would include catastrophic events, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, famine, fire, cancer, etc. There are of course challenges to this argument, as well as answers to the challenges.
Linda who is in her early 80’s commented, “We all have free will, but I just can’t understand people’s choices.” I agreed with Linda then added, “in this world we have freedom of choice, you and I are free to do good, and also free to do evil. If I am free to love then I am free to hate. If all are free to praise God, then all are free to curse God. The very nature of our God given freedom makes evil possible.” Any alleged “freedom” not to choose evil rather than good is not truly freedom for a moral creature.[4] I pointed to Article VII of The Articles of Religion of the United Methodist Church which states, “Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.”[5]
Don Thorsen claims, “To be sure, Calvin formulated his theology in determinist-oriented ways that greatly affirm God’s freedom, but not the freedom of people, sometimes called ‘monergism’ (Grk. “one”+ “work”).”[6] Meaning, one divine power is at work, which created all, that exists and governs all that occurs, therefore nothing happens outside of God’s superintendence. Wesley disagreed. He saw the need for a more dynamic understanding seeing Scripture, Church tradition, critical thinking, and experience that confirm people’s responsibility in decision-making. This dynamic relationship people have with God is described as, synergism (“together” + “work”), meaning divine power is at work with power that God gives to people. Wesley affirms human freedom, not to the exclusion of divine sovereignty and sees the ultimate calling to live in relationship to God characterized by a life of love amid all of life.
Tyron Inbody articulates this idea well: “While God does not will everything that happens, because creatures decide what to do with God’s aim for every event, God has a will in every occurrence. God wills the best possibility for every moment given the real possibilities within the context of what has happened and what can happen.”[7] It helps to know God has an aim so John Wesley wrote, “The devices whereby the subtle god of this world labours to destroy the children of God—or at least to torment whom he cannot destroy, to perplex and hinder them in running the race which is set before them—are numberless as the stars of heaven or the sand upon the sea-shore.”[8]
I assured the group that God is love and has a plan to defeat evil without destroying freedom. I had the group read together the parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matt. 13:38) and then I referred to David Hart’s thoughts concerning the present cosmic order. “At the heart of the Gospel, of course, is an ineradicable triumphalism, a conviction that the will of God cannot ultimately be defeated and that the victory over evil and death has already been won…But it is a victory, we are assured, that is yet to come. For now we live amid a strife of darkness and light, falsehood and truth, death and life. This world remains a field where the wheat and tares have been sown side by side, and so they must grow till the harvest comes.”[9] So all creation waits alongside God’s glory and grace that has appeared before, within, and beyond history, always present, and yet also now deferred.
I feel it’s important to bear witness to the ultimate victory of God, but also to what God is doing now in the midst of history, in pain and suffering to engage evil. For we have hope that in our distress God hears, God heals and God cares. David Hart affirms, “God hears the cries of the suffering. Yes, God comes with healing in God’s wings. God comes in fact, as a warrior. The suffering and pain of these children is the enemy of God. From our perspective in the middle of history, we do not know everything about where this evil came from, but we know that it is God’s mortal enemy, and God comes to do combat, comes in the power of the cross, comes in the power of love.”[10]
I affirm for my group that God’s power is at work in the world, even in what doesn’t look like power to us. God comes in God’s way—made known to us in Christ, a warrior in loving weakness. God comes as love to destroy the work and power of evil. I offer this as a word of healing, for God’s love enters every area of our life—past, present, and future, to bring healing. I closed by challenging the group (as people of faith, as children of God) to join the divine work with our actions, to be present in this world (of pain and innocent suffering) as ministers of God’s love.
I have had several opportunities over the last few years of ministry to address suffering and evil as I have journeyed with my congregations through (war, plane bombings, terrorist attacks on innocent people—Paris, Orlando, London, terminal illnesses, a pandemic, accidents, and natural disasters). When the questions arise I try to be pastoral and provide a safe atmosphere for discussion. We all long for easy answers to the hard questions we have. It’s nice to have clearly defined doctrine and beliefs in our minds but these must be met with an experience of our heart and lives.
[1] Wesley, John. “The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 42-satan’s Devices” The Sermons of John Wesley: Sermon 42- ‘Satan’s Devices.’ http://www.wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of -john-wesley-1872 edition. Accessed 04/26/2017.
[2] Coffin, William. S. ‘Alex’s Death 28 Years Ago Today.’ (01/11/2011). Accessed 02/09/2017. (Sermon delivered by Rev. Sloane Coffin to his congregation at Riverside Church in New York City ten days after his son, Alex, was killed in a car accident.) http://www.williamsloanecoffin.org.
[3] Okello, Joseph. class lecture, Asbury Theological Seminary, Module 05 Lesson 01A The Problem of Evil, Dec. 7th 2012.
[4] Geisler L. Norman. If God Why Evil. Summary of Ch. 4. (Minneapolis, Bethany House Pub. 2011).
[5] www.umc.org. “What-we-believe.” The Articles of Religion of the United Methodist Church. Accessed 05/24/2017 http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe
[6] Thorsen, Don. Calvin vs. Wesley: Bringing Belief in Line With Practice. (Nashville, Abingdon Press. 2013). Pp. 40-43.
[7] Inbody, Tyron. The Faith of the Christian Church: An Introduction to Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 2005). P. 157.
[8] Wesley, John. “The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 42-satan’s Devices” The Sermons of John Wesley: Sermon 42- ‘Satan’s Devices.’ Par. 1. http://www.wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of -john-wesley-1872 edition. Accessed 04/26/2017.
[9] Hart, David Bentley. The Doors of the Sea: Where was God in the Tsunami? (Grand Rapids, Eerdman’s, 2005) P. 66-67.
[10] Long, Thomas, G. ‘What Shall We Say: Evil, Suffering, and The Crisis of Faith’ (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2011) P. 147.
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