The Value To Be Found in Suffering

Is there any point or purpose in suffering? The Bible says yes. That alone should come as comfort, because it's awful in so many ways, and unavoidable. As bad as it is, though, there can be profound meaning and value in it.

In previous discussions on the problem of evil we spent time on whether God really can use evil for good. That stayed on a philosophical level, mostly, and it was rather brief. This post introduces a series that will focus on various Biblical passages and what they say about the evil and suffering.

This series will differ from some previous ones here in that its approach will be to describe or explain, but not necessarily to try to prove. That is, someone objects that the Bible is unproven as a source of information, the short answer will be, "Never mind that for now. We're talking about what it says." Of course my hope is that the richness and coherence of what the Bible says will shine through--and also that we'll understand better what God is doing in our lives when things don't go well.

The Bible never treats pain and suffering in a philosophical vacuum. Every mention is in the context of actual difficulties and sorrow, actual need for courage and comfort. Since it's not in the form of a philosophical treatise, the teaching does not show up self-contained, in one single, global explanation. Therefore the entries here on this topic will not be self-contained, global explanations either. Each one will carry just part of the story. I hope that as the blog entries are added (at whatever pace they come), the series will finally tie together, to make sense as a unified whole.

Posted: Tue - June 13, 2006 at 10:24 AM |

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The Value To Be Found in Suffering

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson