The Sense of Suffering

How someone handles adversity is a true test of their character. The same can be said for an individual’s world-view; the authenticity of any belief system is put to the test when explaining and consoling the suffering of the world, and in this respect, no worldview rivals Christianity.

Islam’s response to suffering, is “Allah wills it,” full stop. Hinduism sees personal trials and tragedy as payback for poor choices in previous lives (bad karma) and, more generally, it views pain and suffering as an illusion (maya), and a distorted way of looking at reality.

Buddhism, for its part, reduces all human suffering to unfulfilled desire and prescribes we “stop desiring.” And from its secular perch, agnosticism shrugs its shoulders, while nihilism spits in the wind. Evil is an illusion? God wills it? Stop desiring?

Christianity, on the other hand, considers the spiritual and conceptual capital of Judaism, adds to it the mystery of a suffering God, and transforms the whole mess into everlasting life. What follows is the distinctly Christian understanding of the problem of pain in the world.