The approach to Theodicy I have proposed attempts a three
things: 1) honesty, 2) humanity, 3) faithfulness to a Scriptural understanding
of Jesus of Nazareth as revealed in the Gospels.
Honesty
I think this one is most vital in our age. One of the main tasks of the Church in this
upcoming generation is rebuilding trust.
Christians have done a dismal job at presenting themselves and their
faith in a trust-worthy manner. And I
believe most of this comes down to a lack of honesty. I don’t think I need to go into details of examples,
but I will use theology as one example.
In witnessing approaches to suffering there is a notable lack of
honesty, particularly when we try to come up with answers (In other words when
we try to theologize ourselves out of the pain). We have to explain it! But why?
For whom? What are we trying to
prove?
Common approaches to the problem of the Theodicy are a
Calvinist approach stating that God is sovereign, and all things are
predestined. Humans are utterly
deprived, and capable of no good on their own.
If humans are absolutely evil (which they are in Calvinism), it is
because they are simply acting in their nature (like wild beasts). Plagues, genocide, child abuse are all in
God’s sovereign plan of salvation. Thus, they compromise the goodness of God. God is absolutely in control, therefore God is
ultimately the cause of suffering and evil, but ultimately all for His
Glory. So not only is God not good, God
is apparently a sadistic-egoist. And
good riddance to human free-will or relationship; God has plans!
Arminians attempt to
argue that God is sovereign, but self-limiting to maintain free-will. This, I would think is the healthiest
version, but still falls short. They
maintain the Devil is real, and is a real enemy of God and humans (not an issue
in Christian theology), and God is waiting for the final victory to wipe away them
and their followers for good. Why
wait? Well, we are in this period where God
is sort of active, but not too much. God is giving us time to repent before the
final axe is cut. Natural “evil” (such
as earthquakes and disease) is due to the fall of creation, and inevitably bad
things happen, not because God is unable to help, but unwilling in order to
maintain the proper balance. They
believe that creation is ultimately flawed because of the fall, and in my
opinion denies the absolute goodness of creation. Also, God can help, but won’t. Suffering is seen as ultimately bad and not a
part of the plan, or the intention of God, but God allows it for now.
Gregory Boyd’s “Open Theism” approach is an extension of
this. Boyd attempts to devise a series
of theorems that ultimately lead to God initiating a “zero-sum” game between
good and evil, which reads more like a Zoroastrian Theology than a Christian
one. God is intentionally self-limiting,
so God may want to help, but can’t/won’t in most cases because He limits
Himself to maintain freedom of all creation.
Huge in Boyd’s Theodicy is the concept of Spiritual Warfare, where all suffering
and evil happen because of the involvement of demons (and angels). Natural catastrophes are because of demons
interacting with nature to cause suffering for humans. Diseases I suppose are
from demons manipulating the genomes of bacteria, or am I going too far in my
assumptions? Again, one must ask after
reading these three theorems (out of many), what are these persons trying to
prove and to what end? Surely not for
apologetics?!?
Honesty requires a very real and empirical look at our world
before, during, and after we read Scripture.
Honesty requires as certain epistemology in which the sensory world
takes primacy over Scripture; that is how the stories of our faith and of other
religions came into existence in the first place. The world was observed, and stories were
developed and recorded. A dishonest
theology is one that looks at Scripture and attempts to contort and rationalize
the world to fit. The three theologies
above in my opinion are dishonest theology.
Arminianism coming closest to honesty.
Because in all honesty, we do not know why suffering and evil happen all
the time. We know that evil is the result of humanity’s free-will, and that we
are collectively responsible for systematic injustice, but we do not know how
the victims of abuse or war or disease are ultimately chosen. And, that is not our job (though we can and
should advocate for the victims).
Incarnation Theodicy, does not explain away suffering, it permits
one to “sit in” the suffering without having to explain it away. It also commends one, like Jesus, to both
suffer with people, and to advocate for people who are suffering or are
victims. The theodicy I propose is
honest, but not comfortable. Life is not
comfortable, but the Christian Confession is that it is good, and can be
redeemed.
Humanity
Of all the books on theodicy I have ever read, C.S. Lewis’
“A Grief Observed” was by the far the best.
I would recommend it to anyone who is suffering grief, and to any
theologian about to get a M. Div. In this book C.S. Lewis graphically accounts for his honest struggle with faith in the loss of his beloved wife. This great Christian Theologian is above all else in this book, human. One of
the things that cannot be lost in our search for answers is our humanity. I fear that when we offer formulas or try to
theologize our way of our suffering we become like Job’s friends. We attempt to offer comfort, but end up
denying the suffering of others by trying to explain it away.
In the Incarnation we believe God experiences our humanity
in Jesus. In fact, as Christians we
believe God made it a specific point, not only to be human, but to suffer as a
human. When we offer ways out of that suffering,
we deny the intention of the Incarnation.
We also risk not being faithful to our calling to be Christ to those who
suffer. Jesus never offered an answer to
the “why,” but he did show us a way to approach suffering. So too, I think we are not to offer answers,
but to be with people who suffer. It is
in presence we our most faithful to being Christ in suffering situations, not
in explanations or elaborate theologies
Faithfulness to Scripture
Ultimately, in any theology we must be faithful to
Scripture. While the Anglican
understanding of revelation also includes tradition and reason, Scripture is
always held as having primacy. And if we
approach theodicy in the light of Jesus we see that Incarnation Theodicy is the
most faithful. The Christian Messiah is disturbing.
Disturbing because he does not wipe away the suffering and evil of the world,
but approaches it, bears it, and in doing so conquerors it in His own
particular way. The Christian Messiah
does not offer an easy way out, but a redemptive way through. While I have no doubt that the various
theodicies offered are based on certain readings of Scripture, I find they must
inevitably neglect the Gospels. I am
going off a hermeneutic that holds the Gospels as having primacy over the rest
of Scripture, much like the Jewish people hold Torah as having primacy over the
other books. Some may disagree, but I
believe Jesus is the ultimate litmus test, not Paul’s letters, nor Apocryphal
literature. And if that is the case,
then Incarnation Theodicy is the only viable, albeit uncomfortable theodicy.
Also, if I may protest Calvinsim in particular here. To me, it appears John Calvin attempts to
apply too much logic to the Scriptures.
Meaning, ultimately I believe for him it is reason, not Jesus that holds
the key to his theology. Calvin cannot
hold the tension of mystery…many Western Theologians can’t. And yet, Scripture and Creation both allude
to mystery as trumping our reason. The
reader must decide. What I will say is
that Incarnation allows for mystery, allows God to be God, offers mortals to be
mortals, and asks for a radical trust of the participant, and a faithfulness in
suffering that the other theodicies attempt to evade. Let me make my point: Christian Scripture is
very very clear…suffering IS a part of the Christian life. To deny that is in essence to deny Christ, to
deny God’s salvific act.
What About Job?
I want to end with some final thoughts on the man who
started it all: Job. In the encounter
with God there are some things that come to light: 1) God does not fault Job for
the protest. The wrestling with God is
permitted (encouraged?). 2) Job did sin…Job ultimately lacked that radical
trust. Job had a formula which he
followed expecting blessing, and it failed.
Job’s anger towards God is that God did not behave the way God was supposed
to behave. God broke out of Job’s
expectation, and Job reacted. However, in
the speech of God, God makes it clear that there is so much beyond Job’s life
and Job’s suffering, and that ultimately God is good, God is bigger than Job’s
expectations and comprehension, and God is also free. These are things us mortals do not like to hear.
We Are All in This Together
In closing, I will say that we see all around us suffering
in this world, and we look for answers. We see that in many cases evil seems to
triumph and we ask: Is God silent? To
the outward appearance, and to a non-Christian perspective the answer is a
despairing “yes.” But I offer that to
the Christian, it is a resounding and triumphant, “NO.” God is not silent, God is here in this mess
with us. Incarnational Theodicy claims that God dwells in us, so when we are
present to those who suffer, God is with them and us. God has not abandoned us,
nor will He. It is in our suffering and
in our brokenness we have the opportunity to see God’s love and grace in its
most terrifying colors. Any god or
non-god will do when joy and prosperity abound…but what of the times when
suffering abounds and seems to triumph?
In those times we quickly understand how much of our faith is ash, how
much of our belief was not in a god, but in idols, and we see how naïve and
fragile we really are. I believe it is in those times we are ready to see Jesus’
death on the cross as something more powerful than anything. In Jesus, God has suffered with us, is
suffering with us, and will see it through until He wipes every tear from our
eyes. And so the Christian Confession of
Suffering I think is: God suffers with us, we suffer with God, and hand-in-hand
we suffer with each other. And so the
Great Reconciliation begins and continues to change us forever.
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