God is both all-powerful and all-loving, why is there evil in the world? Wouldn’t a good omnipotent God save us, not only from being afflicted by moral evil, but also from the suffering caused by pain, disease and natural disasters? The existence of suffering and evil is seen as a challenge to God’s very existence. When the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 killed between 30,000 and 50,000 people, some philosophers raised doubts about whether there is a loving God.

In the face of seemingly senseless tragedies, such as the death of a child or natural disasters, many have lost faith. The massive suffering caused by such disasters is not easily dismissed. We should and do strive to prevent such suffering. Why doesn’t God lend us more of a hand?

However, I have wondered about the story a skilled novelist would craft about a world where God prevents all evil and suffering. Such a novel would be extraordinarily boring. Novels depend on conflict and a climax where perhaps a hero rises to the fore to annihilate evil and resolve the conflict. However, in the world without evil, there would be no conflict and no heroes. We would just dial up God who would immediately make everything comfortable and good.

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God instead created human beings with freedom of self-determination. We set the direction for our lives and choose between right and wrong. Sometimes, we choose badly by taking the easy way out. Yet, at other times, people put their self-interest aside and take actions that have a high cost to themselves. Think, for example, of the one who puts their own life on hold for years to care for a sick and aging family member. In the world God gave us, real evil exists but so does immeasurable good.

However, this reality is small comfort to the parent who has lost a child to cancer or a tragic accident. Such deaths make no sense to us, and they force the parent to carry a heavy burden for the rest of their life.

While they make no sense to us, God sees the full picture. God does not cause the death of the child, but he invites us to make something good out of tragedy. God calls us to greatness. He gives us an opportunity to become more fully human.

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Further, who are we to say we know better than God what the greatest good is in any situation? Human beings have not been given the scales on which to weigh relative goods that emerge from their actions. Some philosophers, called utilitarians, believe they know the scale, but they have never been able to describe it to others. Why? Because they cannot know the full results of any action or event, certainly not as God knows them.

Our task is more modest. We are to respect the good, all the goods, without deliberately violating any. 

The more we pretend we are gods, the bigger a mess we make. The paradox of the omnipotent God and the all-loving God is a question for modern humanity which worships pleasure, the domination of nature and the comfortable life of indifference removed from the sufferings of others. Ours is not a heroic age. We instinctively turn away from pain, suffering and difficult challenges. 

The poet Robert Bly wrote, “People too healthy, too determined to jog, too muscular, may use their health to prevent the soul from entering. They leave no door. Through the perfection of victory they achieve health, but the soul enters through the hole of defeat.”

In times when technology was less advanced, humans had no way to control death, pain and nature’s fury. Who dares to say grief and suffering are not, in many instances, the greatest good? They offer the opportunity to rise above our self-centred pettiness. People accepted suffering as part of being alive. Sometimes, life is an ordeal, but you make the best of it.

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A society that refuses to believe in a heaven will never make sense of suffering. It wants all the loose ends tied up this side of paradise. The belief in eternal life includes an invitation to patience and humility.

We worship the God who was nailed to a tree. If God thought suffering is an intrinsic evil surely he would have prevented it from afflicting his own Son. He didn’t. Suffering is a mystery; one we should do our best to prevent. However, when it strikes, we shouldn’t deny God’s love and omnipotence.