Obstacles to Faith: War and Suffering

In a world where the suffering of others takes a great many forms, the question of God’s existence becomes easy to deny. With wars rampaging all over the globe, this denial becomes yet easier. Accepting that He exists, whether you are Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, is a feat of mental strength that a growing number of people choose not to exercise. The question asked is a simple one: If God exists, why does he allow suffering and war to continue? The answers acceptable to the ones who ask are not simple. They scrape at the wounds born by the ones who ask.

The ones who deny God based on global famine such as the one in Africa also tend to point out global overpopulation. The famine’s existence is undeniable and if we are overpopulated, then the famine is of our own making. To assume that God should correct this is no different than assuming that the Government should pay for the house that a homeowner could never have afforded in the first place.

The issue of suffering does not begin with famine, but ends there. It begins in our schoolyards where those seen as ‘different’ are at best ignored and at worst beaten by their own peers. These actions are the choices of the ones who oppress and there is only so much our teachers can do. There will always be rule breakers; this is an unfortunate fact. In the question of children, it falls to adults to mold our children to act appropriately. Do we teach them to be diplomats or guerillas, to harm or to heal?

This is also the beginning of war. Those who do not learn tolerance early on practice schoolyard oppression. It is not necessary for any God allow such behavior in our children if we adults allow it first. Not every child is Samuel asleep in the temple. Even he believed the voice of God to be that of his mentor Eli until told otherwise. The knowledge of proper behavior and basic decency does not come to each generation directly from on high. Instead, the responsibility to instill these values early falls on all adults, not just a select few.

Granted, a great number of our children grow to become great soldiers. A trained military is necessary for the protection of a nation. Said forces take their direction from an ultimate authority. The commands they receive determine their disposition. So the Darfur crisis becomes a study in both suffering and war. The people of these lands have little, if anything to take. They are the sort of people world charity organizations rush to the aid of. The only defense they have against the marauding forces which attack them is to flee, leaving behind most of their belongings. Even in retreat, many die.

This leads back to the question of why God allows it all. There are many ways to answer it. The easiest is to present the belief in free will. From a Judeo-Christian standpoint, there are ten activities forbidden to us. Even so, we are capable of committing these acts. It would have been easy enough to make the human mind unable to conceive of such things, but God did not do this. We are expected as rational men and women to make the correct choices. We also call God our Father.

From a parenting standpoint, we do not always prevent our children from erring. The rationale for this is simple: This is how we learn. As humans, it is neither possible nor prudent for us to stop our children from making every mistake. Afterwards, adults should always help children dust themselves off and start over.

Besides, without evil actions, we would be unable to show what good people we can be. So instead of asking why God allows it, let’s instead try to help fix it. It is often said that God has no hands on Earth but ours. Let’s get together and use them.