Newsletter #119
On Suffering
Let’s Talk about the Elephant in the Room
I’ve mentioned once or twice in recent newsletters that I’ve had some health issues over the last year. I hasten to say that compared to the larger scope of medical issues people face, they have been minor: gallbladder, virus, infection, asthma—that sort of stuff. I find myself on the upswing of some of this, so I feel grateful. Eventually you feel you can only pay so many co-pays, take so much medicine (OTC and prescriptions), and reschedule so many meetings and plans. In truth, though, the pain is the biggest issue.
We don’t like pain. We don’t want to hurt. We don’t welcome suffering. Yet as many philosophers and poets have written—and ordinary folks like us have thought—life is suffering.
When any honest person says, “life is suffering,” they have to follow quickly with, “MUCH of life is suffering.” Even those who have known suffering on an epic scale would have to note that the life experience of most of their neighbors has not been one exclusively comprised of suffering. We tend to mean something a bit more nuanced: “Much of our lives involve suffering.” Or, “Each day seems to present some kind of challenge, whether physical, emotional, or otherwise.” Or, “The human experience in the world is largely a story of suffering.” “Life is suffering” becomes a gloss for one or all of these more carefully worded observations.
Years ago, I became convinced that the greatest crime of the prosperity gospel crowd wasn’t that they spoke of blessing and happiness too much. (Perhaps some confessional-conservative preachers like me could stand to teach a little more on those themes.) The greatest crime of the prosperity gospel is that it doesn’t account for (1) the vast degree of suffering in the human experience; and (2) the vast scope of biblical passages which deal with suffering. In that way, it is unrealistic, a disappointment, and dead-end.
I’ve been thinking of this theme in two unrelated ways recently. First, how should I be thinking of suffering as a biblical-theological category? Second, what should I be allowing God to do in my heart through my suffering? Both are profound questions without brief answers. Nevertheless, I’m going to begin wading into this here, with the intent to develop this more fully in a future newsletter.
Why We Suffer
This past Sunday night I shared a message at Hilltop Church in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina on this theme. Specifically, I identified five primary reasons why the Bible says we suffer.
1-We Suffer Because of Righteousness.
This form of suffering is what the Bible describes as persecution. We’re suffering because we’ve chosen to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
2-We Suffer Because of the Fall.
This form of suffering can perhaps be summed up as “sickness and storms.” These ‘natural evils’ flow from the curse associated with the Fall. Why do we get cancer? Why do we die? Why do tornados and hurricanes rip our homes from their foundations? Genesis 3.
3-We Suffer Because of Evil.
This form of suffering refers to the violence, broadly understood, that we experience at the hands of others. Whether it is literal violence (think murder) or something less severe (theft), both produce forms of suffering.
4-We Suffer Because of Obedience to Mission.
This form of suffering is related to the first, but it’s broader. Sometimes we experience loss simply because we sense a call from God to do something that brings discomfort, even if it falls short of persecution. Think of having to move far from your family to serve on the mission field. This is a type of sacrifice, and thus, a form of suffering. The apostle Paul’s shipwrecks could be in this category.
5-We Suffer Because of Sin.
This form of suffering may perhaps be the most common: our sinful choices invite suffering. A spouse’s adultery and drunkenness cause them to lose their marriage and custody of their kids. A church member persists in sin and is disciplined by the congregation. The law of sowing and reaping is at work here.
What do you think? Have I missed a category? Certainly, we could create some sub-categories within a few of these. I also don’t want to convey the idea that (1) these types of suffering don’t coincide or happen simultaneously; or (2) somehow God isn’t ultimately working providentially to use different kinds of suffering for similar ends. (Think of Him wanting to deepen our faith and make us humbler and more compassionate.) But I do think I can defend these categories using many biblical texts.
A crucial task for the church is to appreciate the full scope of biblical teaching on this incredibly relevant topic. We then need to begin asking “What’s happening?” instead of just “Why is this happening?” “Why questions” are notoriously difficult. Sometimes if we just ask, “What is happening?” we can better discern the nature of our situation. This might just aid us in responding more faithfully to each instance of suffering.
Follow-Up:
In Newsletter #86 I wrote about my experience in a PhD program. Specifically, I tried to express my thoughts as if I were writing to at least a few, discouraged, PhD candidates who were having trouble completing their dissertations. Enter Thomas Kidd, one of the most accomplished evangelical scholars-historians of our time. He has some excellent, practical advice to offer those working under deadlines, whether for dissertations, books, or other substantive writing projects. Take a look—his advice applies to a lot of us.
Quote of the Week:
To walk, then, is to inhabit a fitting scale and speed. It is the scale and speed at which our bodies are able to find their fit in the world, and the world rewards us by spurring our thinking and disclosing itself to us. Perhaps this is the deeper fitness we should actually be after.
This principle of proportionality or fittingness is one that we do well to remember and insist upon to whatever degree we are able because almost everything about the human-built world, in its economic and technological dimensions, is bent on pushing us past a human scale and speed, which then denies us the opportunity to cultivate our competence and enjoy its rewards. We are, in turn, sold a series of tools and techniques that promise to help us operate faster and more efficiently so that we may keep up with the inhuman demands. Some will even say that the point is to eventually slough off the encumbering body so that we may keep up with the machines and find our fit within the artificial systems we have built. Only exhaustion and alienation lie down this path.
L.M. Sacasas, “The Ambling Mind.”
What I’m Reading (or rereading):
James K. Dew and Ronnie P. Campbell, Natural Theology: Five Views.
Jonathan Leeman, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age.
Gordon T. Smith, Institutional Intelligence: How to Build an Effective Organization.
Common Grace Wisdom (CGW): How a Sensible Parent Handles Cyberbullying
I’ve recently enjoyed Katherine Johnson Martinko’s Substack, The Analog Family, which I’ve mentioned previously in this newsletter. She brings a lot of common sense (via common grace, no doubt) to bear on the work of parenting and family life in general.
One of her recent posts made me chuckle, though it’s no doubt a sad thing that it even had to be said. On the topic of cyberbullying, she wisely instructs parents: get off social media. Let me share the fuller context of her counsel:
An email landed in my inbox last week: “How to Stop Your Child From Being Cyberbullied, According to an Expert.” I clicked it open, read an introductory paragraph about how cyberbullying has become “a pervasive and distressing issue” that is negatively affecting many children’s mental well-being. The article offered tips for parents to “prevent and address” cyberbullying.
Curious, I kept reading. But what followed was the most insipid list of advice I’ve ever read. There were six suggestions: Keep records of incidents. Block bullies. Foster open communication. Monitor child’s online activity. Involve school authorities. Seek professional help.
A more apt headline might have been, “How to Do the Bare Minimum to Protect Your Child From Cyberbullying.”
I felt disbelief at how toothless all the suggestions were, how they avoided getting at the real root of the problem, which is that children are spending time in an online world where they do not belong and where they are exposed to an incessant barrage of outsized cruelty that parents cannot possibly dream of controlling.
Despite the obvious fact that removing the child from such an environment would be the most effective way to mitigate harm, not one of the “expert” suggestions was to get the child off social media. Nowhere did it say, “Deactivate your kid’s social media profiles and delete the apps from their phones,” even though that struck me as the most glaringly obvious and effective solution.
There was no reassurance that a child’s FOMO from being disconnected from (presumably nicer) friends would be a fraction of the pain inflicted by continually making themselves available to nasty online bullies. Instead, the subtext was to sit back and “watch, listen, communicate” while… what? Your child dies by a thousand micro-cuts? Just so they can stay “in the loop”?
There is a time and place for pushing a child out into the world and exposing them to challenging situations. This is not it.
Check out The Analog Family for the entire article.
Parting Shot
If your church is planning a summer VBS program, would you let me know? I’m doing some research on what churches are doing in 2024 with their summer ministry calendar.
