STORY OF THE WEEK: The Question I Was Asked Most When I Was a Pastor
And what it tells us about God and humanity
The trouble with being a pastor is that often, people expect you to have answers to life’s big existential questions.
“What is the meaning of life?”
“How do I know which religion is true?”
“Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?”
Heck, I don’t know! Maybe. Maybe not.
But, of all the thousands of questions that I was asked, there was just one question that came up over and over — more than any other. It seemed to echo through the halls of my church, reverberate in my inbox, and often catch me off guard in casual conversation.
Here it is:
“If God is so good, why do bad things happen?”
It’s a question that is deceptively simple yet profoundly complex. It has haunted theologians, philosophers, and seekers for centuries, and it’s one that doesn’t have a tidy, one-size-fits-all answer. For many, it’s a question born out of personal pain and tragedy — a desperate plea for understanding in the face of seemingly senseless loss. For others, it’s a philosophical puzzle, a challenge to reconcile the existence of a loving, all-powerful God with the presence of suffering and evil in the world.
As a pastor, I found myself grappling with this question on a regular basis, both in my own heart and mind and in the conversations I had with congregants, friends, and skeptics alike. In fact, I think the fact that we ask this question reveals an awful lot about human beings, God, and the universe.
A personal struggle
For much of my early life, I had neatly packaged answers to the question of suffering. It centered around the idea that we inhabit a fallen world where we live with the consequences of human sin. This was the story I was fed in the evangelical system. And, to be honest, as a pastor, I found solace in the familiar narratives of redemption and restoration found in the scriptures. I preached sermons on the importance of faith in the midst of trials, pointing to biblical figures like Job or the apostle Paul as examples of perseverance in the face of suffering.
Then, my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
Suddenly, the neat theological frameworks and comforting narratives I had relied on were shattered like fragile glass under the weight of a sledgehammer. The words I had spoken from the pulpit echoed back to me with painful irony, mocking my attempts to make sense of the senseless.
How could Adam and Eve eating a piece of forbidden fruit from a tree cause this? How could their actions thousands of years ago have any bearing on the pain and suffering we are experiencing in the here and now? Sure, everyone has made mistakes, but, come on, God… cancer!? Really?!
Suddenly, I imagined myself asking myself as a pastor the same question I was asked by many when I was a pastor: “If God is so good, why do bad things happen?”
Only this time, I had lost my confident swagger, and I was bereft of answers.
The unanswerable question
It’s time that I told the truth. I can’t tell you why God allows pain and suffering — at least not without sound pappy and manipulative. So, I’m not even going to try.
God doesn’t offer any explanations, either.
It’s incredibly unsatisfying.
There is only one thing that God offers in response to suffering in the world. And, it’s not an answer. It’s the question itself.
Let me explain.
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