The Problem of Pain

In The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis tackles something that is really beyond our understanding.  After reading the chapter assigned, I came to the conclusion that I didn't really learn anything.  This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing.  In fact, I suppose I did hear Lewis's opinion on it.  However, I believe that just about everything he says in this paper is fact, rather than predicated on belief.

It does not matter how old you are, that someday you will wonder why pain is even on this earth.  Or for instance, why there is even sin.  I am not writing to provide the answers, I am only writing to refute acclaimed answers.  For example, it is a written belief by one certain sect of Christianity that "God was not the author of Sin."  This statement, in my mind, makes no sense.  It does't matter how many sentences follow this to make the belief sound better (for example, "God allows sin to go on by the work of the Devil..."), because at the end of the day, God did not create everything on this earth.  For that matter, he did not create pain.  I do not agree with that statement, of course, I am merely displaying an obvious predicament to the belief.  Lewis writes that God speaks softly to us in pleasure, but yells with a megaphone at us when we are in pain.  We must understand that pain is a tool that God has, that is actually a very effective tool.

In a previous blog, I have written about the instance in which "God hardened Pharaoh's heart."  I believe that this can be represented with The Problem of Pain.  It is an easy comparison...why would God (specifically God, not Satan) make him not let the Israelites go.  At the same token, why is my friends mother dying of cancer?  Why is the adulterous husband not repenting of his destruction?  Many people simply say that these scenarios just simply do not parallel the one in the Bible, for, if they did, then that might imply that God is working against us.  Once again, I must state that I do not believe this but am merely displaying a belief (I have been known to confuse readers).  My point is, why wouldn't God let the Israelites go right off the bat?  Surely he had the power to do so.  Now, the obvious answer is to say that he did it to display his power and glory, which I will not argue.  But, what about the man who goes to his grave never professing Jesus Christ as his savior?  Where is God's power now?  God never "softened" the adulterer's heart...why not?

I am not going to answer the question that we have all wondered at one time or another, but I will provide my belief.  I believe that God will use the adulterer to display his Glory in the next life.  For eventually "Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess..."  And, if you can bear with me (it is beyond my understanding), God's glory is GREATER because of sin.