If I Were God, I'd End All the Pain, Pt 5- Chapter 4

"The Justice of God”

“So much of the evil and suffering experienced in our world results from human decisions, from the potent reality of our will.”

In this chapter, Dickson presents a biblical perspective on justice and why God does not prevent pain and suffering. As you have seen, he has presented us with two ideas. One, the presence of pain and suffering in the world is due to our own free, independent will. Two, God will right the wrongs and will bring justice to the world, in his own timing.

Why does God not simply override our wills?
I found what Dickson wrote about free will really interesting and thought-provoking. In some ways we do think that God should intervene and prevent a terrible human action, like a parent watching their child would do if they saw that the child was about to do something wrong. The parent would step in and prevent the child from doing what they shouldn’t do. In some ways, I guess God does do this. He instructs us and teaches us, but we don’t listen. I couldn’t help but think that I wouldn’t mind it if God was more “active” and stepped in to stop, say, somebody from committing murder or rape. On the other hand, how would that influence us as human beings if that were the case?

As we know, there are times when a child needs to do the wrong thing in order to learn and grow into a more mature adult. So, does that mean that part of this free will business is that God is shaping us to: a) be more like him, and b) to become truly dependent upon him?

What we have to remind ourselves is that not only are we given the choice to do “bad”, but we’re also given the choice to do “good”, it’s just a bit harder for use to choose to do good, isn’t it?

I wonder, though, how we should then respond to the occurrences of the world that cause human suffering but aren’t caused by humans?

It’s helpful to remind ourselves that this world is a fallen and broken world and we should not expect things to be perfect.

The Bible’s answer is that he will do something
One day, God will bring justice. I liked what Dickson said about it: “He has set a Day of Judgement at the end of history precisely because his personality is a unique blend of pure justice mixed with boundless patience, mercy and love.” I find this reassuring.

I wonder, though, how a non-Christian would respond to this? Is this only reassuring to me because I not only believe in God, but hold onto this truth?

If I Were God, I'd End All the Pain, Pt 4 - Chapter 3

"An Invitation to Doubt" - Faithful Doubting?

In this chapter, Dickson argues that the bible, although doesn't necessarily answer all our questions on pain and suffering, it encourages the believer to openly question God. Dickson sees there's a real "tension and complexity" in the Biblical perspective.

Part of this "tension and complexity" in the Bible's treatment of suffering, Dickson argues, is the way in which it encourages or supports "our right to question God". This is interesting. I've never taken this view before and I'm not sure I agree. My issue is with Dickson's use of the words "endorse" and "right". Even though there are many instances in the Bible of people crying out "Why" to God (Dickson uses Psalm 22 as an example), I'm not sure the Bible would go as far as using these examples to say we have a "right" to question God. It's only human to doubt God and ask why (we're sinful creatures after all) and it's assuring for us to see that very faithful people experience very human feelings. But I wouldn't necessarily say that the Bible "endorses our right to question God." I don't think that it's encouraging us to doubt God nor do I think we have a right to question God.

Later on in the chapter, Dickson elaborates on this view further by further discussing Psalm 22. He sees the presence of this Psalm as a reminder "that we have God's permission to express our disappointment." Perhaps this is a better way of putting it, rather than endorsing "our right to question God."

My concern is that Dickson is only presenting half of the issue. Let me see if I can articulate this succinctly...It does appear that we have the freedom in our faith to openly question God. There are many examples of this in the bible. But, the other side of it is that we trust that God is in control, even though we may not understand why. Psalm 22 cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" but in Psalm 23 it says, "My Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want."

But, that is the point that Dickson is making, is it not? That we have the freedom to ask why. I wouldn't necessarily say 'doubt', but we can ask why.

In Dickson's opening sentence he says, "...my own view is not that the Bible presents a crystal clear account of evil and pain...". Does he mean that the Bible does not entirely explain whys and hows of suffering? The existence of it? I'm not entirely sure I agree with this. What do you think?

I found this chapter interesting and I'm not too sure about some of the points Dickson has raised. I'd love you to share your comments and see what you thought.