God Doesn’t ‘Allow’ or ‘Use’ Suffering: He Redeems It

A different perspective on pain, suffering, and evil

Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash

It’s popular among Christians to attribute pain, suffering, and even genuine evil to God’s Will.

• “God gives us free will, and we use it to cause bad things.”
• “God uses pain and suffering to draw us closer to Him.”
• “Pain and suffering make us stronger and more Christ-like.”
• “God is like the vine-dresser who prunes vines. It’s painful but beneficial.”

These and similar statements share an underlying theology — God controls everything, including some bad things that He allows or uses for an edifying purpose. Everything happens for a reason.

That theology also suggests we must leave behind our modernist assumption that we shouldn’t suffer and embrace the older view that suffering produces growth and development.

I disagree with the deterministic “God-controls-everything-and-everything-happens-for-a-reason” theology for four reasons, not including the reason that I believe there’s a much better alternative.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”