The Problem of Pain

First off, I wish we had the opportunity to discuss this as a class because it would have greatly aided me in my understanding of the text. Nevertheless I will try to dissect the meaning myself.

What is this problem exactly, and what causes it? According to Lewis, "Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt." (90) It is so very important to keep in mind that pain is not something God wanted for us to experience, it is the in a sense the presence of evil in our world. Lewis follows that up by saying that, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain..." (91) Not only is this one of the most beautiful and poetic things I have ever read, it is something I had never noticed and thought about before. When we feel pain, whether it be emotional, physical, or spiritual, God takes the opportunity to speak to us because our attention has been grabbed. We must be careful to listen for God.

Pain is the face of evil. Wherever there is pain, there is evil, but that does not mean the one who feels the pain is one doing evil as seen in the Holocaust for example. The one question about this I have is war. If two men (who are enemies) are ordered to shoot at each other or else be shot themselves and they both do obey commands, are they both filled with evil at that point? Where does the evil lie, and who is at fault? It seems to me that it would have to trace back all the way to the top, but does that mean for the United States for example that our President and other leaders are bad people. I have no clue where the evil is found, even though evil can be found anywhere. I think that there is no real answer, but it is just the result of the fall of man.

Some people would say that pain is God punishing us, but that is about as far from the truth as you can possibly get. God does not make us pull the trigger, throw a punch, drop bombs (not in the baseball sense of the phrase of course), or draw blood with a knife. In fact, God tells us to turn the other cheek, not to get selfish revenge by striking back only to make matters worse. So, next time you feel pain, don't be quick to blame, but instead forgive the one who brought it on you and maybe even say a prayer.