No Suffering, no Jesus

In moving forward now the most obvious answer to give to the previous question posed…

Why didn’t God just create a heavenly world with heavenly bodies in the first place? Theists typically believe that a heaven awaits faithful believers when they die, where there will be no “death, or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev 21:4), where believers will have incorruptible bodies (1 Cor. 15:30 ff.), in a perfect existence. So why didn’t God just create a perfect existence in the first place?

Is that God wanted a world in which Jesus Christ lived and died for our sins. If hypothetically God had just created a perfect existence then there would have been no need for a savior, no need for Jesus Christ, God’s son to enter time and space on earth.

This of course is the position made so clear by the letter to the church in Colossae,

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together, (Colossians 1:15-17).

God’s priority in the creation of the earth was to make it with His son Jesus Christ and also to make Jesus Christ the beginning and then end of everything, within creation. Paul the Apostle echoes this idea in his letter to the Corinthians.

…yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist (1 Corinthians 8:6).

If we take suffering our of creation then inevitability we must take sin out of creation as all suffering is a result of sin. If there is a sinless creation then there is no need for a savior, consequently Jesus Christ is not required. God’s plan for creation was to uphold, magnify and exalt his Son Jesus Christ. For this to happen there needed to be sin and suffering.

Now this may seem a little unsavory for our spiritual palate. It looks an awful lot like some divine form of utilitarianism, God needs suffering of His creation and evil in his creation in order for the greater good of exalting Jesus. Why couldn’t God exalt Jesus without suffering? Why allow humans to go through such agonies in order that His son may be exalted.

The answer to this question lies in how the savior is exalted. That is, the physical suffering, death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus. God allows suffering because Jesus Christ will save us from suffering by suffering. Or to put it another way, pain is present in our world in order that pain may be ceased through pain of Himself as God. This is why God is not doing utilitarian ethics, God wanted Jesus to be a saviour but that meant Jesus would have to suffer. Before any human suffering (or any suffering for that matter) took place in this imperfect world God new His son would suffer and die unjustly.   

We may now come to the first part of answering this question posed by the atheist Loftus. God didn’t just create a perfect, sinless world, because He Jesus Christ within the world. The logic of creation is crucial here. If Jesus is before all creation then He is the priority over suffering. Why is there suffering, because God wanted Jesus Christ. We may explore reasons why God wanted this above a suffering world but for the moment this point can be sustained.

Imagine if God just did make us all live in a perfect heaven. Whilst lovely this would mean that we would never know the experience to the answers of these questions…Would God save us if we rebelled? How would he do it? Would it cost him anything to rescue us if He was willing? All these questions are answered in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the perfect creation does arrive those there will bask in the glory of the knowledge of what God has done with an imperfect suffering creation.

Obviously the creation of a perfect and sinless would is by far the easier option for God as it involves only creation. Consequently this is less glorifying to God that creation, redemption and re-creation. The creation of a world where sin and suffering is divinely permitted shows us much more of God’s character and how worthy he is as our God. God is a God not just of creative power, but of mercy, compassion, justice and redemption. God will create a perfect world but only after we fully grasp the type of God he is and therefore praise him all the more for what he has done for us. 

As a result this is quite a comforting piece of news for those suffering. Christianity teaches that if you suffer, you are not alone, Jesus suffers with you. Not only does Jesus sympathise with you but he is also the answer to suffering. Trust in Jesus will one day mean the end of suffering. Any person suffering does so not in vain or without theological point, rather it is there for Jesus to deal with.