Healing and the Problem of Evil

There's a rather old, tired question still floating around. I've linked this post to another person's perspective on it - though I don't agree with them - just to show it's still on people's minds from time to time.

If God is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, why is there suffering/evil in the world?

I'll continue to refer to these "all" attributes later in this post:

1. benevolent/loving ("all-good")
2. omniscient ("all-knowing")
3. omnipotent ("all-powerful")
   

[This is widely known as the "Problem of Evil".]


I read an article today where a Christian minister rationalizes why God doesn't heal. The man does not specifically identify the assumptions made in said "old, tired question", but by researching him a bit, I've confirmed he subscribes to the traditional line of thinking, and these assumptions are specifically explained (and affirmed) on his website.

This man is a pastor, has a doctorate in theological studies, and wants to see people healed. He's frustrated (as many believers are) that healing is not apparently predicable. Many people strike up quite a bit of controversy because it effects their view of suffering around them, and how loved-ones often perish in seemingly unjust ways. These issues come into starker contrast when considering, "Why doesn't God heal me?", or "Why doesn't God heal this person I love?"

First, in Psalm 103:3, "He forgives all ours sins and heals all our diseases." Psalms aren't the best books in the scripture to be taken literally, so maybe "all" is a bit of an overstatement; other parts of scripture suggest that blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not forgivable, and we see by practical experience that some people aren't healed. Then again, I'm generally optimistic, so maybe we're just missing something.

In his attempt to explain God not healing some of his parishioners, the man offers seven possible factors. One of them boils down to the oh-so-cliché "God works in mysterious ways", so I won't give it much airtime. The other six all in some way violate one or more of the three assumptions above, or suffer some invalidity on other grounds.

[Be advised, this is an exercise to demonstrate by example that even those who claim to believe the assumptions listed above clearly do not hold them constant. My own views are stated at the end, so skip the point-by-point titles if you like. I've also paraphrased some of the titles for brevity.]

1. Lack of Faith

[Violates God's benevolence.] So, you're telling me God won't heal me because the guy praying for me doesn't have (enough) faith? WTF, this from a "loving" God?! That's neither fair nor just.
Or maybe you're telling me God won't heal me because I don't have (enough) faith...

Scripture includes many examples where people clearly didn't have the faith Jesus expected of them. So what does he do? He gives them more reason to have faith! He does NOT condemn/refuse them for it. (Mark 9:14...) A father comes to Jesus to heal his dying/dead son, and says "I believe, help my unbelief", and Jesus heals the son. 'nuf said.

2. Sin

[Violates God's omnipotence.] Erm, so now you're telling me that God doesn't have power over sin? What's this business of the crucifixion then? I seem to recall something about forgiveness in that whole thing...

(John 9) Outside the temple there was a blind man who Jesus healed. He pretty much writes sin off as irrelevant to the man's blindness.

3. "because the sick don't want to be healed"

[Violates God's omnipotence.] Perhaps they're complacent in their sickness/disability. Yeah, I'll give you that. Some people have such issues.

But this requires that God either cannot or chooses not to override freewill (i.e. willingly or not, effectively diminishing His power), even if it's for the good of the person who rejects His love.

4. "you do not have because you do not ask"

[Violates His omniscience.] He supposed that if they don't pray persistently, the "door" isn't "opened". Didn't they knock, if even once? Yes, the scripture recommends persistence in prayer, but why would an all-knowing God require it? Didn't He hear you the first time? I assert that considering this as a limiting factor in healing violates the assumption of God's omniscience.

5. "the demonic cause of the affliction has not been addressed."

[Violates His omnipotence.] While there's scriptural precedent, every case I know of involved Jesus casting out the demonic power. So... what's the problem? God has power over the demons, according to scripture. If there are demons involved, why wouldn't He do something about them?

6. God works in mysterious ways

I don't buy it. I'm tired of this one, honestly. The day I fall back to this as an explanation is the day I write myself off as a fool. I won't claim to understand God fully, but chalking something up to "mystery" in this context is the same as giving up.

Personally, I will fervently pursue truth and understanding ... forever. If I don't understand something now, I'll keep studying, praying, and learning from my experience. Until I have a substantiated theory, I'll provide an honest best guess, not some "mystery".

I just don't think a loving God, who specifically identifies His offer of eternal life as knowing Him (John 3:17), would make Himself unknowable.

7. There's something to learn in sickness that you won't learn in health

[Violates God's benevolence.] Huh. That's like saying "Nope, keep suffering, it's good for you."... Go figure. A loving God, eh?

I can't think of a single biblical example where that idea is expressed. On the other hand, there's always the (overused) Romans 8:28, when all else fails.
Reminds me of a neighbor once who told me that anytime I hear "it builds character", it means yer gonna get shat on.

What I actually believe.

So I'm really attacking two problems here.

First, the Problem of Evil - I recognize evil and suffering in the world, but I do not hold all three of the assumptions it requires; thus it's not a "problem" to me.

Evil and suffering are products of lots of different things. The first three: you, me, and everyone else - we all treat each other poorly from time to time, sometimes downright mean and sinister. There's a degree of chance and accident to it as well - traffic collisions, for example - generally not intentional, though sometimes the result of bad decisions, can bring a lot of suffering. There may also be "otherworldly" forces at play, but I personally have not had recent encounters with them, so I can't attest to their activity.

I don't think God knows the future. I don't think God necessarily knows everything about the present either. The Old Testament describes Him searching the earth for righteous people - why would He have to search if He already knew either the present and/or the future?

I don't think God is really omnipotent either, at least not in practice. Yeah, He's sovereign, not subject to my will or anyone else's, but He rarely overrides the freewill of any person, in effect limiting Himself. And you can bet He's quite powerful even still, just that He doesn't always exercise it in full and we don't always notice.

I do think God is benevolent. I know He's occasionally changed His mind (several times in the Old Testament, and you might see the Old v.s. New covenants as an evolution of salvation...). I think He's regretted a few things which have gotten Him some bad PR in the past too, like destroying cities here and there, that sort of thing - probably not widely seen as benevolence. None the less, I suppose maybe He's learned, I've not heard of Him doing anything nasty lately - though I've heard people blame certain catastrophes on Him, which I think is undue.

Second, on healing, my experiences convince me it's certainly possible; I've seen it. I do not have a one-size-fits-all explanation for why it sometimes/often doesn't happen, or even a list of possible factors.

It just blows me away that people try to rationalize the absence of healing. You'd think people would spent more time trying to rationalize its presence, given modern skepticismscience.

I think people who try to rationalize or create systems for healing (or the lack thereof) are on the wrong track. I think healing, like a great many things in life is a case-by-case sort of thing. My experience tells me this: when God wants it, and I want it, and the other person/people involved want it, it can happen. My involvement has been simple - I pray, I listen, I obey. From there it's ... well, not particularly well understood, by me anyway, but seems quite simple from my angle.

I can only say that when I operate under this perspective, interesting things happen. I don't often pray for healing, but the few times I have, it's worked. I try not to overthink it.


PS: on occasions when a loved-one is ill, I pray for them. I do not necessarily pray for healing. I don't sincerely pray for healing unless I'm convinced it's the right thing. I don't always know that.

Be Human, Be Holy

"Be holy, just as I am holy", said YHWH to Yisrael in the early books. Curious that the nation's name, and that of its ancestor (Israel) has sometimes been interpreted "struggles with/against God", as though we may be at odds with YHWH and company.

Genesis 32:28 -

And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

That guy combated an angel and survived - by no means do I understand that in practical terms, but I can imagine it'd be rather an outstanding experience. He fought a messenger of God and stood his ground. The point of the passage is that he has social, physical, and spiritual power. And he was blessed. A society was named after him. ... Makes you wonder.

As I've pondered in some of my posts on this blog in the last couple years, godly power is not beyond the reach of mankind. Forgiveness is an exercise of godly power. Jesus specifically stated that He expected us to do miraculous works. That means healings, no shortage of sustenance, and whatever "moving mountains" means. I'm curious.

God is primarily loving. God created us in His/Their image, in likeness. God designed us to be like Him, and thus, primarily loving. Humanness ought therefore be measured in terms of love, foremost among other things. The more we love, the more human we are, the more godly we are. Loving less makes us less human.

Love is oft forgiving. Forgiveness is the essence of Christ's covenant - He forgave us, we are obligated to forgive ourselves and others. Forgiving less makes us less human. Forgiving more makes us more godly.

I believe love and forgiveness are the seeds of establishing credibility of Spirit, by which we can exercise more of God's power.

We are not so unequal to God. We can be godly, and He/They expect us to be! That's not just in living a clean life, but in how we treat others - and it also bears the duty of exercising godly power... something I'm still working on ;)

Abraham reasoned with God, as did Moses. These men convinced God to change His/Their mind on more than one occasion. Clearly God sees our input as worthy of consideration - as though we could be, in some manner, equals. ... Though I recall some rhetorical question from the book of Job regarding who might advise God - I suspect that has more to do with false pride than godly equality.

As such, perhaps there are areas where I might legitimately disagree with God, and thus reason with Him. That doesn't make me implicitly right, of course, but it does allow me to pose questions and learn (when I'm wrong).

So, in the spirit of Yisrael, I will pursue holiness, and I will by all holy means pursue godly power, and I will pursue whatever Jesus meant of miracles. [Luke 16:16 - and I will take it by force.]

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PS: I'm not talking about floofy "love" here, I'm talking about really caring for people, helping them when they need, doing right by them, and being a benefit to society... in James' terms, "true religion" is helping the orphans and widows, the poor and needy and powerless. While I could rant on how the stereotypical [American] Christian often fails to conduct him/herself in this manner, that's not my job - judgment is not mine - I would say simply that these things [love and forgiveness] are critical to being a good person, regardless of religion, and I do hope all who read this would consider these principles regardless of their religious background.

Judgment (the lack thereof?)

This is a turning point in my understanding. I've recently been studying the concepts of justice and forgiveness in the New Testament, and come to a realization I hadn't before experienced. Further study is due, and I will update this essay as my understanding progresses.

In this I'm also exploring a new perspective: putting a lot more weight on Jesus' words than anyone else's. Obviously the red lettering is added after the fact, but the emphasis may well be due. Traditionally I've weighted it about the same with words of major authors of the NT, but perhaps no longer.

The essence of this study: those partake of the Covenant of Forgiveness with the Messiah are not judged for sin.

The substantiating evidence goes about like this...

1. "Judge not, that you not be judged...Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Matt 7:1, Luke 6:37 ESV) In other words, if you judge, you will be judged; therefore do not, and you will not. Some of the people I have consulted about this suppose that there are other factors contributing to the judgment one receives, but Jesus' words in this passage do not include such a supposition. In fact, the context supports the notion that one's judgment of other people directly influences the judgment of him/herself. [This passage, in my opinion, substantiates a critical point of the Covenant.] (See also Matt 6:14,15)
   
2. The Messiah also granted us the duty and privilege of exercising forgiveness on a larger scale, and alternatively withholding it - whom we forgive He shall forgive, and whom we do not forgive, He will not forgive (John 20:23; see also point 1).
3. The Covenant of Forgiveness (Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20) grants us forgiveness of our sins. This has two major impacts...
1. If we're forgiven anyway (pending repentance?), then why waste time judging us?
2. As parties to the Covenant, we ought keep up our end of it - in my understanding, that means we also have an obligation to forgive. (The Lord's Prayer, Matt 6:12)
   
4. Jesus welcomed the criminal who hung next to him on the Cross into Paradise "today", without apparently judging him. It's worth noting, in this case, that this criminal was well aware of his error and recognized Jesus' righteousness. (Luke 23:43)
   
5. Rather a curious coincidence:
   
1. "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22)
2. "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me." (John8:15-16)
3. "If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." (John12:47)

Boiling it down: It's all about forgiveness. We are NOT judged! That's why Jesus died, to establish the Covenant that we might be forgiven, and forgive. Forgiving is an exercise of the power of God! (Matt 9) This is becoming a reality in my spirit.

This change is refreshing for me. My previous perspectives have persistently had undertones of earning my righteousness - that never seems to work. That I will not be judged, that I am already forgiven, in keeping with the Covenant, is freeing indeed.

This is a different perspective than what I'm usually told. It seems Jesus did NOT pay our debt on the Cross... rather He CANCELED it! (Col 2:14) I've looked hard for clear passages, especially Jesus' words, indicating otherwise, but His parables, as well as the epistles, confirm this tangential notion as well. So... No debt. The debt is forgiven (not paid), and you don't need to earn the forgiveness - just keep the Covenant and forgive other people!

Again, this is a work in progress. I'll update it as more becomes clear.