Why Has God Allowed the Coronavirus?
If this question hasn’t been posed to you lately, it will be soon…especially when COVID-19 hits close to home through the death of a friend or family member. It’s then that the issue isn’t merely hypothetical but intensely personal. And people will be looking for an answer.
The “why” question of pain and suffering has been asked by countless people – both believers and unbelievers – down through the ages. Indeed, it’s resulted in an entire area of philosophy called “theodicy.”
While most people don’t have the time or energy to plumb the depths of that, they are nonetheless hungry for some kind of explanation. Moreover, if they aren’t, they have friends who certainly are.
So how might we help folks with this? For that matter, perhaps you’re struggling with this personally.
I came across a tweet on Twitter recently that I found to be really helpful toward that end. It’s an excerpt from an interview (published April 9, 2020) that Cara Bentley of Premier Christianity had with a theologian named Tim Keller. Among the questions she asked was “Why has God allowed Coronavirus to happen?”
Here is a transcript of Keller’s response.
There are three things to say. The first thing is: why weren't you asking that question before? In other words, when something bad happens to me, that's when I start wondering about God, when actually bad things have been happening for centuries. The Bible is filled with discussions about it. The book of Job is all about that. Job had a terrible life, way worse than anybody I know.
Secondly, there's a philosophical answer. The philosophical answer is, if you have a God big and powerful enough to be mad at for not stopping suffering, then you also have a God big and powerful enough who has some good reasons – that you can’t think of - for why he hasn't stopped it. You can't say 'because I can't think of any reason why God hasn't stopped all the suffering, there can't be one'. That doesn't make sense. If you have a God big enough to be mad at, you've a God big enough to be wiser than you. Philosophically that works, but it's cold comfort to a person who's actually in pain.
If you have a God big enough to be mad at, you've a God big enough to be wiser than you. – Tim Keller
Thirdly, the more personal answer is, I don’t know the reason for your suffering. But I do know what it's not. It's not that God doesn't love you. Christianity, uniquely among all the religions of the world, says that God actually came to earth and got involved in our suffering in order to someday end it without ending us.
I don’t know the reason for your suffering. But I do know what it's not. It's not that God doesn't love you. – Tim Keller
Over the years, as a pastor and a sufferer, that has been the thing that's helped my heart. Jesus suffered. He understands. I don't have a God who's remote. He must have a good reason why he hasn't stopped it yet. But it can't be that he doesn't love me, because look what he did on the cross.
God did not create a world with suffering in it. Genesis says that was not his original design. The suffering and evil in the world are due to our turning away from him, and he's going to end it at some point. We don’t know when that's going to be, but he says he's committed to wiping every tear away.
If you’d like to watch the entire interview, you can do so HERE.
To be sure you need to be careful when and where you offer this explanation. People who are in agonizing pain or devastating grief don’t want a reasoned argument. They need sympathy and empathy. They need our tears more than our words.
However, the time might come, and the occasion might arise when folks are open to hearing a bit of an answer as to the “why” of suffering. And it’s then that Keller’s words might find a receptive ear and an open heart.
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