ONE INFINITE REFERENCE POINT: Part II of Why Not? - a Perspective on Suffering

Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe; in other words, an existence without God.

Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) said, "No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point.”

Albert Camus (1913-1960) summed up Sartre and Existentialism this way, “The only really serious question is whether or not to commit suicide.”

Philosopher-Mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) concluded, “Atheists must build their lives on unyielding despair.”

Three Existential Atheists, all Nobel Prize Winners, by the way, who were active in promoting the non-existence of God. (They now know different since they are all dead.) They also had a great deal of influence on modern thought and many in the world today accept that if there is no infinite reference point then “there is no solid basis for meaning, dignity or morality.” As a result we live in a world of unyielding despair indeed.

I agree that what they say is true, except they were wrong about one thing. There is an infinite reference point.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Revelation 22:12-15 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

God is the infinite reference point.

So, the Atheists answer the “Why me?” question with no answer at all, except despair and suicide.

When it comes to suffering, there is a second common question and it arises as a reason either for someone’s disbelief or for their losing their faith.

It is put as either, “How can God let this happen?” and/or “I can’t believe in a God who would let this happen?”

In 2008, Bart Ehrman, a University professor considered a top expert on New Testament Scripture,

wrote a book called God's Problem. The theme is how Dr. Ehrman lost his faith because he could not

come to terms with the various reasons he perceived in the Bible for why there is suffering. The Old Testament prophets said this and Jesus said that and Paul said something else and so on and so forth. I don't think it is God's problem; it is Dr. Ehrman's problem. He subtitled the book, “How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer.” I feel bad for him because by removing his once and future infinite reference point, God, he is left with nothing but the suffering. Without God suffering becomes the infinite reference point just going on and on.

At Iron Faith we often use verse 24 from Psalm 118: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” There are other verses in this Psalm giving this one power because they indicate the Psalmist life wasn’t always joyful.

Verse 5, for instance, “Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.”

Or verse 13: “I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.

And verse 18: The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

A man in distress, falling and being severely disciplined; what is there to rejoice in there?

Because he endured through these sufferings by keeping his eye and heart on the one infinite reference point, knowing that God would save him in the end.

Consider these, because these are the type of things where people ask, “How can God allow it?”

China has an earthquake--32,477 dead. Myanmar has a cyclone--78,000 dead.

How could God allow this amount of suffering? Isn't God in control, if there is a God?

But you know something, one of those disaster figures is above the weekly average and the other well under the weekly average for deaths, which are 54,982 per week or 2,859,055 deaths a year. Yes, on average a person dies every 11 seconds. That means there are families and friends who suffer a loss every 11 seconds. You must remember this is the world. Nobody gets out alive. It isn’t how many die in a given moment, it is we all die and it is just a matter of when and how.

This is Earth, not Heaven. Heaven is perfect. Earth is not, here everybody gets hurt.

So again, is God in control?

Absolutely.

He created this world and the universe and because he was an intelligent designer, his design has rules and laws. For instance, the earth is wrapped with a bunch of plates. The tectonics of these plates, caused by the flow of rock within the earth, causes rubbing and bumps and occasional overlapping, which we call earthquakes. There are scientific reasons for cyclones and typhoons and other rages of nature as well. We people build and live in areas prone to such things. When they happen people get hurt. Once there were less people living on a fault line or along the shore or other places where harsh weather can be common, so less people died, less damage occurred. More people live in these danger zones now, thus more deaths, more damage.

Other deaths and tragedies happen because of peoples’ behavior. If I were a bus driver who got drunk and ran my bus full of passengers into a bridge abutment at 80 miles an hour, should we blame God?

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. --Matthew 5:45

We all suffer hurt, the good and the bad, the believer and the skeptic, the churchgoer and the Atheist. When God created the earth it was good, but he allowed his creatures free will. He did not create us as empty-headed robots. God did not cause sin or death. He allowed the possibility of sin and death and put the decision in our hands. Even when God brings Discipline upon us, it is often the result of a decision we made, and usually opposite of what God has told us. And if you trust humankind to end all this and make the Earth better, then you aren't reading the daily newspapers, or your Bibles either. No, things in this world will not get better, they will get worse. That means a lot of suffering to be endured.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13

So instead of running from God when bad things happen, we should run to him. When we shut God out all we are left with are the bad things. And if someone dies and you are grieving and ask where is God; he is at the same place he was when his son died on the cross. He is grieving too.

We will end this post with another Jean-Paul Sartre bromide: "That God does not exist, I cannot deny, that my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget."

God does exist, which I am sure Jean-Paul knows now, and his whole being cried out for God because it has been built into our DNA to cry out for God. [Romans 2:11-16, Ecclesiastes 3:11] My prayer is that we all could believe so God could wipe away our tears. And you remember what was echoed in Matthew 22 was first found in Deuteronomy 6:4-8, because the New Testament did not replace the Old Testament, it fulfilled it.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

I will give you two things to consider before my next post:

One, see if you can think of a major character in the Bible who didn’t suffer.

Two, below is Psalm 88 and it is a clue to the first reason for suffering, which we will deal with next. I want you to try and figure out what that reason is. I think this is a tough one because this is a very unusual psalm and the reason for the psalmist’s suffering isn’t immediately obvious.

PSALM 88 (ESV)

1 O Lord, God of my salvation;

    I cry out day and night before you.

2 

Let my prayer come before you;

    incline your ear to my cry!

3 

For my soul is full of troubles,

    and my life draws near to Sheol.

4 

I am counted among those who go down to the pit;

    I am a man who has no strength,

5 

like one set loose among the dead,

    like the slain that lie in the grave,

like those whom you remember no more,

    for they are cut off from your hand.

6 

You have put me in the depths of the pit,

    in the regions dark and deep.

7 

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,

    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

8 

You have caused my companions to shun me;

    you have made me a horror to them.

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

9 

    my eye grows dim through sorrow.

Every day I call upon you, O Lord;

    I spread out my hands to you.

10 

Do you work wonders for the dead?

    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

11 

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,

    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

12 

Are your wonders known in the darkness,

    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 

But I, O Lord, cry to you;

    in the morning my prayer comes before you.

14 

O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?

    Why do you hide your face from me?

15 

Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,

    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

16 

Your wrath has swept over me;

    your dreadful assaults destroy me.

17 

They surround me like a flood all day long;

    they close in on me together.

18 

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;

    my companions have become darkness.


References: John 1:1-5, Revelation 22:12-15, Psalm 118, Matthew 5:45, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Romans 2:11-16, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Deuteronomy 6:4-8, Psalm 88    
NEXT TIME: BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE THIS
Illustration at the top of this post"

"God the Father" by Leon Frederic, date unknown.