Suffering
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Suffering
The world is full of human pain and suffering, both
physical and mental. Sometimes we suffer because we do
not get what we want or need. We also suffer if we have to
endure something we don’t want.
Make a list of all the examples of suffering you can
think of:
Volcano disasters
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From your brainstorm you may have already noticed that
suffering can be divided into many types. For example,
suffering which is individual, self-inflicted, medical and wide
scale are all different types of pain with different causes.
Although there are many types of pain, most suffering
can be said to be caused by one of two things:
!   human action
!   the natural world.
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All suffering is a result of either human action or the
natural world. Make a list of suffering, categorizing
your examples as either having natural causes or
human causes.
Human Causes
September 11th – World
Trade Center
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Natural Causes
Volcano disasters
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The problem of evil
The fact that suffering exists can be a problem for
believers who are faced with the question:
Why would a benevolent (or
all loving) God allow suffering
in a world which He created?
Philosophers call this question,
‘The Problem of Evil’.
70,000 people died in
this earthquake in Peru.
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Epicurus
In around 300 BC, the ancient thinker Epicurus put the
problem as follows:
‘Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then
He is not omnipotent. Is He able but not willing?
Then He is Malevolent. Then whence evil?’
The problem arises if one believes that God is all powerful
and completely loving which is a belief held by the three
major world faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
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Natural evil
Many theists (those who believe God is all loving and all
powerful) respond to the problem of evil by suggesting that a
lot of suffering is caused by nature.
In the same way that foxes kill rabbits to survive, so too can
humans be killed or injured by the planet’s natural cycle of
birth and death.
!   Can you think of a case of suffering where this is
true?
!   Can you think of a case of suffering caused by
nature where this explanation is not enough?
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Freedom
Theists suggest that the remainder of suffering is caused by
humanity’s free will, which they refer to as moral evil.
The writer and Christian philosopher C S Lewis was a
believer of this argument which states that:
‘Humans are free to do good or bad. Even an omnipotent
God could not logically create humans who are free to do
only good. Therefore evil is an inevitable consequence of
human freedom.’
!   Can you think of a case of suffering where this
argument makes sense?
!   Can you think of a case of suffering caused by
humanity where this explanation is not enough?
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Is man’s freedom worth such a high price?
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Was Hitler’s freedom to commit evil so precious that it was
worth the destruction of the freedom of his six million
victims?
Is it any comfort to those who suffer that they do so for the
sake of freedom?
Could freedom be possible at a lesser price?
If God created people who can’t fly, why couldn’t God
create people who couldn’t kill or injure each other?
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The problem of evil – summary
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Christian response to suffering
Although not all Christians believe in the literal truth of the
story of Adam and Eve, most believe that it illustrates the
causes and effects of suffering in the world.
Do you know this story?
Christians believe that when we suffer, it is a cause of
either human choice or natural order. When we suffer,
God also suffers and He does not want to see his people
in pain. In fact, through faith in God, suffering can be
eased and will come to a complete end once we reach
heaven.
To understand human suffering, God sent his only son,
Jesus, to die on the cross.
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Jesus dies on the cross
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Jesus’ agony in the garden
Before Jesus’ death, he was in the Garden of Gethsemane
with his disciples. Although the disciples knew Jesus needed
them, they kept falling asleep. At this time, Jesus showed his
humanity through his loneliness and fear of suffering, asking
his father to prevent his death if possible:
‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you.
Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you
will.’ (Mark 14:36)
Jesus chooses not to run from his death but dies on the cross.
!   Why is this story important for Christians?
!   How do you face opposition, failure and rejection?
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Jesus’ suffering
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Who was Maximilian Kolbe?
St Maximilian was born Raymond Kolbe in
Poland on 8 January, 1894. In 1910, he
entered a Franciscan Order and was sent
to study in Rome where he was ordained
a priest in 1918.
In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the
Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another
prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation
bunker. On 14 August 1941, his impatient captors ended his
life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized
Maximilian as a ‘martyr of charity’ in 1982.
St Maximilian helped to ease another man’s suffering in
the name of Christianity. Can you think of anyone else
who has helped to ease suffering?
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Buddhist response to suffering
Buddhists do not believe that suffering is a philosophical
problem at all. In fact, Buddhists try to see suffering as
having a place within our world. Buddhists call suffering
dukkha which translates as pain and suffering, and also
includes minor irritations.
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The Four Noble Truths
For Buddhists, suffering means never being satisfied. The
idea of reaching a state where we have everything we desire
and nothing we dislike is impossible. We should therefore
seek to find peace with the life we have been given.
The Noble Eightfold Path consists of the eight steps by
which a person can achieve Nirvana. This is the path by
which one ceases to desire and thereby ceases to suffer.
This path leads to a form of meditation which enables a
person to reach enlightenment.
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The Four Noble Truths
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The Noble Eightfold Path
Do you know what any of the eight stages are?
Right mindfulness
Right views
Right effort
Right intention
Right concentration
Right action
Right livelihood
Right speech
How do you these steps could be put into practice?
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Practising the Noble Eightfold Path
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All life is suffering – your views
Think of three things that you really wanted and
eventually got.
!   When you got these things, did they make you happy?
!   If so, how long did the feelings last?
!   Is there anything different you want now?
Do you agree with the Buddhist view that ‘all life is
suffering’ due to our own futile desire for perfection?
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Discussion
Everyone suffers at some time in their lives.
Think of a time which involved suffering for you.
!
!
!
!
What was the cause of your suffering?
Explain the details of your suffering
Who else felt your suffering?
Has your suffering now come to an end?
!   Did you learn or gain anything (however small) from your
time of suffering?
My parents are
divorced
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I broke my
arm when I
was eight
My dog
died last
year
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