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(this is normally called "the problem of evil".) Howard Taylor None of what is written below should be taken to mean that Howard Taylor thinks the problem of evil is easy to solve. He is aware (as far as one can be) of the appalling suffering that many endure. However here are few thoughts from him who is a former teacher missionary in one of Africa's poorest countries who then became a parish minister in Scotland and is now a university chaplain and lectuer: 1. The "problem of evil" assumes that the world and we ourselves are not what we ought to be. That very sense of `ought' strongly implies a sense of goodness that transcends us but impinges upon us, giving us both a conscience and a desire to make things better. 2. In my Scottish Parish experience, in the context of personal tragedy, although there were some who gave up faith, more moved in the opposite direction - coming from no faith to faith. 3. In my 16 years in one of the world's poorest countries where infant and premature deaths are common place and where also the Christian Church is growing fast, only one person ever asked me the Western world's common question: `How can a good God allow suffering?' 4. C. S. Lewis reminded us that, for hundreds of years, God was universally believed in before the invention of chloroform. 5. The book of Genesis tells us that when God looks on the violence of the world "His heart is filled with pain". The whole Bible shows us how this is the experience of God throughout world history. It is focussed in the Cross of Christ where God Himself bears our sins and sufferings and triumphs over them forever. 6. One should never give a lecture to a mother (say) who has lost a child. Nevertheless at the foot of the Cross, with a conviction that Eternity exists (a very reasonable belief), countless people have found peace and purpose in the presence of tragedy. 7. If our culture teaches us that this world is supposed to be a pleasure beach we will complain. If we taught that it is a place of punishment we'll be pleasantly surprised. Neither is the case. 8. If we realise that: (a) Each of us is partly responsible for the suffering of others.then we can make sense of our lives on earth and find a true joy that will one day find its fulfilment in heaven.
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