Teaching Suffering

Scott Bader-Saye’s forthcoming book, “Following Jesus In A Culture Of Fear” deals with the issue of the protection of God. In an excerpt published in the July 10, 2007 issue of Christianity Today, Bader-Saye tells the story of a young man who is dying of cancer named Steve who receives a letter from a woman telling him that she knew it was God’s will for him to be healed, all he had to do was believe. Steve replied to her in a letter saying, in part, “I sincerely hope that if my cancer continues to grow, no one will see it as a failure of my faith in God, but that perhaps people can see me as faithful even if I die while I am still young. I do not claim to understand God’s will, but I do know that I am in God’s hands, whether in life or in death.”

Death, suffering, and grief are important parts of our understanding of what it means to be Christian. We know that Christ asked in the hours before His arrest for the suffering to pass if it could, but it did not. What followed was cruelty that makes us uncomfortable. From what little documentation we have, it appears that 11 of the apostles died from causes other than old age. Even though we have the story of Job, the thorn in the flesh of Paul, and the death of Stephen, a theology of suffering being outside the realm of God’s plan continues to gain traction in the western church. Why?

One reason is that we cannot adequately teach the role of suffering in a classroom. While we can look at scripture and nod our assent that suffering is a part of life while we are in the education wing with the coffee pot bubbling merrily away, it is not the same when we face the issue of suffering in a room with a heart monitor or a casket. What if we challenged our learners to volunteer at the local funeral home and then to dialogue about their experiences or had them assist the chaplain at a hospital? When we come face to face with people who are suffering and then work out a meaningful theology of providence with other believers we can help our learners discover a well reasoned faith.

Let’s move the discussion of God’s care and providence to places that are not so safe and sterile. After all, we will all be in a hospital room or a funeral home at some point and we will fall back to the theology we have been taught. Or not taught.
On the journey together, Greg