What do you do when it seems like the bottom has fallen out? How do we move forward in the wake of tragedy both nationally and personally? The only way is to root ourselves deeply in the truth. As I wrote at the end of my last contribution to the conversation, I believe the answer comes in three parts and with a warning. Allow me now to unpack these parts.
The first part of the answer demands that we approach the problem with a coherent worldview that is capable of handling the questions in the first place. Here’s why this matters. If a person is seeking to resolve hard questions concerning the experience of pain in this world both personal and public, the view of the world through which the answers are sought plays a profound role in whether or not satisfactory answers are going to be found. For example, if the operative worldview is deterministic (naturalism), there is no comfort to be found for the hurting. If it is relativistic (postmodernism), there is no way of achieving real justice because the event or action that caused the pain is not possible of being evaluated negatively. If it is eastern in orientation (pantheism) there is a very great likelihood that it treats pain as merely an illusion which is not helpful to the one experiencing the pain. If it is entirely self-referential (existentialism) then we are at an impasse because the reason we ask the questions in the first place is that our own selves are not deep enough wells from which to draw an answer.
Jonathan Waits
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I submit that there is but a single worldview from which any sense can be made out of apparently senseless evil and suffering: Christian theism. It is only through the lens of Jesus Christ that we have any hope of finding solid ground to stand on from which to even begin productively asking questions like this in the first place. This is the only view of the world out there that is internally consistent, accurately descriptive of the state of the world, and which works when applied to specific situations. This must be our starting point.
With this starting point in place, the next part of the answer is that we must approach the questions from the standpoint of good theology. In other words, we have to think right thoughts about God. Now, I recognize that this part of the answer is fraught with controversy as there are numerous points of theology which are the subject of furious debate. But there has to be a place from which we can start to sketch out a picture of the shape this might take. I would humbly advocate for this place. Good theology is first rooted deeply in Scripture which is itself taken on its own terms. Modern, eisegetical interpretive methods will not yield theological positions that are accurately reflective of reality. They may offer a pleasing pabulum to hurting souls, but in the end, their base potability will prove to be their only redeeming quality. They will offer no lasting help.
While there are a plethora of positive approaches to biblical interpretation, it will be those which seek hardest to discover each author’s original intent paired with the question of what their inspired words reveal about God in light of the whole of Scripture which will prove to be of the greatest benefit for constructing right thoughts about him. Once the thoughts are formulated, rigorous practical application will further confirm their rightness.
A specific example of this will lead us to the final part of the puzzle here. We must have a good and right understanding of God’s character if we are to make sense out of the brokenness of our world. The God we serve is revealed as the source of love. At the core of his essence he is not merely loving, but love itself. He is also, however, absolutely just and infinitely holy (meaning both morally perfect and totally distinct from the fallen creation). To these three core essentials we must also add that God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, omnisapient and omnibenevolent. He is completely committed to and capable of seeing his plans for his creation come to pass though his means in this endeavor are often impenetrable by our finite and culturally conditioned minds. If we are going to make sense of the pain we experience in this world we must keep all these character points fully in mind. We must never suppose that we are wiser or more loving or more just more morally right than is our God. This is a great temptation in times of great pain. Yet to succumb to it effectively neuters our ability to turn to God and receive the help and wisdom we so desperately seek. We make him a God after our own image which leaves us able to look only inside for answers. It is the dryness of that well, however, that led to our search in the first place.
If we want to find helpful answers to our questions regarding the brokenness of our world these three understandings are critical. We must start with a worldview capable of handling the questions, move from there to good theology, and let this lead us finally to a firm grasp of the revealed character of our God. I said, though, that the answer we seek comes in with three parts and a warning. Here it is as promised: knowing these three parts won’t guarantee the answers we seek, nor will it make the answers we do receive any easier to swallow. Knowing the path doesn’t make it easier to walk. There is no sadness shield. The loss still hurts. Moving forward may still be slow. Yet there is no other path to life.
If we desire answers, they will only be found on this road. May you travel well as you journey back to sanity. On this road you will find it.
Jonathan Waits ([email protected]) is pastor of Central Baptist Church in Church Road, Va.