"Human Pain"

"It is men, not God, who have produced racks, whips, prisons, slavery, guns, bayonets, and bombs; it is by human avarice or human stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork". Although this is obviously true, Lewis talks about why a lot of pain and suffering is not originally our fault. Pain is something evil, and it is clear that it is evil unlike sins which are harder to suspect because as Lewis says, "the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil". Because pain is obviously evil and it is seen everywhere in out world, this is an important topic, and Lewis describes it well as he comes to the ultimate conclusion that pain is necessary for us as humans to grow.

A thought that I could really relate to was that "[e]veryone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us". I think most of us can relate to this, because when things are going well for us, we feel like we do not need God, that we are doing just fine on our own. Not only that, but because of our pride, we tell ourselves that everything is going well without God, ignoring him and pretending that we are our own God. It's not until we run into a problem that a lot of us ask God for help. This is the same for non-Christians. They choose not to believe in God because they can handle things just fine on their own. It is often not until they face dire circumstances that they turn to God because there is nowhere else to turn. Even when things are going well, what we fail to realize is that God is there all along, and loves us even when we ignore him. Could we ask for a better God? At this point, I think you would have to be crazy to say yes.

In relation to this, Lewis states this point very logically and clearly when he states that "[u]ntil the evil man finds evil unmistakably present in his existence, in the form of pain, he is enclosed in illusion. Once pain has roused him, he knows that he is in some way or other 'up against' the real universe: he either rebels (with the possibility of a clearer issue and deeper repentance at some later stage) or else makes some attempt at an adjustment, which, if pursued, will lead him to religion". He says here pain is clearly a part of our world whether people reject it or acknowledge it. Similarly, we have lots of work to complete here at college whether we face the reality or not. Then Lewis says that once a person has accepted the truth that there is pain in the world, that person either rebels (adding more pain to the world) or wants to fix the pain that is present which in one way or another will lead to religion. I love this because it really narrows everything down (either option 1, or option 2), allowing Lewis to easily develop his point. Lewis also mentions the interesting point that atheists often curse God for the pain a suffering that the world is enduring, even though atheists claim that they do not believe in God. Thus, it is clear that the 'problem' of pain points toward there being a God. What other reason would there be for pain to exist, that is, pain that "cannot thus be traced to ourselves". Where else would it come from?

God uses pain in our lives in order to make us grow and become stronger. Without pain, it is not possible to see beyond ourselves, but it is the pain that we endure that teaches us lessons. When we make our own decisions, we must make them using the wisdom of God in our hearts. "When we act from ourselves alone-that is, from God in ourselves-we are collaborators in, or live instruments of, creation". We must listen and obey God because "the mere obeying is also intrinsically good, for, in obeying, a rational creature consciously enacts its creaturely role, reverses the act by which we fell, treads Adam's dance backward, and returns". This is how we make the world a better place, by surrendering to God and letting him work in us so that we can work our way backwards, in the opposite direction of the one that Adam and Eve decided to take. So we must give ourselves up, give up our own selfish desires to do things on our own, and in our own way. Although it requires pain, "there is one right act - that of self- surrender - which cannot be willed to the height by fallen creatures unless it is unpleasant". Pain is essential to life, and it is by acknowledging this and working for God (not against him) that we will make our world better and ultimately redeem it. Everything is made, as it says in Hebrews, 'perfect through suffering'.