C.S. Lewis Quote: The Problem of Pain

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis is an intellectually stimulating book.  In it he does not so much seek to prove the existence of God but to reconcile His good, perfect character with the painful experiences we face during life on earth.  C.S. Lewis was once an atheist but reason compelled him to abandon that view.  He was no fool.  In the introduction to his books, he says this:

"There was a man born among these Jews who claimed to be, or to be the son of, or to be "one with", the Something which is at once the awful haunter of nature and the giver of the moral law.  The claim is so shocking - a paradox, and even a horror, which we may easily be lulled into taking too lightly - that only two views of this man are possible.  Either he was a raving lunatic of an unusually abominable type, or else He was, and is, precisely what He said.  There is no middle way.  If the records make the first hypotheses unacceptable, you must submit to the second.  And if you do that, all else that is claimed by Christians becomes credible - that this Man, having been killed, was yet alive, and that His death, in some manner incomprehensible to human thought, has effected a real change in our relations to the "awful" and "righteous" Lord, and a change in our favour.

To ask whether the universe as we see it looks more like the work of a wise and good Creator or the work of chance, indifference, or malevolence, is to omit from the outset all the relevant factors in the religious problem.  Christianity is not the conclusion of a philosophical debate on the origins of the universe:  it is a catastrophic historical event following on the long spiritual preparation of humanity which I have described.  It is not a system into which we have to fit the awkward fact of pain:  it is itself one of the awkward facts which have to be fitted into any system we make.  In a sense, it creates, rather than solves, the problem of pain, for pain would be no problem unless, side by side with our daily experience of this painful world, we have received what we think a good assurance that ultimate reality is righteous and loving."  (The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis, pg. 11-12)

I have never heard anyone curse evolutionary process, but I have heard many people curse God - a God they do not even believe in.  Darwinian evolution is a mindless, purposeless, random process without remorse.  Our depth of feeling, consciousness, freedom of the will, and ability to reason must have come from a feeling, conscious, purposeful, intelligent Source.  I believe the scriptures, the order of nature and the universe, the testimony of information crammed into every self-replicating cell, the conscience, and reason work together to confirm that God did indeed create all things.  The more we learn through the sciences about the deep complexity of the seemingly simplest things reveals there is more to life than Darwin ever imagined.

Those who believe life on earth just happened should have absolutely no complaints about anything.  What are rights without established morality?  There is no force greater than man to appeal to, and no one cares!  Living is no different than dying.  Everyone has been dealt a hand by no one.  Everything is arbitrary.  There is not even any true justice, for right and wrong is at best a construct fashioned in each person's mind.  Yet even the suggestion that there is a God is enough to make blood boil with hatred.  Why such an emotional reaction over something a person believes to be false?  C.S. Lewis is right.  The only way pain can be a problem for you is if you believe there is a God who is good, an all-powerful Being who has the power to end your pain should He choose.  It is a "problem" reconciled through the revealed Word of God and His infallible character.  Otherwise, shaking your fist against the "injustice" of your life or pain is an empty exercise.  Take your issues up with Random Chance, not that he ever checks his inbox.