The theology and the believers that dismisses – even partly - human
suffering with pious filler like, "God wanted this" or "God allowed it to
happen" is intellectually lazy and in so far as it will inevitably do harm it
can be classed as morally bankrupt. Nobody else’s suffering can be owned or
understood by you so that you can pronounce on it that way.
Every time
tragedy strikes, the faithful rush to sanitize the horror. Horror is a
collective – a collection of horrors. They rush to keep some of the horrors at
bay and to soften the rest – for themselves. And patronisingly they treat the
sufferers as a nuisance – “They would feel much better if they would just see
that God knows what he is doing.”
That is why their tired clichés are
lazy and toxic. Here they are.
"God put you there for a reason."
"God is
just testing you."
"God won't give you more than you can bear."
"God's
reasons will be revealed in due time."
“God will make it up to you if not
in this life then in the next. You will get just rewards and your enemies
their just punishments.”
Those are all connected in some way. To say one is
to imply the others.
Excusing seeming cosmic indifference even a bit
only sows seeds of malice and injustice and hardness in us. Letting the seeds
in even if you do not water them is a disgrace.
Christian Reply: But
God does not want it under the circumstances. He cannot do the impossible so
he allows it in a sense against his will. It is like a judge sending his own
dangerous son to jail.
Reply: That is a very serious claim and needs
evidential support of high quality. It is glib otherwise. Truth and avoidance
of any appearance of not caring enough about harm are vital. You should suffer
if you have to say such a thing. It should only be said with pain and
seriousness. It adds more pain to the pain that is already there.
And
God not wanting it under the circumstances is irrelevant to us. Why? It is not
the same as a human type God allowing it – and suffering for it. This is a
being who has no body and who seems very abstract and imagined. Thus there is
no real comparison to the judge punishing his son.