“Out of the Depths” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Love is the Way” recorded by Bob Ross.

So last week I started to look at the most challenging of questions- Why is there suffering in the world?

I referred to a book called “It Makes Sense” written by Stephen Gaukroger.  Although he makes it clear that there are no easy answers Gaukroger  suggests that what we can do is fit together some jigsaw pieces in order to get a picture and last week we looked at his first jigsaw piece which is that a lot of suffering in this world is caused by our own fault.

Now before looking at Gaukroger’s second jigsaw piece  I would like to bring in John Young who also has a chapter on the subject of suffering in his book “The Case Against Christ” (not be confused with Lee Stobel’s  “The Case for Christ” to which I have  referred in earlier blogs.)

Young writes that we live in “a world that makes itself”.  He says that as science has shed more light on our world, we have discovered that the finely tuned processes which enable and sustain life are inevitably fragile; good outcomes contain risks. The movements of the continental plates- an essential aspect of our eco system- can also cause earthquakes. The weather system on which life depends is extremely sensitive and climatic events in the Artic can lead to hurricanes in New York.

God, continues Young, has created this amazing world with a life of its own – “a world that makes itself”. Accidents happen, they are not “sent”. We live in a beautiful and exciting world but it is unpredictable, often dangerous and sometimes downright terrifying. Perhaps the act of creation inescapably involves the fact of suffering. Can we have one without the other?  Jesus Himself accepted suffering as an inescapable ingredient of life.

It would seem that it is impossible to come through this life without experiencing some form of suffering – so perhaps we should not be surprised when it does come our way- and perhaps also appreciate the good times more than we do.