How to Love Pain

Many atheists tout the problem of evil as a powerful argument against the existence of God (or at least against the Christian God). There are a few ways in which this argument can be developed. Some, wishing to avoid making judgments on good and evil, choose instead to talk about the problem of suffering, or as we'll call it, the problem of pain.

Why is it, an atheist may ask, that God allows people to suffer such horrible pain when they have done little or nothing wrong? Little children die agonizing deaths for reasons they can't understand. Why does God allow this?

I think one way to respond to this attack is to reflect on the nature of pain. Is pain in itself evil? On the face of it this question might elicit an emphatic "yes." In fact, many would be surprised that I would ask the question because it seems so obvious. But let's look at the nature of pain, shall we? What sort of purpose does it serve, especially in the context of its role in God's design for our bodies.

We can disarm the problem of pain to some degree by pointing out that pain serves as a mechanism for informing us when our bodies are malfunctioning. I recall learning in elementary school how important pain receptors were, because if we didn't have them we might not know when we are being injured. In fact, this is exactly what happens with Hansen's Disease, aka leprosy. A person suffering from leprosy doesn't rot away, as had been thought in the past. Rather, due to the loss of sensation they injure their bodies to the point where they begin to lose parts (fingers, toes, etc.). I'd imagine the Hansen's Disease patient would gladly trade his or her condition with someone who can still experience pain. This example shows that pain is valuable to us as human beings.

But why should God have made pain to be the indicator? Why not something different, or even something pleasurable that is somehow associated with bodily harm? This response strikes me as rather silly. God made pain to be a negative sensation because there are harmful things going on. If the sensation were pleasurable then we would seek to harm ourselves. Then we would have a case for a deceptive, sadistic God.

"This is all well and good," another objector might say, "but why does God have to make the pain as intense as it sometimes is?" The obvious answer here is that the amount of pain often corresponds with the damage being done to the body. Not always, of course, but it often does. The more intense the pain, the more likely the victim is to seek medical assistance in a timely fashion. This can make all the difference in the effectiveness of treatment.

Another route an objector might take is to point out that sometimes babies experience intense pain in their short lives, then they die. Why wouldn't God just not let these babies experience the pain? One reason is that the baby's pain would be an indicator to the parents to seek treatment for their child. But then why not just let the baby show the signs of pain and not experience it? Doing this would make God a deceiver, and this is unacceptable. God is not in the business of lying to us just so we won't experience what I've already shown is a good thing in the first place.

When all these things are taken into consideration, the problem of pain doesn't seem to be that much of a problem after all. There are other ways to respond that further alleviate the supposed difficulties of the problem of pain. However, I think remembering what pain is and what it is for goes a long way in disarming it. Pain is not pleasurable, but it can be considered good.