One idea 70's evangelicalism presumed wrongly and taught in different ways was that life was cut and dry, black and white...any answer could be found in the Bible and explained. Time went on and I found life was far more gray and subtly complicated, and began to reject some common ideas that arose during the Jesus Movement and that have stayed with us, to our detriment I believe. One of those ideas is the attempt to explain away human suffering by saying God just allows suffering to teach us, to make us holy like Him and purify our souls...and it's just that simple. And it was the cut and dry style of people like Dr. Walter Martin (bless his soul) and others who made helped create an evanglical mindset of either/or-ness in interpreting life.
Having gotten older and experienced and observed suffering, I have concluded that the evangelical interpretation of human suffering is not realistic, and in some ways damaging to the mind. In thinking about the story of Job just about as long as I can remember and considering its depths, I think there are other ways to think about suffering than what believers have been taught within the modern evangelical worldview.
The one view of human suffering that I find to be the most compelling and that lines up with my reality is the Forrest Gump view of human suffering. The book and movie present a great irony: a man limited in mind capacity arriving at a profound idea. After his life of suffering and ungained love, he stands at Jenny's grave and says: "...I don't know if Mama was right, or if it was Lieutenant Dan...I don't know if we have a destiny, or if we're all floatin' along on a breeze accidental like...I think, I think it's maybe both."
That, to me, is reality captured in one revealing phrase. Destiny (God's will) and Accident (randomness), both working along side each other...at least from the perspective of the sufferer. After seeing Forrest Gump, it struck me as being the most subtly beautiful, and logical interpretation of the meaning of suffering. God and randomness (or accident) both happening at the same time. One could argue that God created randomness, but at least it is God's will that allows randomness to occur while He chooses to inject any moment with His direct will. It explains alot, and maybe was the answer God never gave Job (after tearing him a new one). As I recall God essentially told Job that the why of suffering was none of his business. I personally think Forrest Gump is the greatest theologian of our time -- what he revealed makes more common sense than any teaching on suffering I've heard.
Having gotten older and experienced and observed suffering, I have concluded that the evangelical interpretation of human suffering is not realistic, and in some ways damaging to the mind. In thinking about the story of Job just about as long as I can remember and considering its depths, I think there are other ways to think about suffering than what believers have been taught within the modern evangelical worldview.
The one view of human suffering that I find to be the most compelling and that lines up with my reality is the Forrest Gump view of human suffering. The book and movie present a great irony: a man limited in mind capacity arriving at a profound idea. After his life of suffering and ungained love, he stands at Jenny's grave and says: "...I don't know if Mama was right, or if it was Lieutenant Dan...I don't know if we have a destiny, or if we're all floatin' along on a breeze accidental like...I think, I think it's maybe both."
That, to me, is reality captured in one revealing phrase. Destiny (God's will) and Accident (randomness), both working along side each other...at least from the perspective of the sufferer. After seeing Forrest Gump, it struck me as being the most subtly beautiful, and logical interpretation of the meaning of suffering. God and randomness (or accident) both happening at the same time. One could argue that God created randomness, but at least it is God's will that allows randomness to occur while He chooses to inject any moment with His direct will. It explains alot, and maybe was the answer God never gave Job (after tearing him a new one). As I recall God essentially told Job that the why of suffering was none of his business. I personally think Forrest Gump is the greatest theologian of our time -- what he revealed makes more common sense than any teaching on suffering I've heard.
