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Analysis Of C. S. Lewis 'Suffering And Pain In The Christian Life'

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Analysis Of C. S. Lewis 'Suffering And Pain In The Christian Life'
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

C.S. Lewis on Suffering and Pain in the Christian Life

Submitted to Dr. John A. McGinn, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of the course

SEMI 500-B02 LUO
Introduction to Seminary Studies

by

José C. Caballero
September 14, 2014

Contents

Introduction 1
Pain as an objection to creation 2 Pain as a result of freewill 3 God’s omnipotence 4
Pain is necessary in the lives of Christians 5 Pain promotes spiritual growth 6 C.S Lewis’ experiences with pain 7
The will of God 7 Pain felt when God does not answer prayers 9 The kindness of God versus the love of God 10
Conclusion 11
Bibliography 12

Introduction
Clive Staples Lewis was born November 29th, …show more content…
Genesis 1 describes how God orchestrated the creation of the world by speaking it into existence. Job recognized His omnipotence when he said, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.”8 God created the universe and everything in it out of nothing; therefore, He is greater than creation, thus making Him all powerful.
In the chapter, Divine Omnipotence, Lewis explains that omnipotence does not mean the power to do nonsense.9 In other words, God cannot create a rock too big for Him to lift or a problem too hard to solve. He cannot love and hate humans at the same time. For Him to attempt to create or perform, something that goes against His nature is fundamentally impossible. Harmon explains this using the law of non-contradiction, which means that God cannot grant freewill and not grant freewill at the same time.10 Though God is omnipotent, His inability to contradict Himself is His choice.
Lewis also explains the freedom God has to choose His actions are driven by Himself and no external obstacle can impede them.11 No external factors that can persuade God’s actions due to His perfect ways. God is also omniscient which allows Him to know how His actions will affect the lives of …show more content…
Lewis explains this when he wrote, “By goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness; and in this we may be right. And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness --- the desire to see others than the self happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy.”25 Christianity looks at God as a kind and loving God, both views are correct, but there is a difference between the two. For example, parents love their children and are good to them, but when the child wants something the parent does not believe they should have, for his well being, the child is no longer happy. God’s love is no different. He listens to the petitions of the heart, but He decides what to grant for the well being of the spirit.
Harmon writes, Lewis insists that the idea God has for goodness is different from ours, in that it is far better and greater, but not too different.26 Kindness and love are both very similar. The difference is that kindness temporarily pleases without regards to the future and love demands correction to build a solid foundation for the future. Lewis says love is “more stern and splendid than mere kindness.”27
Understanding this misconception between God’s kindness and God’s love is important to better understand some of the reasons why God allows pain. His love for humanity goes beyond suffering and pain. Jesus said, it is better to enter heaven missing a body part,
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