God, Job and Friends: Ethics of Suffering

God, Job and Friends: Ethics of Suffering

Emmanuel HUNG

Since God has sovereignty, He can cause human, even the innocent, to suffer. The question is not whether God should or should not do so, but whether God maintains the rights of the sufferers when He inflicts them with suffering. In the example of Job, we see that God inflicts the sufferer ethically and maintains the rights of Job. God admits that He caused Job to suffer (Job 2:3), thus taking responsibility for the suffering of Job the innocent. That Job eventually gains twofold of what he lost also shows that God fulfills His responsibility. Moreover, God allows Job the sufferer to complain because Job has rights to do so. God did not rebuke Job later because of his complaints but because he accused God of being unrighteous (Job 40:8 ). In other words, Job used the wrong words to complain (Job 38:2).

Job's friends also rebuke Job, but the arguments they used are wrongheaded. They wrongly use God's sovereignty to suppress Job, to stop him from complaining. In doing so, they present a gloomy portrait of God. Second, they do not allow their concept of ethics to accommodate mystery, such as, God is not bound by theodicy. Because their theology is banal, they eventaully accuse Job of being a sinner. They do Job wrong. Third, they do not realize that they do not understand God's creation. Their arguments rest on a shaky ground. The reality of creation is that God has designed chaos in it. Chaos is an orderly disorder and it brings suffering. The food chain, natural disasters, accidents and birth defects speak volume of the God-designed chaos. We have to come to terms with chaos before we can have a realistic concept on the ethics of suffering.

The implication we can draw from the above discussions is that sufferers can complain to God because the ethical God gives them the rights to do so. What we need to be careful about is that we cannot accuse God of being unrighteous. Second, we have to try our best to understand God's creation and the chaos in it. A good place to start is the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament. Lastly, we have to accept that we will not fully understand the meaning of suffering in this world, but we have to trust that God is good. If we feel that we need evidence to trust God, then the cross is that evidence.