Condition of Human Suffering

This "insta-tragedy" communication of the CNN Generation results in twin responses, both highly understandable: numbed rejection of the information presented us and deeply abiding despair. Often the emotional responses are within the same person; the numbness is a survival instinct - no one can live with the sight of such suffering in one's eyes, unable to do something, without putting up a protective emotional buffer. Suddenly the ancient questions arise like daily mantras: Why is there so much suffering in this world? Why do human beings inflict so much pain upon one another? How can a good God allow so much evil?

Like all ancient howlings at the moon, there are ancient echoes in response. Suffering has been a part of the human condition since time immemorial: we are not the first generations to witness it, we are not the first ordinary human beings to question the basic

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ords without knowledge? . . . Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding." In the end, then, the final consolation from The Book of Job is that there is no simple solution to the mystery of innocent suffering. Which is not to say that rational solutions were not offered in Job's story: they were, but found wanting. Suffering as punishment for sin - the traditional explanation - is rejected because it does not apply to Job (although his friends think that it must). An idea is put forth by Job's friend Elihu: suffering is God's way of testing one's faith, a moral discipline so to speak. This, too, is not applicable: although God, in fact, is allowing Satan to test Job's faith, God Himself does not offer that as an explanation. The writers of The Book of Job knew that they could not offer such an explanation on God's name: such "testing," if done by a human to a child, would be considered cruel - certainly not an act of goodness or justice. Contemporary with the anonymous 5th Century B. C. writer(s) of The Book of Job, the Greek philosopher Plato did not have the same problems with finding a rational solution to human suffering that the Hebrews encountered. In his semin
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Approximate Word count = 1652
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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