Recently, I started reading The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis. Last night I finished a few chapters and almost finished with the book. This book gives us so much to talk about that I’ll try to do a post like this on each of the chapters. This post will deal with Chapter 3 - Divine Goodness. In this chapter, Lewis attempts to reconcile the fact that God has the power to stop all evil, but does not, with the idea that God is ultimately good. How could a God who allowed such atrocities as the Holocaust really be considered “good”? Undoubtedly, if you have friends who are non-theists, this is an issue that arises often when discussing the possibility of God’s existence. Here are some of Lewis’ insights.

  • We (people living in the modern world) have broken down God’s goodness until it means nothing more than kindness. That is to say that we expect that God’s love entails nothing but Him doing kind acts for us. When Christians say that “God is Good”, we should not simply mean to convey God’s singular trait of kindness. Goodness does not equal kindness.
  • “What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’, and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’” - Chapter on Divine Goodness p. 31
  • Lewis uses a series of analogies to discuss the love that God has for his creation, and humans in particular.
    • That of a pet and its master: Just as the master wants to help the pet become more human by “house training” it, so God wants to help us become more like himself through his Son Jesus.
    • That of a Father to his son: The man that a young boy grows into will be determined by the actions, or lack thereof, of his father. If his father does not take care in how he interacts and raises his son, the boy will be of no benefit to society. If God is like our earthly father, he wants us become better people, not simply “behave” better. Often, this involves punishment.
    • Finally, that of lovers: Just as a man loves his wife and is jealous of her, so God loves and is jealous of us. This type of love is also not simply an “I want you to always be happy” kind of love, it is a love that require sacrifice from both parties. God has already given his sacrifice in the person of Jesus.
    • Lewis freely admits that these analogies are very limited in scope, and shouldn’t be treated as the actual object itself, God’s love. They are simply tools for understand some of the properties of God’s love for us. As he puts it: “Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little.” p 47.

This is a very poor representation of the wealth of knowledge contained within this chapter. I have only hit the highlights as they appear to myself. I’d like to get the opinions of anyone else who has read the book, see what sticks out at them.

If you have a chance, pick up a copy of this book, then by all means, please do so. You won’t be disappointed. I’ll try to post my thoughts on the next chapter Human Wickedness in a little while. Human Wickedness is probably my favourite chapter so far, and has convicted me more than I think I care to admit.