Recently, I was aggressively pressed—in front of what turned out to be an audience of millions—on the vexing difficulty of animal suffering.
It was an odd challenge, in a sense, coming from an atheist who didn’t believe in morality. Even so, at 26 years old, Alex O’Connor was already one of the most articulate atheists on the planet, and he continued to press the issue of an allegedly benevolent God not even wincing at the incalculable aggregate misery of sentient creatures that blanket the planet.
I’m sure it’s obvious to you that an atheist cannot raise a substantive grievance about suffering without smuggling morality into the equation. Suffering is evil, otherwise why the complaint? Evil requires objective morality. Objective morality requires God.
O’Connor is an emotivist, though. To him, moral statements are nothing more than emotional noise bereft of content and, therefore, bereft of meaning. Suffering makes O’Connor feel bad, which is understandable, but that’s all his view allows him.
If that’s what O’Connor’s complaint amounts to, then his grievance against a good God simply evaporates. Why is God obliged to create a world where nothing happens that makes anyone feel bad?
Even so, the objection can’t be brushed off. God is real and God is good, but animals do suffer. Why? This challenge is classically called the problem of gratuitous suffering—suffering that has no moral justification whatsoever. How do we respond?
I’ve had a lot of time to think about O’Connor’s challenge since that interaction, and I want to offer some thoughts that may help you if you find yourself facing the same concern.
First, it’s entirely appropriate for Christians to acknowledge that pain is a problem. According to our story, the world is deeply broken, and that brokenness affects everything in creation. Paul points out in Romans 8 that, at the moment, the entire creation groans as it awaits its restoration.
All suffering is tragic, including the anguish that animals experience, but it’s part of our unfolding story, and our story is not over yet. Even so, since God cares about the well-being of the creatures he’s created, we should care, too. Scripture reminds us that “a righteous man has regard for the life of his animal” (Prov. 12:10).
Second, anyone who reflects honestly on the complicated neurological process that pain involves knows that this detail of biology is clearly engineered. Pain is a design feature intended by God for good. Pain is a warning sign, and without it, serious injury—even death—would result.
Keep in mind, though, that virtually all design features intended for good have downsides. Sharp knives that pare vegetables efficiently cut fingers efficiently, too. There is always a trade-off. Pain that alerts to danger also causes suffering.
Consider, too, that thoughtful assessment requires that any evidence offered against God be weighed in light of evidence for God. Complaints like this one against theism cannot be evaluated in isolation. Consider, for example, these two syllogisms:
If God exists, then there is no gratuitous suffering.
There is gratuitous suffering.
Therefore, God doesn’t exist.
And…
If God exists, then there is no gratuitous suffering.
God exists.
Therefore, there is no gratuitous suffering.
Both of these arguments are valid since their form is correct. Determining which version is sound, though, depends on which of the competing premises is correct. Note that the second premises are at odds with each other. So here is our question: Which of these two competing premises seems most likely?
It would require near omniscience to affirm that there is no good reason for God to create a world that included suffering. Who could know that with any confidence? By contrast, evidences for God’s existence are legion. Clearly, the premise “God exists” enjoys the most support. Thus, the second argument is the most credible, and the charge that suffering is gratuitous is deflected significantly.
The last word is the final word on this issue, though. A time is coming when the brokenness will be mended and “the wolf will dwell with the lamb” (Isa. 11:6). Every tear will be wiped away. There will no longer be any death, mourning, crying, or pain (Rev. 21:4). All will be new.
And that is the happy end of our story. This broken world will be fixed, though, only because God himself entered into the suffering of the world in order to defeat the suffering of the world. And that is precisely what he has done in Christ.