Suffering and Christianity

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Last night in class, as I often do, I asked what people thought caused disease before Leuwenhoek's microscope paved the way to learn about microbes. As students provided answers it dawned on me that, despite the Christian beliefs that dominated in Europe during the middle ages, apparently they didn't even seem to recognize the paradox of their answer. As we gain more tools and increase in understanding, of course sometimes the scientific explanation is adjusted to fit what the recently acquirable data suggests, but there is no evidence that in antiquity this occurred in the instance of suffering and wickedness. Of course, we all know that the supposition in ancient times, far back to before the time of Christ, generally assumed that disease came from disobedience to God. From Job to Jesus, and then afterwards into the Bubonic plague, mankind assumed that wickedness brought pestilence, even though both Old and New Testaments teach us that sometimes it did not.

According to the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John, when Jesus encounters a blind man, the throng asks Jesus whether this man had sinned or his parents to cause his blindness, and Jesus tells them that neither was the case. Rather, according to Jesus, the blind man was blind so that Jesus could heal him and show His power as the Messiah.

We know from the Book of Job that Job was "perfect" and that his boils were brought upon him when the devil, having been unable to get Job to renounce God after God allowed the devil to strip him of all of his increase except for his health, persuaded God to let him afflict Job and make him unhealthy. Again, this was not because Job did anything wrong.

I am struck suddenly by the paradox that Christians continued to believe even until the modern era that suffering is from wickedness. After all, many of the most wicked men in all of history had at least some period of prosperity, and many of them died surrounded by wealth and glory. In fact, it seems that the advent of suffering is most likely to happen, if it's not random at all, to the FAITHFUL rather than the deviant. This occurs for two reasons that are actually one.

Firstly, opposition mounts to those who are headed down the path of truth and right. There is no need for the devil to detour someone who is already headed down the dark path. That man already voluntarily ascribed himself to the principles of pelf, power and perversion. Rather, we find in life that the closer we get to a goal the more difficult it becomes to achieve it. Often the most exertion is required right at the finish line or during the final countdown where, in Olympic fashion, outcomes may matter by milliseconds. So, the easier your life is, it is more likely a sign that ignoble ease indicates wickedness rather than the favor of the Almighty. As CS Lewis writes that God "relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else" (Screwtape Letters Number VIII). Or if you prefer, this poem: "Good timber does not grow in ease. The harsher the gale, the stronger the trees". God is not satisfied with having us "make it through" but He desires more than anything for us to improve and progress, and without opposition or increased requirements, we might stagnate. Ergo, He allows the devil to try us knowing that it is only after appropriately administered clinical trials that the final product actually works.

Secondly, opposition invites us to reject Christ or to draw toward Him and be healed. If everything came up sunshine and skittles, what need would we have for a Savior? Opposition exists we learn so that God "give[s] unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them (Ether 12:27)". The weaknesses and trials and suffering are invitations for us to turn ourselves to God. Even Job turned closer to God, though it was not for sin that he suffered, which ended up in a marvelous manifestation. So too did the blind man in the book of John who turned to Christ and was instantly and literally healed of his physical and spiritual blindness. In fact, spiritual blindness and stubbornness and rebellion can only be healed by the touch of the Master's hand. No matter what we may do, how good we may be, after all we can do it is by grace we are saved: His grace.

How then do so many Christians continue to believe that sin is causal to suffering? We learn that suffering can happen to anyone and that it actually happens to the wicked less than to anyone else. There was a flood recently in Nepal, but the most wicked were probably spared, either because they do not live in the region or because they were able to extricate themselves while the righteous and the poor were forced to remain behind. In fact truly righteous people usually bother themselves far less with "things of the world" because they are trying to live like Jesus and bring other men to Him. So, they might actually STAY in a dangerous area like Daniel or Jeremiah to continue to advocate for truth and right and to help the people after the trial actually happens. After all, the whole need not a physician but them that are sick or otherwise afflicted.

Paradoxically as Christians then we misapprehend both the purpose of tribulation and upon whom it is most likely to fall because we unjustly ascribe suffering to "the dark side". While a great deal of our suffering may be self induced purgatories concomitant with our decisions, things like flooding in Nepal happen to both the righteous and the wicked. Sometimes suffering does not discriminate, but we discriminate ourselves based on our reaction to it. Those who decide to blame God or withdraw from Him because it's "not fair" or because they have suffered already for a "reasonable amound of time" may quit, while the penitent submit to the wisdom, timing and grace of a God they believe loves them knowing that He would not have allowed it to happen if it were not somehow contributory to their eternal best good.

Last week, my air conditioning unit shorted out during a thunderstorm that apparently struck near the house. I am not sure where it hit, but I have found blackened remnants of wood in my yard. It has been around 110F this week, and it was rather expensive to replace the entire system, but I am grateful that I have been putting away money for many years so that, when it failed, I would be able to simply write a check and right the situation. Sleeping was tough, and I have been a little testy. School started this week too, but I'm grateful to have classes and purpose again on a more regular basis than the interstitial weeks between semesters provide. Some people might see this as a terrible thing to suffer. I am grateful that I had AC in the first place, that it lasted for almost 16 years after I bought the house and that, when it happened, I was able to simply pay someone and move forward. I know not everyone is prepared or able to do so. Did this happen because I'm wicked? Maybe. I need repentance as much as any man, but it does not mean that I am more wicked than my neighbors. It was an invitation to qualify for, seek after, and follow divine direction and move myself to a better place. I do not know why God chose last week for this to happen, but I am grateful that I had time and means to prepare and that I found a way to quickly move forward.

In your life, there must be challenges. The road to hell is paved with unbroken success, without detours, without sign posts. The path of least resistance is often the path of least reward. It would have been easier to stay in Eden. It would have been simpler to stay in Egypt. It would have been simpler to acquiesce to the demands of Rome. It was simpler for Peter to claim he knew not That Man. It would be easier to simply do whatever we like. None of those things would be better if people chose the easy way. There MUST be opposition, not just for perspective, but also as an invitation for us to choose whom we list to serve. When you shine the correct light on suffering as Leuwenhoek made it possible to do on microbes, you can see that suffering is a chance to either break down or break through.

Warmest Year Ever?

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In case you live in a cave or an RV and didn’t know, they’re talking about a Super El-Nino weather pattern this year and how it’s “record breaking”. I’m not sure what records they are talking about because, for reasons only slightly related to weather, I have reasons to remember the weather over the years, and so I wanted to share some things that run counter to that narrative.

• I work with the forest service during the summer, and there is a tree on the Stanly B Springs trail (not its actual name) that we call the weather gauge. It’s a pine tree that’s about 40 years old and shows that, except for two years, the weather is consistently a switch between feast and famine years up on the mountain, meaning that there is a bad year followed by a nice year, and they nodes on the tree average out to the same growth every year.
• Back in April 2018, I went with my parents to help them empty their second house in St George UT so that a buyer could close. It didn’t actually sell until July, but I remember how hot it was in April. It was 95 degrees on the 17th of April.
• Back in 2015-2016, my first forest service supervisor was a young lady from the Bay Area in CA. After her first summer, she commented that Vegas’ summers were not “that bad” but in August 2016 I remember telling her that she “got to see a real Vegas summer”.
• Summer 2024 was bad enough that I had branches die on some of my trees. None of that happened this year.
• In 2022, on Labor Day, there was a fire that burnt some of my house. When the insurance agent asked me if the house was livable, I remember telling her “It’s 109F and I have no electricity. Does that sound livable to you?”
• I went to visit a friend in France in summer 2023. There were heat related deaths in Paris that year. There were also protestors everywhere setting things on fire. The day I left however, it was pouring rain in Paris so much so that I have a picture of myself in front of the Eiffel Tower with nobody behind me because the grass is all swampy because of the rain.
• July 2025 I went over to visit a friend in the Netherlands. I remember being worried about the temperature, because just before I left, it was 95F in the town where he lives. When I got there, it was only 80F.

Was this a hot summer? Yes. Was it unprecedented? No. People die of heat related exposure in Europe every summer. It reaches 110F or more every summer in Vegas. The real kicker isn’t that. It’s that people complain about it as if it’s never happened before, but clearly it sometimes also gets hot way early (April) and stays hot longer than normal (September). What does “normal” mean however? If we define normal as “what I am accustomed to seeing” that’s not really normal. That’s “preferable”. I think that’s what most of this stems from. People are upset that the climate is not the climate condition they prefer. Who cares what you prefer? The earth certainly doesn’t.

A news agency in the UK was called out last year for publishing their weather board in a disingenuous manner. Although the temperatures were the same as previous years, they changed the colors to warmer colors to give people the impression that it was hotter than normal because the background color was red.

I remember these temperature events, not because I’m paying strict attention to the temperature, but because circumstances that were memorable where the temperature was uncomfortable. I think if you put your mind to it, you too could find years that were “record breaking” in your past.

They only compare “record high” to “record low” and not record high to regular high and record low to regular low. That’s like comparing oranges to orangutans. Just because we have more record highs than record lows doesn’t mean the deviation from the mean is only in the upward trajectory. How can every year be an outlier? Maybe scorching is the new normal, just like August in Rome. Historically, Italians all go on vacation in August because the south of Italy is so hot it’s not possible to work. So how can the heat be “new”? The Romans dressed that way for a practical reason and that was 2000 years ago not 20.

One final note for consideration: many of the temperature records for the Las Vegas area were set during the 1940s. What government activity was happening then that might be an outlier that might affect temperature? Vegas when it sizzles isn’t newsworthy. It was made a joke in “Fools Rush In” and that was in 1997. Truly there is nothing new under the sun except for sensationalism. The news doesn’t care about information. They care about advertising. Politicians don’t care about your comfort. They care about new legislative authority or the kickbacks that come from policies.

Always follow the money. If you can’t follow the money, follow the women. The money and the women will lead you to the true reasons behind anything, because money and women follow the greatest influencers. Today’s high? 91F.

Why am I Rushing?

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I don’t like crisis mode. We’re a few weeks away from the start of term, and most of the professors won’t even be on campus until the 17th. I have things waiting on them, because I can’t plan ahead without schedules and I don’t even know if classes scheduled will run. So, my life gets put into crisis mode where I rush to get things done and don’t know why.

A few months back, I got a ticket for being in a rush to get to work. This comes because for some reason we have a “time clock” at work in academia, and I don’t personally like to be late. However, it was a wakeup call in many ways. I don’t want to have to afford to rush when I’m late and being late doesn’t really cost me anything.

If I’m late, what are the actual consequences? If they audit my time cards, they’ll find I do more than 40 hours on average per week for 40 hours of pay. If they look at a SINGLE DAY, I might be 11 minutes late, but I stay late or cut lunch short to compensate. And nobody else seems to care if they are late or absent or AWOL. So why do I? And why should I take the risk?

We take a lot of risks in rushing. A rush job usually has flaws. They say that you can have it done quickly or correctly, but not both, and there always seems to be time to do it over but never time to do it correctly in the first place. If you rush, you miss opportunities. If you are always late and always in a rush, sometimes you leave things behind. When we rush, we put effort into the means instead of into the outcome, and we miss the mark.

Rushing implies two major flaws. We are either doing things grudgingly that we don’t want to do that we have procrastinated but must achieve or that we don’t respect other people and their plans when we arrive late. I have never understood the arrogance of a doctor who will fine me if I arrive late for an appointment when I have never been taken on time except at the dentist. And I know people could arrive on time if they really wanted to. Other things matter more, and so they are late.

I decided that Gandalf was right and to model myself after him. A wizard is never late nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to. The simple solution to this is to leave extra time and leave early. That way, if something happens, you can respond. When I travel, I try to get to the airport more than two hours early in case something happens enroute. Why don’t I try that everywhere?

On days when complications arise, I will just take it as it comes. I will get there when I get there. There is no reason to rush if I’m just going to end up getting to my funeral early or having to sign over my bonus to the court. If you rush a miracle, you get rotten miracles. If you rush a baking job, you get incompletely cooked food. If you rush an order, sometimes things get left out or sent to the wrong place. We would do well to slow down a little and take stock of what is really urgent AND important in our lives and prioritize those things.

Work matters. Work is not the only thing that matters. And since I have a policy at work and at church that acknowledges imperfections, what is the point of rushing? I can make up the work later at work, and where I fall short in my Faith, I can appeal to Christ for mercy and have Him compensate where I made mistakes. We are in too big of a hurry I think. We are under an immense burden of pressure to achieve, succeed and prosper. We are not asked to consider the opportunity cost of unexpected consequences from rushing things that are only made whole when they happen in their season. I’ll still get my work done; and I’ll get to keep the entire paycheck now too.