On the morning of 29 July 2024, three children were killed in a mass stabbing during a children’s event in a dance school in Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Ten other people, eight of whom were children, were injured. Police arrested a 17-year-old male at the scene. A motive for the attack has not been identified, although police stated they are not currently treating the attack as terror-related. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as horrendous and shocking, and thanked emergency services for their swift response. Condolences were sent by King Charles III and Queen Camilla, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales A vigil was held at Eastbank Street Square on the evening of 30 July, with hundreds of people in attendance. Flowers and handwritten notes were left near the scene of the attack.

Understandably the social media was full not only of the news of this tragic happening but the usual question that comes to the fore every time something like this happens: ‘Why? Why did God allow this?’ That ‘why’ question goes back thousands of years. It was asked in the Old Testament by Job and the writers of the Psalms. It was especially relevant during the 20^th Century, where we witnessed two World Wars, the Holocaust, genocides in the Soviet Union and China, devastating famines in Africa, the killing fields of Cambodia, the emergence of AIDS, the genocide in Rwanda and the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. The 21^st Century didn’t start any better. There was 9/11, the Syrian slaughters, and now we have the horrendous invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the violent conflict between Israel and Hamas with the horrendous repercussions taking place in Gaza.  Why all this if there’s a loving and powerful God? Why do bad things happen to good people? If God is so good and loving, why does he allow evil and suffering to exist?

Bottom line to all this is the personal pain and suffering we experience as individuals – illness, abuse, broken relationships, betrayal, sorrow, injuries, disappointment, heartache, crime and death. Perhaps right now you are asking the question, ‘Why? Why me? Why now?’ Various national surveys suggest that if people were able to ask God just one question, that question would be ‘Why is there suffering in the world?’  Even if we have never asked why our world is infected with pain and suffering, we will when they strike us with full force or come to someone we love.

If you ask me directly, ‘Why did God allow a 17-year-old male to commit such a horrendous crime in Southport?’ the only answer I can honestly give you is ‘I don’t know.’ I have never been one for trite answers, especially (as a Christian myself) trite answers from professing Christians. In my latter years I have become a great believer in ‘slow wisdom.’ By this I mean, without standing still or marching on the spot, moving steadily forward but with thoughtful, prayerful reflection rather than instant reaction to issues and questions. Transitioning knowledge into wisdom is a marathon not a sprint race. Having said that, I believe it is important to attempt to engage meaningfully with the big questions – questions such as those posed above. The Apostle Peter encourages Christians everywhere to ‘always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is within you’ (1 Peter 3:15). In other words, the Christian Faith is ‘reasonable’ – it can be reasoned, argued, discussed, debated, articulated. I would suggest these kind of debates always need to be open ended. As George Rawson (1807-1889) puts it in a verse from one of his hymns: ‘We limit not the truth of God, To our poor reach of mind, By notions of our day and sect, Crude, partial and confined. Now let a new and better hope Within our hearts be stirred: The Lord hath yet more light and truth To break forth from His Word.’ With this in mind, although I cannot provide you with a definitive answer, let me offer a few thoughts on the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ of suffering as a contribution to the ongoing debate.

Brought up on the King James Version of the Bible (as many of my generation were) I recall being confused by Jesus’ comment recorded in the Synoptic Gospels: ‘Suffer the little children…’ (Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16). Of course, by this Jesus meant ‘Let the little children (come to me)’ not that he wanted little children to suffer in any way. Jesus did, however, have quite a lot to say about ‘suffering.’ For example he saw suffering as a part of every human life. In conversation with his disciples one day he told them bluntly, ‘You will have suffering in this world’ (John 16:33). He didn’t say you might have suffering but you will have suffering. Suffering in life is inevitable in some form or other for all of us. Nowhere does the Bible give us a comprehensive explanation concerning the question of suffering although I believe there are some points of light provided along the way. Even though we can’t understand everything about it, we can understand some things. Let me give you an analogy. When I was a small child I recall my father and I getting caught in one of those thick London fogs we used to get back in the late 1940s. No buses were running so my father and I had to attempt to walk home even though it was virtually impossible to see your nose in front of your face. But then a truck appeared in front of us and we could clearly see his taillights through the fog. He apparently had fog lamps in front, because he was traveling at a confident if somewhat slow and steady pace. We knew that if we could just follow those taillights, we’d be headed in the right direction. The same is true in understanding why there is tragedy and suffering in our lives and in our world. We may not be able to make out all the peripheral details of why – they may be obscured from our view – but there are some key Biblical truths that can illuminate some points of light for us. And if we follow those lights, they will lead us in the right direction, toward some conclusions that I believe can help answer some of our questions. It is not my intention to unpack these few thoughts fully – you can explore them more fully yourselves – but simply attempt to point you in their direction. So, what are some of those points of light? Here are three of the most important.

Firstly, God is not the creator of evil and suffering. Quite often you hear the question: ‘Why didn’t God create a world where tragedy and suffering didn’t exist?’ The answer is: He did! The Creation Narrative we find in Genesis concludes ‘Then God looked over all that he had made, and he saw that it was very good’ (Genesis 1:31). But if God is not the author of suffering or tragedy or evil or death, where did they come from? The simple, blunt answer to that question is ‘us’ human beings. We do not have to read much further in the Creation Narrative in order to discover humanity’s rebellion against God and his ways (Genesis 3). Whether you take the Creation Narrative as literal or as myth, it makes no difference to the essential message of the story. Created with the God-given gift of free will, at some point in our existence, we humans abused our free will by rejecting God and walking away from him and his ways, thus unleashing into God’s perfect creation a flood of moral and natural evil. Whilst much good remains, including great beauty and good people, our world is indelibly affected by evil –  those forces that (according to the dictionary) cause ‘the suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing that bring sorrow, distress, or calamity.’  

In passing, I also want to comment briefly on the role of ‘the serpent’ (Genesis 3:1-15) in all this. Rightly or wrongly early Jewish and Christian commentators identified the serpent with Satan or the devil, and it has certainly become popular today (even in Christian circles) to blame the devil rather than ourselves for bad things. I recall seeing a cartoon some years ago showing the devil standing outside a church crying. ‘Why are you crying?’ someone asked him. ‘Its those people in there’ the devil replied pointing at the church, ‘they blame me for everything!’ Our biggest enemy, however, is oftentimes not the devil, it is ourselves. We need to stop blaming everyone or anything else for everything and start taking responsibility for our own actions.

The distinction between natural evil and moral evil is an important concept in both philosophy and theology. Moral Evil results from human actions that are considered morally wrong such as murder, theft, and lying. Moral evil is directly linked to human free will and the choices individuals make. Moral evil is the decadence, suffering, tragedy and pain that we bring upon ourselves because we choose to be selfish, arrogant, uncaring, hateful and abusive. The Apostle Paul tells us this has all come about  ‘Ever since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners proving that we are utterly incapable of living the purposeful lives God wants for us’ (Romans 3:23). Natural Evil refers to suffering caused by natural events or processes that are not controlled by humans such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and diseases that cause suffering for people. Natural evil is often seen as a challenge to the idea of a benevolent and omnipotent God because it occurs independently of human actions. But these, too, are the indirect result of sin being allowed into the world. When humankind first sinned that act of rebellion against God not only affected them individually it affected the rest of God’s good creation. Nature began to revolt. The earth was cursed. Genetic breakdown and disease began. Pain and death became part of the human experience. Because of that sin nature was corrupted. The Writer of Genesis markedly tells us that ‘thorns and thistles’ entered the world (Genesis 3:18). Reflecting on this the Apostle Paul pertinently reminds us that since that time ‘the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time’ (Romans 8:22). In other words, nature longs for redemption to come and for things to be set right. That’s the source of disorder and chaos.

Secondly, God has already set an unstoppable process of restoration in action in Jesus Christ.  The other question you often hear is: ‘If God is all-powerful why doesn’t he do something to end evil and suffering? The answer is: He has! Even for God, however, resolving the problem of evil and suffering takes considerable time. Let me use another analogy. It takes a kitten a comparatively short time to turn a pristine skein of wool into a complicated mess of tangles and knots that takes the knitter hours or even days to untangle. In much the same way, when we humans rebelled against God, it didn’t take us very long to make a real mess of creation and society (as we have seen). A mess that we seem to compound further rather than solve generation after generation despite all our advances in science and learning. Beguilingly the Creation Narrative contains clear hints that right from the beginning God set to, to resolve the sin problem and effect a restoration – well actually a restoration plus (but more of that later) – in both his search for humankind in our lostness (Genesis 3:9) and his (somewhat veiled) promise of a yet-to-be-revealed Saviour (Genesis 3:15).

The Old Testament records a long time-line of the salvation history of Israel (foreshadowing God’s greater intention to redeem the whole of his creation) climaxing perhaps in the various Servant Songs attributed to the Prophet Isaiah, particularly that portraying God’s Promised Messiah as the ‘Suffering Servant’ (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Although written possibly some 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ this Song powerfully describes all that God has done for humankind through Jesus – a focus that several of the New Testament Writers (Matthew, John, Luke, Peter, Paul) unashamedly pick up on. Each Writer has something significant to say about this but it is Peter who particularly underlines the link between Isaiah’s Suffering Servant to the ‘Christ who suffered’ on Calvary’s Cross: ‘(Christ) personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have returned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls’ (1 Peter 2:21-25). Intriguingly Luke suggests that it was puzzling over the meaning of this passage in Isaiah 53 that led directly to the conversion of the Ethiopian Chancellor of the Exchequer (Acts 8:26-35).

Whilst clearly the Cross-Resurrection event is pivotal in God’s recovery/restoration plan, the fruit of that act of redemption remains ongoing – that skein of messy, knotted entangled wool is still being straightened out. As the Apostle Paul reminds us ‘the whole creation still waits with eager longing for the day of its full redemption’ (Romans 8:19). In any case, God’s purpose in redeeming us was never simply to restore humanity to what we were before ‘Adam’ downgraded us so to speak. His purpose was much higher than that. His purpose was to make us more like Jesus himself – to ‘raise us up with Christ and see us seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:6). And… ultimately all suffering will cease as that redemptive process comes to its fulfilment. The Apostle John prophetically foresees a day when ‘God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. [A day when] there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away’ (Revelation 21:4).

Thirdly, whatever the nature of our suffering right now, God is with us in that suffering.  Elie Wiesel’s renowned autobiography, Night, describes the numerous atrocities faced by concentration camp inmates during the holocaust. Like many others in these circumstances, Wiesel found it difficult to hold onto his faith in God when such cruelty surrounded him. In particular he recalls being forced to witness the gruesome execution of a child strung up on a wire noose which caused him to question the very existence of a loving God. ‘Behind me, I heard a man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is God? He is here… hanging on this same gallows!”’

In addition to reciting a long list of the various sufferings he has had to endure despite his faith in a loving God (2 Corinthians 11:23-28), the Apostle Paul acknowledges that throughout he found that ‘God’s grace was sufficient for his needs’ (2 Corinthians 12:9). Jesus himself promised the believer ‘Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20). Although in one sense Jesus is ascended into Heaven and seated at God the Father’s right hand (Acts 2:33) in another sense he is also present with us by his Spirit, that ‘other Comforter who will never leave you’ (John 14:16).

Having said all this, it is important for us Christians not to be too prescriptive on questions such as this. We don’t have the answer to every question and sometimes it is best to simply acknowledge this. If we had all the answers we would be God ourselves… and we are not. There is a lot to be said for retaining something of the mystery of God as well as a greater sense of humility on our part. Taking to heart the Apostle Paul’s wise words in his First Letter to the Corinthians, where he reminds us that at this moment we don’t have God’s mind or see things with God’s eyes: ‘Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that we know now is partial and incomplete, but then we will know everything completely, just as God now knows us completely’ (1Corinthians 13:12). 

So when we ask about specific individual events and want to know why particular things happened, we won’t get the full answer in this life. One day we’ll see with clarity, but for now things are misty. We simply can’t understand everything from our finite perspective. And… to be quite blunt about it those people suffering right now as a result of what happened in Southport don’t need a big theological treatise right now. Any academic response is going to seem trite and inadequate. What they desperately need now is the very real and comforting presence of Jesus Christ in their lives. More often than not that sense of the presence of the living God is imparted through individuals – not by them quoting scripture at those who are hurting but simply by them being there, putting an arm round the shoulder, listening without necessarily saying anything.  I’m so grateful that so many churches and individuals in the immediate community in Southport are helping them experience that.

Jim Binney