Where is Man?
I'm one of those who thinks that, in the final analysis, all suffering must be brought and laid at the feet of God who is responsible for it. This doesn't mean that humanity doesn't have its hand in the matter. Suffering and pain in and of itself isn't evil, as Luke Timothy Johnston has observed. Vicious muggers and surgeons both wield cutting knives but their intention makes the difference between what's evil and what is good. Given a certain setting it might be an act of mercy to inflict even death. (This shouldn't be hard to believe since we're hearing more and more these days about "mercy killings". We're even hearing from some that it is immoral not to take some lives.)
I have no statistics to quote but I'm content with the view that the vast bulk of all suffering in the world is the immediate result of humans mistreating humans. Non-believers aren't able to call that "sin" but the Christian can and must and as soon as we say "sin" we've introduced into the whole picture an element that changes the nature of the whole picture. This change, which brings God into it, might make the picture much more complex but it fills it with hope and possibilities. Especially since God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Still, humans are abusing one another and those who have the power (little or much) are characteristically corrupt and corrupt much of what they come into contact with. Scriptures make it clear that in their view God gives power to leaders and governments so that they might see to it that his creation goods are shared with the needy (see Daniel 2:37; 4:27; Romans 13:1-7). Beyond government power there is the responsibility of individuals to ease the suffering and loss of the hurting and anyone who choose to ignore this is asking Christ to stamp Matthew 25 on their foreheads. The Old Testament is saturated with teaching that the poor and needy are to be taken care of by those who have been blessed (see Deuteronomy 15; Leviticus 19:9-10 and elsewhere).
A cartoon has two people talking. One says something like, "I was thinking of asking God what he was doing about all the suffering and the needy people in the world." His friend says, "And why don't you?" The sensitive one said, "I'm afraid of him asking me what I'm going to do."
We're strange. On the one hand we urge people to dump God and depend on the "brotherhood of man" and then we jump on God because he allows the "brotherhood of man" to work all this abuse. You understand it isn't only non-believers who do it but we rebuke God for doing nothing (as if we knew he was "doing nothing") and sit around doing nothing but clucking our tongues at the hurt of people. What's more, we rebuke God on a "moral" basis. That is, it's "wrong" for God to do nothing though it's all right for us to gorge and save. In Sophie's Choice, do you remember? In light of the horrors, after the question, "Where is God?" comes the question, "Where is man?"
