The holocaust may actually serve as an example for my next point. It is widely claimed that the Holocaust caused many people to lose their faith in God. Now, surely a loving God would not allow his people to get to the point where they have lost faith in him? Without man, God is nothing. Likewise, without God, man is nothing. I recently came across these moving words while reading up on the topic of God and the holocaust – they were supposedly found anonymously inscribed on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where people were hiding from the Nazi officers. It reads as follows:
“I believe in the sun when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when feeling it not.
I believe in God even when he is silent.”
It is clear that the person who wrote the above has not yet lost their belief in God, despite the terrible things that are happening. The same cannot however be said for their faith. They have no doubt pleaded with God and have been greeted with silence (hence the final line). From this person’s point of view, there may still be a God; just as there is still a sun at night, but he is not all-loving, for God seemingly does not care for the suffering that has occurred, and is still occurring.
Conversely, it can be argued that human beings are incapable of seeing the ‘bigger picture’, as it were. God is an omniscient being, meaning that time and space are at his dispensation. If anyone can see this elusive ‘bigger picture’, it’s him. Not being bound by time and space, would technically allow for God to plan out the entire course of the universe. Therefore, it can be seen that suffering, genocide, all the pain in the world could just be working towards a greater goal on God’s part. This indeed supports the claim that human’s cannot think to understand God, and that they may not be able to see the ‘bigger picture’.
We could also come back to the punishment idea that I touched upon earlier – perhaps suffering could well be caused by man, not God. The holocaust was carried out by Man; God did not send his emissaries of evil to carry out plagues. The genocide that took place was by man’s design.
In all honesty, I agree with the statement. However, I only agree if it is taken on a very technical level. I do agree that God cannot be a loving being if he allows suffering on such grand scales to occur. However, the statement is often misinterpreted as “God does not exist, since suffering occurs”, all that is required for God to no longer exist (in my opinion), is for people to lose faith in him. Should that faith remain, God will remain. As can be seen from the anecdote I noted above, it takes a lot for people to lose faith.