The above picture appeared in one of my Facebook feeds. Like other memes, it’ll make its way around the internet and people will see some sort of truth in it.
I think it can be understood in one of two ways.
Either it can be understood as an image of “hell,” one option for the afterlife, or it can be understood to be an image of humanity suffering on earth and the pain we endure while alive.
I understand it to be a poetic image of the suffering we endure while alive here on earth. This can be natural disasters, sickness, racial tensions, broken families, war, terrorism, poverty – anything that could be perceived as “hell” on earth.
PEOPLE REJECT GOD BECAUSE OF PAIN
What’s really frightening is that I’ve met people who have rejected Christianity – and other forms of religion – because they believe that our current experience is the world that God intended!
They often ask, “why would I believe in a God who creates a world with such pain and suffering?”
If we believe this too, we also could end up rejecting God!
GOD DIDN’T CREATE A WORLD OF SUFFERING
But guess what?!?! Scripture also rejects this sort of world, and all the suffering that comes with it.
In Genesis, God creates the world, and he calls it “good.” In Greek, the word used here could also be translated as, “beautiful.”
God then creates humanity, and blesses us by saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gen 1:28 RSV)
In other words, we were to be good stewards reflecting God’s rule into creation.
HUMANITY DECIDES TO GO IT ALONE
Well, as you know, we failed.
We decided we knew best and disobeyed God. Humanity gets thrown out of the garden, but did you notice that creation, which was under our care, also gets punished?
And to Adam he [God] said, “Because you …have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life…” (Gen 3:17 RSV)
In other words, human disobedience has consequences for all of creation. Because we are in a relationship with the world around us, what we do affects everything!
WHAT WE DO AFFECTS EVERYTHING
An Orthodox Christian author, St. Symeon the New Theologian (11th century), points this out in some of his writings.
Symeon says that creation’s curse is being deprived of spontaneous germination. Then he writes:
Therefore, indeed, when it [creation] saw him [Adam] leave Paradise, all of the created world which God had brought out of non-being into existence no longer wished to be subject to the transgressor. The sun did not want to shine by day, nor the moon by night, nor the stars to be seen by him. …the very air itself thought about contracting itself and not providing breath for the rebel. The wild beasts and all the animals of the earth saw him stripped of his former glory and, despising him, immediately turned savagely against him.
Symeon continues:
What then? …[God] straightway subjects all of it [creation] to Adam as before. He wills that creation serve man for whom it was made, and like him become corruptible, so that when again man is renewed [through Christ] …then creation, too…will be feed from its slavery and, together with man, be made new. (pg. 29)
GOD LETS US DO IT OUR WAY
In other words, God created a world, which he called good and beautiful.
He then created humanity to take care of the world, and the world, in turn, would provide a pleasant existence for humanity.
But humanity, like a small child, wanted to do things its own way, rather than listening to God.
As a result, God essentially granted us our wish… “OK do it your way!”
The only catch was that when he granted us our wish, his blessing over creation went with him.
No more peaceful existence! Now it’s up to us! But we aren’t God. We are fallible, broken creatures.
And along with our brokenness comes all sorts of problems: natural disasters, sickness, racial tensions, broken families, war, terrorism, poverty, and anything else that causes pain and suffering.
BUT THEN REACHES OUT AND HELPS US
The good news is that God saw our suffering. And, in response, he sent his uniquely begotten son, Jesus Christ, into the world as a co-sufferer.
Through Christ, the world is recreated!
Through Christ the world is renewed!
Through Christ suffering, pain, and sorrow become no more!
Not only is humanity transformed through Christ, but the good news is that all of creation also will be renewed and restored to a peaceful, fruitful existence.
P.S. WE ARE RECREATED AND RENEWED THROUGH CHRIST
Some people reject God, or the religion in general, because they believe that the world we live in is a part of God’s design.
They see the pain and suffering that many people endure, and they ask, “how could a god allow such things?”
However, Christianity, through biblical teaching, also rejects that our world – with its pain and suffering – was what God planned.
The pain and suffering in this world is brought on through humanity’s ignorance and hardheadedness. We cause wars, poverty, and injustices. We cause pain and suffering.
On the bright side, God reaches out and suffers with us on the cross, and through his suffering he gives us an opportunity to be transformed and renewed!
Come, this Sunday, to St. Elias and begin the transformation process with Jesus Christ, along with the rest of creation (10:30, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque)(Or your nearest Orthodox Church).
To see more of my writings about recreation, click here.
Reference: St Symeon the New Theologian, On The Mystical Life: The Ethical Discourses, Vol 1: The Church and the Last Things (Crestwood: SVS Press, 1995).