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A review by naakai_reads
The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
4.0
This was quite a thought-provoking book for me, but as always, C.S Lewis’ theology has to be packed with so much well-thought out arguments arranged in a very logical approach, there is always a thing or two to take from his books. I wouldn’t want to go into profound theology in reviewing and summarizing this book as it would make it too lengthy and somewhat boring, so I decided to briefly review it in the simplest way possible, particularly from Chapters 2~8.
In this book, C.S Lewis tackles one of the most challenging questions in Christianity, “Why is there pain in this world?”
He writes, “If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty, He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore, God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.”
He goes on to address this as the Problem of Pain. Happiness in believers is being in a place where God wants you to be, anything apart from that ought to bring unhappiness and as you might guess, pain as well.
So where then did this desire of not wanting to be where God wants humans to be come from? That is defined by the Doctrine of Human Fall, men have drifted apart from God because of the abuse of FREE WILL.
As Lewis puts it;
Origins of wickedness were in people thinking that there is no problem with using their free will to be wicked and there are two causes of this:
1. Mistaking kindness for goodness, that being good is simply a mere act of kindness.
2. Doctrine of repressions and inhibitions, i.e our vices are natural, so as to overcome the guilt that comes with it.
Furthermore, Lewis goes on to explain the effects of the Human Fall. He talks about how God ruled the human organism through the human’s spirit, but that when the spirit disobeyed Him, He ceased to rule the human organism. As a result, it became hard to fully surrender to God, so the human organism had to go through the process of mortification, which in itself brings in pain. So, the purpose of pain according to Lewis is for you to notice something needs to be attended to i.e, alerting you that you have drifted away from your God.
Particularly useful is Lewis’ explanation on how pain differs from sin. He explains how sin can recur as long as the original temptation continues, so does evil (error breeds error), whereas pain can’t proliferate. When pain is over, it is over, and it brings in joy. Furthermore, an undoing is required to make error and sin right whilst pain has no undoing, you just have to heal whatever caused it. I addition, sin and error negatively affect people around you, but pain has one good effect to people who witness you going through it, pity.
I read this book before Mere Christianity, and now that I am currently reading Mere Christianity, I have realized that it would have been a smoother read if I had read Mere Christianity beforehand. Not that the two books are directly related, but Mere Christianity contained some basic theories and more detailed explanations which Lewis brought up in The Problem of Pain without explaining it in as much depth as in Mere Christianity. I would definitely recommend reading Mere Christianity before this book.
In this book, C.S Lewis tackles one of the most challenging questions in Christianity, “Why is there pain in this world?”
He writes, “If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty, He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore, God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.”
He goes on to address this as the Problem of Pain. Happiness in believers is being in a place where God wants you to be, anything apart from that ought to bring unhappiness and as you might guess, pain as well.
So where then did this desire of not wanting to be where God wants humans to be come from? That is defined by the Doctrine of Human Fall, men have drifted apart from God because of the abuse of FREE WILL.
As Lewis puts it;
Origins of wickedness were in people thinking that there is no problem with using their free will to be wicked and there are two causes of this:
1. Mistaking kindness for goodness, that being good is simply a mere act of kindness.
2. Doctrine of repressions and inhibitions, i.e our vices are natural, so as to overcome the guilt that comes with it.
Furthermore, Lewis goes on to explain the effects of the Human Fall. He talks about how God ruled the human organism through the human’s spirit, but that when the spirit disobeyed Him, He ceased to rule the human organism. As a result, it became hard to fully surrender to God, so the human organism had to go through the process of mortification, which in itself brings in pain. So, the purpose of pain according to Lewis is for you to notice something needs to be attended to i.e, alerting you that you have drifted away from your God.
Particularly useful is Lewis’ explanation on how pain differs from sin. He explains how sin can recur as long as the original temptation continues, so does evil (error breeds error), whereas pain can’t proliferate. When pain is over, it is over, and it brings in joy. Furthermore, an undoing is required to make error and sin right whilst pain has no undoing, you just have to heal whatever caused it. I addition, sin and error negatively affect people around you, but pain has one good effect to people who witness you going through it, pity.
I read this book before Mere Christianity, and now that I am currently reading Mere Christianity, I have realized that it would have been a smoother read if I had read Mere Christianity beforehand. Not that the two books are directly related, but Mere Christianity contained some basic theories and more detailed explanations which Lewis brought up in The Problem of Pain without explaining it in as much depth as in Mere Christianity. I would definitely recommend reading Mere Christianity before this book.