Jessica Draut - Outiside Reading #2 - The Problem of Pain

Here Lewis defines the "problem of pain" as being the debate that: "If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God locks either goodness, or power, or both." (16). Many theologians and philosophers agree that this debate is one of the main stumbling blocks in a person's acceptance and belief in Christianity. Lewis provides his own answer to the debate: that pain is necessary in order for free will to exist. If man is to have free will then he must also have the choice to do wrong, which ultimately results in pain. Furthermore, with regards to the almighty power of God - in order for free will to exist, Lewis argues that God must be willing to put a check on his omnipotence. He says that the idea that God does this is a miracle in and of itself.

I am not a religious person at all, yet I cannot help but find Lewis's arguments to be very compelling and convincing. He does not try to lose the reader in elaborate, technical and scholarly argument, but rather uses the simplest of logic to assert his position.