Why is there suffering in the world?
Suffering is inherent in mortality. Physical bodies are subject to pain and discomfort. As a social being, man is vulnerable to emotional suffering. Among the sensitive, there are also other levels of profound suffering. Mankind's attempt to explain the necessity of suffering are varied. LDS doctrine provides two explanations that are uncommon in the Judeo-Christian tradition. First, all mankind chose to enter mortality with full knowledge of the great price that would be required of Christ and of discipleship in his name. Second, one's suffering is to be in the image of that of the Lord, who suffered so "that he [might] know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12). For Latter-day Saints, Christ's mission and his gospel were intended to relieve needless pain and suffering. The gospel provides hope that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, one may return to God. It also provides access to the Holy Ghost and establishes a community built on the kinship of supportive believers. Latter-day Saints do not believe that pain is intrinsically good. But when suffering is unavoidable in the fulfillment of life's missions, one's challenge is to draw upon all the resources of one's soul and endure faithfully and well. The effects of suffering depend on how one responds.
abstracted from Carlfred Broderick, "Suffering in the World," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 3:1421-22.
The abstracts on this site have been prepared by BYU Studies staff and interns.
How do Latter-day Saints reconcile God's goodness and power with the evil and suffering evident in the world?
Traditional Christian theology asserts that all that exists was created ex nihilo (out of nothing) by God. The paradox follows that all forms of evil must be directly or indirectly God-made. In Latter-day Saint sources, however, God is not the only self-existent reality. There are principles of eternal law and elements that are coexistent with him. "Omnipotence," then, means God has all the power it is possible to have in the universe. He did not create evil. Another traditional view holds that there is no evil, simply misperceptions on the part of limited mortals. But Latter-day Saint scripture teaches unmistakably that such things as sin, deformity, disease, and death are real. Experiences of contrast, such as good and evil, are indispensable to knowledge and growth (2 Nephi 2; Doctrine and Covenants 122). Good can come out of the experience of evil to the degree that God's creatures harmonize their will with his. God's power is never "controlling" or "manipulating"; it is liberating, empowering, and persuading. LDS thought returns to the scriptural thesis that all mankind participated in the original plan of life. Rather than being "thrown" into the world, the entire human family elected to enter mortality in an act of faith and foresight.
abstracted from Truman G. Madsen, John Cobb Jr., "Theodicy," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 4:1473–74.
The abstracts on this site have been prepared by BYU Studies staff and interns.
