The Problem of Pain

In the world, there are two kinds of pain: the natural, everyday pain that is emotional, physical, and mental, which effects our everyday lives. The second pain, and the focus of this paper, is the moral evil, the pain of magnitude—pain which wipes out significant numbers of the population, without any evidence of divine intervention. The greatest example is the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s 'Night', a record of the ordeals he endured at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, one gets a true sense of the evil which flourished in the Nazi death camps. In response to the terror of Auschwitz, Richard Rubenstein in his 'After Auschwitz', details the theological responses to the Holocaust and death of God theology. The problem of pain continues to compromise religion. However, there are ways to reconcile faith, with the presence of evil in our world. To the harsh reality of pain, C.S. Lewis will present his theodicy in his 'The Problem of Pain'. The topic question is, is religion a human need to overcome suffering? How do these theologians attempt to understand the problem of pain and suffering with the concept of an all good and loving God? What conclusions do they make?