The problem of pain is that it is a problem. Gravity is not a problem and it can be explained in much the same way. It is an inexplicable force that brings both good and ill effects. Pain is an effect with an equally murky, equally unavoidable cause. But unlike gravity, it is incredibly difficult to discuss pain; any attempt to reason out suffering sounds vapid. When confronted with distress, words deliquesce into meaninglessness. If we could simply accept suffering as a natural effect, there would be no problem. But we cannot accept it. And although I can accept a certain theological explanation involving free will, there are moments when I would renounce free will if it meant renouncing pain. Free will is a foreign currency whose value I do not fully understand.

Words dissolve before pain, and I cannot use words to describe another’s suffering. Give me a metaphysical argument and I will use language, but give me a face and I will respond with expression. I could work out my thoughts on pre-destination for years, but it would not get me any closer to salvation. I can discuss the problem of pain and reconcile it with God’s nature in the most erudite expressions, but it would bring me no nearer to comprehending suffering.

If the cost of free will is pain, what is the consequence of saying that I do not want free will? But I have already given it up. For the Christian must renounce their own will. If freedom in Christ means submitting our will to his, we are, in effect, giving up our knowledge of good and evil. We are abandoning the law – morality – in favor of God’s will. But in return, he does not allay the effects of the Fall. We are made perfect but our circumstances are not.