The Problem of Pain

C S Lewis is at his scholarly best in The Problem of Pain. It is a difficult read for me to follow, but the author's points are dead-on accurate.

His overall thrust of the problem of pain is that pain is an inevitable possibility facing a free-will created being and an inevitable reality of a free-will created being who has chosen to exercise his free will to become self-determinant.

Pain, in this context, according to Lewis, is no less painful but much more understandable. Context arises is 3 ways:

1. Pain alerts us that all is not well. This is the section of the book where the oft-used quote occurs when Lewis relates that God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience and shouts to us in our pain - a megaphone is the exactly analogy.

2. Pain demonstrates that we are not sufficient in ourselves to address the fact that all is not well.

3. Pain confirms we have made a conscience choice to begin our return to Eden.

Those points are all subject to expansion and refinement as I continue to read and re-read the chapter called Human Pain.