"WHEN YOU SUFFER INJUSTICE GOD SUFFERS TOO AND MORE!" EVALUATED

God as God cannot suffer for he is not a material being. But if God becomes man, that is he volunteers to take on an additional nature, a human nature, he may suffer. This is the classic Christian doctrine. It faces its heresies too as we shall soon see.

“God suffers when we suffer.” Some theologians with bizarre notions teach that our suffering is nothing compared to how God suffers when we suffer. He breaks his heart. Others think that this idea should be interpreted in the light of the incarnation: God becoming man. Jesus suffers on the cross spiritually and mystically in some way that is far worse than it looks. It looks like a man in agony on the cross but there is deeper suffering going on. Jesus is suffering with everybody else. He takes on the agony of being with his brethren, one by one, in their suffering and breaks his heart at their pain.

Some theologians think both ideas are valid.

What the different groups have in common is that they try to solve the problem of unjust suffering by imagining worse unjust suffering and telling themselves God suffers.

This is really about people not wanting to feel alone or that it is just them having this unique suffering experience for suffering is never the same for any two people no matter how similar they seem. This is not about opposition to suffering or real compassion. It is not about theodicy or theology. What is it about then? It sentimental.  Because another suffering like you may not be enough or may not be enough tomorrow you go and concoct a God who exactly goes through the same thing as you.

Suffering is selfish is you want others including God to suffer with you for that is just another form of suffering for you. To comfort yourself with God suffering worse than you all because you suffer is a form of pride and egotism. In fact a decent person would suffer far more at the thought that God suffers over them. And what use is suffering if it costs that much?

Moltmann promoted this suffering God but he should have spent the time on logic lessons.