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September 24, 2010

Does God Want Us to Suffer?

Physical pain can transform or destroy us. It's best not to determine which category another's pain falls into.

Ellen Painter Dollar

This is the second of two posts on Christian perspectives on physical pain. The first explored the idea of pain relief as a human right.

Melanie Thernstrom, in her critically praised new book, The Pain Chronicles, examines the role of pain in religious belief. “If we try to describe the particular terror of pain,” writes Thernstrom, “it seems to lie in the way that it kidnaps consciousness, annihilating the ordinary self.” Yet annihilation of the self is precisely what many religious traditions strive for. And “while some pain poses a grave threat," she notes, "other pain paradoxically strengthens the sense of self.”

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Childbirth, rigorous physical training for sport or career, and coming-of-age rituals in some cultures can all be painful, but participants understand their pain as necessary for transforming the self — into a mother, a champion, a soldier, an adult. Thernstrom refers to this type of pain as integrative; we incorporate it into a positive sense of who we are. Thernstrom contrasts this with what she calls disintegrative pain: "pain that cannot be reconciled with one’s sense of self, but undermines and destroys it, as the pain of surgery differs from the pain of disease, even when they result in the same tissue damage.”

Pain’s transformative nature plays a central role in Christian belief. One need only look toward Jesus' crucifixion to see this. In fact, as Thernstrom explains, crucifixion maximizes pain by targeting body parts that are particularly pain-sensitive, such as the hands. Through Jesus’ painful death, we receive salvation and new life. Thernstrom explains Christianity’s perspective on pain: “The God of the Gospels answers the problem of pain not by removing it from human life, but by sharing it. . . . [Christ] suffers unto death, showing Christians not how to evade pain, but how to welcome its redemptive possibilities.”

Unfortunately, understanding pain’s redemptive possibilities can lead to romanticizing pain, scorning pain relief, and failing to recognize pain’s destructive power. In the 19th century, for example, it took decades for anesthetics to become widely used, even after physicians knew that they worked. Surgeons perceived the extreme pain of surgery as a necessary step in healing and a fundamental quality of their work. Christian churches claimed that medication to ease labor opposed the will of God, who had imposed labor pain upon women after Eve’s disobedience.

Today, people often respond to others’ pain with clichés: “Everything happens for a reason,” or, “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” glossing over the hard realities of pain in favor of the lessons to be learned. In a fascinating study, philosopher Rebecca Kukla showed that giving birth without pain medication has for some become a test of modern women’s suitability for motherhood, noting that “ ‘good’ mothers deliver vaginally without pain medication [while] ‘bad’ mothers make ‘selfish’ choices,” including epidurals and C-sections. Thernstrom also notes that chronic pain patients (particularly women and African Americans) have their complaints misunderstood or dismissed and their dependence on medication quickly pegged as weakness or addiction. Our culture operates under the assumption that “pain is gain” (and that an inability or unwillingness to bear it is a character flaw).

Certainly, the Cross demonstrates that pain can be redemptive, and many of us can relate experiences whereby pain led to positive transformation (though such transformation often comes once pain is relieved, because in the midst of severe pain, it’s hard to do much of anything besides be in pain). Christ’s suffering also helps us to know that when we suffer pain, God actually does know how we feel.

Yet the abundant stories of Jesus' healings also suggest that God understands how pain can limit human flourishing, especially when it leaves people unable to participate in essential human activities (family and community life, work, rest) and disconnected from their true selves. As someone with a painful, debilitating physical disability, I cling to the healing narratives as proof that Jesus cares about me and my broken body, and understands that pain is not always gain. I cling also to God’s promise in Revelation 21: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

As modern Christians with medical technology at our disposal, from drugs and surgery to genetic screening and assisted reproduction, we’re forced to contemplate how far we should go in abolishing pain, and when we should welcome its redemptive possibilities. One important step in that contemplation is an honest look at how we perceive and judge those who are in pain. Pain can transform, and pain can destroy. Humility requires that we not be too quick to judge into which category another’s pain falls.

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Posted by Katelyn Beaty on September 24, 2010 9:22 AM

Comments

Thank-you for this wonderful posting. I remember after my first experience with childbirth, which was excruciating due to an unforeseen problem with my unusual spine formation, how a female leader in my church discouraged me from having an epidural with my second child. Statements were made about how it was more spiritual to feel the pain and that it would produce better bonding with the baby. Although I did go on to have an epidural, I felt like a second-class Christian, despite the fact that, for me, the pain control HELPED with the bonding process. Oh, how the church can short-circuit the grace God wants to shower on us by making judgements on one another regarding suffering. This article thoughtfully refutes the practice of making easy judgements about other's pain.

Posted By: Marianne | September 24, 2010 3:45 PM

Ellen - While not necessarily about pain, I hope you are given the opportunity to post articles here again - I appreciate your insight greatly.

Posted By: Leslie | September 24, 2010 5:00 PM

Thank you Leslie. It's always gratifying to hear people say they get something out of things I write. The schedule currently is that I'll have something here about every two weeks.

Posted By: Ellen | September 24, 2010 6:55 PM

This reminds me of an interesting episode of the RadioLab podcast (high, high recommendation, btw) in which they discussed a study that found that the mental context of pain makes all the difference. Given a similar experience--say a non-fatal shooting--the situation determined the pain level. Soldiers shot on the battlefield reported much less pain (they were alive, they were heroes) than, say, store owners shot by criminals (they had been victimized, they could lose their livelihood).

I wonder if that connects to how Christians with a theology of pain interpret the painful episodes of their lives.

Posted By: Devon | September 24, 2010 8:29 PM

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his body, which is the church"
Col 1:24
I admit that as an Evangelical I had no way to understand suffering, and it wasn't until I entered the Catholic church that I was taught stories of beautiful saints who not only suffered, but rejoiced in that which brought them closer to their Lord who suffered for all.

Posted By: Michael McCleary | September 25, 2010 6:57 AM

Thank you so much for this wise post. I've been concerned with Christian commentary on mental anguish as a sign of sin. Depression as "sin" is a terrible judgment on any of us suffering from a mental illness. Folks who experience chronic pain have a unique and extraordinary life. It's a profound and unimaginable calling to endure daily pain. We should honor and respect those people and not shame them into praying more.

Posted By: LivewithFlair | September 25, 2010 3:37 PM

I am a Christian pharmacist and also a sufferer of severe chronic pain for many years. I have had 5 disks removed from my neck in 3 operations and overall for various things, have had about 20 operations. I have degeneration of my spine. I haven't been able to work for many years obviously. Until people have walked in the shoes of someone living with chronic pain, they really have absolutely zero idea what it is like.

Before I had my disks out, I had the pain feeling as if knives were up and down my arm, and I'd pace the floor at night in tears. Thankfully, my first neck operation completely removed that pain immediately. But with the degeneration of the spine, I've needed additional surgeries. Prior to the 2nd neck operation, I lost the use of 3 fingers on my left hand and the extreme pain was in my neck and arm. After the 2nd operation, I didn't have the complete relief I had after the first surgery, and have had chronic pain ever since.

The pain is there 100% of the time, it NEVER goes away unless you are asleep. If you haven't had chronic pain that never goes away, you can't imagine it, believe me. There is only enough relief to allow you to do the activities of daily living. If I have chores to do, I do them in the morning and I space them throughout the week. I once was very strong, and this is not a way of living that anyone would choose. And then we also have to deal with people who have no understanding and try to judge us. I went my entire life without ever trying any drugs such as marijuana or anything at all. This is NOT something I chose to have. But I have to live with it, and if I can have some easing of the pain, I am extremely grateful for it. It was my doctor who brought it up to me, I did not ask him for them. But he could tell the pain I was in by seeing me walk, and talking to me, and looking at my MRI's that I was and am in extreme pain. I praise God for his compassion, because I know there are a lot of people out there with severe pain who are not being treated adequately, and they suffer very much. Now if we could just get the same compassion from Christians. These same Christians would want their pet dogs treated if they were suffering, please extend the same compassion to those like me.

My family doctor is a Christian, so I am blessed in a number of ways. I can't stress enough that this is pain that is with you every single minute except for sleeping. Try imagine living with a knife stuck in the back of your neck or your arm, and not seeking treatment?? Do you really think Tylenol would help you when you feel like you have knives in you? When you have that kind of pain, you will do anything. Animals would be euthanized if they had this kind of pain, but we have to live with it. Opioids and opiates are often used interchangeably, but opiates are natural chemicals found in nature, and opioids are synthetic. There isn't a difference as to which is better, they both hit the same pain receptors.

During the years, I have studied many hours about chronic pain, and the opioids ARE the treatment for this kind of pain, it is what they are designed for. For all of the people on disability, 60% are on it for chronic pain. As for the nsaids, they cannot reach this level of pain. There is something called a therapeutic level. You could take 100 acetaminophen (not an nsaid) or 100 naproxen or 100 ibuprofen, etc, and it will not equal one single tablet of an opioid. In my continuing education studies, they have stated that people who take these medicines for real pain have a very low addiction rate, like 1%. It is the people who misuse these drugs by grinding them up and injecting them to get "highs" that are the addicts everyone pictures. People with real pain do NOT get any type of "high", we simply get an easing of the pain.

As for the big drug companies making money argument, many of these drugs are available in generics, and they are not extremely expensive. It is only on the street, with addicts selling them to each other that they cost so much. Oxycontin is actually the same medicine that is found in Percocet, only it is in timed-release form and it is without the acetaminophen. The FDA has considered a black box warning for acetaminophen because it is now the #1 killer of the liver, it is no longer alcohol, but acetaminophen. Remember there are non-Christians who hear you and see you, and hopefully you are as loving and compassionate to sufferers of pain as you are to your own pets.

Posted By: Barbara | September 26, 2010 5:49 PM

Thank you for this beautifully written blog post! As someone who suffers from a chronic health problem that severely limits my daily activity, I very much appreciate the thoughtfulness and compassion shown in the exploration of this topic.

I've heard several times that God has given me this affliction to bring something good out of it, but I just don't know if that's the case. It's possible, but it also seems possible that disease and injury are just the products of a fallen world. I try to remember daily that even if nothing good happens because of my illness, something good can happen in spite of it with the Lord's help.

Thanks again for writing about this issue.

Posted By: TheLordIsMyShepherd | September 26, 2010 9:35 PM

Very interesting topic! When Jesus was on the cross He suffered the pain of the physical ordeal He was going through, but, as bad as that was, the spiritual/emotional pain of separation from God, that taking on the sins of the world required, was probably even more excruciating!

Posted By: Suzy | September 28, 2010 10:07 AM

Interesting post. It connects with a sermon I just heard that also claimed we have over-romanticized the purported redeeming nature of pain. In Protestant theology, Jesus already completed our redemption--we are saved through God's grace, not through our pain.

Posted By: Ann | September 28, 2010 4:27 PM

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