His final chapters consider the question of animal pain and heaven.

He also cautions against literal interpretations of vivid imagery.

He notes that eternal may be something different than an endlessly prolonged time. He observes that most of us do want to see retributive punishment and that we would find great offense in God forgiving one who remains unrepentant in great wickedness. He takes on the idea of hell, and perhaps most helpfully says that his aim is not to make the doctrine tolerable, for it is not, but to show that it may be moral, despite the objections raised. It also calls us into the belief that holds onto God when there is no benefit in doing so. Pain, at least has the function of shattering our illusions that all is well, and we are sufficient in ourselves. We often minimize the “crooked timber” of our own lives even as we displace the focus onto God. We are fallen creatures, not simply by the fault of another but by our own active perversity. He also helps us take a hard, and uncomfortable look at human wickedness, in itself, the source of much suffering and pain. We must at least allow that suffering may not be contrary to a God who loves us and seeks our ultimate good. For God to be good does not require that he make us happy. Omnipotence does not mean that God is able to do what is impossible because of who he is or what he has decreed, to do. Some of what Lewis does that is quite helpful is define terms. The fact that the central figure of Christianity suffered at the hand of evil himself is not in itself an answer to this question but only poses another–why this death? Particularly as we witness both the ravages of disease and the inhumanity of people against each other, it seems that this is a monstrous assault on our sense of the good. One is that while the experience of suffering, even as Lewis acknowledges, requires of us fortitude when we ourselves face it and supportive sympathy when we walk along side friends in the midst of this, there are other times when we must take the larger view and ask “why pain and suffering?” And here, Lewis begins to help us because he observes that this is alike a question for the theist and the materialist.

There is some sense a reviewer has when reviewing books like this to feel the mere “poser” and to be simply tempted to say, “read Lewis!” But that would be a very short review! So what I might do is simply suggest a few reasons why we might read Lewis on this subject. Summary: Lewis’s classic work exploring the existence of suffering and pain and how this is possible in a world made and sustained by a good and omnipotent God. New York: Harper Collins, 2015 (originally published 1940).

Cs lewis the problem of pain review