What if there is no Suffering tomorrow?

I firmly believe that the greatest hope of humanity is to eradicate suffering. Yet, is that what we really want? I believe that we have come to a point that we are unable live with it. Love and hate relationship, I describe. Why I can come to this conclusion? Actually through a simple logic we can draw a conclusion. If we value science and development, then, if there is no more suffering then we stop most of the development of science, for the direction of all science is aiming to be immortal, to have God-Like power. Therefore, it is a narrow way to think that science is simply there to make our life easier but to life live to the fullest without much struggle and pain. When there is no suffering is also an alert and a declaration of the end of science. Suffering is the fuel of  many discovery. 

I venture to believe that if suffering already demolished, it is necessary that one create it, and it will be done so. If there is no suffering, the degree of life is not happy vs suffering but happy vs happier. Can we still be happy seeing people who are happier? Do we hope something bad will happened to them? This is possible scenario that could be happening. There is an article also deal with this issue. What would happen if suffering is gone tomorrow, do we ever satisfy? The answer is the "Hedonistic Imperative" then come into the scene. It is undeniable that there is in us the desire for more. Thus, as long as we are in this earth, we will never get our satisfaction in the full sense of the term. 

Yes, if there is no suffering we will be happy but can it stay for long? What if we are dealing with the same kind of happiness, let say eating the great food repetitively. I doubt we can say that it satisfy us as we all know, the Hermann Heinrich Gossen-Law would apply. Furthermore, there is no way in which we can measure the limit of our own desire. The longer we live, the more unwarrantable stimulation needed. An impactful Buddhist writer by the name of Thich Nhat Hanh put this way, without mud there will be no lotus. This is a beautiful imaginary, that is to say, beautiful thing is not only about the absence of suffering but the harmony between two seemingly opposing force of the universe. 

For me personally, the greatest thing about suffering is that it point us to God, the need of Him. If we already stuffed, there is no desire to eating although a very delicious food is right after our face. Do not get me wrong, what I am trying to say that good is really depend on the existence of evil in an equal manner as if the world is governed by two principles of bad and good. In line with Augustine we can say that evil is a depravation of good in which evil is a degradation, a distortion. Evil is evil in se, despite the good thing that could comes out of it. To answer the why good good allow suffering is not easy. History of theodicy, as some would argue is the history of the failure of theodicy to answer the foundational question of why suffering. 

There are two wrong perspectives on suffering that we should aware of. First is stoicism. Second is dualism. Stoicism sees that suffering is a distraction that we need not pay attention to. To think about suffering is the mother of suffering. Therefore, we need to focus on other thing. And second, in dualism's way of thinking, suffering is coming from different sources, we can say good God and bad God. Yet, Christian worldview oppose those kind of thinking.  In Christian worldview, God is not the author of evil but He is sovereign and can use suffering for His own good and thus, to think that God has no business with evil at all is wrong. But still, strict dualism is a false way to look the relationship between God and evil. Furthermore, Christian worldview also despise stoicism because as we said before that if God can use suffering to accomplish His plan and hence, suffering is not totally a mere distraction (Could be in some cases) but most of the time, it has a fundamentally strong transformative and educative dimension.

Indeed, we are living in the tension. Already but not yet, as reformers claim. Gospel centered faith is also hold this tension between the reality of suffering and also the existence of perfectly good and powerful God. The gap between this tension is a promise, a hope that one day suffering will be gone and be eradicated completely. And this is not a false hope or mere politics of hope (To create a sense of meaning) The promise has begun at the cross and sustained by the resurrections. Meanwhile, we need to wait with hope. Struggling with faith. True, nobody can stop us from imaging what if there is no suffering tomorrow. However, we should never forget, the better question we should ask is this, if there is no suffering tomorrow, that's mean Christ has fulfilled his promise to come again. So the more relevant question we might ask, "Am I ready to meet Him?" And when the time has not yet coming, right at the moment, "Do I believe that Christ is more precious than His gift?" As Mike Leake in his book Torn to Heal wisely says, "Only when we believe that Christ is our greatest good we will be able to suffer well!"