The Problem of Pain

C. S. Lewis

He never regarded us with contempt. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.

And here is the real problem: so much mercy yet still there is Hell.

There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else.

This is the ultimate law--the seed dies to live, the bread must be cast upon the waters, he that loses his soul will save it. But the life of the seed, the finding of the bread, the recovery of the soul, are as real as the preliminary sacrifice.

As usual, Lewis adroitly sidesteps almost all my misunderstandings and roadblocks to faith, mapping out with clarity and simplicity the most difficult problems of Christianity. I never cease to be amazed by Lewis's willingness to admit when he is uncertain, his very assurance in standing on his own shaky soil. Yet it always seems that he carries so much more wisdom than the experts he conscientiously defers to.
In The Problem of Pain he turns to the fundamental paradox of a good and loving God who allows pain and suffering--often times looking like the source of this pain and suffering. Lewis doesn't explain away every difficulty, nor do I believe that was his original purpose. He merely (as if anything this man did was "mere") sheds light upon so many of the silly and childish misunderstandings Christians of our day still labor under. While he may not solve all the issues at heart in the aforementioned paradox, he sure does a famously good job in resolving many of them.
But beyond this, beyond the philosophy and theology that slides out from between the pages, you get a sense of the deep emotion which ran through this man. If ever I have come across a man who means what he says, C. S. Lewis is that man. In the simplest and calmest of statements he does nothing more than mean the full and truest sense of what he says--and in this, he shatters your supposed understanding of everything.