Suffering In Timothy Keller's The Reason For God

Suffering plays a key role in many religions, but it is especially prevalent in Christianity. Modern-day critics of Christianity are fond of asking something along the lines of “If there is a god, why does he not end suffering?” And they are perfectly justified in asking. It is a large question–absolutely appropriate for a grand level of consideration. Timothy Keller uses three main points in The Reason for God to show how he sees the issue. These three points can be summarized in three simple phrases: justice and injustice, godly suffering, and cleansing fire.
Keller states that modern objections to God are based on a sense of fair play and justice, he then goes on to state that those who are convinced that the world is unjust and filled

with evil, but do not believe in God, have no ground to stand on. He says that, without God, there can be no right and wrong and thus those that believe the world to be an evil place, but do not believe in a supernatural phenomena of some sort, are in fact stating that they believe in a supernatural force of some variety. To me, this question, this twist of logic is meaningless. An atheist does not see the world as a place that is evil or a place that is somehow broken, an atheist sees the world as simply being something that exists–something that is not in any way good or bad, something that is not broken, something that cannot be morally broken. The world simply is. This does not, in any way, mean that the concept of morality is bankrupt. It simply means that it is up to mankind to decide what is morally right and what is not. And I see no problem with that. Yes, different people have ideas of what is morally right, but they often attribute those beliefs, those opinions to something above themselves. Suffering as it is part of the world, has the same qualities. Suffering, in and of itself, is neither good nor evil–it just is. This does not mean that it should be accepted, far from it. Human suffering is something that should be actively fought in any way possible. The point is that it is something that just is.
The second reason Keller gives for why a good God might allow suffering is that He has experienced it.

Keller spends much of the second chapter of his book showing how, when Jesus was heading to, and on the cross, he experienced true suffering. The suffering in question came, for the most part, from being completely separate from God for the first time in all of eternity. Keller makes the claim, through rather long means, that because God has experienced human suffering, God has allowed human suffering. On this, I agree with Keller. Although it may seem a little counter-intuitive, I can see why an infinitely wise God might have a reason to put Himself through the worst suffering possible and then allow it to

continue.
The third and final reason Keller gives on why God has allowed suffering to continue is that it is a cleansing fire, a forge through which all men must be put.

Through fire, impurities are removed. Through suffering, men are made stronger and their characters are either broken or made better–although the true definition of the word better is rather hard to pin down. Suffering, to many Christians, is something to prepare us for Heaven. It is something that, because of the cross, is something that can bring hope. I do think that suffering can make people stronger. I know that the homesickness I felt while in China will make it easier next time I leave my home, I know that the thousand little shocks of leaving home will be somewhat less powerful because of what I have suffered and so I say that I agree with the majority of what Keller has to say on this point.
In the end, Keller basically says that God does what God does because God is God. God’s reasons are things that cannot be fully comprehended by human minds, or so says Keller. But what I want to ask is, if we cannot understand it, then what reason is there to respect it? To me, the rationale that something must be accepted because God wills it and for no other reason is repulsive. But I am getting off topic. Keller states, and I partially agree, that God allows suffering because it can refine us and make us

better.