Why Do We Experience Pain?

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
-Revelation 21:4
     As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my favorite activities is playing basketball. What I didn't mention is that I actually cannot play much basketball these days because of an injury that I have. A couple months ago, I developed a case of metatarsalgia in my left foot. Metatarsalgia is a term that describes inflammation and/or pain in the ball of the foot. The condition is caused by the overuse of the metatarsals in the foot. In my case, the repeated stress on my foot caused by playing basketball triggered this condition.
     Talking from experience, having metatarsal pain is quite frustrating as it limits my ability to perform many daily activities. When the injury was more severe, I even felt pain in my left foot just by walking. After dealing with this pain for a few weeks, I finally decided it was time to go to the doctor to discuss my condition. When I described the pain I was experiencing, the podiatrist (foot doctor) informed me that I had metatarsalgia. He also told me that the cause of my pain was likely a combination of pressure on my foot caused by basketball and having slightly abnormally sized metatarsal bones (I can't remember if they are too long or too short). The result of these two things was inflammation and pain in my left foot.
     I bet that as you were reading about my condition, one of the first questions you had was what caused my condition. Whenever someone has pain, we know that it was caused by something. Pain never occurs unless something triggers that pain. I didn't start feeling pain in the ball of my foot randomly- I starting feeling pain because I damaged my metatarsals. Pain is only ever an indicator of an underlying problem in our bodies.
     In the same way, could it be possible that the reason we experience pain and suffering is because there is an underlying problem in the world? One of the biggest objections to the Christian faith is that a good god would never allow pain and suffering. Only a cruel, evil god would allow us to experience pain. However, before we start blaming God for the pain in the world, we should stop and ask why we experience pain in the first place.
     I once heard of a young girl that had a rare condition that stopped her body from experiencing physical pain. There was something in either her brain or nervous system that didn't process pain as most of us do. At first, this may sound like it is a blessing. She never would have to experience pain from a cut, bruise, or other bodily harm. However, this was a serious issue for her and her parents. Since she had no response whatsoever to pain, she could damage her body without even realizing it. Her parents had to keep a watchful eye on her to make sure she didn't hurt herself by touching a hot stove, cutting herself on a sharp surface or any other similar scenario.
     While no one enjoys feeling pain, without the ability to feel pain, we would not be able to identify bodily harm. We wouldn't be able to detect a cut and treat it before it got infected. We wouldn't be able to recognize that our hand was being burned on a stove top and remove our hand to prevent serious burns. Quite honestly, we would not last very long without the ability to feel pain.
     So I ask again, why do we experience pain? Perhaps we experience pain in the world (beyond just the physical) because our souls are trying to indicate that there is a problem. Perhaps God gave us the ability to feel pain to indicate to us that our world is not as it is meant to be. If everything were right in the world, we wouldn't have to experience pain. However, because of sin and the power of Satan, everything is not right in this world. Maybe the pain that is experienced in the world is simply an indicator of the reality of sin and Satan.
     After diagnosing the source of pain, the next step is to treat the pain. For my metatarsalgia, the treatment is an orthopedic insert that I have to put into my shoes. These inserts spread the force on my foot to remove pressure from the metatarsal area which allows my foot to heal. What is the proper treatment for sin? The Bible claims that no one is sinless. Each one of us has sinned and will continue to sin. However, that doesn't mean we should leave sin untreated. Just because I continue to experience pain in my foot doesn't mean that I don't do anything about it. The proper treatment for sin is repentance and belief in God.
     Pain is a reality in this world because sin is a reality in this world. Unfortunately, none of us have the power to do anything about sin in this world. Thankfully, there is one who does have the power to do something, Jesus. Jesus came and died on the cross to take on the sin of world on Himself so that we wouldn't have to experience the pain that sin brings. However, we have to repent and believe before we can experience the healing that He brings. One day, if we repent and believe in Jesus, we experience the day where "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain".
-Smart