The Problem of Pain

This passage from Lewis was probably one of the most confusing to read. I was not familiar with many of the philosophers and other things Lewis referred to. I was also especially confused before I found that a few of the pages were out of order. However, after reading it a few times, I think I understand the main ideas Lewis was trying to explain to us.

One point that I think that Lewis makes especially clear is the difference between physical pain and emotional pain. Physical pain, or pain in sense A, as Lewis refers to it, is the pain we feel in bodies. If I were to cut myself, I would feel pain A. Emotional pain, or pain B, refers to any kind of pain that is strong enough to hurt us emotionally. Pain A can also lead to pain B if it causes a certain amount of displeasure. I think that this is a very important distinction that we need to make in order to understand pain.

One point that I disagree with Lewis on is that God uses pain to warn us of our sin. While physical pain often works as a warning that we are damaging our bodies, I do not see this happening with emotional pain and sin. God does not maintain a very strong correlation between evil and pain. Evil things very often involve appear to be less painful, or even pleasurable. Also, good things can involve lots of pain, often even more pain than evil things. Many times, we have to sacrifice ourselves to pain in order to do the will of God. Pain does not appear to effectively discriminate between good and evil. I see pain more as a direct result of the fall of humanity. God never intended us to feel the great pains that we feel in our broken world. Pain is, in itself, evil. This is one topic that I don't very much agree with Lewis on.