昨天我们看到世界对难担的苦难所提供的答案都是枉然的。在这些答案中，没有伤痛能回应我们的伤痛，没有死亡能回应我们的死亡。

世界的那些所谓答案令我想起自己看过的一幅漫画。漫画描述两个在儿童拳击场的幼童，他们身上只穿着短裤和拳击手套，准备打斗。其中一人的注意力被两只在他头上飞舞的蝴蝶所吸引，由于他站在那里注视着蝴蝶而被对手一拳打到鼻子上去。在打斗中注视蝴蝶显然是危险的事。而任何思想体系，如果其目的只是令你的注意力从生命严酷的现实转为注视蝴蝶的话，最终都是失败的；因为在攻击来到时，这种思想只会让你感到悲观。

那么，基督教对这问题的答案是甚么？首先，我们必须接受现实，承认生命必有苦难这个事实。我们不能逃避因为否认它就是否认现实。经验告诉我，很多基督徒在面对某种形式的苦难时，首先是否认它，说：「我甚么问题都没有，因为我有耶稣同在，祂在我和我所面对的一切事情之间，成了当中伟大的绝缘体。」要知道承认问题并不代表缺乏信心。你无须老想着问题，但在你可以应付它以前必须先承认它。要记着，你必须先愿意面对现实，然后才能够期望把它克服。

Yesterday we looked at some of the world's ineffectual answers to the problem of unmerited suffering. In them there are no wounds to answer our wounds, no death to answer our death.

Their so-called answers remind me of a cartoon I once saw which depicted two toddlers in a children's boxing ring. Stripped for action, with nothing on but shorts and boxing gloves, they were ready for the fray. The attention of one of the youngsters was caught by two butterflies flitting just above his head and he stood gazing up at them, exposing himself to the blow which his opponent was about to land on his nose. Gazing at butterflies while in the midst of a conflict is a dangerous occupation. Any system of thought that takes your attention off the grim facts of life by calling attention to butterflies is doomed inevitably to produce pessimism as the blows begin to fall.

What, then, is the Christian answer to this problem? First, we must realistically face the fact that life involves suffering. There is no escaping that fact, to deny it is a denial of reality. I have found from experience that the first thing many Christians do when caught up in a form of suffering is to deny its reality and say something like this: "I don't have any problems, for Jesus is the Great Insulator between me and everything that happens." It is not lack of faith to acknowledge a problem. You don't have to dwell upon it, but before you can deal with it, you must acknowledge it. Remember, you must first be willing to face reality before you can expect to overcome it.