Theodicy and the Pittsburgh Pirates

"Finally, I think the baseball gods have looked down on us, and said, 'Enough's enough.' " -- Pirates manager John Russell, after Saturday's walk-off win

It'll take more than one exciting walk-off win to erase 2 decades of ignominy, but the divine punishment inflicted on the Pirates for all these years is about to end. That's what their manager thinks, anyway.

We remaining intelligent Pirates fans believe that it won't be long (2012?) before this team has their "Crossing the Jordan" moment, entering into a promised land of winning seasons, pennant races, playoffs, and positive national media attention. But until then, we are left to ponder the theodicy question posed by John Russell, Pirates skipper and accidental theologian:

Why would a good God allow this much suffering, for so long, to befall a once-proud National League baseball franchise? And has God finally decided to plague the Houston Astros instead?*

For starters, God is not smiting the Pirates for their cocaine and greenies culture of the 80's, or some other evil. If God always punishes evil, explain to me the Yankees. Or Ben Roethlisberger. God does not inflict suffering on the Pirates any more than God inflicts cancer on someone who hasn't been to church enough. To say that God causes pain and suffering is anti-thetical to the fundamental Christian belief that God is completely and universally morally good.

But even if God does not cause suffering, God obviously allows it to take place. Why? The simplest explanation, as played out in sports, is that life is a zero-sum game - for every winner there must be a loser. Or, perhaps it reminds us that while "God is good, all the time," the world is not and we are not. Maybe suffering is a result of human sinfulness, and we have thrown the proverbial wrench into the side of God's creation and mucked it all up. The apostle Paul offers yet another explanation:

"We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." -- Romans 5:3-5

I don't think any of us know the full explanation as to the existence of human (and ballplayer) suffering in the world, but I also wonder if that is the point. Rather than question God's role in causing or allowing human suffering, maybe we are called to something greater. Perhaps the best thing we can do is let the suffering move us toward the hope that "does not disappoint us."

As a Pirates fan, I have hope. When that hope is someday realized, all these years of suffering will make it worth the wait.

*I am completely aware of my glib use of the word "suffering," and by no means equate the constant failings of the Pittsburgh Pirates with the real suffering in the world. As a white middle-class American, I readily admit that I haven't a clue what suffering is.