Pain And Sin

Not every pain arises because of sin.  While some Biblically defined sins cause physical or mental pain to the victim (like abuse) and some sins can bring anguish to the one who performed them through guilt (not that guilt makes anything wrong or epistemologically reveals morality), it is entirely possible for people to experience displeasure, regret, or sadness over things that are ultimately unrelated to sin.  Sometimes these are just the product of subjective mental states that flare up even though they have nothing to do with morality.  In other words, neither moral perfection nor avoiding victimization at the hands of evil individuals is automatically going to stop someone from having a painful life.

Even in a world free of all evil intentions and actions, it would still be logically possible for people to get hurt emotionally by subjective reactions to things that are amoral, simply not as they would prefer.  Not every person who is in psychological pain is suffering because of anything that is necessarily related to the capacity for sin.  Even people who have not experienced such a situation can understand this, and it could be especially comforting to sincere, rationalistic Christians (meaning they are likely to not be legalistic or reach non sequitur conclusions about what actually follows from Biblical theology).  This is a truth that could provide strength during personal trials that do indeed not spring from sin.

Consider how two close, rational, selfless dating partners might break up for reasons that have nothing to do with intellectual misunderstandings or moral flaws.  They could understand themselves and each other as much as epistemological limitations allow for, have a thriving relationship built on shared rationalism and Christianity, be committed to clear communication, and cherish each other as intellectual and spiritual equals.  It still might be the case that life circumstances will make it so that they dissolve their romantic bond without either person having been abused, manipulated, or lied to by the other.  Neither party made assumptions or was irrational or selfish in any way.  Ultimately, they stop dating despite the pain it brings them because it is best for the sake of broader life stability.

This is just one possible example.  Although pain and sin are not always linked, Revelation 21:4 speaks of the absence of pain and tears in New Jerusalem as if there will be none of either--even though not all pain and tears have anything to do with carrying out evil, being victimized by it, or reflecting on it.  In Christian theology, even though not all pains and trials originate from sin one way or another, New Jerusalem is said to be entirely free of them.  Christians who have endured various pains that had nothing to do with personal sin or someone else's sin are all the more likely to long for a respite from even these trials.  A short amount of time spent with such pain is all that is needed to make someone wish for relief, and rationalistic optimism about the future can make all pain more bearable.

Even if Christianity as put forth in the Bible is false in part (things like an uncaused cause creating a world of matter and mind and body simply being distinct from each other are logically provable either way), one thing it is correct in positing is the fact that human life in its current state is one of trials.  Jesus might have been referring to the aftermath of his death when he tells his disciples in John 16:33 that they will have trouble in this world, but this is something true of far more than just the lives of certain people in the first century Middle East.  Whether tied to sin or not, pain is a part of human life, and sometimes for no reason other than that various people subjectively feel hurt or discouraged by circumstances that are not problematic on their own.