If God Is Good Study Guide
Text written by Randy Alcorn; questions written by Diane Meyer, Sandi Swanson and Randy Alcorn.
SECTION ONE
Understanding the Problem of Evil and Suffering
Introduction and Chapter One:
Why is the Problem of Evil and Suffering So Important?
More people point to the problem of evil and suffering as their reason for not believing in God than any other—it is not merely a problem, it is the problem. You will not get far in a conversation with someone who rejects the Christian faith before the problem of evil is raised. Pulled out like the ultimate trump card, it’s supposed to silence believers and prove that the all-good and all-powerful God of the Bible doesn’t exist.
Suffering and evil exert a force that either pushes us away from God or pulls us toward him. If you base your faith on lack of affliction, your faith lives on the brink of extinction and will fall apart because of a frightening diagnosis or a shattering phone call. Token faith will not survive suffering, nor should it.
1. Greg Laurie said of his son’s death, “When it happens to you, it’s a whole new world.” What do you think he meant? Do you relate to his statement based on anything that has happened in your life?
2. Why did you decide to read this book? What draws you to this subject, and what do you hope to gain from this study?
3. Exodus 3:7-8 tells us:
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
What strikes you about this passage?
4. Have you ever questioned the Christian faith because of the problem of evil and suffering? Has someone close to you? Have you heard unbelievers raise the question? Believers?
5. In your life, has suffering pushed you away from God or brought you closer to Him? Or sometimes one and then the other? Why do you think this is?
6. What do you think about what Pastor James Montgomery Boice said to his church after he was diagnosed with liver cancer?
7. Randy states, “A faith that leaves us unprepared for suffering is a false faith that deserves to be lost.” Do you agree or disagree?
8. Anything in particular in the Introduction or Chapter One that was especially meaningful or raised a question?
Chapter Two: What is the Problem of Evil and Suffering?
If God is all-good, then he would want to prevent evil and suffering. If he is all-knowing, then he would know how to prevent it. If God is all-powerful, then he is able to prevent it. And yet a great deal of evil and suffering exists. Why?
The problem of evil has found a prominent voice in what may seem the most unlikely place…the Bible. No other book asks so bluntly, passionately, and frequently why God permits evil and why evil people sometimes thrive while the righteous suffer. Barely have the first two chapters of the Bible described the original creation, saying, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” before a terrible shadow falls—evil and suffering burst into the world.
1. A line from Robert Browning’s poem reads, “God’s in his heaven—all’s right with the world.” Do you think these words are accurate? Inaccurate? Or some of both?
2. Why might the up close and personal knowledge of suffering be greater for people of times past? Name some disadvantages they had that would have made their suffering more severe and more common.
3. Why do you think that evil is a central theme in so much human storytelling, from ancient times until now?
4. Explain why you think atheists use the existence of evil as an argument against the existence of God.
5. List some of the many ways the Scripture addresses evil and suffering.
6. Read Habakkuk 1:2-3 and Psalms 10:1, 42:9 and 44:23-24. What emotions were being conveyed in these verses? Can you empathize? Have you ever felt God is not listening or doesn’t hear you?
7. In light of Chapter Two, how should we view evil and suffering? What needs to change about how you view them?
8. What idea was new to you and really made you think in this chapter?
Chapter Three: What is Evil and How Does It Differ from Suffering?
Evil, in its essence, refuses to accept God as God and puts someone or something else in his place. The Bible uses the word evil to describe anything that violates God’s moral will. The first human evil occurred when Eve and Adam disobeyed God. From that original sin—a moral evil—came the consequence of suffering. Although suffering results from moral evil, it is distinguishable from it, just as an injury caused by drunken driving isn’t synonymous with the offense.
1. Read Isaiah 5:20. Can you think of examples in our culture of confusing evil for good or good for evil? Read Genesis 3:1. Who was the originator of this confusion? Why might God particularly hate this?
2. Why would idolatry be considered the ultimate sin? What are some examples of idolatry? Can idolatry lead to other sins?
3. Why is evil not the opposite or the absence of good?
4. Give an example of primary evil. Give an example of a secondary evil. What are the differences?
5. Why is it important that secondary evil gets our attention? What can it encourage us to do? Has it ever affected you in this way?
6. Why did Howard Hendricks think the woman with leprosy was so beautiful? Why would she praise God for her disease?
7. What touched your heart in this chapter?
Chapter Four: What are Some Possible Responses to the Problem of Evil and Suffering?
Besides the irrational solution that evil and suffering do not exist, and the atheistic solution that God does not exist, the most popular ways of addressing the problem of evil minimize one or more of God’s attributes, especially his power, knowledge, or goodness. In contrast, the Bible never shrinks God but always magnifies him.
To glorify and magnify God is not to make more of him than he is; that’s impossible. Rather, it’s to affirm his greatness, attempting to do justice to his infinite majesty and power and wisdom and love, even though inevitably we’ll fall short.
To address good and evil without gazing upon God is fruitless. Good flows from the life connected to God. Evil flows from the life alienated from God.
1. Jeremy’s wife, Sarah said, “I am here to tell you that I would not have the relationship with God that I have if I had not suffered deeply. God revealed treasures to me that can only be found, I believe, in the darkness.” What do you think she meant? Do you agree or disagree?
2. Why is simply declaring that there is no suffering or evil not a realistic viewpoint? What examples of this belief can you find from popular culture?
3. Does believing there is no God answer the question of evil and suffering? Why or why not? How would believing that God has limited goodness, limited power, or limited knowledge address the questions we have concerning evil and suffering? What valid points are made within these beliefs? Do you tend to agree with them, or disagree? Why?
4. Joni Eareckson Tada said, “God permits what he hates to accomplish that which he loves.” What do you think she means? Do you agree?
5. How do the various views in this chapter diminish God and his attributes? Why would A. W. Tozer say that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us? Do you agree with his statement? Why or why not?
6. Do you think it is important to see God accurately, with all his attributes, not only the ones we are comfortable with? What does envisioning him without certain attributes, or with diminished attributes, lead to?
7. How do people sometimes relate being obedient to God as an insurance policy? Have you ever, subconsciously or consciously, tended to believe this way?
8. How does becoming a student of God’s Word best prepare us for evil and suffering, as Darrell Scott says?
9. What part of this chapter really stood out to you?
Chapter Five: A Closer Look at Central Issues in the Problem of Evil
Believers share common ground with unbelievers. We feel mutual horror at the reality, depth, and duration of human and animal suffering. We share a conviction that this kind of pain is terribly wrong and that it should be made right. In this way, evil and suffering serve as a bridge to the biblical account and its promise of redemption.
Paul insists that our sufferings will result in our greater good—God’s people will be better off eternally because they suffer temporarily. From Paul’s perspective, this trade-off will in eternity prove to be a great bargain.
In fact, the argument for the greater good may be the strongest biblical case for God permitting evil and suffering. However, it requires trust, since the promised greater good is future. If Paul is right, then by eliminating temporary evil and suffering, God would also eliminate eternal good.
1. Why do you think Gianna Jesson would call her cerebral palsy a gift?
2. In what way does Randy compare the problems of evil and suffering with the problems of bad weather? Is it possible to write a book that gives a complete and reasonable answer for every act of evil and every season of suffering?
3. Name a situation where you’ve seen someone do something that seemed totally unjustified, only to hear “the rest of the story” later.
4. Read Romans 8:18 and 2 Corinthians 4:17. What suffering was Paul talking about? What glory was he referring to?
5. By eliminating temporary evil and suffering, how would God also eliminate eternal good?
6. A pastor told Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell that God never wasted our pain. What did he mean? Do you agree? Disagree?
7. What suffering have you endured that reminded you not to take life for granted? What else did it teach you?
8. What portion of this chapter made the biggest impact on you?
SECTION TWO
Understanding Evil: Its Origins, Nature, and Consequences
Chapter Six: Evil’s Entry into the Universe: A Rebellion of Angels
Scripture addresses when evil came into being, but not how. God has chosen to remain silent on this question, which may mean something significant. If evil is irrational, how can its point of origin be rationally explained? Perhaps God does not offer any explanation because evil defies explanation. It might make sense to an all-knowing God but no sense at all to us.
In cultures where everyone realizes there’s a supernatural world, demons make themselves known as false gods to intimidate people, demanding worship and exacting retribution. In modern Western cultures where people routinely deny the supernatural, demons often accomplish their purposes more effectively by flying under the radar and working covertly. If we had eyes to see, we’d realize that all around us, fallen humans become the unwitting tools of evil spirits, harming themselves and others, and living wretched lives, sometimes quietly under the facade of social respectability.
1. Read Mark 5:1-20. What does this story tell us about demons? About people? About Jesus?
2. Why do you think people in Western cultures tend to deny or overlook the supernatural world? How does this viewpoint affect us?
3. Why is it misleading to say, “God created Satan and demons”? What would a more accurate statement be?
4. Why do you think God would have created the angelic beings that he knew would rebel and declare war on him and his people? Explain.
5. According to Hebrews 2:14, who needed to destroy Satan? What will the end result be?
6. Randy says, “Many of us make Satan too big and God too small.” How do we do this?
7. 1 Peter 5:8 says that Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking for someone to devour. In what ways can Satan be compared to a lion?
8. List some ways you can think of in which Satan, or evil, is disguised as something good or beautiful.
9. John Piper writes, “Satan’s fall and ongoing existence are for the glory of Christ.” Explain what you think he means.
10. What new thought in the chapter will really stick with you?
Chapter Seven: Humanity’s Evil and the Suffering it Has Caused
Somehow, as the first human couple weighed their alternatives, evil entered their hearts. Adam and Eve rebelled, choosing to violate God’s explicit command. They trusted a fallen creature’s logic, rather than their Creator’s goodness, when he’d given them no reason to doubt him. They ate, the curse fell on them, their pain greatly increased, the earth became a world of hurt, and they forfeited paradise.
A just and merciful God chose a measured punishment for the first human sin: suffering. Had God meted out the full and immediate punishment, the first humans would have died on the spot (see Romans 6:23). In that case, there would have been no redemptive history—no human history at all.
The history of the human race, in every culture and time, demonstrates the dire consequences of living life as we prefer rather than as God commands.
1. Judges 21:25 says, “In those days there was no king of Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” How does this compare to our culture today? What are the repercussions when everyone does what seems right to them?
2. What are some of the ways that society defines sin? What is the Christian definition of sin? Explain why we can’t understand evil without understanding God’s true nature?
3. Do you ever trust a “fallen creature’s logic” rather than the goodness of your Creator? Explain.
4. In light of Ephesians 1:9-11, do you think there are events in history that may have surprised God? How about in your own life? Why is there danger in believing the events in Genesis (as well as the rest of Scripture) are fables or myths? How could this determine what we think about Jesus?
5. What specific consequences did the Curse bring to women? To men? To parents? To marriage?
6. In what ways did the Curse affect the Earth?
7. How does a God-centered worldview differ from a man-centered worldview? Which is more appealing to you? Why?
8. What part in this chapter raised questions or made an impact on you?
Chapter Eight: Inherited Sin and Our Sin Nature
The sin nature refers to our fallen state that distrusts, dishonors, and rejects God.
The sin nature compels us to love ourselves. In our reckless pursuit of self-gratification, we impose upon ourselves gnawing emptiness rather than the joy and contentment that come in loving God and others.
Though we naturally resist the biblical revelation about our sin natures, we find freedom when we recognize its reality.
To view evil accurately, we must see it above all as an outrageous offense against God.
We tend to minimize our sin because we fail to see its real object because we do not see God and see how our sin hurts him, we don’t see either the frequency or the gravity of our offenses. We imagine our sin has no effect on him.
We couldn’t be more wrong.
1. J. I. Packer claims that the subject of sin is vital knowledge. What does he mean by this?
2. Read Romans 3:10-18. Who is Paul talking about? Do you see yourself in this passage? How so?
3. Read 1 John 1:8. Why does facing the truth about the sin that is in us bring freedom and peace?
4. Describe a situation when you knew someone was minimizing their sin. Have you done this before? What can it lead to?
5. Sometimes it is difficult to see the hurt we inflict on God when we sin. Why is it easier to focus on the hurt we inflict on those around us?
6. Why is God’s lavish love not enough to save us? What is required from us for salvation?
7. If we minimize the horrors Christ suffered on the cross, where could this lead?
8. Why is it detrimental to believe that we are naturally good? (Luke 6:45) Where does sin in us come from?
9. Read Matthew 5:48. What is the only way to gain the moral perfection that God requires? (John 3:18, Hebrews 11:6)
10. Randy says, “Ironically, wherever societies recognize the human capacity for evil, evil is restrained and goodness is exalted. Yet whenever people view themselves as basically good, the greatest evils take place.” Give some examples of this.
11. If you had been in Adam or Eve’s position, do you think you would have been tempted and rebelled against God? Why or why not?
12. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “The tilt of freedom toward evil has come about gradually, but it evidently stems from a humanistic and benevolent concept according to which man—the master of this world—does not bear any evil within himself, and all the defects of this life are caused by misguided social systems, which must therefore be corrected.” What do you think he means? Do you see proof of this in society today?
13. Why shouldn’t we be surprised when we hear about the atrocities human beings commit against each other? Why are we surprised when bad things happen to “good” people?
14. What portion of this chapter really impacted you?
Chapter Nine: A Deeper Consideration of What Our Sin Nature Does and Doesn’t Mean
Apart from Christ I am Osama bin Laden. I am Hitler. Only by the virtue of Christ can I stand forgiven before a holy God. This isn’t hyperbole; it’s biblical truth. Unless we come to grips with the fact that we’re of precisely the same stock as Stalin and Mao, we’ll never get over thinking that we deserve better. Evil done to us will offend us, and having to suffer will outrage us. We’ll never appreciate Christ’s grace so long as we hold on to the proud illusion that we’re better than we are. We flatter ourselves when we look at evil acts and say, “I would never do that.” Given our evil natures and a similar background, resources, and opportunities, we would.
1. Why would it be just as evil to fail to do what is right, as it would be to blatantly do what is wrong? What situation do you know of where failure to do the right thing resulted in a tragic event?
2. Is it disturbing to envision yourself as from the same race, blood, stock or family as criminals such as Dodd, Diane Downs, Ted Bundy, Pol Pot or Jeffrey Dahmer? Why or Why not? What are the differences between you? What things do you have in common?
3. Randy writes, “We flatter ourselves when we look at evil acts and say, ‘I would never do that.’ Given our evil natures and a similar background, resources, and opportunities, we would.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
4. Why is it necessary to confront the truth about our sinfulness before understanding and accepting the Good News of the gospel?
5. Randy says he has found great freedom in knowing he is a great sinner. Explain what you think he means.
6. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Too many think too lightly of sin, and therefore, think lightly of the Saviour.” Is this something you are guilty of?
7. Do you believe all people are capable of some type of goodness? Where does this goodness originate from? Will it help people earn their way to Heaven? Do unbelievers have a desire and a conscience that urges them to do good? (Romans 2:14-15)
8. Describe what the world would be like if all traces of goodness were removed.
9. Can you think of some recent examples in the news of someone blaming others for their own misdeeds? Why does this seem to be such an epidemic in our society?
10. If everyone took responsibility for their own wrongdoing, what would our world be like? What would your workplace be like? Your church? Your family?
11. What was most striking to you from this chapter?
Chapter Ten: Natural Disasters: Creation Under the Curse of Human Evil
Earthquakes and tsunamis are not moral agents and therefore cannot be morally evil. A tidal wave is not malicious—water cannot have malice any more than it can have kindness.
The best answer to the question “Why would God create a world with natural disasters?” is that he didn’t. Many experts believe the world’s atmosphere originally acted like an umbrella, protecting its inhabitants from harm. But now the umbrella has holes in it, sometimes protecting us, sometimes not. While Barbara Ehrenreich blames God for death and disaster, Scripture blames human evil for the cataclysmic Fall and consequent distortion of a once-perfect world (see Romans 8:18–22).
People who have survived disasters often say they understand on a far deeper level the biblical truth that this world as it now is—under the Curse—is not our home.
1. Have you ever felt like God owes us an apology, or at least an explanation, after a disaster like the 2004 tsunami? How do you respond to the remarks made by the commentator in the Scotland Herald and by Barbara Ehrenreich?
2. How are human beings responsible for natural disasters? Give some examples.
3. Read Romans 8:20-21. What are some examples you see of creation groaning? In what ways do you notice the decay of the Earth resulting from the Curse? Who does Scripture say is responsible for the natural disasters that occur?
4. Scripture teaches that God is sovereign over all of nature(Psalm 147:18; Job 37:3, 13; Numbers 11:1, Psalm 29:5, 7; Jeremiah 14:22; Matthew 5:45). Does this bring you a sense of comfort and peace, or a feeling of fear and anxiety?
5. Are disasters always a punishment from God for the people involved?
(Luke 13:2-5)
6. What kind of tragic events and disasters can Satan cause? (Job 1:8-19) What does Satan need before he can cause them to happen?
7. Comment on this statement: Disasters can bring out the best in people. Make a list of possible outcomes.
8. How do stories of heroism affect us? Is there something in this chapter that really struck a chord with you?
SECTION THREE
Problems for Non-Theists: Moral Standards, Goodness, and Extreme Evil
Chapter Eleven: A Case Study: Bart Ehrman, a “Christian” Who Lost His Faith
Even Christians who do not outright reject their faith may quietly lose confidence and commitment because of their struggle with this issue. Christian students in every university, including Christian ones, face frequent, impassioned arguments against biblical teachings, whether from professors, fellow students, or textbooks. Knowing a few Bible stories proves insufficient when facing an issue of the magnitude of evil and suffering.
We all trust something. When we abandon trust in God’s revelation, we replace it with trust in our own feelings, opinions, and preferences, or those of our friends and teachers—all of which can drift with popular culture, including academic culture.
Ehrman’s story should challenge us to come to the problem of evil and suffering with a Christian worldview rooted in a well-informed belief in the reliability and authority of God’s Word. If we vacillate on that conviction, we will first reinterpret the Bible, and then outright reject it.
1. Have you known a seemingly committed Christian who has turned their back on God? To what did they attribute this change? Why do you think they lost their faith?
2. If Ehrman was not compelled to abandon his faith by his disbelief in some of the Scriptures, what do you think other motivations might have been?
3. How does the conclusion of Ecclesiastes differ from what Erhman believes?
(Ecclesiastes 11:9; 12:1, 5, 7) How does it line up with your own beliefs?
4. Do you believe that Ehrman genuinely embraced his faith as a young man? Why or why not? What could help a young person sincerely know what they believe and why they believe it, and not merely go through the motions of an empty religion?
5. How could simply choosing a worldview because it appeals to you be dangerous? How does our culture seem to gravitate towards this practice?
6. Janet Willis, fourteen years after losing six children in an accident, said, “Today I have a far greater understanding of the goodness of God than I did before the accident.” What goodness did God show her? Does this mean she did not suffer or grieve? Explain.
7. Ehrman cites the Holocaust as a reason to believe that God doesn’t exist. What differing conclusion do the Jews in the book Survivor Stories arrive at? Why do you think their suffering drew them to God instead of causing them to turn their backs on him?
8. How does Ehrman contradict himself and his beliefs in the final sentences of his book?
9. How does studying the problem of evil and suffering help to develop a firm foundation for our faith? What possible problems could result from avoiding the discussion?
10. What particular point in this chapter raises questions for you?
Chapter Twelve: Non-Theistic Worldviews Lack a Substantial Basis for Condemning Evil
I have talked with individuals whose ethics have evolved over time, who now believe that any consensual sex between adults is moral. Adultery is consensual sex. So is it moral? Well, yes, some convince themselves, so long as they commit adultery with a person they genuinely love. But how moral is this same adultery in the eyes of the betrayed spouse?
Choosing moral behaviors because they make you feel happy can make sense, in a Bertrand Russell/Sam Harris sort of way, but what if it makes you feel happy to torture animals or kill Jews or steal from your employer?
Such hopeless subjectivity is no moral framework at all. If there is no God who has revealed his standards and no God who informs our consciences, then surely any morality we forge on our own will ultimately amount to a mirror image of our own subjective opinions.
1. How do you normally distinguish between what is good and what is evil? What do you base your decision on?
2. What difficulties can we fall into if we always act on our feelings? What are some examples? Sam Harris argues that whatever makes people happy is right, and whatever makes people unhappy is wrong. Do you agree or disagree and why?
3. Do you think that goodness and moral standards could exist without God? In such a world, why would people be held accountable for their actions? How is belief in evil a persuasive argument for the existence of God?
4. What troubles could arise if atheists base their morality on the judgments of society as a whole, or what benefits the most people?
5. Why does Princeton philosopher Peter Singer believe that children should not be declared alive until 28 days after birth? What is his basis for this belief? What would our culture look like if we subscribed to Singer’s worldview?
6. Why is it vital that the Declaration of Independence refers to a Creator?
7. How does a non-theist worldview differ from a Christian worldview? Would you rather live in a society that embraces the atheist viewpoint or the Christian belief system? Why?
8. What point in this chapter really stayed with you?
Chapter Thirteen: The Unbeliever’s Problem of Goodness
From a non-theistic viewpoint, what is evil? Isn’t it just nature at work? In a strictly natural, physical world, shouldn’t everything be neither good nor evil? Good and evil imply an “ought” and an “ought not” that nature is incapable of producing.
We have no logical reason to take good for granted; its existence demands an explanation. Setting aside the issues of how life can come from nonlife, great goodness and nobility pose a serious problem: Why would we expect to find such goodness in a world that came about through blind force, time, and chance?
The atheist who points out the horrors of evil unwittingly testifies to good as the norm. When we speak of children dying, we acknowledge they usually don’t. When a natural disaster hits, 99 percent of the world remains untouched. Though fallen, nature still contains more beauty than ugliness.
1. Augustine said, “If there is no God, why is there so much good? If there is a God, why is there so much evil?” If having a belief in God doesn’t account for the existence of evil, what accounts for the existence of goodness?
2. Have you ever heard survivors of a tragedy thank chance, time or natural selection? Who do they usually thank? What do you attribute this to?
3. Randy writes, “The Christian worldview explains goodness as rooted in God, revealed by God, and rewarded by him.” What explanation for goodness does naturalism offer?
4. Christopher Hitchens said that the world looks as if there were no God. Describe what you think the world would look like without God.
5. Name some examples of goodness flourishing in the midst of evil. What do you believe is the explanation for this goodness?
6. How do you think Mabel was sustained for 25 years as she suffered in a nursing home? How close can you come to understanding her suffering or comprehending her joy?
7. Why do you think most people have such a strong will to survive, even in the midst of suffering? Why don’t more people commit suicide?
8. How did the example of Christians practicing an active, dangerous love change Phillip Hallie’s heart? Can you relate to him when he wants to run from something excellent simply because it pierces his heart so deeply? How so?
9. What particularly touched you in this chapter?
Chapter Fourteen: The Unbeliever’s Problem of Extreme Evil
The atheistic worldview simply cannot account for superhuman evil. Death, yes; suffering, yes. But calculated, relentless, exhausting brutality toward the weak and innocent? The death camps? The Nazi doctors? The Killing Fields?
Why commit evil just for evil’s sake, or why take pleasure in inflicting suffering? All pragmatic, naturalistic, and evolutionary explanations of such evil prove inadequate.
The Bible, on the other hand, speaks of an unseen realm full of powerful spirit beings that project their cruel and malignant thoughts and wills on humans. These beings, far more powerful than human beings, also exceed humans in their evil. These malevolent beings push us to expand our evil beyond the boundaries of what could be expected even of fallen humans.
No naturalistic worldview can explain extreme evil. Since non-theists believe in nothing outside of the visible realm, they must explain such evils on the basis of human perversity alone.
1. How does it pose a problem for atheists to explain the existence of extreme evil? How does the Bible explain the existence of extreme evil?
2. Why could belief in a supernatural world help explain the existence of extreme evil?
3. What are some explanations for the fact that evil can look so normal, ordinary and harmless? What Scripture explains how Satan works? What examples of this can you think of? Why would Satan and his demons hate children?
4. How could examples of extreme evil point to the existence of God? Have you known of atheists who display anger toward God? What would the explanation for their anger be?
5. What consequences would there be for a culture which believed in situational morality, or what’s right for one person may not be right for another? What kinds of things would this lead to in our homes, school, workplaces, governments and churches?
6. Did anything in this chapter raise questions for you?
SECTION FOUR
Proposed Solutions to the Problem of Evil and Suffering
Chapter Fifteen: Is God’s Limited Power a Solution?
If God lacks power, his good intentions are inadequate. Probably you already have friends who can’t control the universe. Do you really need another one, named “God”?
Those who believe in a God of limited power might respond, “It isn’t that God can’t do anything, just that he can’t do everything.” But what can he do? If God is doing the best he can, then he doesn’t permit evil and suffering, rather he is overtaken by them, since he can’t stop them. Why frustrate God with prayers he can’t answer, since if he could, he already would have?
Limiting God may appear to get him off the hook for life’s difficulties. It might make us feel warmer toward him. But this is a god of man’s invention, not the God revealed in Scripture.
1. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote, “I can worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it, more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die, for whatever exalted reason.” Do you understand where he is coming from? Why do you agree or disagree with his assessment?
2. How do you respond to the statement, “It isn’t that God can’t do anything, just that he can’t do everything”?
3. Read Isaiah 46:9-11. Name several things God says about himself. Read Matthew 28:18. If the disciples did not truly believe that Jesus had unlimited power at his disposal, how many of them would have left their homes, jobs and families to share the Good News? How many would have died for him?
4. Randy says that God is not just our good-intentioned friend. Why do we need him to be more than this? Why do you personally need him to be more than this?
5. Read 2 Timothy 2:13 and Hebrews 6:18. What are the things God cannot do? Does this knowledge make you trust him more or less? Why?
6. Why is their danger in the notion that we need to “forgive” God, as some people have suggested?
Chapter Sixteen: Is God’s Limited Knowledge a Solution?
A loving God took a calculated risk, open theists suggest, but had he known the horrible things that would occur—the rapes and killings and tortures and abuse—he might never have created this world as he did. Hence, proponents of open theism argue, God cannot be held responsible for his creatures’ evil, since he could not foresee it.
Open theists suppose we should find comfort in believing God has not ordained our suffering from eternity past. I find it easier to trust a God who has known all along and planned how he will use the tragedy for his glory and our good, than one who just found out about it but chose not to stop it anyway.
Open theism is not only biblically wrong; it’s a shallow answer to the problem of evil.
1. How does open theism question the omniscience of God?
2. What benefits do open theists see in believing that God can only know in advance what he will do, not what his creatures will do?
3. Read Job 37:16 and 1 John 3:20. What do these Scriptures teach us about God?
4. Read Psalm 139:1-2, 4, 16 and 1 Samuel 23:11-13. What do these verses say about God’s knowledge of the future?
5. How would an open theist explain how our names could be written in the Book of Life? (Revelations 17:8)
6. Would you be more comforted by a partially unaware God, or a God who knows everything that will be happening in the future? Why?
7. The Bible exhorts people to lean on and trust in the Lord. Would this be easier to do believing that he had complete knowledge of the future or partial knowledge? Why?
8. Do you think it’s cruel of God to allow evil and intend it for our good? What are some scriptural examples of him doing this? What are some personal examples?
9. Randy writes that there is a difference between immediate good and ultimate good. What is the difference?
10. If God has foreknowledge of all events does that mean he causes them? What about free will?
11. Read Job 1:21-22. Job saw that God had given and taken away, not Satan. When hard things come your way, do you see them as being from God? Why or why not?
12. Read 1 Samuel 15:11, 29. Explain the “regret” you think God feels in these verses.
13. What are some of the resulting consequences when we try to diminish or remove some of God’s attributes?
Chapter Seventeen: Is God’s Limited Goodness a Solution?
A good man does not knowingly allow his neighbor to beat his child. If he had all power, he would not only stop the man from beating the child, he would not allow him to begin beating the child in the first place. Such an appraisal is completely apt regarding humans.
But we err in judging God by our standards.
We can envision a dog recognizing his master as good when he feeds and walks him, but questioning his goodness when he doesn’t let him have a Hershey bar. He might even write a book (Dog’s Problem?) or go on the lecture circuit telling everyone why his master isn’t good.
The existence of evil does not contradict God’s goodness, since God can ultimately use evil to bring about a greater good.
1. Read James 1:17, Psalm 119:68 and Jeremiah 33:11. What do these scriptures teach about the goodness of God? Do they leave room for evil?
2. List some of the ways that God has shown goodness to his followers.
3. List some of the ways that God has shown goodness to everyone, not just believers. Why do you think he does this?
4. Randy writes, “Imagine your dog saying, ‘ If I were my master, I would never discipline me or give me a shot or a big pill; I would let myself run free in the neighborhood and take steaks from any barbeque I find. Since he does not do this, my master must not be good.’ The master, who claims to be a good dog owner, never bases his claim on the dog’s standards, but on his own.” Do you think this is an accurate portrayal of how we sometimes question God? How is it similar? How is it different?
5. What instances in your life has God acted in a way that at the time seemed harsh or cruel but you now recognize was for your ultimate good?
6. Have you questioned why, if God is good, such a horrible place as Hell exists? Why do you suppose we tend to blame God for the existence of Hell?
7. Joni Eareckson Tada wrote, “God cares most—not about making us comfortable—but teaching us to hate our sins, grow up spiritually, and love him.” Does this thought bring you comfort or peace? Or does it bring a measure of fear or panic? Why?
8. Jonathan Edwards said, “God is the highest good of the reasonable creature, and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows. The enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”
Do you find his sentiments to be true in your own life? Is it something you struggle to believe or even think is possible to fully comprehend? How so?
9. Randy wrote, “Everything good, enjoyable, refreshing, fascinating, and interesting derives from God. People who reject God now can maintain the illusion that life is good without him, only because in his kindness he has not withdrawn all his good gifts.” Have you considered what your life would look like without God’s good gifts? What do you imagine?
10. Explain the term “severe mercies?”
11. What do you picture when you imagine a New Earth and creatures unmarred by evil and the Fall?
12. Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. What weakness do you have that you take delight in because God’s strength can show through you? Can you find joy in those circumstances?
13. What portion of this chapter really made you think?
Chapter Eighteen: Is God’s Limited Love a Solution?
While few critics make a philosophical argument that God lacks love, many, when personally facing evil and suffering, interpret the terrible things happening to them to mean that God doesn’t love them after all. Doubt about their salvation may grip them, causing despair.
God’s attributes, while varied, work together in complete harmony. If in our eyes his holiness contradicts his love and his justice conflicts with his mercy, then that is our problem, not his. The almighty God who created us is the same holy God who condemned us as sinners and the same loving God who went to extraordinary lengths that we might go to Heaven. God’s self-consistency demands the simultaneous and full expression of his holiness, his love, and all his other attributes.
1. What surprises you about God’s love? What doesn’t surprise you?
2. Do you consider the God of the Old Testament to be a God of love? Read Exodus 34:6-7. What stands out to you in that verse?
3. When was the last time you experienced that hindsight vision was 20/20, and you could better understand that the end might justify the means?
4. Why does God’s love need to be viewed in light of his holiness?
5. How does Jesus exemplify both God’s love and God’s holiness?
6. Does knowing God as “Abba, Father” bring you comfort? If not, what feelings and emotions does it bring up for you? Why might that be?
7. Is there any point in this chapter that raises questions for you?
SECTION FIVE
Evil and Suffering in the Great Drama of Christ’s Redemptive Work
Chapter Nineteen: Evil and Suffering as Seen in Scripture’s Redemptive Story
God’s redemptive plan was not an ad-lib response to unanticipated events. From before the very beginning, God knew the very worst. And the very best it would one day bring.
God wrote the script of the unfolding drama of redemption long before Satan, demons, Adam and Eve—and you and I—took the stage. And from the beginning, he knew that the utterly spectacular end would make the dark middle worth it.
You may feel your choices have been reduced to whether you want Jell-O, or a window opened, or an extra blanket. On the contrary, your choice of whether you will trust God and worship him today reverberates throughout the universe, honoring or dishonoring your God. It also has enormous implications for eternal rewards God promises us in the next life.
1. What does it mean to you that the distant future is as real to God as the present is to us now? How does it shape your image of him?
2. Read Genesis 6:5. According to Scripture, why did God send the flood? Have you considered that this is what we wish for when we ask him to remove all evil from the Earth? How does this change your perspective?
3. How did God use both the Flood and the Tower of Babel to continue his plan?
4. Read Daniel 9:20-10:21. Why do you think we don’t often consider the invisible realm, the unseen universe?
5. Why, in considering the problem of suffering and evil, would it be critical that we know the heart of God and understand that he genuinely loves us?
6. Do you ever consider God to be a distant, unemotional, unfeeling God? What emotions is God experiencing in the following verses? Exodus 32:10, Psalm 103:13, Isaiah 54:8 and Isaiah 62:5
7. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, while in a Nazi prison camp, that “only a suffering God can help.” What do you think he meant?
8. How did God prepare you to hear the redemptive story of Christ?
9. What particularly touched you from this chapter?
Chapter Twenty: If You Were the Author, How Would You have Written the Story?
As a member of the real-life story’s cast, you might wish for a world untouched by evil and suffering. That’s understandable, because life is hard as the story unfolds; and it will be hard until it culminates or you leave the stage, having played your part.
But if you sat in the audience, which story would you prefer to watch? And if you wrote the story, which version would you prefer to write? And even as a cast member, having endured such difficulty, ten thousand years from now at the ongoing cast party in honor of the Writer and Director, when grand tales make the rounds at dinner tables on the New Earth—which story do you think you would cast your vote for?
“All’s well that ends well” is a cliché, but there’s truth in it. There’s no substitute for a happy ending.
1. Do you agree with the author, that, while we enjoy conflict in stories, we do our best to avoid it in our lives? Why or why not?
2. What particular detail or portion of the redemption story touches you the most? Why do you think this is called the Greatest Story Ever Told?
3. Do you think that people who’ve experienced war have more appreciation for peace, and people who’ve experienced famine have more appreciation for food, and people who’ve seen death have more appreciation for life? Why or why not? List your favorite books or movies. Do you see a common theme of courage or sacrifice played out against a backdrop of evil and suffering? Why do you think these themes make good stories?
4. What important people in history can you think of who would not have been who they were, or accomplished what they did, without the suffering they endured? What does this say about the importance of enduring suffering?
5. What stresses do you have that give meaning to your life? Are you ever tempted to walk away from them all or wish you could just walk out of your own story? What keeps you from doing that?
6. How long do you think we’ll be in Heaven before it will begin to make up for all the suffering we’ve faced here?
7. In what ways do you feel homesick for Eden?
8. What things about Heaven do you look forward to the most?
9. There is some brutal suffering that goes on in the world. How do you think the perspective on this suffering might change a thousand years from now? Ten thousand? A million?
10. What points in this chapter really struck you?
Chapter Twenty-One: Jesus: The Only Answer Bigger than the Questions
The Cross is God’s answer to the question “Why don’t you do something about evil?”
But what if God did do something about it? What if what he did was so great and unprecedented that it shook the angelic realm’s foundation, and ripped in half, from the top down, not only the temple curtain but the fabric of the universe itself?
A powerful moment in the movie The Passion of the Christ occurs when Jesus, overwhelmed with pain and exhaustion, lies on the ground as guards kick, mock, and spit on him. A horrified woman, her hand outstretched, pleads, “Someone, stop this!”
The great irony is that “Someone,” God’s Son, was doing something unspeakably great that required it not be stopped.
Had someone delivered Jesus from his suffering that day, he could not now deliver us from ours.
1. Why is the cross God’s greatest answer to man’s questions about evil?
2. What kinds of humiliation and suffering did Jesus endure as a man so that he could prevent our eternal suffering?
3. Do you ever find yourself so familiar with the gospel that you become apathetic or indifferent to the story? What can you do to regain your gratefulness for the gospel?
4. In The Cross Centered Life, C. J. Mahaney writes “If there is anything in life we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others; I mean passionate about thinking about the gospel, reflecting upon it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world and all of life.” How can the gospel color the way we look at the world and view life?
5. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12. What infirmities did Jesus take up for you? What sorrows did he carry for you?
6. On what do you base your trust in God? Why?
7. Pastor Randy Butler—whose 18 year old son suddenly died—said God had to take him back to the _________ to bring healing to his heart? Why?
8. What do you think was the worst part of Jesus’ suffering and death? How do you feel when you contemplate this?
9. Does the thought that God chose to have Christ suffer in your place cause you to relate to him easier? Does he seem more trustworthy? Randy wrote that a 2008 poll showed that 57% of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life. Read John 14:6 and Acts 4:12. What would you say to the 57% based on these verses?
10. What point in this chapter will most likely stay with you?
SECTION SIX
Divine Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice: Accounting for Evil and Suffering
Chapter Twenty-Two: God’s Sovereignty and Its Reach
God didn’t devise his redemptive plan on the fly. Evil didn’t take him by surprise. God isn’t the author of evil, but he is the author of a story that includes evil. He intended from the beginning to permit evil, then to turn evil on its head, to take what evil angels and evil people intended for evil and use it for good. In the face of the lowest evil, God intended to show his highest good.
It is possible to plan for something you know is coming without forcing that thing to happen. God didn’t force Adam and Eve to do evil, but he did create them with freedom and permitted Satan’s presence in the garden, knowing they would choose evil and knowing that what he would do in his redemptive plan would serve a greater good.
1. Romans 8:28 says that God works in all things for the good of his children. What current situations are you experiencing that make this difficult to believe?
2. Read Hebrews 1:3. How much is God sustaining by his powerful word? How does this enhance your image of the Lord?
3. Why did Jesus often say certain things “must” happen?
4. Read Revelations 13:8 and Ephesians 1:4-5. How can we tell from these verses that God wasn’t surprised and needed to quickly revise his plans when evil entered the picture?
5. Acts 2:23 says that Jesus was crucified by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge. Do you think others die according to his purpose as well? Why or why not?
6. According to Scripture, both the major (1 Chronicles 29:12) and the minor details (Matthew 10:29-30) are under God’s control. How will believing this change your perspective on difficulties both large and small?
7. What truths do you come away with after studying the story of Joseph, his brothers and how God meant their evil for good?
8. Have you seen God withhold information or options from you, then later come to understand it as a sign of his great love?
9. How does Daniel 4:35 speak to the sovereignty of God?
10. Is it an unsettling thought to you that God takes full blame (or credit) for disabilities and conditions? See Exodus 4:11.
11. Vickie Anderson says, “Maybe with a normal face I would have been robbed of the thousands and thousands of blessings I have received because of my deformities.” What blessings is she talking about?
12. David O’Brien pointed out that God didn’t merely permit deafness and blindness, but created people with those conditions. How does this thought alter your view of handicaps and those who have them?
13. Charles Spurgeon wrote,” There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of divine sovereignty. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings.” Why is this attribute so comforting to God’s children? Why is it so hated by unbelievers?
14. Make a list of the worst things that have ever happened to you. Now make a list of the best things that have ever happened to you. Is there any overlap of the two lists? Why would this be the case?
15. What particular point in this chapter made the biggest impact on you?
Chapter Twenty-Three: “Free Will” and Meaningful Choice
God is intelligent, creative, communicative, and free to choose. To be made in his likeness likely includes having these attributes, though on a finite level. We think because he thinks, we speak because he speaks, we create because he creates, and we choose because he chooses. These things all come from God and comprise part of what it means to be human.
God sovereignly created angels and human beings and gave them freedom to choose. He knew what choices angels and humans would make under what circumstances. While he could have intervened to stop them from sinning, he wanted them to choose freely, not under constraint. Furthermore, he planned to use the evil and suffering he foresaw to reveal himself in Christ and his redemptive plan.
1. What does “being made in God’s image” mean to you?
2. Why is the term “free will” misleading?
3. Why do sinners today not have the freedom to choose in the same way that Adam and Eve did?
4. Whose side of the free will debate between Luther and Erasmus most closely matches your own views? What valid points does each side make?
5. Why did Luther believe that Erasmus’s view of free will made too much of man’s power and too little of God’s power? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
6. What kinds of choices do you read about in the following Scriptures? James 4:4, 1 Peter 4:3 and Joshua 24:15. How do these choices correlate with your view of free will?
7. Where in Scripture do you see God giving choices in order to test people? How does testing in this way work?
8. In what ways does God help us obey him? How has he helped you do things that you don’t have the strength to accomplish?
9. Do you believe we are more likely to have meaningful free will, or more compulsory choices based on our preferences or tendencies? Why?
10. Read Jeremiah 17:9. Why is it not necessarily a good thing that we may freely follow our own desires?
11. Why is the regeneration of a believer such a vital and radical change? (See 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 8:9.) What does it allow us to see?
12. What made an impact on you in this chapter?
Chapter Twenty-Four: This World’s Structure is Necessary for Meaningful Choice
Meaningful choice requires a cause-and-effect system in which choices generate consequences.
I’ve heard people argue that a good and all-powerful God should miraculously intervene every time someone intends to do harm.
If God disarmed every shooter and prevented every drunk driver from crashing, this would not be a real world in which people make consequential choices. It would not be a world of character development and faith building. It would not be a world where families put their arms around one another to face life’s difficulties. It would be a world where people went blithely along with their lives, content to do evil and put up with it, feeling no need to turn to God, no incentive to consider the gospel and prepare for eternity. In such a world, people would die without a sense of need, only to find themselves in Hell.
1. Why is it always smart to do good and always stupid to do evil? Give some examples.
2. Why do you think it is essential to have consequences for doing wrong? Explain.
3. How do your life experiences define you? Do you think painful life experiences are necessary for people to mature? Why or why not?
4. Why isn’t it a good idea for God to eliminate choice and its consequences from our lives, even if they seem to be negative choices with painful consequences?
5. Do you think real love could exist without freedom? Why or why not?
6. Without free choice do you think we could have a meaningful relationship with God? Matthew 22:37 says that we are to love God with our whole beings; could we do that without free choice?
7. What part in this chapter spoke to you the most?
Chapter Twenty-Five: Meaningful Human Choice and Divine Sovereignty Working Together
Our problem is both our unwillingness to understand and our incapacity to turn our wills toward God. Once we grasp the depths of this problem, we will fully appreciate the wonders of his grace. Without that insight, we might imagine ourselves in Heaven congratulating one another that we had the savvy and strength of will to turn to Christ. But God leaves no room for such boasting.
God’s amazing grace doesn’t end at our conversion. Even the regenerated human will depends upon the divine will to live as it should. Philippians 2:12–13 speaks both to those who understate and those who overstate the role of the human will: “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” We must will and work, and God must will and work.
1. In what specific ways do you think this world could be made better? Or is it already the best it can be?
2. Read John 6:37, 44 and 65. Is it unsettling or disturbing to you to read that although we are free to choose Christ, he first empowers us to respond? Why?
3. Read Philippians 2:12-13. How are we to continue to work out our salvation? Isn’t that all finished at our conversion? Explain.
4. Do you think human beings can reject God’s purposes for us? How does this fit in with God’s sovereignty?
5. What is the difference between God’s laws being violated and God’s ultimate purpose being thwarted? Which one happens? Which one cannot?
6. List some things that you know God is not pleased with in this fallen world.
7. Which of the differing views on the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human choice do you most closely align with? Why?
8. If a sinless, perfect environment doesn’t rule out the possibility of sin, as Adam and Eve proved, what does? Do you think there will be sin in Heaven? What Scripture do you base your belief on?
9. Since Heaven has no evil in it, and we will share in the righteousness of Christ, what does this mean for human freedom?
10. Is there something in the chapter that raises questions for you?
Chapter Twenty-Six: Further Thoughts on God’s Sovereignty and Human Will
We can believe in God’s sovereignty and still lock the door. “If a man is lazy,” says Ecclesiastes, “the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks” (10:18).
This verse doesn’t attribute sagging rafters and leaking houses to God’s sovereignty. They lay responsibility on people to take action. Students who don’t study and set the alarm to get up for class aren’t trusting God; they’re just being irresponsible.
No contradiction exists between praying, “Lord, please protect us and the children on this drive,” and then putting on seat belts. Prayers for healing do not conflict with the common grace of medical treatment. Why should we choose between the two? Believers understand that [medical treatment] before, after, and while we pray for the sick helps them in two vital ways, rather than just one.
1. In what ways do you agree or disagree with the ship analogy that explains the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human will?
2. How complete is the sovereignty of God? Can you trust him completely when you pray?
3. Recall the times when God spared your life or the life of someone you know. How do these memories build your trust in him?
4. Picture the worst day or moment in your life. Is it difficult or easy to imagine God there with you during that time?
5. Do you believe that because God uses evil to fulfill his purposes that he condones or approves of it? Why or why not? (Romans 3:7-8)
6. Charles Spurgeon didn’t try to reconcile the paradoxical doctrines of God’s sovereignty and free will. How did he explain it? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
7. Spurgeon also said, “The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of Scripture until he knows how to look at the two lines at once.” What do you think he meant?
8. How does the fact that the worst event in human history, Christ’s crucifixion, was also the best event, change your thinking?
9. What part of this chapter touched your heart?
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The God Who Brings Good Out of Bad
God’s glory is the highest good of the universe…permitting evil and suffering—and paying the price to end them—will all ultimately reveal his character and cause his people to worship him forever.
If we recognize God’s sovereignty even over Satan’s work, it changes our perspective.
You might not know whether demons, or human genetics under the Fall, or a doctor’s poor decision, or God’s direct hand have brought about your disease, but you know as much as you need to—that God is sovereign, and whether he heals you now or waits until the resurrection, he desires to achieve his own good purpose in you.
If the world is as random as some theologians suggest, it would seem that people, demons, and luck determine our destinies. We can drive ourselves crazy with such thoughts—or embrace God’s higher purpose in painful and even tragic events.
1. How does God reveal his attributes to us by permitting evil to continue until the final judgment? What attributes are those?
2. What difficult circumstances in your life are happening that are being used by both God and Satan? What does Satan intend? What does God intend? Whose purpose are you focusing on?
3. Joni Eareckson Tada said that “God permits what he hates to achieve what he loves.” Do you have an example of this in your own life?
4. Job 42:11 says that Job’s family and friends comforted him over all the trouble the “Lord had brought upon him.” Do you find it disturbing or comforting that the Lord brought him so much trouble? Why?
5. Do you consider that even random occurrences work together to further God’s ultimate plan? What seemingly random occurrences have been factors in your walk with the Lord?
6. Why might a belief in random events outside of God’s control be disturbing? How do you think God wants us to view “what-if’s,” or random events?
7. What is the Holy Spirit’s main concern, according to the context of Romans 8:28? How does he accomplish this? Have you seen him doing this is your own life?
8. Referring to the cake analogy, do you see “bitter ingredients” in your own life all come together for good? What if God had left out one or two “bitter ingredients”? Would the end product (you) be complete?
9. Ten months after his son, Christopher, was killed, Greg Laurie said “What I wish is that I could have learned and grown and drawn close to the Lord just like I have, but that Christopher was still here.” Can you identify with his feelings?
10. When we pray and ask God to remove some obstacle from our life, what are we potentially asking for? What are we giving up?
11. What part of this chapter particularly touched you?
SECTION SEVEN
The Two Eternal Solutions to the Problem of Evil: Heaven and Hell
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Heaven: Eternal Grace to Unworthy but Grateful Children
Here, we have bodies and work, rest, play, and relate to one another—we call this life. Yet many have mistakenly redefined eternal life to mean an off-earth disembodied existence stripped of human life’s defining properties. Eternal life will mean enjoying forever, as resurrected (which means embodied) beings, what life on Earth at its finest offered us. We could more accurately call our present existence the beforelife rather than calling Heaven the afterlife. Life doesn’t merely continue in Heaven, it emerges at last to its intended fullness.
How will we feel when the great shadow departs forever? How will we feel when everything happy comes true, and everything sad comes untrue?
We will feel, perhaps, like it couldn’t get any better than that.
But each new day will prove us wrong.
1. Read Luke 6:23-25. Who is Jesus talking about? Do these verses encourage you, frighten you, or make you angry or sad? What emotions do they bring up? What do they motivate you to do?
2. C. S. Lewis said, “A book on suffering which says nothing of Heaven, is leaving out almost the whole one side of the account.” What did he mean?
3. What does Dinesh D’Souza mean when he says that God has shown us a way to prevail over evil and suffering? Do you agree with him?
4. Read 1 Corinthians 15:19. When does Paul say we are to be pitied more than all men?
5. How do you think our concept of God and Heaven can resolve the problems of evil and suffering? How do you think Heaven could compensate for suffering endured here?
6. When we are in Heaven, why might it be important to remember our present sufferings here?
7. Why would Jim Harrell hope that he would never lose the memory of his ALS throughout eternity? Doesn’t it seem like he would want to forget?
8. Randy writes, “If the present Earth under the curse can seem so beautiful and wonderful; if our bodies, so weakened by the Curse, at times feel overcome with a sense of the Earth’s majesty and splendor—then how magnificent will the New Earth be? And what will it feel like to enjoy it in perfect bodies?” What comes to mind when you consider his two questions?
9. What things do you tell yourself you must either have or do before you die? What experiences are on your “wish list?” How is pondering the possibilities of what is to come change the priorities on your “wish list?”
10. What “incredible hope” does Joni Eareckson Tada look forward to one day in Heaven? Does the thought of your new mind, or your new body, or your transformed heart most excite you? Why?
11. Does knowing that the best really is yet to come change your perspective? How can it affect your day to day life? Your goals?
12. What reunion do you look forward to the most? Who are you most excited to see?
13. Anthony Hoekema writes that there must be redemptive continuity or there would be little point in speaking about a resurrection? What does he mean?
14. What does the empty tomb say about Christ’s resurrection body?
15. Philip Yancey writes, “In any discussion of disappointment with God, heaven is the last word, the most important word of all.” Why might this be true?
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Hell: Eternal Sovereign Justice Exacted upon Evildoers
When most people speak of the horrors of Hell, they talk as if it means the suffering of innocent people. That would indeed be terribly unjust—but nowhere does the Bible suggest the innocent will spend a single moment in Hell.
We rarely see ourselves as worthy of Hell. After all, we are not Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Bundy, or Dahmer. Guilty people can always rationalize sin. Hell exists because sin has no excuse.
Hell is not evil; it’s a place where evil gets punished. Hell is not pleasant, appealing, or encouraging. But Hell is morally good, because a good God must punish evil.
We cry out for true and lasting justice, then fault God for taking evil too seriously by administering eternal punishment. We can’t have it both ways. Sin is evil. To fear and dread Hell is understandable, but to argue against Hell is to argue against justice.
1. Do you think it is important for Christians to talk about Hell? Why or why not? Does the doctrine of Hell keep you from believing or trusting in God?
2. Read Romans 3:10-12. Do you struggle with seeing yourself as evil and deserving of Hell? Why do you think this is?
3. Why does God deem Hell necessary? Why should we see it as necessary?
4. Why should we believe in Hell if we believe in the teachings about Heaven? Can’t we just believe in one and not the other?
5. Does it surprise you that Jesus spoke about Hell more than anyone else in Scripture? What does this fact tell us?
6. What’s wrong with this statement: “I simply cannot believe that a loving God would send anyone to Hell”? Read Matthew 25:46 and Revelations 20:10 and 14:11. According to these verses, how long will Hell last? If the idea of eternal punishment is too abhorrent, what should we do with those Scriptures? What should we do with verses that make us uncomfortable?
7. Does annihilation seem like a justified punishment when you consider the evil acts of Hitler, Dahmer, Stalin, Pol Pot or others? Why or why not?
8. If Hell is a real destination, which of these two thoughts do you struggle with the most: “God is far more holy than we realize” or “We are far more sinful than we think”? Why?
9. Why might Hell make more sense when we believe more deeply in God’s absolute holiness and justice?
10. Why is there absolutely nothing good in Hell? (See 2 Thessalonians 1:9) What do you imagine that would be like?
11. Unless something radical within us changes, why is Hell every person’s true destination? What needs to change?
12. Why do you think most Americans believe they are going to Heaven and not to Hell?
13. C. S. Lewis said that the gates of Hell are barred on the inside. What do you think he meant?
14. How might those who are bound for Heaven view their suffering here on Earth? How might the Hell-bound person view their suffering here on Earth?
15. What specific thought in this chapter made the biggest impact or raised questions?
SECTION EIGHT
God’s Allowance and Restraint of Evil and Suffering
Chapter Thirty: Why Doesn’t God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering?
God may already be restraining 99.99 percent of evil and suffering. God may also be preventing 99.99 percent of disasters.
Why haven’t tyrants, with access to powerful weapons, destroyed this planet? What has kept infectious diseases and natural disasters from killing 99 percent of the world’s population rather than less than 1 percent? How much evil and suffering is too much? Could God reduce the amount without restricting meaningful human choice, or decreasing the urgency of the message that we need to turn to the Redeemer before we die?
Suppose we rated all pain on a scale of one to ten. God could reduce the worst suffering to level three, but then level three, now the worst, would seem unbearable. Any argument that judges God’s goodness strictly by his elimination of pain will, in the end, not leave us satisfied if he permits any pain at all.
1. 2 Thessalonians says that God is restraining lawlessness in this world. What evidence do you see of this?
2. What tragedies do you know of, like the near disaster of flight 1549, have been prevented? How many tragedies do you think God might be preventing every day?
3. People often thank God for a moment after a miraculous event, then forget about him. What kind of miracle do you think it would take for people to really turn to God? Why do you think he doesn’t perform more of them?
4. What natural, everyday events are miracles of God that we neglect to thank him for?
5. Do you agree with this statement: The problems of evil and suffering often seem worse to those living in affluent societies?
6. Why wouldn’t instant reward or instant punishment from God logically work?
7. If you had the chance, how much time would you tell God would be a fair and reasonable amount of time to suffer? Why?
8. What specific things make you long for the Messiah to return?
9. What impacted you the most in this chapter?
Chapter Thirty-One: Why Does God Delay Justice?
God’s is not a vending-machine justice in which a coin of righteousness immediately produces reward or a coin of evil yields swift retribution. Packaged theologies seek to neatly account for everything, but as Job, Psalms, and the prophets repeatedly demonstrate, that’s not how life works.
Yet God doesn’t delay justice so long as we often imagine. The wheels of justice may seem to turn slowly, but they turn surely. Some rewards of goodness and punishments of evil come in this life. And though ultimate rewards and punishments await the final judgment, considerable justice, both reward and retribution, gets dispensed immediately upon death, when God’s children immediately experience the joy of his presence and the unrepentant suffer the first justice of Hell (see Luke 16:19–31). This means that the maximum duration of injustice experienced by any person cannot exceed his life span.
1. Does the question of why God delays justice for so long bother you? Why?
2. How does God’s idea of time differ from ours? Does it seem to you to be unloving or uncaring for him to wait this amount of time? What is his ultimate purpose in waiting?
3. Does thinking about certain people that you love or are close to make you relieved that God is patient? Why?
4. Read 2 Peter 3:11-12. What are some specific things we should we be doing as we look forward to Jesus’ return? What good can come from a Christian waiting for God’s response?
5. How does knowing that God has an exact appointed time for his final judgment make you feel? (Deuteronomy 32:35 and 1 Peter 5:6) Do you look forward to this, or dread it? Why?
6. Does going through a long period of seemingly unanswered prayer strengthen your faith or diminish it? Why do you think that is?
7. What especially touched you in this chapter?
Chapter Thirty-Two: Why Doesn’t God Explain His Reasons?
Sometimes we make the foolish assumption that our heavenly Father has no right to insist that we trust him unless he makes his infinite wisdom completely understandable to us. This lays an impossible demand upon God, not because of his limitations, but because of ours. A physicist father bears no blame because he can’t explain quantum mechanics to his three-year-old.
We lack God’s omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom, holiness, justice, and goodness. If we insist we have the right, or even assume we have the capacity, to understand the hidden purposes of God, we forfeit the comfort and perspective we could have had in kneeling before his vastly superior wisdom.
He is infinite; we are finite. He is the Creator; we’re the creatures. Shouldn’t that say it all?
1. Randy says that he reads the last five chapters of Job when he needs a point of view adjustment. How can reading those chapters adjust your own views or attitudes?
2. What unknown, unanswered questions do you have for God? Why do you think God might not give you an answer?
3. Read Job 38:3-39:30. What aspect of God described in these verses humbles you the most? What amazes you? Why?
4. Randy writes, “Though he first appeared to Job in a storm, God reveals himself to us first and most reliably in his Word, then in creation, conscience, people, and our personal experiences with him.” Name some ways God has most clearly spoken to you recently?
5. What do you learn from Job’s response to God? (Job 42:2-6)
6. Why do you think God was angry at Job’s friends? Have you ever responded like they did when trying to comfort someone who is suffering?
7. Why did God answer with a “who” rather than explaining “why” when responding to Job? Why do you suppose God might bring comfort to us in difficult situations rather than give us all the reasons why something happened? What do you do for your own children?
8. How does God’s lack of clear explanations shape your faith and trust in him?
9. Randy writes of the girl who was sick on prom day. How many of these stories do you suppose we each might have? Tell one.
10. Why does Randy write that distance is necessary for faith to develop? Why is that important?
Chapter Thirty-Three: Understanding that God is God and We are Not
Of all there is to know in the entire universe, how much do you know? Let’s say you’re the smartest human being who’s ever lived and that you know one percent (of course, nobody knows nearly that much). Now, is it possible that in the 99 percent of all there is that you don’t know, there exists or will exist enough goodness and happiness in the universe to outweigh all the evil and suffering?
Is it possible that in the 99 percent you don’t know, a good God exists who has legitimate reasons for not making his purposes clearer and for not forcing people to recognize his existence? Is it possible that some rational explanation exists—if you were smart enough to understand it—for why this good God permits evil and suffering?
We reveal a staggering arrogance in assuming God owes us an explanation for anything.
1. In the middle of your own suffering do you, like Christian Reger, find God meets you and is enough? Have you ever turned away from him in your suffering? Why?
2. Is it difficult for you to believe that all past, present and future suffering is required to accomplish eternal purposes? Why do you suppose this is?
3. Do you, like many others tend to assume that God is very similar to us and so make demands on him to fix things or at least explain them? Read Numbers 23:19 and Psalm 50:27. How do these verses speak to our tendencies?
4. What are the differences between how we view evil and suffering and how God views evil and suffering?
5. How does comparing our intelligence level to that of a dog help in comprehending how our level of understanding relates to God’s?
6. What would be wrong with a Utopia where we can just imagine that there is no evil, no religion, etc? Why wouldn’t that work?
7. Is there a part of this chapter that raises questions for you?
SECTION NINE
Evil and Suffering Used for God’s Glory
Chapter Thirty-Four: Pain and Suffering in God’s World
Worse things can happen to us than dying young of a terrible disease. We could live in health and wealth, but if we die without Christ and go to Hell—or if we know Christ but fail to draw close to him—this is immeasurably worse than the disease that gets our attention and prompts us to look to him.
When Nanci and I passed through a particularly difficult period of our lives, we felt like we’d “done our time,” as if we shouldn’t have to face more difficulty for awhile. But that’s not how it works. As everyone living with ongoing disabilities, diseases, and heartaches knows, in this life God does not parcel out a certain amount of suffering, so once it runs out we’ll face no more. But the promise remains: “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love” (Lamentations 3:32).
1. Do you see any good that can come out of physical pain? What “self-healing” have you personally experienced that God has blessed you with?
2. What happens when a body can’t feel physical pain? How would we be affected if we felt no emotional pain?
3. C. S. Lewis wrote, “He stoops to conquer. He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is ‘nothing better’ now to be had.” What does this tell you about God? What does it tell you about us?
4. How does the media over-saturation with evil and suffering affect us as a culture? Affect you personally?
5. What situation(s) do you know of where the suffering is so great that people have trouble seeing God’s loving nature?
6. Nancy Guthrie’s husband said he thought they expected the loss of their daughter to hurt less because they had faith in God. Can you relate to this? What do you think about this statement?
7. Sometimes people want to rush others through their season of grief. What do you think is a better and healthier response?
8. After reading some of the responses to grieving people by well-meaning friends, how do you now want to respond to hurting people? How would you want to be comforted?
9. Do you reach out for help when you are suffering? Or do you expect people to be aware that you are hurting and help out without being asked? What are some better options?
10. Why do goodness and love show up more clearly against a backdrop of evil and suffering?
11. What in this chapter made an impact on you?
Chapter Thirty-Five: Apparently Gratuitous Evil and Pointless Suffering
Not seeing the point in extreme suffering doesn’t prove there is no point. Evils such as rape and murder certainly look gratuitous. But are we qualified to say they really are? Didn’t the violent, excruciating death of Jesus, when it happened, appear both gratuitous and pointless in the extreme?
Behind almost every expression of the problem of evil stands an assumption: We know what an omniscient, omnipotent, morally perfect being should do.
Since detailed past, present, and future knowledge is unavailable to us, we sometimes consider accidents random and pointless. We do not see that God has and will accomplish good purposes through them. Some good actions may result in great evils, while one tragic death may save the world from tyranny. Who but God is in a position to know such things?
1. What difficult situation do you know of that seems impossible for God to redeem?
2. How does finding meaning in suffering fend off despair?
3. Do you ever sense the good that suffering will bring while you are in the midst of the suffering? Are you ever grateful for what you are going through? How can we change our perspectives?
4. Do you believe there is such a thing as pointless suffering? Why or why not?
5. Tell about a situation or event that seemed pointless at the time. Can you now see any good that has come of it? Can you see any potential of good that could come at a later time?
6. What could possibly happen if God were to simply stop all evil?
7. Why would knowing detailed information from the past, present and future, stop us from seeing certain tragedies as pointless?
8. Why did Bryant Young consider his greatest achievement in football to be after a potentially career-ending injury? Can you relate to how he feels?
9. What dire situations do you know of that make you excited to hear the “rest of the story?”
10. Is there any part of this chapter that particularly touched your heart?
Chapter Thirty-Six: How the Health and Wealth Gospel Perverts Our View of Evil and Suffering
This false worldview breeds superficiality, seriously misrepresents the gospel, and sets people up to believe, when evil and suffering come to them, that God has been untrue to his promises.
In some cases, pleasing God results in suffering.
Suffering shouldn’t surprise us. God has promised it. One of the great tragedies about the health and wealth gospel is that it makes God seem like a liar. When people believe that God promises to keep them from suffering, God appears untrustworthy when suffering comes.
If you are a Christian, God will deliver you from eternal suffering. And even now he will give you joyful foretastes of living in his presence. That’s his promise.
1. Why does the health and wealth gospel derail our ability to actually deal honestly with the pain, suffering and evil in our lives?
2. What are your thoughts after reading why Emmanuel Ndikumana returned home to Burundi? Why would we only be free when we are free from the fear of death?
3. Should suffering surprise us? Why do you think most of us are still surprised by it?
4. Why should Christians expect to suffer more, not less, than the rest of humanity? How do you think the Romanian church was corrupted by the belief that God wouldn’t want his people to suffer? If we subscribe to this belief, how can you see it affecting our American church?
5. How do we do ourselves a disservice by focusing on or chasing after the next new scientific cure or spiritual healing when illness strikes?
6. Read Matthew 8:2. Why is demanding or claiming a healing not a proper request? What attitude should we have towards healing? How does this attitude differ from the “name it and claim it” theology?
7. What claims does prosperity theology make? In contrast, what do these scriptures teach: Acts 14:22, John 15:18, Philippians 1:29, John 16:33?
8. Read Colossians 1:10-12. What did Paul pray for the Colossians? How does this compare to what we pray for?
9. Why do you think Jim Harrell would vacillate on whether he wanted to be cured of ALS or not? Can you empathize or relate? In what ways?
10. Why do you think God has entrusted us with wealth?
11. Do you find yourself being grateful to God when you enjoy health and prosperity, and less grateful during times of struggle? What can you learn from the two testimonies at the end of Chapter 36?
SECTION TEN
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Chapter Thirty-Seven: How God Uses Suffering for His Glory
If you don’t understand that the universe is about God and his glory—and that whatever exalts God’s glory also works for your ultimate good—then you might consider God egotistical or cruel to test us for his sake. But the testing he does for his sake accrues to our eternal benefit.
God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to him, force us to depend on his grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, impart wisdom, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in times of sorrow, increase our faith, and strengthen our character.
God doesn’t simply want us to feel good. He wants us to be good. And very often, the road to being good involves not feeling good.
1. What is the first and foremost reason God uses suffering? How does what brings him glory benefit us?
2. What have you done so you could avoid suffering? Why is the refining process necessary for us?
3. Has any of your suffering refined you? Has it harmed you? Looking back, would you choose to forego that suffering now?
4. Can you think of a time you had to inflict pain for a higher good?
5. God displays his glory through suffering. Name someone who is an example of this. How is God’s glory manifested in them? Would it still be displayed without their suffering?
6. Scott Peck said, “Life is difficult…Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult.” Do you agree or disagree with his statement?
7. Are you afraid to be conformed into the likeness of Jesus? (Romans 8:29) What specifically do you fear?
8. When was the last time you “cast all your anxiety on him?” Was it difficult to do? Did you sense his loving care for you? How? (1 Peter 5:7) What did you learn from your experience?
9. Read Romans 8:38-39. Is there anything in your life that you feel separates you from the Father’s love?
10. Ethyl Herr says, “The key to knowing God is good is simply knowing Him.” What does she mean, and do you agree or disagree?
11. Do you know of a situation where God used someone’s death to bring others to Christ?
12. What part of this chapter moved you the most?
Chapter Thirty-Eight: How God Uses Suffering for Our Sanctification
People’s suffering from natural disasters, diseases, wars, and accidents demonstrates sin’s horrors. If life in a fallen world didn’t sometimes show us such dreadful consequences of sin and its curse, we might look at sin and wonder, “What’s the big deal?” Without a sense of the misery it produces, we’d have no motive to turn from it.
Sometimes we may resent God for imposing unwanted difficulties on us. If we see through the lens of eternity, however, that resentment changes to thanksgiving for making us better and ultimately happier people, even if it costs us temporary pain and extreme inconvenience.
The point is not the degree of evil intended against us, but our faithfulness in suffering. So regardless of why we suffer, God can use it to deepen our faith.
1. What groups of people might be more open to hearing the Good News of the gospel? Where might people be less open to hearing and receiving Christ?
2. Why might it be vital to see the real ugliness of sin, suffering and death in order to better comprehend the nature of God’s redemption?
3. How does war affect the way we view sin (according to Martyn Lloyd-Jones)? What view of sin does peace give us?
4. Do the results of the Washington Post Hurricane Katrina poll surprise you? Why or why not?
5. Lisa Beemer said that she doesn’t like how God’s plan looks right now, but she knows he loves her and that he can see his plan start to finish. How do her words encourage you? Do they make you question her perspective? How so?
6. In what way is a physical therapist like God? How do physical therapists act in some of the same ways as God? What other vocations can compare in this way to God?
7. How do the stories of the three extraordinary people on pages 408-409 encourage you? How do their lives help you trust God?
8. What perspectives do you gain when reading about God’s saints who have gone before you and the suffering they endured? What perspectives do you get from watching television shows or movies put out by the popular media concerning evil or suffering?
9. What in this chapter raises questions for you?
Chapter Thirty-Nine: How God Uses Suffering to Build Our Character
You may think, I refuse to accept that suffering can prove worthwhile, but your rejection of God’s goodness will not make you better or happier; it will only bring resentment and greater pain. Accept health as God’s blessing and its absence as God’s severe mercy.
Suffering uncovers our trust in God-substitutes. God laments, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug …broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
Let’s be honest: virtually everyone who has suffered little in life is shallow, unmotivated, self-absorbed, and lacking in character. And yet we do everything we can to avoid challenges, both to our children and to ourselves. If we succeed in our avoidance, we’ll develop in ourselves and our children the sort of character we least admire.
1. How does being thankful for small things prepare us for when we lose big things? Explain.
2. Is it difficult for you to be thankful for ordinary days? Have you, like Elizabeth Elliot, ever longed for an ordinary day? Why would you?
3. How do you think an attitude of gratitude will help you through times of suffering? How do you think society as a whole might benefit from this attitude?
4. What about God’s goodness and grace cause you to be overwhelmed with gratitude to him?
5. Why did Charles Spurgeon write, “I venture to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give any of us is health, with the possible exception of sickness. If some men that I know of could only be favoured with a month of rheumatism, it would, by God’s grace, mellow them marvelously”? How has illness mellowed you or someone you know? Do you know of anyone for whom it has had the opposite effect?
6. In what specific ways is being humble difficult for you? Is it a bigger effort for you with family, friends, workplace, and neighbors or at church? Why?
7. Are you too comfortable in your life? Has God ever used pain like a megaphone in your life?
8. Considering your own life, what are some idols that you sense God wanting to topple? If he were to do that, how would your life change?
9. How would it help you when tragedy strikes to have repeatedly told the Lord beforehand that all you have (family, house, job, time and health) are his? (Psalm 24:1 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
10. What do you think of Joseph Tson’s statement that 95% of Christians pass the test of adversity and 95% of Christians fail the test of prosperity? How are you doing in these tests?
11. Why do you think more people came to trust Christ when Father Damien contracted leprosy? Would seeing the immense suffering in the leper colony shake your faith or strengthen it? Why?
12. Randy writes, “Rather than taking us out of the game, suffering can put us in it.” How so?
13. Why might it be a better thing to pray first for sufferers to endure and become more Christ-like rather than for the suffering to be removed immediately? In what situations might this be a really difficult thing to do? Why?
14. When your life here ends, what will you wish you had done more of? What God-honoring, character-building things will you wish you had spent more time on?
15. Read Hebrews 12:7-11. Name a time when you feel God has disciplined you as his child. Does it come naturally for you to view God as your father, a father who disciplines those he loves? Why or why not?
16. How could suffering make you less fearful?
17. What point in this chapter really made you think?
Chapter Forty: Suffering Can Give Birth to Joy, Compassion, and Hope
God permits rebellion while guaranteeing its failure. And what will rebellion buy in the meantime? A loss of joy—and for those who do not surrender to him, a permanent loss of joy in the world to come.
We harm no one through bitterness as much as we harm ourselves. Someone told me, “Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” In the face of evil and suffering, responding to God or others with bitterness, distrust, and accusations bears no good fruit. Responding in honest brokenness and turning to God in submission, faith, and trust yields untold riches of peace and comfort.
We are no substitute for God. But we do serve as his ambassadors. I heard Christian counselor David Powlison say that although God alone is the blazing sun, we can be three-watt night-lights. In darkness even a tiny light can bring hope.
1. What are the temporary benefits of being resentful, distrustful, and bitter towards God? What are the long-term disadvantages?
2. Have you ever experienced profound joy and deep sadness simultaneously? Explain.
3. Romans 5:3 James 1:2-4 says that suffering produces perseverance. Why should we want to build perseverance?
4. In what ways has suffering brought you compassion and empathy for others in similar circumstances?
5. Randy wrote that “only the wounded can serve.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
6. How does Robertson McQuilken’s response to both his wife and God’s “assignment” for his life enhance or encourage your own outlook on tough situations?
7. Who has God given to you to be a comforting presence during a time of suffering?
8. How has suffering given you a focused devotion and ministry? Would you be involved in this service if you had not experienced the suffering?
9. Read 2 Corinthians 4:18. What helps you keep focused on an eternal perspective when you begin to be overwhelmed with present suffering?
10. Is there a portion of this chapter that particularly touched you?
Chapter Forty-One: God Uses Our Suffering for the Good of Others
We want to serve from the power position. We’d rather be healthy, wealthy, and wise as we minister to the sick, poor, and ignorant. When those preaching God’s Word have little personal familiarity with suffering, the credibility gap makes it difficult for them to speak into others’ lives. But our suffering levels the playing field.
God uses the suffering we try to avoid to spread the gospel and build his kingdom. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
1. Why do you think suffering can give people credibility when sharing the gospel?
2. Read Hebrew 11:35-38. How do these verses pertain to the Staines family and how they served Christ in India?
3. How could it be that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church? What does this mean?
4. Do you see comfort and affluence affecting your own church body? In what ways?
5. Who have you met because of the suffering you endured? Who have you met because of the suffering they endured?
6. Can you imagine yourself in the position of the Christians in the Communist prisons praying constantly for their captors? How do you think you might respond in their situation?
7. Why do you think the villagers in the story on pages 439-440 responded to Joseph the way they did initially? What changed their minds?
8. Jerry Tobias wrote that he didn’t want to waste his cancer. Explain what you think he means.
9. Humanly speaking, what things did Eric Liddell sacrifice while serving the Lord? What things do you suppose he gained?
10. Read Luke 9:23. What does this verse call us to do? What does this mean specifically to you?
11. What really made you think or raised questions for you in this chapter?
SECTION ELEVEN
Living Meaningfully in Suffering
Chapter Forty-Two: Finding God in Suffering
A woman self-consciously told one of our pastors that before going to sleep each night she reads her Bible, and then hugs it as she falls asleep. “Is that weird?” she asked. While it may be unusual, it’s not weird. This woman has known suffering, and as she clings to his promises, she clings to God. Any father would be moved to hear that his daughter falls asleep with his letter held close to her. Surely God treasures such an act of childlike love, for his Word represents his person.
The believers described in Faith’s Hall of Fame (see Hebrews 11) all endured severe tests. None of them had an easy life. Yet they all clung to their belief in God’s promises, trusting his goodness, and believing “that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6, NASB).
1. In times of despair and suffering, how do you remind yourself that this is really only temporary and eternal joy is on the way?
2. Read Psalm 119. Which verses about affliction speak most to your heart? Why do those verses stand out to you?
3. Is there anything you do that elevates the Word of God in your heart (similar to the lady who fell asleep hugging her Bible each night that Randy wrote about on page 451)?
4. How can you find more time to read, or hear, more of God’s Word? Why would this be a good idea for you personally? How will it help you when you are going through dark times?
5. What is the difference between “replacing” our grief with joy, and God “turning” our grief into joy”? Give an example of how you have seen him turn grief into joy.
6. How does God’s promise to be with you during all trials encourage you now?
7. Do you think God dislikes it or becomes impatient with us when we complain to him? What attitudes should we or shouldn’t we have?
8. Read Psalm 73. What was Asaph upset about? Can you relate to him? What ended up changing his disposition?
9. What paradigm shifting do you receive from Job’s story? What point makes the biggest impact? Why?
10. Randy says that the doctrine of eternal rewards is one of the most neglected teachings in the Western church today. Why do you think this is the case?
11. What is the difference between a “look-atter” and a “see-througher?”
12. Why is it important to know that God keeps an account of every tear you shed?
13. What stood out to you the most in this chapter?
Chapter Forty-Three: Finding Help in Dark Times
Knowing that suffering will one day end gives us strength to endure this day.
Hope provides the light at the end of life’s tunnel. It not only makes the tunnel endurable, it fills the heart with anticipation—a world alive, fresh, beautiful, without pain, suffering, or war. A world without disease, without accident, without tragedy. A world without dictators or madmen. A world ruled by the only One worthy of ruling (see Revelation 5:12).
Though we don’t know exactly when, we do know for sure that either by our deaths or Christ’s return, our suffering will end. From before the beginning, God drew the line in eternity’s sand to say for his children, “This much and no more, then endless joy.”
1. What specifically do you look forward to, or hope for, that gives you strength to endure through times of suffering?
2. Bessie Ten Boom said that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. Have you found this to be true? What deep pits have you been in that he has shown himself to be deeper still?
3. Read Galatians 5:25. How do you keep in step with the Holy Spirit? Do you ever find that you are filling yourself up with books, movies, TV, or unhealthy relationships that are not conducive to keeping in step with the Spirit?
4. How could suffering through a depression help someone draw closer to God? How could it be potentially damaging to one’s relationship with God?
5. Name a time in your life when you reached out to someone else and your own pain was diminished by focusing on theirs.
6. Do you use laughter as a way to lighten your load? Do you believe this is a positive and healthy response? Why or why not?
7. How do Joni Eareckson Tada’s words on pages 464-465 encourage you? Randy writes, “If you are God’s child, then your suffering cannot outlast your lifetime. And since life continues after death, your sufferings can only last the tiniest fraction of your true eternal lifetime. Rest in this knowledge.” Why is this particularly encouraging? How could this thought bring peace?
8. Pondering what Jesus suffered can help us when we are trying to bear up under our own suffering. What specific suffering did Jesus endure that moves you the most?
9. How does “religion” differ from true faith? Which do you have? Which do you see exemplified around you?
10. What portion of this chapter really struck you?
Chapter Forty-Four: Finding Grace to Ease Others’ Suffering and to Endure Our Own
To ignore someone’s pain is to add to that pain. Instead of fearing we’ll say the wrong thing, we should reach out to hurting people. Many times it’s better just to put our arms around someone and cry with them. People almost always appreciate it when you acknowledge their loss. Yet so long as your heart is right, saying something is nearly always better than ignoring them.
“No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, MSG). This truth applies to every aspect of our lives, including the manner, timing, and duration of our dying.
1. Why do you think we in Western culture don’t sing very many laments or heavy, sad hymns? How do you expect God to react if you get angry at him and unleash all your complaints against him? Have you done this before? What happened?
2. What do you need from people when you are suffering a loss? What have you typically received? What is the best comfort you have received during a period of grief?
3. Why might remaining silent be a good option when you are listening to someone in pain?
4. Do you find it easy or difficult to allow people to travel their own journey through pain? Do you find you want to “fix” their pain? How has this worked out?
5. How has God used the body of Christ to comfort you when you have suffered?
6. Is asking God to use your suffering for his glory rather than asking him to remove your pain something you would do? Why or why not?
7. Read Job 40:8. What do you think God means in this verse? Have you blamed God before? What did you learn from that experience?
8. What on the “You will waste your cancer if you” list surprised you? Which do you think would be the easiest to do? Which would be the most difficult?
9. If your memorial service were to take place today, do you think people would share how they were encouraged by how you endured the tough times in your life? What would you like to be said about you?
10. Why do you think that so many in our culture indentify themselves by their diseases or conditions? How could this attitude be adjusted?
11. How can comparing our suffering to others be damaging or hurtful?
12. Could you relate to the poem by Joseph Bayly? In what ways?
13. What struck you the most from this chapter?
Chapter Forty-five: Discovering Death’s Curse and Blessing
The last thing most people want to think about is the last thing they’ll do: die.
Death is life’s greatest certainty.
No exercise program, diet, or therapy prevents death. Corpses don’t get cosmetic surgery. Even the young die from overdoses, accidents, and diseases. Famous athletes and Hollywood stars alike wind up in nursing homes. Suffering and old age are the great equalizers.
Two things stand between where we live now and that marvelous world where we’ll live forever: death and resurrection. If we never died, we’d never be resurrected. We’d never enjoy a glorious eternity with Christ and our spiritual family.
So while death is an enemy and part of sin’s curse, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, it’s the dark passage through which we enter the brilliance of never-ending life.
1. Do you live daily with the knowledge that your death is life’s greatest certainty?
2. Why isn’t avoiding or denying the thought of death a healthy or realistic idea? What harm could this lead to?
3. Why did Moses think that numbering our days rightly would bring a heart of wisdom? (Psalm 90:10, 12)
4. What did Justin Martyr mean when he said, “You can kill us, but you can’t hurt us”?
5. Randy says, “Dying is far better for the Christian than doing evil.” Explain what he means.
6. How can we use every day to prepare for the day of our death, as Randy suggests? How would this change your life?
7. Is there a part of this chapter that really made you think or raised questions for you?
CONCLUSION: Final Thoughts About God, Goodness, Evil and Suffering
In the end, Jesus Christ is the only satisfying answer to the problem of evil and suffering.
In fact, I’m convinced he is the only answer.
In this world of suffering and evil, I have a profound and abiding hope, and faith for the future. Not because I follow a set of religious rules to make me better. But because for forty years I’ve known a real person, and because he willingly entered this world of evil and suffering and didn’t spare himself, but took on the worst of it for my sake and yours, he has earned my trust even for what I can’t understand. I and countless others have found him to be trustworthy.
He is “the Alpha and the Omega…the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13).
When it comes to goodness and evil, present suffering and eternal joy, the first Word, and the last, is Jesus.
1. What arguments keep you from believing in God? Why?
2. Why does being open and honest about your suffering help you to deal with it better?
3. Do you believe that the Christian worldview best answers the questions of suffering and evil? Why or why not?
4. Why should we talk more about suffering? How will it help us cope with everyday life? What practical steps can we take in order to do this?
5. Have you ever had the experience of being with someone while they died? Did it seem to you as though their body became vacant? Explain.
6. ________ is the only satisfying answer to the problem of evil and suffering? Why?
