I’ve been attending and speaking at the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute at Oxbridge. Yesterday afternoon at one of the seminars, I talked about the problem of evil and suffering. We discussed how EVERY worldview must address this problem and the problem of GOOD as well. And no worldview does this as well as the biblical one.
Satan and angels are created beings; and, as such, are totally subservient to God and limited in all their powers compared with the Sovereign and Omnipotent Creator. “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him” (Co. 1:16).
From Stephanie Anderson, promotions director at EPM
Looking for a book study this fall? Then I’d encourage you to check out our newly released If God Is Good Study Guide. It would be a great study for your church or small group, or even if you as an individual would like to delve deeper into the subject of evil and suffering. This is a substantial study guide, not just questions and white space.
The Goodness of God, a new book from Randy, releases on Tuesday, August 10, and this month three randomly drawn winners will receive a copy of the book. (It is available as an audio book as well, read by Randy. Winners may choose the audio version if they prefer.) You might also like to check out the If God Is Good Study Guide, another product releasing on August 10.
When we lock our eyes on our cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, diabetes, or disability, self-pity and bitterness can creep in. When we spend our days rehearsing the tragic death of a loved one, we will interpret all life through the darkness of our suffering. How much better when we focus upon Jesus!
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” The following verse commands us, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2–3).
However great our suffering ...
If you missed today's Livestream video—which was a Q&A on my book If God Is Good—check out the embedded video in this blog. I enjoyed sharing a little about the book as well as answering the great, thought-provoking questions that viewers had.
(Click here to go to the Livestream video channel if you're unable to see the embedded video.)
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Unbelievers and believers have the same heart-cry in response to evil and suffering: “Something's terribly wrong.” We know we were made for something far better. But our heart-cry itself is revealing—why do we expect more or hope for more? Why are we outraged by evil and suffering when if the atheists are right it’s no more than we should expect in a world of random chance and survival of the fittest? Where do we get the standard of goodness by which we judge evil to be evil?
In If God Is Good, I appeal to unbelievers and believers alike to consider these questions: Why is there so much good in the world? Why do the great majority of suffering people want to go on living nonetheless? Is evil and suffering just bad luck, or is there a rational explanation for it? Is there a redemptive purpose for it? Can we as hurting people, and as those trying to help hurting people, find perspectives that recognize the full force of evil and suffering, yet offer hope? I suggest the answer is yes.
(Click here if you're unable to view the video.)
The stronger our concept of God and Heaven, the more we understand how Heaven resolves the problem of evil and suffering. The weaker our concept of God and Heaven, the stronger our doubt that Heaven will more than compensate for our present sufferings.
If Heaven did not exist, we could never solve the problem of evil and suffering, for we would never receive any lasting compensation for it.
Nanci read me letters written in 1920 by her grandmother, Ana Swanson, to her family in Sweden. Because Ana suffered severe health ...
While atheists routinely speak of the problem of evil, they usually don’t raise the problem of goodness. But if evil provides evidence against God, then shouldn’t goodness count as evidence for him? And wouldn’t that be evidence against atheism?
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.
In my life, I’d already seen enough evil and suffering to feel deeply troubled by it. What I needed was to find perspective on what troubled me. In this process of writing If God Is Good, I’ve taken most pleasure in focusing closely on God, exploring his attributes of goodness, love, holiness, justice, patience, grace and mercy. While my journey has offered no easy answers, I’ve felt bowled over by how much insight Scripture gives us.
I’ve looked at a God who says, “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” (Exodus 3:7). I found great comfort in hearing God speak of a time when he could bear his people’s misery no longer (Judges 1:16). I revel in God’s emphatic promise that he will make a New Earth where he will come to live with us, and on which “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4).
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