- Tue, Feb 18, 1986
- Missions, Suffering and Evil
A Story of Eternal Perspective
Back in 1921, a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old son from Sweden to the heart of Africa—to what was then called the Belgian Congo.
Resources: Suffering and Evil
- Mon, Apr 01, 1996
- Suffering and Evil
Is (2 Cor. 12:9)
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
It had pleased God to remove my youngest child under circumstances of peculiar trial and pain; and as I had just laid my little one’s body in the churchyard, on return home, I felt it my duty to preach to my people on the meaning of trial.
Finding that this text was in the lesson for the following Sabbath, I chose ...
- Wed, Sep 01, 1999
- Christian Life, Persecuted Church, Suffering and Evil
By What Death Will You Glorify God?
September 1, 1999 Fresh Words Edition
When John wrote his gospel, Peter had probably already been killed by the Roman emperor, Nero. So when he recorded the words of Jesus about Peter’s coming death he was able to look back and interpret the symbolism Jesus had used. Here’s what Jesus said to Peter, with John’s interpretation.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where ...
- Mon, Nov 13, 2000
- Doctrine and Theology, Suffering and Evil
It is Never Right to Be Angry with God
But, as painful as his providence can be, we should trust that he is good, not get angry with him.
- Thu, Mar 01, 2001
- Christian Life, Suffering and Evil
Circumstances Or Perspective?
To overcome stress you must either change your circumstances or your perceptions. You can change some circumstances, of course, but many you cannot.
- Mon, Apr 09, 2001
- Culture and Worldview, Doctrine and Theology, Suffering and Evil
How Could a Good God Allow Evil and Suffering?
A year and a half ago I walked through the Killing Fields in Cambodia. I saw the skulls piled up, and stood by the mudpits where hundreds of bodies were thrown. I saw a human jawbone lying at my feet. I picked it up, held it in my hand, and wept. The darkness was overwhelming—the ground cried out at the tragedy in which two to three million Cambodians, nearly one third of the country’s population, were murdered by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
I was escorted by a gentle Cambodian couple, Vek and Samoeun Tang, who survived the Killing Fields. Samoeun’s parents both starved to death. One of her brothers was known dead, another brother was never seen or heard from. Presumably he was murdered and thrown into one of the thousands of unmarked graves, many of them containing hundreds of bodies each.
- Tue, Sep 11, 2001
- Culture and Worldview, Doctrine and Theology, Suffering and Evil
A Christian Response to Terrorism
This is the most difficult day of my life. That apparent terrorist attacks could bring such death and destruction to unsuspecting people is absolutely unthinkable. Yet the numbers of the dead and wounded from these attacks will be extraordinary.
- Fri, Sep 14, 2001
- Christian Life, Suffering and Evil
How to Pray in the Midst of Crisis
How do you pray in the midst of crisis? More than any other portion of Scripture, Psalms shows us how. Beginning with Psalm 3, and over and over again until Psalm 149, we find the psalmist crying out to the Lord in various dire circumstances.
- Mon, Sep 17, 2001
- Suffering and Evil
Why I Do Not Say, “God Did Not Cause the Calamity, But He Can Use It for Good.”
Many Christians are speaking this way about the murderous destruction of the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. God did not cause it, but he can use it for good. There are two reasons I do not say this. One is that it goes beyond, and is contrary to, what the Bible teaches. The other is that it undermines the very hope it wants to offer.
First, this statement goes beyond and against the Bible. For some, all they want to say, in denying that God “caused” the calamity, is that God is not a sinner and that God ...
- Tue, Sep 18, 2001
- Suffering and Evil
Where Was God?: Reflections on God’s Goodness and Terrorism
This weekend I received a call from a Christian friend who was deeply troubled. The husband of a woman to whom she had been witnessing had been killed in the World Trade Center attack. The woman called my friend and demanded bitterly: “Where was your God that you’ve been telling me about this week?”
Everywhere, people are raising the same question: How could a good God have allowed such massive evil? No question poses a greater stumbling block to Christian faith; no question is more difficult for Christians to answer. Yet, the biblical worldview does give us a good ...
