Resources by Topic: Suffering and Evil

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?

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. 

Our inability to understand all God’s purposes in evil and suffering should not surprise us.

I wrote If God Is Good because the question of suffering and evil is the most commonly raised and perplexing problem there is. It’s unusual to have serious prolonged interactions about believing in God, with either believers or unbelievers, without them raising it.  

My new book If God Is Good addresses what is arguably the greatest issue in human history: the problem of evil and suffering.

When I first answered this question a few years ago, a friend was holding her eighteen-month-old son in her arms, waiting for him to breathe his last. She was praying over him, reading Psalms aloud, trying to comfort and prepare him—and herself—for what was to come.

Randy Alcorn was interviewed by Andy Naselli of The Gospel Coalition in August 2009 on the topic of suffering and evil following the release of his book If God Is Good . . . : Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil. 

In the final eight minutes of this three part video, Jim Harrell, dying of ALS but living with an eternal perspective, says, “Suffering is the icy cold splash that wakes us up from the complacency of living this life."

See my previous blog to learn a little about my friend Jim Harrell, who has ALS, and watch the five minute video that precedes this one. Or, just go straight to the ten minute one below. I guarantee you, this ten minutes will bring more to your day than almost anything else.

In the past year I've gotten to know Jim Harrell, a friend I've exchanged emails with and talked with once on the phone. I interviewed Jim on the subject of suffering for the book I'm currently writing. 

While we were unable to find any real pictures of Aggie or her family, I hope this story of God's faithfulness through the sacrifice of missionary couple David and Svea Flood will inspire you. 

Since many have told me how much they appreciated the video with Christian the Lion, I'm going to do something a little different over the next 12 days or so. I'll post four videos that I think will be well worth your time. I'll put them in four separate blogs. 

I want to share the following, written by my friend Denny Hartford, the director of a terrific organization I highly recommend, Vital Signs Ministries. As I research the subject of evil and suffering, and interview many people who have suffered much, my heart is being touched with God's grace, as well as with a longing for the day when at last He will make all things right in the new heavens and new earth.

Matthew Henry preached a sermon to young people from Proverbs 23:26: “My son, give me thy heart.” He then added in his diary the following affectionate and devout aspiration, “Lord, take my heart and make it such as it should be.”