The question of suffering

I’m reading The Case for Faith. It’s very good. It goes through the eight most common questions that keep people from believing in God. The author, Lee Strobel, interviews experts on each subject to try to answer these huge stumbling blocks to faith. The first one he tackles is this: If God is good and loving, how can evil and suffering exist?

The guy that Stroble interviews gives such a great answer. Actually, it was a two-part answer. First of all, God could either make free beings with a choice, or he could maintain control over everything. But, he wanted to make us free so that we could choose whether or not to follow and love him. It wouldn’t be love if we couldn’t choose. So, in order for choice to exist, God cannot keep evil from affecting us and the world. That’s a very reasonable and logical answer. But, the next part is even better.

Just because God can’t manipulate what goes on, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about our suffering. And, it also doesn’t mean that he didn’t do something about it. Actually, he became suffering. He joined in our suffering. But, he didn’t just join, he suffered more than anyone will ever suffer on earth. He took on all the sin of the world and all of the burden of evil, experienced it, and conquered it. So, when we look at the horrible pictures of starving children, we don’t need to ask, “Where is God? Why doesn’t he do something?” The truth is that God is right there in the picture suffering alongside, and he has already accomplished their way to hope.

The interviewee brought up a very interesting point. The people who are asking, “Where is God? Why doesn’t he do something?” are usually the people who aren’t experiencing that suffering. It’s we in the U.S. who look at those pictures and become enraged at God. But, I’m sure that many of those suffering people have more joy and hope in God than we do. The interviewee also shared an interesting cartoon that he has posted on his door. It’s two turtles talking to each other. One says to the other, “Sometimes I’d like to ask why God allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it.” The other turtle replies, “I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.”