One does not have to search hard to find evil in our world or the great lengths taken to avoid suffering. We have wrestled with it ever since the fall of man. And whenever it rings out, there comes a chorus of questions:
• Why is there evil?
• Why would a good and loving God allow evil to exist?
• Why does suffering come to those who follow hard after him?
• Is God just? Fair? Can He be trusted?
For Christians, these questions present a serious challenge but we will find they need not be insurmountable.
Recording (1:22:56; 75.9 MB)
Notes (PDF)
Links on Suffering
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/suffering.htm
When I travel, I look for a Calvary Chapel affiliate and was at a sister church in Ohio. An unusual couple were guest speakers that morning, he with a missing leg, she with a missing arm and badly scarred face. They were missionaries from Haiti and had been caught in the massive earthquake there, separated from each other. He, for three days buried in rubble, did not know where his wife was or if she survived. Rescued, his leg had to be amputated. She, in the rubble of a school, trapped with dead and dying children, injured badly herself and struggling to rescue those around her. Random evil? Their testimony of fear, hopelessness and ultimate steely faith, has lived in my heart for years. The startling point that found its target in me was this: the western church is asleep and comfortable. Too often, we equate that comfort with earned blessing. Pain, suffering, loneliness, tears...these are the curriculum in God's School of Love, necessary courses in His refining of our eternal souls. No one "deserves" a calm protected life. If such happy circumstances befall you, be content but not conformed, for you can be sure the Devil can and will attack your soul in ease as well as lack. In this world, you will have trouble- Jesus told us this.
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