Some Responses
Charles Templeton
“Farewell to God”
Bart Ehrman
“God’s Problem”
The Bible’s Response
The Bible gives no excuses, or apologies, for suffering in the world,
even though God exists. It gives many different answers.
Jesus did not come to address the issue of suffering, or to take it away, but to pay for the penalty of sin.
The fact remains, that Jesus, being
God, even suffered!
Bad things do happen to good people!
The miracles of Jesus did not eliminate that person’s suffering forever, but allowed them to be in right relationship with God.
(2 Timothy 3:12)
All who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer.
(Colossians 1:24)
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share
on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking
in Christ's afflictions.
Our response
What do you believe? We have the unspoken expectation that if we believe in God that somehow we will be spared suffering in this life. We have absolutely no biblical support for that idea, yet we continue to look in the Bible for references that will emancipate us.
We always seem surprised and even offended when the innocent suffer, or when someone dies, or if we experience personal suffering, because we want to be able to control the events of life.
When God made humanity and gave us free will, He never took away our responsibility for the suffering in this world, or said that we would be spared.
We should not be asking the question why does God allow suffering, but rather why do we, and what are we doing about it.
But not all suffering is the result of free will. When natural disasters occur we call them “acts of God.” Why? Because they are unexplainable, unpredictable, uncontrollable and only God knows when and why they happen.
Natural disasters will come regardless, because according to the Bible the earth along with ourselves are going through birth pains (Romans 8:22).
The acts of God are what follow the
natural disaster
when God’s people become “God’s language.”
When people become agnostics they are saying that the Bible, God, and His ways don’t seem to make sense to them. The irony is they are right!
We assume that we will understand and agree with, or like the answer. So instead of turning to God and trusting Him, even though we don’t understand, some turn away from God, or look to other belief systems that makes more sense to them, such as atheism and agnosticism.
God is very concerned about the human condition and participated in it through Jesus, but suffering is a part of the human condition that cannot be removed to its fullest extent while on this earth for reasons that God only knows.
Our goal should be to seek and to do
God’s will even if it requires our own suffering.
Suffering can be redemptive for the human condition.
It’s not as simple as good things come from God and bad things from the devil. God is God because He is able to use even suffering, not just take it away.
There are many reasons why people suffer and we are all able to learn from suffering. If this is all there is then going through suffering holds no hope.
What will be your response to suffering?
We can either allow those that suffer to be used as examples we can learn from and honor their sacrifice, or let their suffering be in vain.
It is not a question of where does
suffering come from and why God allows it, but rather where does it lead. It’s
all in how we respond to it.
We are the “living testimony”
of God’s Word. We must actually live out the Gospel. We must embody the
Gospel.
We are the continuation of the Bible.
The Book of Acts is still being written
through our lives.
(Hebrews 4:12)
“The Word of God
is living.”
It’s not some book
you put on a shelf
that collects dust!
So what is being written
in your book?
Maybe you need to
dust yourself off
and get back in the game?
2. Living Sacrifice
(Rom.12:1)
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Israel was reminded many times by God that He took no pleasure in the sacrifice of animals, but that it was a “symbol” of their own life that was to be offered up as a pleasing sacrifice.
3. Living Temple
(I Cor.3:16, 17)
Do you not know that you are a living temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
(I Cor.6:19, 20)
Do you not know that your body is a living temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
(II Cor.6:16)
For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
(II Cor.5:1)
We are a spiritual house not made with human hands, but heavenly.
4. Living Stones
(I Pet.2:5)
You are living stones, and are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Whenever God would do something special in a certain place, a stone was erected to commemorate that event, so when people would look upon it they would be reminded of what God had done in memorial.
We are not to be just some stones planted in a spot, but we are to be living stones that continue to give testimony of what God has done in our lives and in the lives of others.
I’ve heard it said…
that if we don’t have a testimony about what God has done in our lives recently, that maybe we are in need of a confession.
The Bible is a
“living testimony”
of what God has done, but you also are to be a
“living testimony”
of what God has done.
We are to live our lives
as an open book.