“Why does God allow suffering?” WBC 16/1/5pm
Readings come during sermon
THE PROBLEM
This is, indeed the biggest problem
- Though I have come to a point of peace and some understanding on it. For me.
- but I don’t have a full ‘satiating’ answer to it
o and you may not be able to, either
o most realistic to hope that there might be a few nuggets (and one in particular) that you can take away from here that help you.
have found it varies from person to person
‘wear your own armour’ (not Saul’s)
• to nurture your faith
• (not to ‘protect’ you from the real world!)
And probably we have protected ourselves from the real world
- used our faith to protect us!
o (came for comfort, not challenge)
- hence: why we are so shocked by these Tsunami event
o but the suffering of ONE life raises the same question:
“why does God allow suffering?”
o and millions die every few days- most of it not through ‘old age’ (we even have a problem with that, sometimes)
And our faith needs to have thought these things through
- because there IS an answer. One who is the answer.
- Illustr: it is only in the ‘west’ that we have a problem with this. Other eras, cultures and communities of faith have a theology that integrates with these realities of life:
- 1) These things are part of life, death and faith
- 2) God allows these things
- 3) God gives life, He has the right to take it away (??)
- 4) God acts and sends these things (???!! I don’t agree. Needn’t have that opinion)
But I’m aware… even as I present those opinions… that this is ALL just theorising! Sitting in a warm church while people suffer!
- in the end it is a pastoral issue!
o If you’re thinking about this issue tonight, may you receive some ansers
o If you’re feeling… going through this issue may you receive some COMPFORT
… but theorise… theologise we must- as then we find that we, as Christians, have an answer that brings hope. Hope eternal. Shows the true nature of God.
- man! I’m going to cover the reason I am a Christian and not an atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, New Ager or JW
In summary, the problem… question is: “If God allows suffering- then He either doesn’t exist (a-theism), He is either not good, all knowing (omniscient) or all powerful (omnipotent)”
o and on that some rest their case for disproving the existence of God (and confirm it by ‘nature’)
o but they are faced with prob/questions of another kind:
what IS the purpose of life…. Of suffering, then?
can you prove God doesn’t exist?
Can you prove God doesn’t have SOME reason for allowing things as they are?
= HARDER questions, actually! And a harder life to lead. A tragic.. sad one.
But- I believe we have SOME answers. Something to offer. AND we have pain as well
- the issue of suffering is real for a-theists… but MIGHT it be more real for theists.. CHRISTIANS?
o 25 years ago I was immune to this stuff! Personally and theologically. It didn’t touch me because I was cold and had no belief to defend. Dead: spiritually, morally and intellectually!
o THIS has ripped me apart. AND YOU!
And why is that? It’s because when you get closer to God
- He enlarges your heart
- You become more like Him. (Christ-like). THEREFORE
- YOU FEEL WHAT HE FEELS
So- actually, the horror and pain that you feel, and questions you ask even- are (to me) a sign of
- God’s existence. His nature. What He feels
The very fact that ‘man’ asks these questions… has a moral framework that says ‘these things aren’t right!’… is evidence of God
- much more so for the Christian… to the Christian
Think of it: where else could this sense of justice, injustice, hurt, offence, moral absolute… compassion have come from?!
- it certainly hasn’t come from observing the world around us and evolution (which affirms ‘hardness’, self preservation)
This IS a problem exactly because there IS a God
- and it IS frustrating that He doesn’t DO more
o BUT HE WILL!
But the issue is so huge we do have to accept some sense of mystery in it. We are not God.
- it is so huge God has to tell us the necessary truths by story
o (accounts of what may have been historical fact and are certainly spiritual fact)
THE FALL
Read Gen 3
God creates a universe of free will. One where choices can be made. One where there must also be things to choose between
- it is no surprise to Him- but some of the spirit world decides they are going to ‘do their own thing’. Perhaps this is before any physical world is created
o whatever: at the point where ‘people’ exist. Evil already exists. On earth. In the garden, even
the snake represents that
(so, maybe ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ already existed outside the garden (in the garden?))
But at the start of it all Adam and eve are in connection with God and the world in such a way that the WORLD is their oyster!
- they have control and stewardship of it… animals…all
- who knows: maybe the unfallen powers that man had helped him control his flesh (to live to hundreds of years) , the animals and even the world. Maybe even tectonic plates- with God’s help?
o Certainly: in the garden they are protected
o (thought: primitive man may not have be ‘primitive’ and barbaric at all- only primitive technologically, knowledge-wise. May have been far more connected than us!
Cf Andaman Islanders who knew Tsunami was coming. Like/by birds?)
But choices still exist. There must be something to choose between- and it’s whether they should be like they are or ‘like God’
- nothing new under the sun!
And, aided by the influence of the fallen spirit world they, like them, choose to be their own ‘gods’
- and it’s a step forward in knowledge
- but a step back wrt everything else
Disconnection and fracture happens
- disconnection with God. More disconnection follows (because everything follows from that)
- inside: shame, guilt. Fleeing from God
- their relationship with each other. A& E and society
- the animals flee (after Noah)
- their mastery over the world ends- because it was only through God in the first place
And, I wonder… hypothesise… maybe this (combined with the fallen spirit world) is why there is the natural evil there is
- most of it is ‘moral evil’… due to man
- maybe man has a whole lot more to do with it than we imagine
o the disconnection has affected the world
o that’s the way the story presents it
(Whatever- man was kicked out of his protected environment to where the evil had reign)
The question is still raised- why doesn’t God intervene to stop it?
- = most valid!
- But where the world was governed by God’s laws mediated through man’s abilities it now defaults to the ‘lower laws’- the laws of science and nature
o And God is not intervening to overrule those all the time
o A knife lunged at someone cannot become a banana
What kind of a world would that be?
Occasional miracle, yes. Overruling of the laws man chose… defaulted to… NO
So –it is no surprise to Christians who know the Bible.. and history… and life… that these things happen
- in fact: they are what precipitated Christ’s coming
THE CROSS
You know I said that the sprit world MAY have been fallen before the foundations of the earth?
- well, God had a plan from that time, too. A lamb that was slain (Rev 13:8).He saw the cross in the creation of the first nebula
And here is the crunch. The cross. The crucial issue:
- God chose to create a world in which evil could happen, and choices could be made (good or bad)- BUT ONLY BECAUSE HE WAS PREPARED TO PAY THE PRICE.
o Himself
And none of this fooled God! There is NO sense in the Bible that anything catches God on the hop.. . or that the devil is equal
- hence why Hebrew makes no differentiation between what God permits and decrees. Because HE is sovereign
o but we who know Christ understand that God permits evils, doesn’t send them
o (that maybe Global warming IS some of the stuff in revelation- but the judgements are God endorsing, permitting what WE cause. HE doesn’t send!) Don’t mention? Distraction?
And God foreknew, foresaw and permitted these ‘falls’ only because He
- would pay the price
- could guarantee that the net… end result of the whole thing would be better
- would come and take all the evil.. life experiences.. junk.. Tsunamis.. Auschwitz’s…hurts… pains…abortions… darkness: HIMSELF
o so don’t talk to God about ‘Ivory Towers’
The Long Silence
At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain
before God’s throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before
them. But some groups near the throne talked heatedly. Not with crying
shame, but with belligerence.
"Can God judge us? What can he know about suffering” snapped a pert
young brunette. She ripped open her sleeve to reveal a tattooed number
from a Nazi concentration camp. " We endured terror......beatings....
torture.... death"
In another group a Negro boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he
demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched for no crime but being
black".
In another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes.” Why should
I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn’t my fault." Far across the plain
were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the
suffering and evil he had permitted in his world.
How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light;
where there was no weeping or fear, or hunger or hatred. What did God
know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world?” For God
leads a pretty sheltered life", they said.
So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had
suffered the most. A Jew, a Negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly
deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. At last they were ready to
present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what
they had endured. The decision was that God should be sentenced to
live on earth - as a man.
Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted.
Give him a work so difficult that even his own family will think him
out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his
closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced
jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.
At the last let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let
him die! Let him die so that can be no doubt that he died. Let there
be a great host of witnesses to verify it.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of
approval went up from the throng of people assembled.
When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long
silence. No one uttered another word... no one moved.
For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.
Flashes/Clips of The Passion of the Christ while reading Lk 23 & Mt 27
And here is the answer. Or why I’m a Christian.
- why I want to follow. Who I want to follow. How I know what God is like
o not by nature. General revelation. But specific revelation- JESUS. God who became flesh and
showed us
took it
I love Him. I am eternally grateful to Him
THE FUTURE
And the story doesn’t end there. You know I said “God was only prepared to allow this if He paid the cost and the end result was better”
- well, it is
- WE have a message to tell others
Adam was earthbound.
- I think, possibly, Adam would have lived a long time and then died… and that was it. His flesh and blood couldn’t inherit heaven
Through Jesus people can be heaven-bound
- Jesus save people! God saves humans! (something the angels long to look into! They don’t get saved!)
- those who trust in Jesus get eternal life (life with God now that continues beyond death) and heavenly bodies
o (I’m working to make mine, now, 3 X a week in the gym!)
I jest. And there is SO much about this I don’t know… understand. But this is the only way I can understand 1 Cor 15:45
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
1CO 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
1CO 15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
1CO 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1CO 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
In summary- people can get HEAVEN, now. Whatever that may be like
- but it’s gonna be great!
- And THIS is NOT all there is. This is a glimpse
o And it’s pains… and the STING of death is real
o But they will be but a dream compared to eternity with Christ--- when Eden is restored and God’s plans come full circle
That’s the story of the Bible
And listen. Catch a glimpse of it, now. And want to share it with others:
1 Cor 2:9
as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" --
1CO 2:10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
RO 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
Closing songs:
Jesus lives, thy terrors now
I’ve had questions without answers
I cannot tell
LK 23:35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
LK 23:36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
LK 23:38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
LK 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
LK 23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
LK 23:42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. "
LK 23:43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
MT 27:45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
MT 27:50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice “It is finished” (Jn) , he gave up his spirit.
MT 27:51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
MT 27:54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
