6. • A good, all-powerful God would not want
people to suffer and would be able to
prevent them from suffering.
7. • A good, all-powerful God would not want
people to suffer and would be able to
prevent them from suffering.
• Suffering exists.
8. • A good, all-powerful God would not want
people to suffer and would be able to
prevent them from suffering.
• Suffering exists.
• Therefore, God lacks either goodness or
power, or both – the good, all-powerful
God of the Bible does not exist.
9. As for those who believe in an all-good,
all-powerful agent-God, we've seen that
they face a question that remains pressing
after all these centuries, and which is now
horribly underscored by the horrors in
Haiti. If a deity exists, why didn't he
prevent this?
David Bain, BBC News Magazine
30. What do people mean when they say, ‘I
am not afraid of God because I know that
he is good?’ Have they never been to a
dentist?
C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
31. God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in
our conscience but shouts in our pain. It is
his megaphone in a deaf world.
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
34. There will be no major solution to the
suffering of mankind until we reach some
understanding of who we are, what the
purpose of creation was, what happens
after death . . . Until these questions are
resolved we are caught.
Woody Allen
43. The God of the Bible is not compelled to
answer questions. He loves us, yes, but
with a white hot intensity, with the hot
breath of a lion. Like Aslan of Narnia, He is
not a tame lion. His love may be the most
dangerous thing about Him, because He
swears to love us literally to the death of
ourselves.
Faith Hopler
44. Though he brings grief, he will show
compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction or
grief to the children of men.
Lamentations 3.31–33
46. crucifixion there are bigger
things than suffering
47. 'There cannot be a God of love,' men say,
'because if there was, and he looked down
upon the world his heart would break.'
The church points to the cross and says, 'It
did break'. 'It is God who made the
world;' men say, 'it is he who should bear
the load.' The church points to the cross
and says, 'He did bear it'.
William Temple
48. I have nothing to say that makes sense of
this horror – all I know is that the message
of the death and resurrection of Jesus is
that he is with us.
John Sentamu, Today Programme
Ron Rosenbaum, ‘Disaster Ignites Debate: Was God in the Tsunami?’ New York Observer, 10 January 2005
David Bain is a philosophy lecturer at the University of Glasgow. He wrote an article for the BBC in response to the earthquake that claimed hundreds of thousands of Haitian lives. He asks, ‘how can God allow such terrible things to happen?’ 19 January 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8467755.stm
This is now very widely recognised by philosophers.
But why not?
We make many assumptions about what God is or isn’t like, and about what he should or shouldn’t do. Human beings cannot tell what will be good in the long term; only God can do so.
1st reason why suffering is not evidence against God
>> humans cannot know what will be good in the long term
only God can know.
>>Some things may prove to be more important/valuable
If you were God, you'd do exactly what God has done.
Ultimate glory overwhelms present suffering (2 Cor 4; 1 Peter 1:7f)
coming back to this later
2nd reason why suffering is not evidence against God
God has created human beings with free will, so that we can choose to do evil or to do good.
Freedom is essential for a genuine relationship, which is what human beings were created for.
Human beings have chosen evil, resulting, whether directly or indirectly, in suffering.
Only 2 ways possible
>> override
God cannot give us freedom and withhold it (‘nonsense is nonsense, even when you speak it about God’ – C.S. Lewis).
>>destroy evil
The only option then is for God to judge evil and those who perpetrate it.
3rd reason why suffering is not evidence against God
ch 3 para 19
4th reason why suffering is not evidence against God
you deserve it
Faith Hopler, ‘Why Does God Let Bad Happen?’ Relevant Magazine, 19 August 2009 - http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/177-the-problem-of-pain-why-bad-happens
God has experienced our suffering in the incarnation and crucifixion
The crucifixion is the ultimate demonstration that there are higher things than suffering.
God will deal decisively with suffering and evil, as promised in the resurrection
The new heavens and new earth will be free of suffering and evil, and will more than compensate for anything we have endured in this life.