Five leading theologians recently visited Saddleback for a teaching series titled, How Do I Know I Can Trust the Bible? as part of our annual Ahmanson weekend. So we asked our friends on Facebook and Twitter to submit their answer to the following question: If you could ask a Bible scholar any question about God, Christianity, or the Bible, what would it be? Read on to hear the speakers answer your questions.
Today, we’re hearing from Sean McDowell as he answers the question: Why does God allow suffering if he really is a ‘good’ God?
Sean: “Why would God allow suffering if he is good? Hands down this is one of the most troubling and difficult questions that people ask because it’s not just an academic question we solve like a math problem. It’s one that strikes at the heart of the suffering and pain each of us have been through in different ways.
A book in the Bible that deals with this is the book of Job. Job loses his family, he loses his health, he loses his reputation, he loses his finances. He comes down and actually has a conversation with God and he says, ‘Why would you allow this to happen?’ And, God’s response always fascinates me. God does not give him an answer as to why it happens. Rather, he says, ‘Job where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Job, where were you when I created the sea monsters in the depths of the ocean?’ In other words he’s saying, ‘Job, I am all good, all knowing, I am all powerful. You can trust me even though you can’t see it even though it hurts in the present. You can trust me that I have a good reason that I allow suffering to take place.’
When I look at scripture, one of the things that sets Christianity apart is this - we need to realize that every religion, every worldview has to do with why there’s suffering, why there’s evil. What’s unique about Christianity is we have a Savior who didn’t stand aloof from suffering, didn’t just send us a book, didn’t just send us a prophet, but we really believe the God of the universe took on human flesh and entered in to our world and suffered profoundly on the cross. So we can’t say to Jesus, ‘Boy I’m feeling such physical pain, you don’t understand.’ He understands. We can’t say God, ‘I’ve been betrayed by a friend.’ Jesus is sitting there saying ‘Yeah, I’ve been betrayed too.’
Part of the christian answer is where is Jesus when there is suffering. Jesus is right there with us comforting us, walking through it with us. [He will] ultimately redeem us from our suffering and use it to draw us closer to him. Now when i look at the pain and suffering in the world, inevitably its deep and significant. But when I ask people, including young people, where most of their pain came from - from natural things or does it come from other people - 75% of people will say that suffering comes from other people. God is not the cause of suffering. He allows it. He allows evil to take place because of human free will. God did not want robots. God did not want to force people to love him, he gives us a choice. We can love God and do what is right or we can reject God which leads to suffering and leads to pain.
So in summary, we serve a God who is in control and he hasn’t let go of the wheel. A God who has suffered there with us, a God who promises to be with us while we suffer and a God who will ultimately use our suffering and our pain for his good. And he offers his eternal life to those who will turn to him.”
Missed the teaching series? You can watch all of the Ahmanson messages here.
Have more questions about the Christian faith? Don’t miss Examine the Evidence, a free one night class for skeptics and believers that will discuss why it's important to ask questions and seek the truth by exploring a variety of common issues such as the existence of God, the historical accuracy and alleged contradictions in the Bible.
January 9, 2012 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. in the Refinery on the Lake Forest campus.
For more information, click here.
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