We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

The Suffering of God

La condition humaine au 21ème siècle

NYC.andre via Compfight

This seems like a good follow-up post from what Greg posted yesterday. Charisma posted this reflection on the problem of evil and the suffering of God. It’s a great summary of our thinking about what accounts for the kind of world we see where tragedies like Newtown occur.

From the article:

C. S. Lewis sagely observed, “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself … Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata–of creatures that work like machines–would hardly be worth creating.”

Put another way, love cannot be coerced; it must be freely chosen.

Related Reading

Did Jesus Say That God Causes Blindness?

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him (Jn 9:1-3, NIV) Commentators typically appeal to this passage…

The Magi and an Arbitrary Massacre

On a cool fall night in Bethlehem, late in the 34th year of the reign of king Herod, a peasant family of five sleeps quietly in a one room shanty at the edge of town. They are startled awake as two Roman guards burst through their door shouting something about an edict from a king.…

Podcast: What is Gender Based On?

Greg talks about the mysteries of gender and cautions Christians to avoid certain extreme positions. Dan apologizes for a reckless joke. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0402.mp3

What are the different models of the Trinity in the Christian tradition?

The Psychological and Social Models of the Trinity The Bible teaches that there is only one God. At the same time, it teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each fully God. For this reason the church has always affirmed the doctrine of the Trinity, which teaches that God has one substance (ousia)…

Tags: , ,

Is Telling Christians to Avoid Politics Like Telling Them To Avoid Hospitals?

In this episode Greg clarifies how politics can be dangerous and why some people might want to avoid it. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0045.mp3

Does the Doctrine of the Trinity Matter?

Jesus reveals the greatest, most beautiful, and mysterious aspect of God when he, despite being himself God Incarnate, relates to God as his “Father” and refers to God as “the Holy Spirit.” There is, of course, only one God (1 Cor 8:6). Yet Jesus reveals that God somehow exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.…

Topics: