Search Results: problem of pain
Satan and the Corruption of Nature: Seven Arguments
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Problem of Evil, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Creation Care, Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict, The Problem of Evil
…Paul treats Adam and Eve as historical figures simply reveals their first century cultural conditioning. I believe there are a number of theological problems with this view that we cannot enter into at present. But clearly if someone accepts this perspectives there would be little problem accommodating the view that…
V Theology
…God V Theology: Open View of the Future (Open Theism) V Theology: Providence/Predestination/Free Will VI Apologetics: Problem of Evil G. Boyd, God at War (InterVarsity, 1997) 3 —- Satan and the Problem of Evil (InterVarsity, 2001) 3 —- Trinity and Process (Lang, 1992) 3 V. Brümmer, The Model of…
Does Jesus’ Abandonment on the Cross Destroy the Trinity?
Category: Essays
Tags: Abandonment, An Open Orthodoxy, Cruciform Theology, Dwayne Polk, Essay, Father, God is Love, Godhead, Jesus, Tom Belt, Trinity, Trinity and Process
Topics: Atonement and The Cross, Theological Method, Trinity
…husband, for his part, would suffer the equally nightmarish pain of knowing his wife was suffering emotionally as she believed she was betrayed, as well as the pain of knowing his wife was suffering physically at the hand of her evil tormentors. In this imaginary scenario, it’s evident that the…
Responding to Von Balthasar on the Trinity and Suffering
Category: General
Tags: Apologetics, Problem of Evil, Trinity
…consequences of our sin on the cross. How does this kenotic understanding of the Trinity answer the problem of evil? It does so, according to Friesenhahn, because the most important aspect of an adequate theodicy (the explanation for the problem of evil) is to “offer hope to those who are…
VI Apologetics
…Evolution of the Soul (Oxford University Press, 1997) 3 The Problem of Evil See also: I Biblical Interpretation: Spiritual Warfare/Cosmic Conflict in Scripture IV Church History: Spiritual Warfare in the Early Church V Theology: Warfare Worldview VI Apologetics: The Reality of Satan/Angels /Demons VI Apologetics: The Problem of Evil VII…
Part 13 (of 15)— Taking Responsibility (Part A)
Category: General
Tags: Book Reviews, Books, Jordan Peterson
…for destruction” (149). Not only this, but everybody suffers some form of injustice, some form of oppression, a certain amount of misfortune, and various forms of physical and psychological pain. The all-important question is: How are we going to respond to this world of pain? One option is to pin…
Review of Ehrman’s “God’s Problem”
Category: General
The other night I read Bart Ehrman’s new book, God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question — Why We Suffer. Since it touches on the issue of violence in the Old Testament and since I’ve received so many e-mails asking me about it, I thought…
Exploring a Soul-Ache
Category: General
Mind if I just sort of soul-barf with this post? I’m just going to explore something out loud and see what comes of it. I’ve been noticing an intensifying pain in my soul over the last couple months — though I now wonder if perhaps this ache hasn’t been crescendoing…
Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy
Category: General
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
…unsolvable unless we take seriously the reality of Satan and the spiritual warfare that presently engulfs the cosmos. Greg’s story behind the writing of Satan and the Problem of Evil: In 1995 I delivered a paper at an academic conference at Wheaton college arguing that the problem of evil is…
Practicing the Presence 3-24-07
Category: General
…outside of God, we think the problem is that we simply don’t have enough. If only we had more of our god, we think, or perhaps if only we had a different god, we’d find relief from our pain, we’d feel full, alive, meaningful and secure. But it’s all a…
The Argument from a Cursed Nature
Category: General
…because of the fall…. * there will be hostility between snakes and people (vs. 15) * women will experience pain in child birth (vs. 16) * the earth will be stubborn in yielding vegetation (vss. 17 & 19) * vegetation will now contain thorns and thistles (vs. 18) * humans…
Christus Victor Atonement and Girard’s Scapegoat Theory
Category: General
Tags: Atonement, Character of God, Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Love, Rene Girard, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
…Testament (NT) says was accomplished on the cross. *** As the NT depicts it, the problem that God was addressing on the cross goes beyond our scapegoating mechanism. The NT rather teaches that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way things are. We have an objective problem that calls…
On Judgement
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
…ourselves. That internal focus is when judgement can be healthy and helpful. Look at yourself. The pain we receive will soon be forgotten, but the pain we inflict on others stays with us much longer. Start your day with a declaration to help make someone else’s life better, and finish…
The God Who Embraces Our Doubt
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Doubt, Faith, God, Honesty, Jesus, The American Jesus, Upside-Down Kingdom, Zack Hunt
…and heal and love us. From Zack’s blog: The real problem we have in the church is not with doubt, but with our inability to make space for those who do have doubts about their faith, who are going through the exact same struggle the people of God have endured…
How Important Is the Cross?
Category: General
…pain to the degree that they must endure something contrary to their nature. For example, it’s terrifyingly painful to be unable to breathe for any duration of time, because nothing is more natural to us than breathing. Nothing could be more unnatural for the all-holy God than to experience sin,…
The Point of the Book of Job
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Bible, Essay, Old Testament, Problem of Evil
Topics: The Problem of Evil
…Job’s friends for speaking erroneously about God (Job 42:7). This is not to say that everything Job’s friends say about God is incorrect. This book is far too subtle to paint everything in either-or terms. It artfully paints a thoroughly ambiguous picture of the cosmos where those who are basically…
When Free Will Meets Unfathomable Evil
Category: Q&A
Tags: Current Events, Emilie Parker, Evil, Faith, Free Will, God, Greg Boyd, Grief, Newtown, Problem of Evil, ReKnew, Robbie Parker, Satan, Suffering, Theodicy
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
…love or its opposite, which means that free will must be, by definition, irrevocable. Having this perspective of course doesn’t alleviate the nightmarish pain that Robbie must endure as a result of his beautiful daughter’s untimely death. But it does mean that his pain at least won’t be compounded by…
An Interview with Author Darrell Rohling
Category: General
…You faced the problem of evil head on. What inspired you to deal with this problem so graphically and in a narrative format? D.R . Well, I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of narrative, with the mysterious power of human language and its transmission into the written form. It’s…
Is Hell Eternal Punishment?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Annihilationism, Hell, Revelation, Warfare Worldview
Topics: End Times
…will be what God always intended it to be. However, Scripture’s otherwise magnificent vision of the end seems to be marred by one thing. According to traditional interpretations, this vision includes the understanding that innumerable angels and people will suffer excruciating pain for all eternity. Rebels will anguish in a…
Problems with the Simple Foreknowledge View
Category: General
Tags: Arminianism, Calvinism, Future, God, Open Theism, Satan and the Problem of Evil
Topics: Open Theism
…can respond to his foreknowledge in this way, thus avoiding the problem of God creating individuals he knows will go to hell. In this view, God’s act of creating people is not affected by his knowledge of what will become of them. It is as though God possesses “insider information”…