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
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
Podcast: Isn’t God the Author of Suffering in the Crucifixion?
Greg considers the implications of his Cruciform Hermeneutic on his previous work in God at War. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0274.mp3
A Distinctly Christian Take on the Israel-Palestine Conflict
David Masters via Compfight Here is a great essay, written by a young kingdom revolutionary I’m just getting to know, Jonathan Martin. Jonathan addresses the hot topic of the Israel-Palestine conflict with biblical insight, theological depth, and a heart that reflects a knowledge and love for the people he’s talking about. My favorite quote: “The…
Why Bart Ehrman Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Christmas (Or Your Faith) Part 7
This is the seventh of several videos Greg put together to refute Bart Ehrman’s claims published in the article What Do We Really Know About Jesus? In this segment, Greg argues against Ehrman’s claim that the Roman census in the birth narrative was fabricated. If you missed the first six installments you can find them here, here, here, here, here and here.
If God Can’t Control, How Can I Trust Him?
Question: If God can’t always answer our prayers for healing, for example (and I completely understand why—free will etc), then HOW can he promise to bring good out of the bad things that happen? Surely he is powerless to do that too? And if he can bring good why can’t he therefore heal in the…
Why God Sometimes “Can’t”
Greg continues his thoughts on sickness and spiritual warfare by addressing the question of why God “can’t” intervene in some circumstances of illness.
Why Bart Ehrman Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Christmas (Or Your Faith) Part 2
This is the second of several videos Greg put together to refute Bart Ehrman’s claims published in the article What Do We Really Know About Jesus? If you missed it, you can catch the first installment here.