Suffering
Doesn’t Peter Suggest Our Suffering is God’s Will? (podcast)
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Suffering
Greg wrestles suffering out of God’s will. Episode 662 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0662.mp3
Podcast: Dear Greg: Does God Accommodate, or is God Simply Powerless?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Divine Accommodation, Evil, Problem of Evil, Suffering
Greg wrestles with a really tough tragedy and offers theological insight. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0359.mp3
Podcast: Isn’t God the Author of Suffering in the Crucifixion?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Suffering
Greg considers the implications of his Cruciform Hermeneutic on his previous work in God at War. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0274.mp3
Podcast: Does God Actively Discipline Those He Loves?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Problem of Evil, Suffering
Greg on God’s role in suffering. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0272.mp3
How Job’s Suffering Points to Jesus
Category: General
Tags: Book of Job, Cruciform Theology, Suffering
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
As I introduced in my previous post, when we read the book of Job we must refute the common assumption that Yahweh is a Machiavellian deity who is controlling all that transpires in his creation,…
Who is Responsible for Job’s Suffering?
Category: General
Tags: Book of Job, Cruciform Theology, Suffering, Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
In the prologue of the Book of Job, the author seems to ascribe the responsibility for Job’s affliction to Yahweh. For instance, Satan challenges God to “stretch out [his] hand and strike everything he has,“…
Classical Theism’s Unnecessary Paradoxes
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Classical Theism, Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Suffering
Topics: Attributes and Character
The traditional view of God that is embraced by most—what is called “classical theology”—works from the assumption that God’s essential divine nature is atemporal, immutable, and impassible. The Church Fathers fought to articulate and defend…
Podcast: Are Our Personal Afflictions the Result of Our Personal Sins?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Sin, Suffering
Greg considers the cause of our afflictions, the healing at Bethesda, and Monty Python. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0086.mp3
When Prayers Go Unanswered
Category: General
Tags: Evil, Frank Viola, Prayer, Problem of Evil, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering
Topics: The Problem of Evil
Recently Frank Viola published a free e-book where 21 Christian leaders responded to the following question: Why is it that God doesn’t often answer the desperate prayers of His people for deliverance, protection, healing, etc.? You can download…
Voluntary Suffering and the Kingdom
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Power, Self-Sacrificial Love, Suffering
Topics: Following Jesus
In a post from two days ago, I wrote about the call to voluntary suffering for others as it is laid out in the New Testament. For the first three centuries of the church, Christians…
The Call to Suffer
Category: General
Tags: Judgment, Justice, Kingdom Living, Self-Sacrificial Love, Suffering
Topics: Following Jesus
Paul tells us that in all our relations, we are to “have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had” (Phil 2:5). Though he was “in very nature God,” he didn’t cling to this status….
Friday Lights: A Theologian Goes to Hollywood
Category: Lighten Up
Tags: Suffering, Theodicy
Each Friday we post content sent to us by our readers that is inspiring, funny, lighthearted or just generally fun. If you’d like more information on submitting content for this feature you can get more information here….
Lord Willing?
Category: General
Tags: Death, Jessica Kelley, Problem of Evil, Suffering, Warfare Worldview
Topics: The Problem of Evil
Lord Willing? Wrestling with God’s Role in My Child’s Death, by Jessica Kelley In November 2012, I received one of the most touching emails I have ever received. A young mother named Jessica Kelley explained…
Divine Wisdom
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Calvinism, Evil, Open Theism, Problem of Evil, Suffering, The Work of the People, Theodicy
Topics: The Problem of Evil
Why doesn’t God end it all and stop the slaughter? Why does God allow suffering and evil to go on so long? Here, Greg offers two possible answers to these questions. Option A is that all evil somehow is…
How Much Does the Cross Really Matter?
Category: General
Tags: Crucifixion, God, God's Character, Jesus, Persecution, Power, Suffering
Topics: Attributes and Character
The cross is as foolishness and weakness to nonbelievers, but Paul wrote that to those who are being saved it is both “the power” and “wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:18, 24). In sharp contrast…
Why We Can’t Know Why Bad Things Happen
Category: General
Tags: Chaos Theory, Is God to Blame?, Problem of Evil, Suffering, The Butterfly Effect, Variables
Topics: The Problem of Evil
Science has demonstrated that the slightest variation in a sufficiently complex process at one point may cause remarkable variations in that process at another point. It’s called chaos theory. The flap of a butterfly wing…
Is Suffering Part of God’s Secret Plan?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Calvinism, Compassion, Faith, Is God to Blame?, Problem of Evil, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Theodicy, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
In the Christian tradition since Augustine, the most common explanation for the apparent arbitrariness of life and God’s interaction with humanity has been God’s mysterious will—his “secret plan,” as Calvin says. Whether or not a…
Theo Graff Podcast: Featuring Jessica Kelley
Category: General
Tags: Jessica Kelley, Problem of Evil, Suffering, T.C. Moore, THEO GRAFF PODCAST, Theodicy, Warfare Worldview
We have a special treat for you today. T. C. Moore is a great friend of ReKnew and he’s recently started a “Jesus-centered, hip hop flavored, geeky, theological, kingdom exploration” called the THEO GRAFF PODCAST. He’s…
The Lessons of Job
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Doubt, Pain, Problem of Evil, Suffering, The Book of Job, Theodicy
Breno Peck via Compfight In his book Benefit of the Doubt, Greg argues that the lessons of the book of Job reassure us that God does not lie behind suffering, but he rather is a…
Are we called to suffering?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Abuse, Kingdom Living, Love, Sacrifice, Suffering
Topics: Following Jesus
What does it mean when we say we’re called to suffering? Does it mean that we should allow ourselves to be victimized or that God approves when we are abused? Here are Greg’s thoughts on…