Holy Scripture (and I dare say all of life) confronts us with two realities: 1) the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God and 2) the presence of suffering and evil. Perhaps the most perplexing difficulty Christians face is embracing both. This is not just an intellectual puzzle to be solved. These two realities are psychologically challenging and existentially taxing. As any therapist can account, no one is adequately equipped to moderate the problem of pain and suffering. The purpose of this series, therefore, is to help readers to think carefully, thoughtfully, and fairly about suffering and evil in light of faith and through the lens of Scripture. Most importantly, it is to strengthen our confidence in God’s love and goodness so that outrage and resentment toward evil and suffering is displaced by trust and hope in God.
Content below was originally offered as a 6-week class in winter, 2018, at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. I’m grateful to everyone who contributed to the conversation and to the leadership who continually encouraged and supported my teaching there.
The series title, “God Has a Story, Too,” was taken from Dr. Gay Hubbard’s presentation given now more than 20 years ago at Denver Seminary. Her talk was so inspiring that I’ve never forgotten the profound impact it had on me. You can listen to her presentation here. In addition to Dr. Hubbard’s influence, many others have written acutely on suffering and evil and much of what is offered here has been curated from them. Wherever my content expresses their thoughts, I acknowledge a debt to them and have referenced their names in the respective pages. Any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of their published materials are solely mine.
Additional Resources
“Whether God is Good: Tish Harrison Warren”
“On grief and not theologizing about it” by Nicholas Wolterstorff
Does Evil Disprove God?
Suffering, Evil, and the Desires of the Heart (Eleonore Stump)