Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Haunting Question- Part 3

Yesterday I shared my limited, finite, and human take on the haunting question "Why Does God Allow Suffering and Evil" in the world? Followers of Christ are people of the book, the Bible, and the Bible is the norm and rule for faith and life and forms the foundation for what we believe. So, below are some scriptures that have guided my thinking when it comes to the haunting questions.

First, let me say that in order to avoid the Bible buffet and pick and and choose what verses we really want it is right (or meet if you prefer) and good to stand back and take into account the whole of scripture. And when we look at the whole of scripture one of the affirmation that we can make is that God is good, he is just, and he is holy (without sin).

Some particular guiding scriptures:

Job 1:6-11- While God does not inflict evil he allows evil. If we do not allow this then we say that there is more than one God. A good god- God the Father, and an evil god- Satan.

Matthew 5:45- God is so gracious that he even allows rain to fall on evil people.

Romans 5:3-4- Even out of suffering God brings fruit. Suffering in fact molds us.

Isaiah 55:8- His ways are not our ways!

Romans 11:33- His wisdom is so far beyond ours. Even the smartest atheist God just laughs at!

Hebrews 13:5- He will never leave us or forsake us.

Romans 8:28- While we cannot see much good in present tragedy, when we look back we see the hand of God.

No comments: