Considering answers to those faith-questions we all ask…
Tag: SUFFERING
How did Lazarus feel as he laid at the rich man's gate suffering, day after day? No-one cared for his condition or for his broken heart. What was going through his mind? We can safely assume that he had thoughts such as these: "Nobody cares about my suffering". "Where is God? If He cared He would help me". "I'm alone. My life isn't worth living".
Many millions of people around the world reject God or are disillusioned with Him, because He seems so far off. Where is He when you need Him? I have to confess to having that very thought myself from time to time, even though I normally consider myself to have a strong faith. If you claim that you never question God or doubt Him, I suspect you're being economical with the truth.
Make no mistake: we're in a war. The guns are in Ukraine but the darkness and the evil is in our presence here in the West, and sometimes in our own homes. Where is God? Why doesn't He stop it all?
The most common cause of unbelief, according to surveys, is the problem of evil and suffering. If there really were a God, people reason, there would be no suffering. Putin's Russia would not get away with the invasion of Ukraine, Uncle Joe wouldn't have died of that awful disease, and the cat would not have got caught up in a tree.
The existence of God, despite the complaints of people like Sir David Attenborough who gave suffering as the reason for his own atheism, doesn't go away by invoking this problem. After all, God may be pernicious and unloving. He may be uncaring. He may be somewhere else and not able to help us yet. He may be using suffering for his own purposes.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 