40:28; Psalm 145:3; Rom. (3) We sometimes suffer because it is God’s discipline. Each chapter has several discussion questions that make the book useful for small study groups, adult Bible fellowships, and more. The Chassidic masters must have read Kierkegaard, who called suffering the process of being "educated for eternity." Trials simply give us the capacity to cooperate with the process (Jam. Then He is impotent. 12:7-11); we learn to endure trials for the sake of knowing and sharing the miracle of God's comforting love. 1 Thessalonians 3:3 so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. Search. It provides opportunities to reveal our credentials as ambassadors of Christ (1 Kings. It is never easy. 4:16). “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. Suffering is not in itself virtuous, nor is it a sign of holiness. We reap what we sow (Gal. But to know it as a love in which we were primarily the wooers and God the wooed, in which we sought and He was found, in which His conformity to our needs, not ours to His, came first, would be to know it in a form false to the very nature of things. On the one hand we unreservedly believe that God is the sole Authority of reality, the Master of the universe who decrees and ordains all things perfectly. The proper response is not to blame God but rather to join Him in the battle of the ages against evil.The traditional "problem of evil" may be stated that the three sentences: 1) God is all good; 2) God is all powerful; and 3) evil exists, are incompatible, if not logically, then at least existentially. Christ avoided suffering unless it meant acting in disobedience to the Father’s will. It may be a personal failure or disappointment in your job or school work. For we are only creatures: our role must always be that of patient to agent, female to male, mirror to light, echo to voice. Suffering prepares us for more glory. 258 Theology Questions and Answers. was a 1966 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and a former pastor of 28 years. vs. 59), Determine Causes if we can (Is it because of something I have done? Most times, suffering is a result of sin in a more general sense. 1. 3:12). The Search OF the Savior: Why Jesus Came, Part 2 (Gal. “It may be cancer or a sore throat. And it is not as simple as it sounds at first, because the answer to the question is rooted in God’s nature, the way the universe is set up, and the nature of humanity. (* Indicates a required field.) This includes the following areas: (2) We suffer to develop our capacity and sympathy in comforting others (2 Cor. We may know some of the theological reasons for suffering from Scripture, yet when it hits, there is still a certain mystery. In addition to human physical suffering, there is animal suffering, animal suffering brought about by human cruelty – a point eloquently (and perhaps, surprisingly) made in C. S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain. 11:21-23), so it is simply incorrect to suppose that God cannot foresee future possibilities as well as actualities. It causes us to turn from our resources to His resources. In a discussion between scholars the issue of a world torn by suffering is often described as an insoluble trilemma. Get used to it! Then He is malevolent. His book, God and the Mystery of Human Suffering , is a theological meditation across history on the topic of human suffering. We believe in a day of judgment, and afterwards the just punishment of sinners in hell forever. 12:7). 12:5f; 1 Pet. 6:7-9). The problem of suffering leads inevitably to questions about the nature of good and evil and ulti­ mately to original sin.8In Aquinas's teaching on evil and original sin one can recognize the patterned roots of Schillebeeckx's anthropology. Hebrew for ChristiansCopyright © John J. ParsonsAll rights reserved. It is designed to build our trust in the Almighty, but suffering requires the right response if it is to be successful in accomplishing God’s purposes. "How long, O LORD? 5:3-4). Answer: The “theology of hope” is a theological perspective. It is true, however, that rarely does suffering not reveal areas of need, weaknesses, and wrong attitudes that need to be removed like dross in the gold refining process (cf. For once, English theology can claim to have pioneered a major theological development: from about 1890 onwards, a steady stream of English theologians, whose theological approaches differ considerably in other respects, have agreed in advocating, with more or less emphasis, a doctrine of divine suffering. “Testing” in this same verse is dokimion which has a similar idea. 4:35,9). In other words, if God is all good he would want to eliminate evil, and if God is all powerful he is able to eliminate evil, and yet evil exists, so we are left with the choice of accepting any two of these statements at the expense of the third. 12:6). When believers handle suffering joyfully and with stability, it becomes a marvelous testimony to the power and life of Christ that we claim and name. (4) We may suffer persecution because of our faith--especially when we take a stand on biblical issues, i.e., suffering for righteousness sake (2 Tim. Ryan's writings on Aquinas here come with a particular point of view in mind. The best known presentation is attributed to the Greek philosopher Epicurus by David Hume, who was responsible for popularizing it. The tough question today is: why does a loving God allow innocent suffering? 1:3-4). There is just blind fate. It may be a rumor that is circulating in your office or your church, damaging your reputation, bringing you grief and anxiety.”40 It can be anything that ranges from something as small and irritating as the bite of a mosquito or the nagging of a gnat to the charge of an elephant or having to face a lion in the lions’ den as with Daniel (Dan. Compare the blessings of affliction as seen in the testimony of the Psalmist in Ps. If we are going to endure suffering and the trials of life, however, we must also understand and believe in the other purposes and reasons for suffering as they are related to the chief purpose. And that act is for our sakes. God knows the truth conditions of all possible worlds, just as God knows the outcome of all actualized possibilities in the actual world. The academic question of how to reconcile faith in God with the prevalence of suffering is very different than the life of faith itself, where we trust God's heart, even if we cannot understand why things happen the way they do. I snuck ahead and read the chapter on Thomas Aquinas' part of the theological conversation on suffering that Fr. In the design of God, it is also something to make us think. What is God doing? To manifest the character of Christ in the midst of suffering as a testimony to win others to Christ (2 Cor.