How Can God be Good and All-Powerful When There is So Much Evil and Suffering?

Attention Funnel: This or That

 Introduction:

• Perhaps one of the most common AND most difficult objections to the Christian faith is the problem of evil.
• Bad things happen in this life. Painful things happen in this life. And they often cause us to ask where God is or why he would allow such things.
  • A pet that you loved dies. A girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with you unexpectedly. The sport you love to play is suddenly taken away by a bad injury. You get abused by someone you love. You come home one day to find that your Dad has walked out. Your parents sit you down to tell you that your mom has cancer. A close friend commits suicide. These are only some examples… not to mention large scale things like hurricanes, famines, genocides, and war.
• How in the world can we believe God is all-powerful and a good Father in the midst of all of this?
  • Because if he is really a good father, then he would want to get rid of all this evil, right?
  • And if he is an all-powerful God, then he would be able to get rid of all this evil, right?
  • Take your pick… it’s a this or that. Either he can be all-powerful OR he can be good, but he can’t be both. He can’t be the God of the Bible, right?
• This is not simply an intellectual question… it’s a personal one.
  • This is a problem WE ALL have to deal with when things go wrong in our life or we witness horrible suffering in the world.
• This is by no means a new problem. It’s a problem that people have faced since the dawn of the world.

Big Idea: God doesn’t work how we expect him to.

 Read John 11:1-6

• Notice the sisters don’t invite or ask Jesus to come. It assumed that as soon as he hears his friends are suffering he will be on his way. To think otherwise is inconceivable.
• Which is what makes Jesus’ response so shocking… He stayed where he was for two days. Why???
  • Because he loves the sisters and Lazarus… that makes no sense to us. God doesn’t work how we expect him to.

Read John 11:28-32

• “Jesus if you had just been here this wouldn’t have happened. You could have prevented it.”
  • The hidden questions behind the statement is “Why weren’t you here???”
  • Don’t you care? Were you unable to come? Why weren’t you here?

Read John 11:33-44

• There are many things this passage as a whole teaches us about evil and suffering… I want to draw out several of them.

 Main Points:

• Christianity allows us to see evil for what it is.
• Our pain is not pointless.
• God got his hands dirty with evil.
• Evil and suffering have a deadline.

Q.W.A #4: How Can a Good God Allow Suffering and Evil?

 Attention Funnel: Insurance Commercials – We buy insurance because bad things happen.

 Introduction: Bad things happen in this life. We all know this, there are things that happen that cause pain and suffering in our lives or in the lives of others. This issue of suffering and evil in our world is one of the biggest arguments against God’s existence. It’s a problem.

Big Idea: The existence of suffering does not mean that God is unloving or weak.

Scripture: Romans 8:18-39; Revelation 21:1-4

Main Points:
Christianity provides a framework for understanding evil and suffering.
Christianity tells us that God suffered for us.
Christianity offers real comfort to those who are suffering.

Apologetics Lesson #5

Apologetics

Lesson #5

3.11.12

 

Main Points:

• Christianity explains what evil is and provides a basis for why it is wrong.
• The Christian God is the only one to suffer, and he does it because he loves us.
• Perspective allows us to see the reason for the suffering.