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Your Question:
Why does God allow good people to suffer?
Answer:
The question of why God allows good people to suffer is a complex and age-old one. As a pastor, I've had to grapple with this very issue in my own ministry. The Book of Job is a classic example of this conundrum, and it's fascinating to see how God's answer is not what we would expect. Rather than providing a straightforward explanation, God's response is more nuanced and multifaceted. It seems to me that God's perfect goodness doesn't preclude him from permitting suffering, even in the case of innocent individuals. His reason for allowing suffering is not that it benefits the individual, but rather that it contributes to the greater good of actualizing a world with great good, including incarnation, atonement, and redemption. Furthermore, God's perfect goodness mandates that he actualize a world in which those who suffer are ultimately benefited, even if their condition is not improved in this life. The idea that God will use our suffering for our good is a comforting one, and it's a theme that's echoed throughout Scripture. The weight of glory that awaits us in heaven is so great that it's beyond comparison with the suffering we experience in this life. As the author of Hebrews puts it, "the person who knows God, no matter what he suffers, no matter how awful his pain, can still truly say, God is good to me!" This is a truth that I've seen firsthand in my own life, and one that I've witnessed in the lives of countless others.
Sources:
warranted christian belief
alvin plantinga
jesus on trial
david limbaugh
raising passionate jesus followers
phil diane comer
on guard
william lane craig
old testament theology
waltke
depression
edward welch
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