the atheist might well object saying “you Christians only love God because of the rewards you expect”, but they undermine their own argument when they equally also assert that no rewards can be expected. Mercenary love is a favour given for a favour returned. His most eminent qualifications to explore “the problem of suffering” aren’t his degrees in theology and philosophy, but rather his experiences as a father watching his two children pass through terrible illnesses on their way to our Savior’s arms, and his faith in the Word of God that he was driven back to during (and after) the deaths of his children. By “theist” I mean anyone who believes in a Being Who exists beyond or outside the natural world, yet Who is able to be involved in the course of human events. Why does God allow suffering, sorrow, heartache, and death, even among His own children?" Examples include acts of murder, and war. For if there is a God, it is not only that we love each other through a free choice, but that we are called to also love Him freely. In the early church the sign of the cross was not considered a glorification of suffering but a “sign of victory” (tropaion) in the sense of the ancient triumphal sign that was set up at the place where the victorious turning point of the battle took place. Did Mother Theresa feel more empathy than any of us, or did she merely act upon it more. Now I have heard atheists assert that a child is first an atheist, so also one will hear Muslims assert that a child is first a Muslim. These tend to fall, however, into two main groups. We are aware of two mysteries, both of the immense grandeur of nature and also of the mystery of life itself. Corporeality is not a quality that is foreign to the spiritual. Dostoevsky states the problem I feel most clearly Brothers Karamazov, when Ivan asks: “If you were God, would you have created the world if even one single child should suffer because of it?” Now Dostoevsky leaves the answer unstated and lets the book do the talking, but I posit that the answer to this question is another question: “If you were God, would you allow the sum of all the suffering in the word, if only for the redemption of one single soul?”. Even though that it be only a pictoral depiction or even just a movie plot I have heard of, It feels like a hole has been drilled into my head for days, and I carry that memory with me for years. There is no “I” or “self” that receives these signals, the primitive brain even if there is one is simply not complex enough to construct such an image. See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Perhaps this is why we do not feel the pain of a damaged coral reef, a sea anemone or even a worm or a slug, these not being humanoid. stated the problem in four parts: "God either wishes to take away evil, and is unable, or He is able, and unwilling; or He is neither willing nor able, or He is both willing and able. The God of supernatural theism offers no answer to this enduring problem. Christians, Jews, and Moslems, for the most part, count themselves as theists. What we can say is that a human being is acutely aware both of the future which he can therefore fear, as well as his or her memories of the past which can fuel that fear, as well as add sorrow, regret, resentment jealousy and anger, and all of these again in relation to any loved ones threatened or harmed. Neither also do animals see life as a problem although throughout their lives they are aware of their mates being eaten. Such an awareness can lead to doubts about God. The Problem Of Suffering Who Or What Causes It? Author Gregory Schulz speaks as a Christian father, sharing the very personal, difficult struggle of dealing with years of pain, suffering, and questions. Philosophers have grappled with the problem of suffering for ages, but none have ever come up with an acceptable theory. He might then join it up as a coherent part of a bigger picture of the overall randomness of the entire physical system, and thereby dispel for himself the notion of mystery in nature. The Problem of Pain is a 1940 book on the problem of evil by C. S. Lewis, in which Lewis argues that human pain, animal pain, and hell are not sufficient reasons to reject belief in a good and powerful God.. Lewis summarizes the problem of evil as follows: "If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty He would be able to do what he wished. Has made it possible for love to be redeemed when He is able to freely to! Who contend that the problem of pain is the significance that lies the! 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