Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians, Part 1Sample

“Why Is There Evil and Suffering in the World?”

The most spiritually persistent question people ask—across every world religion, every philosophy, every worldview—is, “Why is there evil and suffering in the world?” It’s the question that lingers and never goes away, and spiritually, it’s the most troubling question crying out to be answered. People cannot seem to wrap their heads around why evil and suffering exist in the world, and when this question is not answered it can become a huge stumbling block. 

This is not a question that the Christian faith alone must answer. If you reject Christianity because of the existence of suffering in the world, then you need to reject every philosophy, every worldview, every ideology, every religion. Because the reality of suffering is not just unique for Christianity to explain. I don’t care if you’re Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon, Scientologist, Hindu, or nothing at all—everyone must answer the question about why this is such a screwed-up world. 

Even atheists. It’s actually one of the biggest arguments against atheism. Atheists may not believe in God, but they believe in the inherent goodness of human beings and the inevitable upward progression of naturalistic evolution. This means that human beings should be becoming increasingly good and noble, peaceful and humane, through the advances of education, politics, and technology. So in theory it should be a better world every day.

It’s not.

But there is a reason this question about evil and suffering is often laid solely at the feet of Christians. The Bible teaches that God is all-powerful, able to do anything he wants. Further, the Bible teaches that God is thoroughly good—not mean, capricious, or vindictive. Yet bad things happen. There is suffering in the world. And for many, many people, those dynamics just don’t mix.

So let me try to give the answer the Christian faith gives to the question of suffering—we’ll take time this week to discuss this. You can compare the answer to any other answer you want. And it’s really more of a story than some sterile, textbook answer. A deeply relational story. But before I tell it, let me state the obvious: there is no answer that can be given that will satisfy the emotional pain of suffering.

How do you answer the question of suffering and evil in this world? Does God’s involvement or lack thereof incline you to disqualify the possibility of his existence?