Thoughts on the Problem of Suffering

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Around anniversaries of personal, national, or international disasters, many people’s thoughts turn to the question of how a good God could allow evil and suffering into the world. Dr. Brown looks at some of these questions today on the Line of Fire.

Hour 1:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Focus all your attention and spiritual energy onto this one spiritual truth: God is good. In His light, you will see light.

Hour 2:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: God is trustworthy. One thing you can depend on, no matter what happens or what you go through, God is trustworthy; God is good, and if you lean on Him, He will see you through.

Featured Resources:

A Queer Thing Happened To America AND Can You Be Gay and Christian? (Brown/Knox Debate)

Other Resources:

Is the God of the Old Testament Really a Good God?

Time for Sober Reflection

The Great Debate [DVD]: Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Bart Ehrman on the problem of suffering.

12 Comments
  1. When I try to listen to the broadcast, it is saying, “File Not Found” on the place where the length of the broadcast (green line) usually shows.

    -9/14/11 @ 5:40

  2. Hmmm… and I thought you were giving us an object lesson! I know we’re all suffering from LOF Withdrawal Syndrome! 😀

  3. You know you are on Facebook too much when you are looking for the “Like” button for the “withdrawal” conversation between Michael and Dr. Brown. Imagine a “Like” on comments 3 and 4.

  4. Is this an attack of the enemy, or just a result of living on a fallen planet? Man-made objects do break after all, thanks to the Law of Entropy. (I think – or is it Murphy’s Law?)

    Anyway – I don’t know how you all feel about praying for inanimate objects, but I’m praying that the IT folks will “heal” the server and/or related hardware so we can once more benefit from the Word, words, wit and wisdom of Dr Brown once more.

    God Bless You Dr Brown!

  5. Your talk was rich with thought-provoking truths. I was driving and unable to take notes, unfortunately, and am hoping to get a copy somehow. There is so much that I want to remember from your talk. God is using you greatly!

  6. Great biblical insights as always. I wish Dr. Brown would do a book or teaching series on the problem of evil. Thanks so much.

  7. Hello Dr. Michael,

    As you might remember, I am a quadriplegic person and was very blessed by your ministry. We do not agree on everything, but I respect and trust that you have a heart that wants to help the world. The problem of suffering as you say is the greatest question of all. I do believe that God can give you a better life after you die through everlasting life, but what about in this world right now? I go through physical problems all the time with my paralysis, and I go through major depression, being very suicidal? Here is what I think. I thank God for being with me as I go through my own struggles in life.

    As my relationship with God grows, there seems to be a need to think about everything in light of the new knowledge that I am learning. For example, Understanding that God wants his creation, mankind, to learn how to be better to each other, that knowledge is teaching me to listen carefully to others and to understand their problems and to help them.

    It seems that God is more than able to make the world a Utopia. But for some reason, the way the world exists in reality exists in this way because God wants to help cultivate good hearted people to come out of it. Maybe God has given the world the ability to be able to care of itself, if only people had the heart to help each other. Maybe God wants to cultivate a kind of people who have a compassionate heart when they see hurt and pain. It seems that God values deep qualities in a person like compassion and love and understanding. It might be that God wants to create people with a beautiful heart and these people learn to be beautiful by living in this kind of world, not a Utopia. If problems never existed at all in the world, then people would never have to be concerned about anything at all. Therefore, never feeling the depth of love and hurt and pain for others. It seems that the lesson that God hopes for us to figure out on our own is for mankind to take care of each other.

    But I do believe that God, in his love, shows up to help at certain times.

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