Suffering In John Stackhouse's Can God Be Trusted
The concept of suffering is not something new to society. It is something that humans have struggled to explain their entire existence. From natural disasters to personal turmoil, everyone experiences some degree of pain and difficulty throughout life. In recent news, the outbreak of Ebola has caused worldwide panic due to low survival rate in certain countries. This is thought to be the largest epidemic of Ebola in history. Disease is just one example of suffering that it difficult, if not impossible to explain. Many people, even those of faith, wonder how an all powerful and loving God could allow innocent people to go through such distress. For Christians there are several different explanations for why humanity endures suffering and why
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He asserts that “evil provides the occasion for preserving in faith” (73) by providing humanity with valuable lessons such as the importance of establishing strong communities and understanding “human limitations and need” (72). Stackhouse additionally discusses the idea of shalom as God’s ultimate goal for the universe which is love and harmony between the “natural, human, angelic, and divine” (79). He says that the only way to get to this point is through “growth into spiritual maturity” (80) which can only come from free-will. This free will gives human the ability to choose between good and evil just as Adam and Eve did. It is this freedom “that human beings have misused… to sin” (94) and cause suffering. According to Stackhouse this affirms the belief that God is good, all-powerful, and evil …show more content…
He states that “evil is just what we do not enjoy” (42) and “evil is not something that God could create” (41). I have to agree with Stackhouse’s argument because a thing is “good” or “bad” by our opinion alone. Just because we believe something to be good or bad does not mean that it necessarily is. For example, Nazi’s thought that what they were doing was objectively good, but clearly it was not. Similarly suffering can be seen as bad subjectively, however overall or objectively suffering can result in the betterment of people and society. Since God is good, our subjective understanding of evil does not
He asserts that “evil provides the occasion for preserving in faith” (73) by providing humanity with valuable lessons such as the importance of establishing strong communities and understanding “human limitations and need” (72). Stackhouse additionally discusses the idea of shalom as God’s ultimate goal for the universe which is love and harmony between the “natural, human, angelic, and divine” (79). He says that the only way to get to this point is through “growth into spiritual maturity” (80) which can only come from free-will. This free will gives human the ability to choose between good and evil just as Adam and Eve did. It is this freedom “that human beings have misused… to sin” (94) and cause suffering. According to Stackhouse this affirms the belief that God is good, all-powerful, and evil …show more content…
He states that “evil is just what we do not enjoy” (42) and “evil is not something that God could create” (41). I have to agree with Stackhouse’s argument because a thing is “good” or “bad” by our opinion alone. Just because we believe something to be good or bad does not mean that it necessarily is. For example, Nazi’s thought that what they were doing was objectively good, but clearly it was not. Similarly suffering can be seen as bad subjectively, however overall or objectively suffering can result in the betterment of people and society. Since God is good, our subjective understanding of evil does not