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Please help write this assignment. I will attach the paperwork needed. I will also post the chapters that are needed for the assignment in PDF. The assignment is easier if you have a worldview of a Christian.
Guided Analysis: Suffering Worksheet
Name:
Course:
Date:
Instructor:
Address the following questions, responding to each one directly below the question. Your total
word count (including all questions and answers combined) should be between 900-1150 words.
Include a reference page.
1. Describe a time when you experienced a significant period of suffering. How did you deal
with that experience? How did you find comfort in the midst of suffering?
2. Briefly summarize the problem of evil and suffering. Cite and reference the lecture and/or
Chapter 9 in the textbook.
3. Briefly summarize the Christian worldview’s response to the problem of evil and suffering.
Cite and reference the lecture and/or Chapter 9 in the textbook.
4. Imagine that a close friend has just suffered through a great personal loss (death of a loved
one, natural disaster, disease, job loss, divorce, or a broken relationship) and your friend asks
you why God would let such a terrible thing happen. How would you respond to your friend?
5. According to Chapter 7 in the textbook, how might the problem of evil and suffering lead
one to the conclusion that moral absolutes exist?
© 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
References:
© 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 9: Experiential Obstacles to Wisdom
By Jonathan Sharpe
Introduction
Chapter 8 explored intellectual obstacles to wisdom that might keep a person from accepting a Christian
worldview. Intellectual obstacles included the belief in Jesus as the only way to salvation, coming to a clear
understanding of what one actually means by faith, and the problem of facing doubts as a Christian. As was seen
in Chapter 8, such obstacles, while very real, are obstacles that also have clear answers. This chapter will explore
experiential obstacles to wisdom, including the problems of evil, suffering, and the hiddenness of God.
Experiential Obstacles to Wisdom
A hurricane tears through a city leveling everything in its path. Trees snap. Windows shatter. Power lines crash
down upon the earth. Beneath torrential rains, the sea breaks through the levees and sends a seemingly endless
crush of water racing through the city streets. Cars are lifted up and carried along by the current. Water oods
houses and schools. People bail the invading torrent and escape through windows, desperately scrambling up
onto their rooftops and screaming for help. Meanwhile, those who are lucky enough to escape the oods cram
on to highways packed with cars. People honk their horns in desperation at the long lines of eeing vehicles that
seemingly are going nowhere. Many people will be injured, lose their belongings, or even die. Rich or poor, young
or old, the storm does not take notice of the conditions or the dispositions of the people caught in its clutches.
Once the storm has passed, the survivors are grateful for their lives, but many came home to discover that they
had nothing left but the foundations of their shattered houses and a few once treasured belongings now watersoaked and buried in mud.
Throughout the world, and in every town and city, people are hurting and dying right this very second. Right now,
children and adults are suffering and dying from cancer, abuse, starvation, and scores of vicious diseases. Loved
ones who fall victim to senseless acts of violence that far too often plague this world will fail to come home. Car
crashes on the highways and accidents at work or in homes will snatch away even more people today in the midst
of their primes, and they will feel helpless to stop it. Suffering can come in many forms, but, at some point,
everyone will suffer deep pain or loss—it is an unavoidable fact of being human.
Some, who have yet to experience truly devastating suffering or loss, might feel that frustrations over grades,
clashes with friends, the loss of a cell phone, or even a long line at a coffee shop are all valid reasons to bemoan
their lives. Yet, when they enter into the darker valleys of life-altering suffering, their perspectives quickly may
change. For those who have suddenly discovered that they have a condition such as cancer, HIV, multiple
sclerosis, or that they have just lost a friend or family member, past complaints over nuisances such as a long line
for coffee can become regrettable in light of life-changing news. When such devastating realities arrive, persons
who are suffering will almost assuredly wonder about God. Amidst their grief, they will ask questions that have
been repeated millions of times throughout the history of the world: Where is God? Why would a good and
powerful God allow such suffering and evil in this world? Why does not he simply stop it? Can he? Does he want
to? Is he good? Does he love me? Is he really there?
This chapter addresses questions of why a both good and powerful God would allow persons to suffer. For
answers to these questions, and to explore the role that suffering can play in leading to dissatisfaction,
disillusionment, and discontentment, attention will be paid to both the Bible as well as Irenaeus, a signi cant
leader in the early Christian Church. These questions will lead to answers that will not always be easy, but they
will be answers that are authentic and that reveal the plan for a great and ultimate good that has been prepared
by a loving Father for his beloved children.
Evil, Su ering, and the Hiddenness of God
What Are the Origins of Su ering and Evil?
Christians believe that God cares about all types of suffering. In his great patience for humans, he cares about
minor tensions in their relationships and small worries just as much as he cares about their greater pain and
dying. The Bible says that God wants people to bring all of their problems and worries to him because he deeply
cares about them (1 Peter 5:7 English Standard Version). Christians also believe that the God who cares so much
about humanity is both completely good and completely powerful. Within the Bible, the many people who
encountered God, and who have handed down their accounts through the millennia, have shown again and again
that God is always both completely good and completely powerful. So, if God truly cares for humans, God is
completely good and God has the power to help people, why then is there so much suffering and evil in the
world?
This rst question about suffering is a philosophical question. In asking why a good and powerful God would
allow suffering to enter the world, persons are trying to dig to understand why evil exists if a completely good
God is indeed the source of all life and reality. The Christian worldview provides deep philosophical thinking
concerning the problem of evil, and allows a deeper look into pastoral questions of how suffering affects people
in their real lives, the obstacles it creates in their pursuit of wisdom and faith, and how they are called to live in
concrete situations of suffering. While philosophical enquiries will focus on intellectual questions, concerns or
objections, the pastoral enquiries will focus more on the experiential and psychological elements of suffering.
Both lines of enquiry are vital in order to understand how much experiences and emotions often in uence
philosophical questions and objections.
Philosophical Questions
In the Christian worldview, suffering exists because humans wished to experience a world that was opposite
from that which God intended, a world in which evil was possible as well as good. In Genesis 1-3, it is seen that
suffering came into the world when the rst humans wanted to experience what it was like to know the
difference between good and evil in order to be like God. They got their wish, but knowing evil meant that they
now both knew and experienced everything that God, who is perfectly good, would not do and also what he
would not wish for humans.
In his great love, God allowed humans to have what they wanted, the chance to experience the opposite of his
good. However, they did not realize that being allowed to know evil, the opposite of the good that God intended
for them, and being allowed to be like God, meant that they now had to keep themselves alive and safe from
harm. Because they were not God, all of their attempts to heal, save, protect, and keep themselves alive would
not work. Humans were not God and could not create life, sustain life, or even keep their own relationships pure.
Evil, suffering, lonely isolation, broken relationships, and death were now natural outcomes in humans’ lives—
lives in which they no longer trusted God as their Father, protector, and sustainer. They had stepped outside
God’s parental wisdom to know what was good for themselves apart from he who alone was good and who
created and de ned the good.
Like a husband or wife who violates the deep trust between two spouses, humans had now violated that rst,
trusting innocence of their love relationship with God. Humans stepped outside of the pure relationship of love
and trust that they had shared with God, leaving them with no way to enter back into that pure and trusting
relationship again on their own. The relationship seemingly could never be the same again because they had
betrayed God’s love and trust in their rebellion, making them persons who could and would do evil, something
that God cannot tolerate in his holy presence where no evil existed (Psalm 5:4). How could humans even enter
his pure and holy presence again now that they were tainted by evil and could not do perfect good on their own?
God said that for humans even to look upon his holy face would now cause their deaths (Exodus 33:20). In the
present world, a person carrying germs or disease might harm a patient in a sanitized hospital room, while with
God it was the opposite. Bringing human sins into God’s pure presence would instead harm humans who would
be unable to survive his holy presence without rst undergoing a radical puri cation enabling them to do so.
As discussed, once humans chose to step outside of God’s wisdom, love, and protection to know and experience
life apart from God’s will for them, and choose their own “good,” they now had to accept the consequences of
living in a world where evil was a possibility. The possibility of evil included even natural disasters and diseases
that have not been caused by humans, but are a part of this fallen world. Humans could now both hurt and be
hurt in a world where they were now free to experience the consequences of their choices. Even worse, humans
were now separated from the loving intimacy that they once shared with God, causing even more suffering in the
experience of inner loneliness that humans feel without the intimate connection to their Creator for whom they
were made. Yet, in Genesis 3:15, and in God’s subsequent promises to Adam and Eve’s descendants, God also
begins to hint that someday someone is coming who will make things right again. Even in the moment of his being
rejected by humans, as seen in Genesis 3, God shows his great goodness and love by alluding to the fact that he
will one day pursue humans into the broken world of suffering, loneliness, and death on a rescue mission that will
cost God even more pain in the death of his only begotten Son, Jesus.
Is Su ering Fair?
Some will naturally question whether it is fair of God to continue to let everyone suffer in this world because of a
rebellion that took place so long ago. From a biblical perspective, all persons are now sinners from their births
because they are all born into a sinful world (Psalm 51:5); all humanity is tainted by evil and all, eventually, will
choose to sin. “All fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), forever failing to be pure enough to enter into
God’s perfect presence again on their own. This broken world in which humans are born is a simple reality, a
clear consequence of the rst humans having chosen to step outside of God’s will for them and to go their own
way. This may not seem fair, but, just like the presence of the laws of nature, it is an actuality that humans nd
themselves living within, both the young and old, believer and nonbeliever.
Christians believe that persons are born into a broken world where suffering is a reality that affects every
person. However, Christians also believe that Jesus, as God, came into this same broken world and died in order
to rescue them for eternal life with him. This act of saving is far more than fair, but, instead, is astonishingly full of
grace, especially when one considers that Jesus died for the same humans who rejected God rst in the Garden
of Eden and then again, when they nailed Jesus to a cross. Yet, for those who refuse to believe and obey the good
news of Jesus, while their suffering might provide opportunities to grow as persons or learn valuable lessons, the
Bible shows that those who do not accept the purifying death of Jesus in their place will continue to suffer the
consequences of humanity’s rebellion to God. Being allowed to suffer the consequences of humanity’s rebellion
includes being allowed to suffer and eventually die without the joy, peace, and restoration promised to those
who follow Jesus (1 Peter 4:17-18). It seems that God will not force persons to be rescued from this world of
suffering if they do not want to be rescued, though it may break his heart.
Why Do Those Who Trust in God Su er?
Then why are Christians still suffering so much now? The Bible promises followers of Jesus that they will be in
eternal life in heaven with God where there will be no more death or tears (Revelation 21:4). What about the
present? Should those who have confessed their sins to God, repented for their wrong choices, and asked Jesus
to save them still be suffering so much in this world today? Would it not make sense that once someone trusts
Jesus to save them from their sins, that he would not only take away sinful desires and loneliness from their
hearts, but also would remove the consequences of sins and bring them healing, success, and complete
ful llment in their lives right now? Is it not unfair of God to let his most faithful followers suffer now as much as
those who refuse to follow God and obey the good news of Jesus (1 Peter 1:12-18) or who habitually and
intentionally do evil against God and others?
Christians admit that disobeying God and questioning God’s goodness is wrong, and they have trusted Jesus to
save them. Thus, when truly deep suffering comes into their lives, Christians will often pray to God for healing or
rescue. They will trust God for healing or rescue because they rightly believe that he both cares about them in
his goodness and that he also has the ability to heal or rescue them in his power. However, while many have
received answers to their prayers, others who have yet to experience healing or rescue will wonder why God has
not yet answered their cries for help. Questions of why a good and powerful God would not appear to answer
trusting believers’ prayers for healing, at the very moment they ask, can lead to a crisis of faith for many as they
wrestle with questions of their own beliefs, goodness, sins, self-worth, and relationships with God. Does he hear
their prayers? Does he care about them?
The Bible clearly shows that God does care (John 3:16), that he has the power to heal (Psalm 103:2), that he can
be trusted to keep his promises (2 Corinthians 7:1), and that he can do ultimate good for those who love him
(Romans 8:28). However, even for those who believe the Bible, the process of waiting for healing or rescue can
chip away at even the strongest faith. The bleakness of suffering can cause even faithful persons to boomerang
back and forth from faith and hope to doubt and despair. One day they might be con dent that God is with them
and that they can wait for him patiently, while the next day they grow anxious, convinced that they are suffering
because of some fault of their own. They might wonder if they need to take matters into their own hands and
worry about how they themselves might x their situations. The day after that they might change their
perspective once again and grow angry with God, convinced that they are innocent and undeserving of their
painful situations, wondering why he is taking so long to do right by them.
This same tortured human frustration appears in the Bible in which some of God’s people asked the same
anxious questions that are asked today. Where is God amidst suffering? Why is he taking so long to answer
prayers? These questions are not new. A great example of one person in the Bible who questioned fairness,
justice, and the presence of God in the midst of suffering is found in the Book of Job, which is a powerful story of
one man’s suffering and God’s eventual answer.
Albrecht Durer, Job and his Wife, 1504. Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany.
In the Book of Job, the author narrates the story of a man named Job whose life quickly changes from one of
prosperity to one of suffering. Job was a man of faith who loved God, lived a righteous life and even took care of
the poor. Then, one day all of Job’s animals were stolen and his servants killed. Following that, he lost his children
in a tragic disaster and he became sick with a horrible disease all in one sweep. Job had not done anything wrong,
had not made God angry, and was not being judged, so why him? Why was he suffering so much so suddenly?
Imagine losing one’s family and suddenly being covered head-to-toe in sores. What could a person do? It is likely
anyone would do as Job did: crash to the ground, sit in the dirt, and feel sorry for himself. Job’s wife, the only
member of his family who did not die, in an all-time classless move, told him to curse God and then just go die.
As he sat on the ground, Job did not curse God, but he did grow angry. He did not feel that his suffering was fair,
and he cursed the day he was born: “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is
conceived’” (Job 3:3). Some of Job’s friends came to visit him and did not even recognize him because of his sores.
Repulsed by his condition, some of his friends tried to convince him that his suffering must have been because of
some sin, or lack of faith, or some other reason that had to make sense; however, Job could not think of anything
he had done to deserve this. He had led a good life. How could God let this happen to him? How was this fair? Job
cried out to God:
My soul is poured out within me; days of af iction have taken hold of me … The night racks my bones, and
the pain that gnaws me takes no rest … I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look
at me … my bones burn with heat (Job 30:16-17, 20-21, 30).
For a good period of time, Job and his friends debated why Job is suffering. Some of them blamed Job, and others
appeared to even question God. What they may have forgotten was that God can hear and see everything. At
last, having heard enough, God appeared to Job and his friends, and spoke to them out of a storm and addressed
their complaints. While God did not blame Job for asking questions or suffering in anxiety, God asked the
astonished group of Job’s friends who had been blaming everyone and everything for Job’s suffering, even God,
“Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like
God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (Job 40:8-9).
After recovering from the shock of God’s arrival, how many persons would give anything to have God show up in
such a visible and audible way and answer their questions? Job actually got his shot at being able to hear God
audibly and speak to him. Instead of demanding that God treat him fairly, he listened to God recount his
awesome power in creating and sustaining the world. Overwhelmed by God’s greatness, Job realized his ideas of
what was fair and of what he deserved were ridiculous. In the face of the Creator of the universe, Job likely
realized that he was a creature who did not even deserve to be alive, nor to hear, nor feel, nor see, nor speak. Did
Job give himself life? No. Did he give himself the family, health, and wealth that he had before? No. It was all a gift
from God. Fairness would have been for Job to have never even been born or to have come into existence. In the
presence of his eternal Creator, Job seemed to realize the wonders God had worked in even allowing humans to
know life or to even possess the mental ability to recognize and experience the good and the wonderful by which
humans even understand evil and know that they are suffering in comparison. When Job nally answered God,
he does so humbly:
I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know … I had heard
of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust
and ashes (Job 42: 2-3, 5-6).
In God’s wonderful presence, Job was humbled like a child who had questioned the existence of the sun in the
middle of the night. Before God, Job was satis ed that God had not af icted him, nor abandoned him, but that
God was always watching, always caring for him, and is completely good. He also realized that God does not have
to justify himself to human beings any more than human beings have to answer to their household plants. Yet, in
his mercy, God came to Job and answered him and his friends, revealing himself as good even in the act of
answering them. Having repented for his questioning of God’s goodness to him, Job was healed and restored.
Job experienced the truth that Paul later wrote about in the New Testament Book of Romans when he said, “We
know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his
purpose” (Romans 8:28). For those who, like Job, truly desire to love God and align with God’s purpose, they can
trust that, even amidst the worst suffering, God will bring about his ultimate good. Fortunately, God’s good will
also bring about the best possible good for those who love him.
The story of Job shows, rst, that suffering comes to persons regardless of how righteous they are. Second, it
shows that it is all right to ask questions of God. Third, the story shows that humans should not blame God for
evil nor question his goodness. God has already shown his goodness in giving the gift of life itself. To demand that
God make lives here-and-now go exactly as people wish them to be is to treat God as if he were genie for them to
command or to act as if they had been appointed to a committee that oversees God’s actions. Fourth, the Book of
Job illustrates that it should be enough for humans who do trust in God to know that their Creator sees them,
hears them, loves them, is with them, and will be revealed as completely good in the end. Finally, in Job, the story
gives a clear reminder that things will work together for good for those who love God.
Though the Book of Job provides some key answers, God does not seem to answer the “why” questions of
suffering; rather, he focused on who he is, asking Job to trust in God himself and not in Job’s own comprehension
of why he was suffering. Yet, some persons who trust in God today might continue to struggle with the question
of why a completely good and powerful God has allowed suffering in the rst place, especially for Christians.
Fortunately, there are more in-depth answers to the “why” questions of suffering found within both the Bible
and Christian theology.
Why Did Jesus Su er?
People often ask why God lets good people suffer, or, at the very least, why he lets his people suffer; however,
according to the Bible, there was only one truly good person who did not deserve to suffer—Jesus. Jesus came
into this world as God the Father’s only begotten Son. He lived a life so characterized by love that, with the
exception of Jesus’ claims of divinity, even his enemies could nd nothing wrong with him. Jesus’ enemies could
not get their minds around the idea that God really could be standing right in front of them. Jesus reached out to
the poor, widows, orphans, the sick, the broken, the lonely, the lost, and the marginalized in a way that forever
changed the world. He healed not only sick bodies, but also sick hearts and souls. The life of Jesus is the single
greatest example of kindness, generosity, and love that has ever been seen upon this planet. Then, despite his
love, Jesus was betrayed, abandoned by his friends, arrested though innocent, falsely charged, brutally beaten,
tortured, and then executed by the Romans in the most horri c way imaginable.
Why did Jesus suffer so much? He suffered because he came to live a life entirely for others. His was the only
human life that was ever lived not for a person’s own desires, not even in one sel sh moment, but solely for God
the Father and then also for those who would follow Jesus and trust in his life and death on their behalf
(Bonhoeffer, 1953/1997). Jesus was the only person who could come into this world where evil was possible and
live without questioning the Father or doing anything that departed from his Father’s will.
Unlike even Job, Jesus never asked whether his suffering was fair: It was not. He also did not demand that his
Father deliver him from his suffering, though he knew it was possible for his Father to deliver him from the cross
(Mark 14:36). Even more, as God, Jesus himself had the power to end his own suffering at any moment, but he
did not. Why? His Father had sent him to suffer and die for those who would trust in him, living a perfect life in
their place from the cradle to his death on the cross. Though it was not fair, Jesus had to trust that God was good
and that, in the end, everything would be good for Jesus too. Such trust had to be kept through suffering and
even to the last breath of life. Despite horrendous pain in icted by the worst possible cruelties of human beings,
Jesus remained true.
It is Jesus’ complete obedience to his Father, even unto his death for the sake of those whom the Father would
give him, that proves Jesus is truly God. “This ‘being there for others’ maintained till death, that is the ground of
his omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Faith is participation in this being of Jesus (incarnation, cross,
resurrection)” (Bonhoeffer, 1953/1997, pp. 381-382). Because Jesus lived this perfect life on behalf of those
who would trust him, it not only can be seen that Jesus is truly God, but also that persons can also trust that he is
able to make them pure and will bring them into intimate fellowship with the Triune God. All a person needs to
do is believe in Jesus as, “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
Theodicy: A Defense of God’s Goodness and Power
A more in-depth theological explanation of, and defense for, why a good and powerful God would allow suffering
and evil is called a theodicy. A theodicy, from the Greek words for God and justice, is a defense of God’s goodness
and power despite the presence of evil and suffering in the world. Within the Bible and Christian history there
are many more people whose lives provide answers to the “why” questions of suffering as well as show how God
is good even amidst such evil in this world.
In his theodicy, Irenaeus, an early church father who suffered for his faith in Jesus, helps Christians understand
why God allows evil and suffering to come to his children. His answer is that suffering helps to transform
Christians into persons who are ready to live in God’s holy presence.
Irenaeus said that when Adam and Eve were rst created, they resembled God’s full image (Genesis 1:26-27) in a
way that humans would not be able to do after Adam and Eve sinned against God. Though God is spirit, and
human beings, of course, have physical bodies, Adam and Eve resembled God in image in that, unlike animals that
are only material beings, humans also had a soul or spirit. Even further, they originally were made in God’s moral
likeness as well. Humans not only had souls or spirits, but also were morally pure. When, according to Irenaeus,
they used their God-gifted freedom to simply follow their passions and do what felt good at the time by taking
the fruit that God warned them not to eat, they ceased to resemble God in their character. Godly character
would mean to trust and obey God, and, now, they no longer did this. Though humans still bore God’s image in
the fact that they still had souls or spirits, they were no longer able to do perfect good on their own. Humans
were now sinful and impure in their nature. All persons’ minds, abilities, and natures were now corrupted by sin;
therefore, they could no longer re ect God’s full image by doing the soul-satisfying good that they knew they
should do (Romans 7). Irenaeus, referencing Psalm 49, said:
Having been created a rational being … [humans] lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed
the righteousness of God, giving [themselves] over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says
the prophet, “Man, being in honour, did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and
made like to them (Irenaeus, 1884/2007, p. 466).
Irenaeus: A Receiver of the Teachings of the Apostles of Jesus
Irenaeus is considered a father of the Christian church, being one of the earliest leaders of the church after
the time of Jesus and his disciples. Irenaeus was born sometime around 120 AD, fewer than 100 years
after Jesus’ death. When he was young, Irenaeus heard the teachings Polycarp, a Christian bishop who was
discipled by one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, the Apostle John (Wace, 1994).
Irenaeus became the bishop of the Roman Empire city of Lyons, part of modern-day France, in a time when
worshiping Jesus as God, and not Caesar, was punishable by death. In fact, the reason Ireneaus received
this position was because the city’s former bishop was killed for this very reason. Irenaeus would also be
executed for being a follower of Jesus as God, but before his death, he would teach other Christians what
he had learned about why God allows evil and suffering to come to his children and how humans might
become the people God created them to be.
Humans had followed their passions and opposed God’s will and chased after things that God would not do or
intend in order to try to satisfy and ful ll their material desires. This, in turn, led to separation from God and,
eventually, death. Yet, all was not lost. God knew humans could never live a life of complete obedience and
surrender in which they denied all of the sinful desires of the esh that eventually lead to heartache, isolation,
and death. So, he sent Jesus to live the life of complete obedience in their place. After Jesus’ resurrection and
reunion with his Father, according to Irenaeus, Jesus had now made it possible for human beings to become what
they were originally created to be: God’s image bearers, in image and likeness, meaning humans could have a
character over owing with purity, goodness, and love.
How could humans become complete persons again, persons who might re ect God’s good character and even
look like Jesus in their purity, goodness, and love? Irenaeus said that when people surrender their lives and wills
to God through the acceptance of the life and death of Jesus in their place, in their brokenness, humility, and
confession, God gives himself to them by lling them with his Spirit. God promises to send his Spirit to those who
trust in Jesus as their savior. By the power of his Spirit working in their lives, he will transform them into the
persons that they could never become on their own—persons who are no longer controlled simply by sel sh
impulses and passions, but persons who are instead made more like Jesus. They will be persons who not only
conceive of what a healthy and satisfying internal life might look like, but who actually become healthy and
satis ed in their souls and minds (Romans 12:2). They also, by the work of God’s Spirit in their lives, will not
simply talk about love, or love only in the esh, but truly and deeply love one another in the way that Jesus loved
his followers (John 13:35). Jesus laid down his life for people who rejected him and forgave them even as he was
dying. What greater evidence of authentic, sacri cial love has ever been seen?
If Christians never suffered, they would never be forced to grow up to become their Father’s true image bearers:
people who love, trust, do good to others, and forgive their enemies even amidst hurt, rejection, and brokenness.
Suffering forces the issue. When Christians fall, they are forced to develop patience, hope, faith, love, and even
courage. If God simply took
Name:
Course:
Date:
Instructor:
Address the following questions, responding to each one directly below the question. Your total
word count (including all questions and answers combined) should be between 900-1150 words.
Include a reference page.
1. Describe a time when you experienced a significant period of suffering. How did you deal
with that experience? How did you find comfort in the midst of suffering?
2. Briefly summarize the problem of evil and suffering. Cite and reference the lecture and/or
Chapter 9 in the textbook.
3. Briefly summarize the Christian worldview’s response to the problem of evil and suffering.
Cite and reference the lecture and/or Chapter 9 in the textbook.
4. Imagine that a close friend has just suffered through a great personal loss (death of a loved
one, natural disaster, disease, job loss, divorce, or a broken relationship) and your friend asks
you why God would let such a terrible thing happen. How would you respond to your friend?
5. According to Chapter 7 in the textbook, how might the problem of evil and suffering lead
one to the conclusion that moral absolutes exist?
© 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
References:
© 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 9: Experiential Obstacles to Wisdom
By Jonathan Sharpe
Introduction
Chapter 8 explored intellectual obstacles to wisdom that might keep a person from accepting a Christian
worldview. Intellectual obstacles included the belief in Jesus as the only way to salvation, coming to a clear
understanding of what one actually means by faith, and the problem of facing doubts as a Christian. As was seen
in Chapter 8, such obstacles, while very real, are obstacles that also have clear answers. This chapter will explore
experiential obstacles to wisdom, including the problems of evil, suffering, and the hiddenness of God.
Experiential Obstacles to Wisdom
A hurricane tears through a city leveling everything in its path. Trees snap. Windows shatter. Power lines crash
down upon the earth. Beneath torrential rains, the sea breaks through the levees and sends a seemingly endless
crush of water racing through the city streets. Cars are lifted up and carried along by the current. Water oods
houses and schools. People bail the invading torrent and escape through windows, desperately scrambling up
onto their rooftops and screaming for help. Meanwhile, those who are lucky enough to escape the oods cram
on to highways packed with cars. People honk their horns in desperation at the long lines of eeing vehicles that
seemingly are going nowhere. Many people will be injured, lose their belongings, or even die. Rich or poor, young
or old, the storm does not take notice of the conditions or the dispositions of the people caught in its clutches.
Once the storm has passed, the survivors are grateful for their lives, but many came home to discover that they
had nothing left but the foundations of their shattered houses and a few once treasured belongings now watersoaked and buried in mud.
Throughout the world, and in every town and city, people are hurting and dying right this very second. Right now,
children and adults are suffering and dying from cancer, abuse, starvation, and scores of vicious diseases. Loved
ones who fall victim to senseless acts of violence that far too often plague this world will fail to come home. Car
crashes on the highways and accidents at work or in homes will snatch away even more people today in the midst
of their primes, and they will feel helpless to stop it. Suffering can come in many forms, but, at some point,
everyone will suffer deep pain or loss—it is an unavoidable fact of being human.
Some, who have yet to experience truly devastating suffering or loss, might feel that frustrations over grades,
clashes with friends, the loss of a cell phone, or even a long line at a coffee shop are all valid reasons to bemoan
their lives. Yet, when they enter into the darker valleys of life-altering suffering, their perspectives quickly may
change. For those who have suddenly discovered that they have a condition such as cancer, HIV, multiple
sclerosis, or that they have just lost a friend or family member, past complaints over nuisances such as a long line
for coffee can become regrettable in light of life-changing news. When such devastating realities arrive, persons
who are suffering will almost assuredly wonder about God. Amidst their grief, they will ask questions that have
been repeated millions of times throughout the history of the world: Where is God? Why would a good and
powerful God allow such suffering and evil in this world? Why does not he simply stop it? Can he? Does he want
to? Is he good? Does he love me? Is he really there?
This chapter addresses questions of why a both good and powerful God would allow persons to suffer. For
answers to these questions, and to explore the role that suffering can play in leading to dissatisfaction,
disillusionment, and discontentment, attention will be paid to both the Bible as well as Irenaeus, a signi cant
leader in the early Christian Church. These questions will lead to answers that will not always be easy, but they
will be answers that are authentic and that reveal the plan for a great and ultimate good that has been prepared
by a loving Father for his beloved children.
Evil, Su ering, and the Hiddenness of God
What Are the Origins of Su ering and Evil?
Christians believe that God cares about all types of suffering. In his great patience for humans, he cares about
minor tensions in their relationships and small worries just as much as he cares about their greater pain and
dying. The Bible says that God wants people to bring all of their problems and worries to him because he deeply
cares about them (1 Peter 5:7 English Standard Version). Christians also believe that the God who cares so much
about humanity is both completely good and completely powerful. Within the Bible, the many people who
encountered God, and who have handed down their accounts through the millennia, have shown again and again
that God is always both completely good and completely powerful. So, if God truly cares for humans, God is
completely good and God has the power to help people, why then is there so much suffering and evil in the
world?
This rst question about suffering is a philosophical question. In asking why a good and powerful God would
allow suffering to enter the world, persons are trying to dig to understand why evil exists if a completely good
God is indeed the source of all life and reality. The Christian worldview provides deep philosophical thinking
concerning the problem of evil, and allows a deeper look into pastoral questions of how suffering affects people
in their real lives, the obstacles it creates in their pursuit of wisdom and faith, and how they are called to live in
concrete situations of suffering. While philosophical enquiries will focus on intellectual questions, concerns or
objections, the pastoral enquiries will focus more on the experiential and psychological elements of suffering.
Both lines of enquiry are vital in order to understand how much experiences and emotions often in uence
philosophical questions and objections.
Philosophical Questions
In the Christian worldview, suffering exists because humans wished to experience a world that was opposite
from that which God intended, a world in which evil was possible as well as good. In Genesis 1-3, it is seen that
suffering came into the world when the rst humans wanted to experience what it was like to know the
difference between good and evil in order to be like God. They got their wish, but knowing evil meant that they
now both knew and experienced everything that God, who is perfectly good, would not do and also what he
would not wish for humans.
In his great love, God allowed humans to have what they wanted, the chance to experience the opposite of his
good. However, they did not realize that being allowed to know evil, the opposite of the good that God intended
for them, and being allowed to be like God, meant that they now had to keep themselves alive and safe from
harm. Because they were not God, all of their attempts to heal, save, protect, and keep themselves alive would
not work. Humans were not God and could not create life, sustain life, or even keep their own relationships pure.
Evil, suffering, lonely isolation, broken relationships, and death were now natural outcomes in humans’ lives—
lives in which they no longer trusted God as their Father, protector, and sustainer. They had stepped outside
God’s parental wisdom to know what was good for themselves apart from he who alone was good and who
created and de ned the good.
Like a husband or wife who violates the deep trust between two spouses, humans had now violated that rst,
trusting innocence of their love relationship with God. Humans stepped outside of the pure relationship of love
and trust that they had shared with God, leaving them with no way to enter back into that pure and trusting
relationship again on their own. The relationship seemingly could never be the same again because they had
betrayed God’s love and trust in their rebellion, making them persons who could and would do evil, something
that God cannot tolerate in his holy presence where no evil existed (Psalm 5:4). How could humans even enter
his pure and holy presence again now that they were tainted by evil and could not do perfect good on their own?
God said that for humans even to look upon his holy face would now cause their deaths (Exodus 33:20). In the
present world, a person carrying germs or disease might harm a patient in a sanitized hospital room, while with
God it was the opposite. Bringing human sins into God’s pure presence would instead harm humans who would
be unable to survive his holy presence without rst undergoing a radical puri cation enabling them to do so.
As discussed, once humans chose to step outside of God’s wisdom, love, and protection to know and experience
life apart from God’s will for them, and choose their own “good,” they now had to accept the consequences of
living in a world where evil was a possibility. The possibility of evil included even natural disasters and diseases
that have not been caused by humans, but are a part of this fallen world. Humans could now both hurt and be
hurt in a world where they were now free to experience the consequences of their choices. Even worse, humans
were now separated from the loving intimacy that they once shared with God, causing even more suffering in the
experience of inner loneliness that humans feel without the intimate connection to their Creator for whom they
were made. Yet, in Genesis 3:15, and in God’s subsequent promises to Adam and Eve’s descendants, God also
begins to hint that someday someone is coming who will make things right again. Even in the moment of his being
rejected by humans, as seen in Genesis 3, God shows his great goodness and love by alluding to the fact that he
will one day pursue humans into the broken world of suffering, loneliness, and death on a rescue mission that will
cost God even more pain in the death of his only begotten Son, Jesus.
Is Su ering Fair?
Some will naturally question whether it is fair of God to continue to let everyone suffer in this world because of a
rebellion that took place so long ago. From a biblical perspective, all persons are now sinners from their births
because they are all born into a sinful world (Psalm 51:5); all humanity is tainted by evil and all, eventually, will
choose to sin. “All fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), forever failing to be pure enough to enter into
God’s perfect presence again on their own. This broken world in which humans are born is a simple reality, a
clear consequence of the rst humans having chosen to step outside of God’s will for them and to go their own
way. This may not seem fair, but, just like the presence of the laws of nature, it is an actuality that humans nd
themselves living within, both the young and old, believer and nonbeliever.
Christians believe that persons are born into a broken world where suffering is a reality that affects every
person. However, Christians also believe that Jesus, as God, came into this same broken world and died in order
to rescue them for eternal life with him. This act of saving is far more than fair, but, instead, is astonishingly full of
grace, especially when one considers that Jesus died for the same humans who rejected God rst in the Garden
of Eden and then again, when they nailed Jesus to a cross. Yet, for those who refuse to believe and obey the good
news of Jesus, while their suffering might provide opportunities to grow as persons or learn valuable lessons, the
Bible shows that those who do not accept the purifying death of Jesus in their place will continue to suffer the
consequences of humanity’s rebellion to God. Being allowed to suffer the consequences of humanity’s rebellion
includes being allowed to suffer and eventually die without the joy, peace, and restoration promised to those
who follow Jesus (1 Peter 4:17-18). It seems that God will not force persons to be rescued from this world of
suffering if they do not want to be rescued, though it may break his heart.
Why Do Those Who Trust in God Su er?
Then why are Christians still suffering so much now? The Bible promises followers of Jesus that they will be in
eternal life in heaven with God where there will be no more death or tears (Revelation 21:4). What about the
present? Should those who have confessed their sins to God, repented for their wrong choices, and asked Jesus
to save them still be suffering so much in this world today? Would it not make sense that once someone trusts
Jesus to save them from their sins, that he would not only take away sinful desires and loneliness from their
hearts, but also would remove the consequences of sins and bring them healing, success, and complete
ful llment in their lives right now? Is it not unfair of God to let his most faithful followers suffer now as much as
those who refuse to follow God and obey the good news of Jesus (1 Peter 1:12-18) or who habitually and
intentionally do evil against God and others?
Christians admit that disobeying God and questioning God’s goodness is wrong, and they have trusted Jesus to
save them. Thus, when truly deep suffering comes into their lives, Christians will often pray to God for healing or
rescue. They will trust God for healing or rescue because they rightly believe that he both cares about them in
his goodness and that he also has the ability to heal or rescue them in his power. However, while many have
received answers to their prayers, others who have yet to experience healing or rescue will wonder why God has
not yet answered their cries for help. Questions of why a good and powerful God would not appear to answer
trusting believers’ prayers for healing, at the very moment they ask, can lead to a crisis of faith for many as they
wrestle with questions of their own beliefs, goodness, sins, self-worth, and relationships with God. Does he hear
their prayers? Does he care about them?
The Bible clearly shows that God does care (John 3:16), that he has the power to heal (Psalm 103:2), that he can
be trusted to keep his promises (2 Corinthians 7:1), and that he can do ultimate good for those who love him
(Romans 8:28). However, even for those who believe the Bible, the process of waiting for healing or rescue can
chip away at even the strongest faith. The bleakness of suffering can cause even faithful persons to boomerang
back and forth from faith and hope to doubt and despair. One day they might be con dent that God is with them
and that they can wait for him patiently, while the next day they grow anxious, convinced that they are suffering
because of some fault of their own. They might wonder if they need to take matters into their own hands and
worry about how they themselves might x their situations. The day after that they might change their
perspective once again and grow angry with God, convinced that they are innocent and undeserving of their
painful situations, wondering why he is taking so long to do right by them.
This same tortured human frustration appears in the Bible in which some of God’s people asked the same
anxious questions that are asked today. Where is God amidst suffering? Why is he taking so long to answer
prayers? These questions are not new. A great example of one person in the Bible who questioned fairness,
justice, and the presence of God in the midst of suffering is found in the Book of Job, which is a powerful story of
one man’s suffering and God’s eventual answer.
Albrecht Durer, Job and his Wife, 1504. Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany.
In the Book of Job, the author narrates the story of a man named Job whose life quickly changes from one of
prosperity to one of suffering. Job was a man of faith who loved God, lived a righteous life and even took care of
the poor. Then, one day all of Job’s animals were stolen and his servants killed. Following that, he lost his children
in a tragic disaster and he became sick with a horrible disease all in one sweep. Job had not done anything wrong,
had not made God angry, and was not being judged, so why him? Why was he suffering so much so suddenly?
Imagine losing one’s family and suddenly being covered head-to-toe in sores. What could a person do? It is likely
anyone would do as Job did: crash to the ground, sit in the dirt, and feel sorry for himself. Job’s wife, the only
member of his family who did not die, in an all-time classless move, told him to curse God and then just go die.
As he sat on the ground, Job did not curse God, but he did grow angry. He did not feel that his suffering was fair,
and he cursed the day he was born: “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is
conceived’” (Job 3:3). Some of Job’s friends came to visit him and did not even recognize him because of his sores.
Repulsed by his condition, some of his friends tried to convince him that his suffering must have been because of
some sin, or lack of faith, or some other reason that had to make sense; however, Job could not think of anything
he had done to deserve this. He had led a good life. How could God let this happen to him? How was this fair? Job
cried out to God:
My soul is poured out within me; days of af iction have taken hold of me … The night racks my bones, and
the pain that gnaws me takes no rest … I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look
at me … my bones burn with heat (Job 30:16-17, 20-21, 30).
For a good period of time, Job and his friends debated why Job is suffering. Some of them blamed Job, and others
appeared to even question God. What they may have forgotten was that God can hear and see everything. At
last, having heard enough, God appeared to Job and his friends, and spoke to them out of a storm and addressed
their complaints. While God did not blame Job for asking questions or suffering in anxiety, God asked the
astonished group of Job’s friends who had been blaming everyone and everything for Job’s suffering, even God,
“Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like
God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (Job 40:8-9).
After recovering from the shock of God’s arrival, how many persons would give anything to have God show up in
such a visible and audible way and answer their questions? Job actually got his shot at being able to hear God
audibly and speak to him. Instead of demanding that God treat him fairly, he listened to God recount his
awesome power in creating and sustaining the world. Overwhelmed by God’s greatness, Job realized his ideas of
what was fair and of what he deserved were ridiculous. In the face of the Creator of the universe, Job likely
realized that he was a creature who did not even deserve to be alive, nor to hear, nor feel, nor see, nor speak. Did
Job give himself life? No. Did he give himself the family, health, and wealth that he had before? No. It was all a gift
from God. Fairness would have been for Job to have never even been born or to have come into existence. In the
presence of his eternal Creator, Job seemed to realize the wonders God had worked in even allowing humans to
know life or to even possess the mental ability to recognize and experience the good and the wonderful by which
humans even understand evil and know that they are suffering in comparison. When Job nally answered God,
he does so humbly:
I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know … I had heard
of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust
and ashes (Job 42: 2-3, 5-6).
In God’s wonderful presence, Job was humbled like a child who had questioned the existence of the sun in the
middle of the night. Before God, Job was satis ed that God had not af icted him, nor abandoned him, but that
God was always watching, always caring for him, and is completely good. He also realized that God does not have
to justify himself to human beings any more than human beings have to answer to their household plants. Yet, in
his mercy, God came to Job and answered him and his friends, revealing himself as good even in the act of
answering them. Having repented for his questioning of God’s goodness to him, Job was healed and restored.
Job experienced the truth that Paul later wrote about in the New Testament Book of Romans when he said, “We
know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his
purpose” (Romans 8:28). For those who, like Job, truly desire to love God and align with God’s purpose, they can
trust that, even amidst the worst suffering, God will bring about his ultimate good. Fortunately, God’s good will
also bring about the best possible good for those who love him.
The story of Job shows, rst, that suffering comes to persons regardless of how righteous they are. Second, it
shows that it is all right to ask questions of God. Third, the story shows that humans should not blame God for
evil nor question his goodness. God has already shown his goodness in giving the gift of life itself. To demand that
God make lives here-and-now go exactly as people wish them to be is to treat God as if he were genie for them to
command or to act as if they had been appointed to a committee that oversees God’s actions. Fourth, the Book of
Job illustrates that it should be enough for humans who do trust in God to know that their Creator sees them,
hears them, loves them, is with them, and will be revealed as completely good in the end. Finally, in Job, the story
gives a clear reminder that things will work together for good for those who love God.
Though the Book of Job provides some key answers, God does not seem to answer the “why” questions of
suffering; rather, he focused on who he is, asking Job to trust in God himself and not in Job’s own comprehension
of why he was suffering. Yet, some persons who trust in God today might continue to struggle with the question
of why a completely good and powerful God has allowed suffering in the rst place, especially for Christians.
Fortunately, there are more in-depth answers to the “why” questions of suffering found within both the Bible
and Christian theology.
Why Did Jesus Su er?
People often ask why God lets good people suffer, or, at the very least, why he lets his people suffer; however,
according to the Bible, there was only one truly good person who did not deserve to suffer—Jesus. Jesus came
into this world as God the Father’s only begotten Son. He lived a life so characterized by love that, with the
exception of Jesus’ claims of divinity, even his enemies could nd nothing wrong with him. Jesus’ enemies could
not get their minds around the idea that God really could be standing right in front of them. Jesus reached out to
the poor, widows, orphans, the sick, the broken, the lonely, the lost, and the marginalized in a way that forever
changed the world. He healed not only sick bodies, but also sick hearts and souls. The life of Jesus is the single
greatest example of kindness, generosity, and love that has ever been seen upon this planet. Then, despite his
love, Jesus was betrayed, abandoned by his friends, arrested though innocent, falsely charged, brutally beaten,
tortured, and then executed by the Romans in the most horri c way imaginable.
Why did Jesus suffer so much? He suffered because he came to live a life entirely for others. His was the only
human life that was ever lived not for a person’s own desires, not even in one sel sh moment, but solely for God
the Father and then also for those who would follow Jesus and trust in his life and death on their behalf
(Bonhoeffer, 1953/1997). Jesus was the only person who could come into this world where evil was possible and
live without questioning the Father or doing anything that departed from his Father’s will.
Unlike even Job, Jesus never asked whether his suffering was fair: It was not. He also did not demand that his
Father deliver him from his suffering, though he knew it was possible for his Father to deliver him from the cross
(Mark 14:36). Even more, as God, Jesus himself had the power to end his own suffering at any moment, but he
did not. Why? His Father had sent him to suffer and die for those who would trust in him, living a perfect life in
their place from the cradle to his death on the cross. Though it was not fair, Jesus had to trust that God was good
and that, in the end, everything would be good for Jesus too. Such trust had to be kept through suffering and
even to the last breath of life. Despite horrendous pain in icted by the worst possible cruelties of human beings,
Jesus remained true.
It is Jesus’ complete obedience to his Father, even unto his death for the sake of those whom the Father would
give him, that proves Jesus is truly God. “This ‘being there for others’ maintained till death, that is the ground of
his omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Faith is participation in this being of Jesus (incarnation, cross,
resurrection)” (Bonhoeffer, 1953/1997, pp. 381-382). Because Jesus lived this perfect life on behalf of those
who would trust him, it not only can be seen that Jesus is truly God, but also that persons can also trust that he is
able to make them pure and will bring them into intimate fellowship with the Triune God. All a person needs to
do is believe in Jesus as, “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
Theodicy: A Defense of God’s Goodness and Power
A more in-depth theological explanation of, and defense for, why a good and powerful God would allow suffering
and evil is called a theodicy. A theodicy, from the Greek words for God and justice, is a defense of God’s goodness
and power despite the presence of evil and suffering in the world. Within the Bible and Christian history there
are many more people whose lives provide answers to the “why” questions of suffering as well as show how God
is good even amidst such evil in this world.
In his theodicy, Irenaeus, an early church father who suffered for his faith in Jesus, helps Christians understand
why God allows evil and suffering to come to his children. His answer is that suffering helps to transform
Christians into persons who are ready to live in God’s holy presence.
Irenaeus said that when Adam and Eve were rst created, they resembled God’s full image (Genesis 1:26-27) in a
way that humans would not be able to do after Adam and Eve sinned against God. Though God is spirit, and
human beings, of course, have physical bodies, Adam and Eve resembled God in image in that, unlike animals that
are only material beings, humans also had a soul or spirit. Even further, they originally were made in God’s moral
likeness as well. Humans not only had souls or spirits, but also were morally pure. When, according to Irenaeus,
they used their God-gifted freedom to simply follow their passions and do what felt good at the time by taking
the fruit that God warned them not to eat, they ceased to resemble God in their character. Godly character
would mean to trust and obey God, and, now, they no longer did this. Though humans still bore God’s image in
the fact that they still had souls or spirits, they were no longer able to do perfect good on their own. Humans
were now sinful and impure in their nature. All persons’ minds, abilities, and natures were now corrupted by sin;
therefore, they could no longer re ect God’s full image by doing the soul-satisfying good that they knew they
should do (Romans 7). Irenaeus, referencing Psalm 49, said:
Having been created a rational being … [humans] lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed
the righteousness of God, giving [themselves] over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says
the prophet, “Man, being in honour, did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and
made like to them (Irenaeus, 1884/2007, p. 466).
Irenaeus: A Receiver of the Teachings of the Apostles of Jesus
Irenaeus is considered a father of the Christian church, being one of the earliest leaders of the church after
the time of Jesus and his disciples. Irenaeus was born sometime around 120 AD, fewer than 100 years
after Jesus’ death. When he was young, Irenaeus heard the teachings Polycarp, a Christian bishop who was
discipled by one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, the Apostle John (Wace, 1994).
Irenaeus became the bishop of the Roman Empire city of Lyons, part of modern-day France, in a time when
worshiping Jesus as God, and not Caesar, was punishable by death. In fact, the reason Ireneaus received
this position was because the city’s former bishop was killed for this very reason. Irenaeus would also be
executed for being a follower of Jesus as God, but before his death, he would teach other Christians what
he had learned about why God allows evil and suffering to come to his children and how humans might
become the people God created them to be.
Humans had followed their passions and opposed God’s will and chased after things that God would not do or
intend in order to try to satisfy and ful ll their material desires. This, in turn, led to separation from God and,
eventually, death. Yet, all was not lost. God knew humans could never live a life of complete obedience and
surrender in which they denied all of the sinful desires of the esh that eventually lead to heartache, isolation,
and death. So, he sent Jesus to live the life of complete obedience in their place. After Jesus’ resurrection and
reunion with his Father, according to Irenaeus, Jesus had now made it possible for human beings to become what
they were originally created to be: God’s image bearers, in image and likeness, meaning humans could have a
character over owing with purity, goodness, and love.
How could humans become complete persons again, persons who might re ect God’s good character and even
look like Jesus in their purity, goodness, and love? Irenaeus said that when people surrender their lives and wills
to God through the acceptance of the life and death of Jesus in their place, in their brokenness, humility, and
confession, God gives himself to them by lling them with his Spirit. God promises to send his Spirit to those who
trust in Jesus as their savior. By the power of his Spirit working in their lives, he will transform them into the
persons that they could never become on their own—persons who are no longer controlled simply by sel sh
impulses and passions, but persons who are instead made more like Jesus. They will be persons who not only
conceive of what a healthy and satisfying internal life might look like, but who actually become healthy and
satis ed in their souls and minds (Romans 12:2). They also, by the work of God’s Spirit in their lives, will not
simply talk about love, or love only in the esh, but truly and deeply love one another in the way that Jesus loved
his followers (John 13:35). Jesus laid down his life for people who rejected him and forgave them even as he was
dying. What greater evidence of authentic, sacri cial love has ever been seen?
If Christians never suffered, they would never be forced to grow up to become their Father’s true image bearers:
people who love, trust, do good to others, and forgive their enemies even amidst hurt, rejection, and brokenness.
Suffering forces the issue. When Christians fall, they are forced to develop patience, hope, faith, love, and even
courage. If God simply took
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