Author: Steve
To: John & Bob
I wanted to share with you something that I read from a book
Questioning Evangelism (Randy Newman, pages 110-113). Over the course of our trialogue, we’ve
periodically touched on the topic, “Why does God allow bad things to happen . .
.?”
I’ve tried
my best to provide helpful and compassionate answers, but even in my own mind,
I’ve come up short. Newman reinforced
my shortcomings. He says we spew only
slivers of an answer:
“We live in
a fallen world.”
“There is a
Devil.”
“People
have free will.”
“Sin has
consequences.”
“Sometimes
God disciplines his people.”
“Good can
come out of suffering.”
He goes on
to say, “Perhaps there are more slivers. I tire even of writing them because they offer such little
consolation. The vast majority of the
pie chart (a good 75 percent if you could quantify such things) would be labeled
in bold, bright letters, ‘WE DON’T KNOW.’”
To me, “I
don’t know” offers no consolation. But
then Newman goes on to reference Billy Graham’s response to grieving families
of the Oklahoma City bombing, striking “that elusive balance between the known
and the unknown.”
“After comforting people with the assurance of God’s knowledge, power, and care, he plainly answered the ultimate why question with those three great words: ‘I don’t know.’ But then he added, ‘Times like this will do one of two things: they will either make us hard and bitter and angry at God or they will make us tender and open and help us reach out in trust and faith . . . I pray that you will not let bitterness and poison creep into your souls, but you will turn in faith and trust in God even if we cannot understand. It is better to face something like this with God than without Him.’”
Newman
concludes (with some word choices I wouldn’t use), “Once we let go of our
idolatrous (I’d strike this adjective) demand for intellectual satisfaction,
we’re free to seek God for comfort, hope, healing, peace, and most importantly,
salvation (I prefer rescue).”
Who knows, maybe Newman and Graham’s answers would
satisfy you more than ones I’ve offered in the past.
