Why? - A Sermon on Suffering

Timonium, Maryland, USA

May 2022

A. Types of Evil/Suffering

1. ___________ evil

2. ___________ evil

B. The Problem of Evil

1. The ___________ problem of evil

2. The ___________ problem of evil

Judges 6:13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?

C. A Reasonable Answer

1. The Atheistic Worldview

2. The Christian Worldview

a) ________________

Ecclesiastes 7:29 God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.

Romans 8:20-22

For the creation was subjected to frustration… in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay …

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

b) ________________

Matthew 1:23 The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

c) ________________

Rev 21: 3-6

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”..

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

Questions for Discussion

Am I bitter or angry toward God?

Does my non-Christian view adequately answer the problem of evil?

How does the hope of the Christian worldview change my attitude toward suffering?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRdX4aSLC0A

Video courtesy of Grace Fellowship Church, Timonium, Maryland, USA. The original video can be found here: https://youtu.be/pudCrsHdGI8?t=1570

Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash