If God Is Good... Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction: A Note to Readers, Especially to Those Hurting
and Confused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Section 1
Understanding the Problem of Evil and Suffering
1 Why Is the Problem of Evil and Suffering So Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 What Is the Problem of Evil and Suffering? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 What Is Evil, and How Does It Differ from Suffering? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4 What Are Some Possible Responses to the Problem of Evil and Suffering? . . . . 30
5 A Closer Look at Central Issues in the Problem of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Section 2
Understanding Evil: Its Origins, Nature, and Consequences
6 Evil’s Entry into the Universe: A Rebellion of Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7 Humanity’s Evil and the Suffering It Has Caused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
8 Inherited Sin and Our Sin Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
9 A Deeper Consideration of What Our Sin Nature Does and Doesn’t Mean . . . . . . 74
10 Natural Disasters: Creation Under the Curse of Human Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Section 3
Problems for Non-Theists: Moral Standards, Goodness, and Extreme Evil
11 A Case Study: Bart Ehrman, a “Christian” Who Lost His Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
12 Non-Theistic Worldviews Lack a Substantial Basis for Condemning Evil . . . . . 108
13 The Unbeliever’s Problem of Goodness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
14 The Unbeliever’s Problem of Extreme Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Section 4
Proposed Solutions to the Problem of Evil and Suffering: Limiting God’s Attributes
15 Is God’s Limited Power a Solution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
16 Is God’s Limited Knowledge a Solution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
17 Is God’s Limited Goodness a Solution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
18 Is God’s Limited Love a Solution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Section 5
Evil and Suffering in the Great Drama of Christ’s Redemptive Work
19 Evil and Suffering as Seen in Scripture’s Redemptive Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
20 If You Were the Author, How Would You Have Written the Story? . . . . . . . . . 196
21 Jesus: The Only Answer Bigger Than the Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Section 6
Divine Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice: Accounting for Evil and Suffering
22 God’s Sovereignty and Its Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
23 “Free Will” and Meaningful Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
24 This World’s Structure Is Necessary for Meaningful Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
25 Meaningful Human Choice and Divine Sovereignty Working Together . . . . . . 258
26 Further Thoughts on God’s Sovereignty and Human Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
27 The God Who Brings Good Out of Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Section 7
The Two Eternal Solutions to the Problem of Evil: Heaven and Hell
28 Heaven: Eternal Grace to Unworthy but Grateful Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
29 Hell: Eternal Sovereign Justice Exacted upon Evildoers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Section 8
God’s Allowance and Restraint of Evil and Suffering
30 Why Doesn’t God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
31 Why Does God Delay Justice? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
32 Why Doesn’t God Explain His Reasons? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
33 Understanding That God Is God and We Are Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Section 9
Evil and Suffering Used for God’s Glory
34 Pain and Suffering in God’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
35 Apparently Gratuitous Evil and Pointless Suffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
36 How the Health and Wealth Gospel Perverts Our View of Evil and Suffering . . 378
Section 10
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
37 How God Uses Suffering for His Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
38 How God Uses Suffering for Our Sanctification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
39 How God Uses Suffering to Build Our Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
40 Suffering Can Give Birth to Joy, Compassion, and Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
41 How God Uses Our Suffering for the Good of Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Section 11
Living Meaningfully in Suffering
42 Finding God in Suffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
43 Finding Help in Dark Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
44 Finding Grace to Ease Others’ Suffering and to Endure Our Own . . . . . . . . . 469
45 Discovering Death’s Curse and Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Conclusion: Final Thoughts About God, Goodness, Evil, and Suffering . . . . . . . . 486
Note from EPM: Randy's new book If God Is Good is available for purchase online, in local bookstores, and from the Eternal Perspective Ministries website. (Check out the If God Is Good Chapter Summaries for a preview of the book's content.)
