Christianity, God and Suffering

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - SUFFERING

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

A good starting point

We all have our prejudices and preconceived ideas. Being human, that is inevitable. The problem with our preconceptions is that they may cause us to overlook evidence that is important in arriving at the truth.

In one of Dorothy Sayers' detective stories the investigator, Lord Peter Wimsey, is faced with a dilemma. All the known facts support the contention that a certain woman is responsible for the murder in question. However, Wimsey knows the woman's character so well that he is certain she could not have done it. In other words, there must be other facts that he does not know. So, working on the basis that she is innocent, he sets out to discover these other facts and, by building his case around them, eventually solves the mystery.

I believe it is helpful to approach the problem of suffering in the same manner. Assume that if there is a God he must be good. From this starting point see if there are other facts that at least make this view credible. Not all the bits of the puzzle may fit, but at least consider whether more pieces fit using this assumption than any other. As we look at the Christian viewpoint I will leave you, the reader, to judge whether or not this is so.