The Bible focuses more on what God is doing to end suffering than on why man suffers, said a respected theologian in a debate on why there is suffering if God is all-powerful and good.
“You are trying to get at ‘what the Bible says about why suffering happens,’” wrote N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham for the Church of England and author of Evil and the Justice of God, in a debate with Bart Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, hosted by Beliefnet.com.
“I argued in my book that the Bible doesn’t actually give us much of an answer to that question – why, to put it sharply, there was a snake in Eden in the first place – and that ‘the biblical view of suffering’ is more about what the creator God is doing about it and/or with it.”
Ehrman, an agnostic, had spent most of the debate detailing suffering in the world and questioning why God – if He is loving and answers prayers – didn’t stop the Holocaust or why the Bible recorded that God wiped out a town or ordered His people to kill their enemies.
“Underneath a lot of this I resonate with a line from Bonhoeffer that has haunted me ever since I heard it as a student: that the primal sin of humanity, as in Genesis 3, is to put the knowledge of good and evil before the knowledge of God,” said Wright.
The English church leader said that rather than understanding Bonhoeffer’s statement as meaning “Who am I to understand such mysteries,” we should understand it as “a recognition that the sort of creatures we are are never going to be in a position to set a moral bar and insist that God – if there is a creator – jump over it.”
But what the Bible does offer is how God plans to deliver mankind from suffering, starting with the calling of Abraham and bringing His Kingdom through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
“For the early Christians, God’s new world – the world where God’s writ runs – had already begun, and they were living in it by the power of the Spirit. Things did change,” wrote Wright.
The six-part debate ended on Friday with N.T. Wright’s blog, “The Bible Does Answer the Problem – Here’s How.”
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Comments
Mike,
I noticed that you are either ignorant of Scripture, unable to re-read your "citations" of Scripture before you post them or use the same tactic of Satan--incorrectly quoting the Word.
1.The Love of money is the root of all evil-not money itself,
2. Blessed are the poor in spirit for they will inherit the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted--not blessed are the poor,
3. Self is sin? Where is that? Love of self (pride, arrogance, etc are certainly sin)
4. Deny yourself--you meant deny yourself and follow me. Notice Jesus also says He came to give life and life abundant so denying yourself can't be all that bad.
And by the way, this, "endless list of work" is what flows from a grateful heart. Obedience is the proper response to the Maker of all and the One Christians have pledged to follow as Messiah (anointed one, king). You aren't saved by obedience to laws, rules and regulations. One follows these because they are grateful for being delivered from eternal separation from God and desire to please the Master. People's pride is what almost always gets in the way of becoming a follower of Christ or from following Him as His subject.
Grace and Peace,
Jim
to lewr2 - obey what? listen to the gospel (good news) all you heard is this endless list of work, then they will use the same obedience to tell you that your blessings are based on this endless list of work. or that you have missed a commandment of god that is why you are suffering.
this issue is so obvious in the bible, the pharisees use this obedience as a weapon to control the people. even jesus did his own thing & did not obey the pharisess when he healed on a sabbath bec. he understood what the pharisees were doing.
lewr2, absolutely. It is not simply that we don't believe in Him but that we are in rebellion toward him. Our Creator, the God who wonderfully made, loves us, and desires a personal relationship with us is deserving of all our praise. Until we understand His holiness, we cannot fathom our decadence and the evil we commit toward Him. He died a cruel death that we might live eternally. When we refuse Him, we condemn ourselves to Hell. He merely provides justice.
to rev bill
suffering? there are many types of suffering.
physical emotional suffering - if you are being abused by somebody is it bec. of sin? so how can your faith be made stronger when you are in bondage of somebody else's stupid, ignorant teachings. if you don't obey the abuser, they will beat you physically, emotionally. it is even present at church in which the messenger is ignorant of the issues of people. like the pharisees, they are 'quick to accuse' the people of sin due to their 'suffering'.
then pharisees (chief priest) would use guilt shame blame & fear to coerce the people who are already suffering.
what about suffering from diseases? again, christians especially pastors would say that it is bec. of sin instead of looking for a cure for the disease, that is why the suffering continues.
finally, the teachings of the church. pastors would say that:
money is the root of evil
blessed are the poor
self is sin
deny yourself
continued ignorance, lack of understanding to look religious & holy puts the people in bondage and these wrong teachings do not make a believers faith stronger but they are deceived & misled & the result continued suffering. yet those who teach these do not even practice what they preach & then they get offended if they are rebuked & corrected.
Simply because we don't obey God. Mr. Erhmann, would you be ok if the God decided to punish you for not believing in Him!??
This is not paradise.
Hope Page: itsallaboutjesusnotme.blogspot.com
It's simple. God directed actions in the Old Testament to build a nation whereby the Saviour would enter the world. Suffering is a way for Christians to become stronger in their faith. Like iron and carbon being fired and beaten to make steel, suffering does the same for Christians.