Do we properly handle the Problem of Evil in the church

[Steven Yeadon]

I now understand that "the Problem of Evil" is couched in atheist language and atheist principles, because it assumes theological things about God at all, which are not found in His Word. Some of these theological things being: That everyone is really good at heart and doesn't deserve pain at all. That the purpose that drives the "Problem of Evil" is to disprove belief in God through reason. That whole scale slaughters of people are crimes against humanity perpetrated by monsters, no matter who such total war is directed against. Meanwhile, God is completely beyond us and made this vast universe around us with very little effort. Therefore, we must be very careful to ever assume anything about such a God, that is outside what He reveals about Himself in His Word.

In fact, the ultimate question behind "the Problem of Evil" seems to be, when I reflect on my own pain and assume it is unwarranted: "How did you let this happen to me or them?" directed at our heavenly Father.

This shows many things: First, that the Problem of Evil assumes pain is always unwarranted, which is an assumption about how to answer cosmic questions beyond my pay grade as a human being. Second, that the Problem of Evil begs the question, "why must I suffer or others suffer at all?" which again is beyond my minuscule pay grade as just a human being. Third, that it begs the question, "why did God invent pain at all for any creatures?" A question we certainly can't answer from my own very minuscule perspective. Fourth, that I should always complain and argue when I am in pain, despite this being a sin. Fifth, Simply put, it is a Problem that I now see needs faith and distance from the Problem itself to beat, since it is Trojan horse that gives me the wrong mentality immediately. If I suffer, I must suffer even better than Job did, I must reach the heights of Jesus in his affliction. That is in fact what we are all to do all along. This was an amazing paragraph to me, as I have shown that what happened to Job when God showed up a long time ago, had to happen. Job was just a minuscule man before the time of Jesus Christ and the greater revelation we are given.

Having studied Christian apologetics for two and a half years back in the day, I can now say that apologists are getting something wrong entirely. It seems they are assuming we should play on the playing field of atheist minds (i.e. the minds of fools, maybe mockers) in some grand effort to convince them of a reasonable faith. As if such a thing is even allowed by the bible given (1 Corinthians 1:18-31). I must again start another post in the future on a hot topic, yay!

-EDIT-

In short the "Problem of Evil" is an atheist trap of mines just like the alluring things of this world like R rated movies or bawdy songs.

 

[Steven Yeadon]

All of that said, I want to turn back to the general purpose of this thread.

The purpose is now whether we as groups of Christians, along with churches and their leadership, do a biblical job coaching people through suffering of any type. That is do we administer love for their mind, body, heart, and soul as down to earth churches when they endure suffering? And also do we administer love for their mind, body, heart, and soul when others they love suffer or strangers they know of suffer?

I have to restate my original question in such a complex way now that I have gone further in my understanding of what is going on in my own mind, and as this thread has evolved. I open the floor to other questions you would want to ask about suffering as a Christian, so that we can look at them with Spiritual wisdom.

Here, I think I finally understand that churches often do a good job with being there for you, visiting you, and praying for you, but they do a poor job, in my experience, of putting my mind and emotions to peaceful rest when I suffered. I also got the sense that complaining was not a bad thing to do, even though it was sinful and was a launching pad into atheist philosophy like "the Problem of Evil." I now know that the kind of peaceful rest for my mind and soul, while in intense suffering, could only come from the emotionally charged verses on the subject that simply must be accepted and practiced on faith that are found in the bible.