A Reflection on the Problem of a Loving God and the Existence of Pain and Evil
You know, my pastor announced on Sunday that he was going to do a class on the subject, "If God is a loving God why does He allow evil in the world?" Then, after the service I was talking to my pastor and mentioned having been to some pretty dark places over the past couple of years and he, with wonderful empathy, shared that he understood because he had been through some dark times himself. But then added that he was sure his pain was nothing near the pain I have been through. I replied by saying something about the worst thing that happens to anyone is the worst thing they have ever experienced and it hurts more than any other thing in their life, so there is no point in trying to compare our pain to someone else's. Then as I was driving home and thinking about these two things (the class topic and my comment about pain), it reminded me of some teaching I did many years ago on the very topic of the problem of a loving God and an evil world, but also remind...