Sermon Tone Analysis

*Basic problem:* Anger with God for not taking away my pain, or that of someone close to me.

Why does God let people suffer and die?

\\ Where is God when it hurts?

5 Possible answers:

1.   Nowhere: God doesn't exist.

2.   Somewhere else: God doesn't care about his creation.

3.   Absent: God doesn't love me.

4.   Suffering with us.

5.   Preparing a new reality

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!! Answer 1: Nowhere: God doesn't exist.

Considering all the suffering in the world, maybe God doesn't exist, or doesn't care, or can't do anything about it.

This is an intellectual problem (as distinguished from a personal problem).

For some people the existence of evil disproves God, or makes him irrelevant.

That argument goes like this: 1) Evil exists.

2.) Good beings always eliminate evil as far as they are able.

3) God (supposedly) is a good being.

4) God supposedly is all powerful.

5) If God were good and all powerful evil would not exist.

6) Evil exists, so God cannot be good, or all powerful, or else doesn't exist.

This is a philosophical problem that deserves a philosophical answer.

Here's one: Suppose that by "all powerful" we don't mean that God can do things that are self-contradictory like make a square circle, or make 2+2 equal 6, or make something that is a person and not a person (in precisely the same use of the term person).

Let's also suppose that there is a greater good to be sought, though evil will be a real, though temporary, possibility.

Might not an all-powerful being choose to "bite His tongue" for a while on evil, in order to accomplish a greater overall good?

Let's consider for a minute what reality looks like if God doesn't exist, or doesn't care.

If there is no God, or if he doesn't care, then everything just happens by chance.

A bus load of teen-agers being burned alive in an accident involving a drunk driver, is just another example of the laws of physics and of survival of the fittest.

It has no real moral weight or meaning.

(The population of the earth is growing too rapidly anyway.)

People are after all, worth only a few pennies, if we some up the value of the chemicals in their bodies.

Teen-agers are not contributing to society more than they take from it, so their value to society is merely potential.

As family members their contributions to family life are often disruptive.

Why is it we feel so much outrage at this kind of scene?

What are the adjectives we use: Senseless (we inately believe things are supposed to have a greater meaning), barbaric (we believer there really are some moral absolutes, that certain things are wrong), a waste of human life (we believe people are valuable because they are people).

Our whole view of pain and suffering, especially our outrage against it tips our hand.

We don't really believe that life is a big cosmic accident.

Life has meaning and is valuable.

It is wrong to deliberately introduce needless suffering.

When a drunk kills a busload of teen-agers, we don't get angry at the laws of physics, or the medical effects of alcohol on the human body.

We get mad at God for letting it happen.

Through our tears we shake an angry fist at God and demand to know "why?"

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!! Answer #2: Somewhere else: God doesn't care about his creation.

These things being the case, we have shown, philosophically, that the existence of evil doesn't preclude the existence of God.

But this sollution isn't very comforting when it's your mom that's suffering, when it's your child that was killed by a drunk driver, when it's your son who has Aids, or when it's you yourself that seems to be the victim of pointless suffering.

And what about all the senseless suffering you read about in the News Papers, and see on TV.

You ask "Why?"

And the question has crescendos and decrescendos in your thoughts and in the volume of your discussions about it.

Until the question becomes an accusation, a statement of anger, a shaking fist.

You're not interested in the logical, philosophical discussion.

You just want to make some sense out of it.

You lash out at God because He seems to be the only one who can /do/ something about it.

And He's not doing anything (at least not anything you consider important).

Maybe, you postulate, maybe He just doesn't care.

Or, maybe, God isn't in control after all.

The Bible tells us about at least 4 different sources for pain and suffering.

God is only directly involved in one of them and limits the extent of the other three.

Two of these sources are accepted by Christians and atheists, two of them point to spiritual beings as sources.

\\ *Four great sources of suffering:* People, The Natural Order, Satan, God.

Because of human freedom, people sometimes choose to do bad things.

We sometimes selfishly assume that our actions should not have unpleasant consequences.

God lets people make the choice to behave badly.

Romans 1:28-32 /Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.

They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them./(NIV)

Sometimes we end up hurting ourselves, sometimes we end up hurting others.

God allows us to do what we want (for a time).

He doesn't run the universe in such a way that people can't make choices (good or bad).

Freedom to choose right and wrong is one of God's values.

But with freedom comes responsibility, and not all of us act responsibly.

Sometimes we hurt ourselves.

Sometimes we hurt other people.

But God doesn't enable our bad behavior by removing its consequences either.

Yes inocent parties get hurt.

But the blame falls on the one who made the bad choice.

Because of human sin the natural order is disrupted.

Pain was introduced as a consequence and punishment for human rebellion against God.

Genesis 3:16-19 /To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." 17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."/

(NIV)

God didn't create this earth to be the miserable place it sometimes is.

It got that way because people messed up.

God introduced pain and struggle into the natural order.

There was a reason for that.

Actually two reasons.

Wrong needs to be punished.

Second, pain and struggle are good teachers.

Pain tells us something is wrong and needs attention.

Nothing like hitting your finger with hammer to teach you to be careful with that thing!

Struggle teaches us to value things that are important like food and clothing and shelter.

Satan (and other demons) inflict suffering on the world just because they want to destroy or damage what God holds dear.

John 8:44 [...the devil] /was a murderer from the beginning, .../ (NIV)

There is this third intelligent force at work in the world.

It's not just God and people.

Evil spiritual beings are also around trying to wreck havok on God's creation.

They do so for their own purposes and in their own ways.

While they cannot control people in any way that completely robs them of their ability to choose, they can introduce disease, temptation, evil thoughts, and possibily other things we're not so sure of.

For God's own reasons, Satan and his followers are still active, and have certain boundaries they can opperate in.