Suffering Life's Pain: Facing the Problems of Moral and Natural Evil

by David W. Gooding, John C. Lennox

We need a coherent picture of our world. Life’s realities won’t let us ignore its fundamental questions, but with so many opposing views, how will we choose answers that are reliable? In this series of books, David Gooding and John Lennox offer a fair analysis of religious and philosophical attempts to find the truth about the world and our place in it. By listening to the Bible alongside other leading voices, they show that it is not only answering life’s biggest questions—it is asking better questions than we ever thought to ask.In Book 6 – Suffering Life’s Pain, Gooding and Lennox acknowledge the problem with believing in a wise, loving and just God who does not stop natural disasters or human cruelty. Why does he permit congenital diseases, human trafficking and genocide? Is he unable to do anything? Or does he not care? Gooding and Lennox offer answers based on the Creator’s purpose for the human race, and his entry into his own creation.

Genres: Christianity, Christian

282 pages, paperback

Published July 16, 2018

About the author

David W. Gooding is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Greek at Queen's University, Belfast and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His international teaching ministry is marked by fresh and careful expositions of both testaments. He has published scholarly studies on the Septuagint and Old Testament narratives, as well as expositions of Luke, John 13-17, Acts and Hebrews.

Reviews

[Oddmund Horpestad]

Spennande bok og kanskje blant dei som gjer best og grundigast rede for lidelsens intelktulle problem og gjev klart svar for det. I tilegg til korleis ateisme kun gjer problemet verre ved å fjerne paradokset og tilsvarande alt håp.

Vidare svarar boka og på naturleg vondskap og korleis det pregar skaperverket og kvifor det må vere slik etter kristne forståinga. Her kunne forfatterne med fordel omtalt sykdom noko lengre enn det som blir gjort.

Boka er skrive meir for hovudet enn hjarte, men ha nokre sentrale poeng som og hjelper på emosjonelle ved å spele på t.d. korleis det å bli born heller enn å vera skapningar er endring og prosess som involverer liding. Og korleis liding er med å forme tru og sann karakter i ein sjølv.

Ei god bok, ikkje like tung som dei andre i serien og som gjev rikeleg rom for etter tanke. Anbefalast til intellektuelle dimensjonane særskilt.

[Frank Peters]

This is an excellent book, and the last of the 6-book series. In this final volume, the authors answer the question of how there can be suffering if God is both good and powerful. Their answers are excellent and cover (almost) all angles for the question. In the volume the authors also examine alternative views, and if they can better explain suffering (they cannot). This is the best and most complete book I believe I have read on the subject (although the book by Os Guinness is at a similar level and recommended). My only complain is that after developing the importance of eternity (heaven and hell) when considering ultimate justice, the authors did not address the apparent unfairness of an eternal punishment for a finite offence. But I suppose this was going too far down the rabbit hole. Still, the book was excellent and recommended.

[David Strong]

My rating: 4 stars.