john i would prefer a world where god
had the capacity to guard innocent
people from harm
and did it i wish i lived in that world
i wish you lived in that world
tragically we don't we live in a world
where innocent people suffer
illness and accident and crime and all
sorts of other things
given the reality of those things how do
we understand them
you either believe that god wants these
things to happen because he's
in control of the whole show and then
you have to understand
why is he doing this what are we being
punished for what is the lesson he's
trying to teach us
or else as i prefer to believe to to
choose to say that these happen for
other reasons which are beyond god's
power to prevent
and that god is on our side how does my
understanding of god sustain us
because it says to people god is on your
side
god feels as bad about this as hurt by
this as you do
he's not punishing you you don't deserve
it the key
to surviving misfortune and tragedy is
one's own self-esteem
one's own sense that i am a good person
this shouldn't be happening to me
religion should not defend god and
justify misfortune
religion should bind the wounds of the
bleeding human being
and tell him that god loves him and does
not want him to suffer
okay dr geisler well i certainly agree
with that i think that
god is on our side god does love us he's
manifested by creating us
by sustaining us by giving us ear to
breathe our
heart beats within our bodies he gives
us food every good thing in its season
uh he's manifested his love in
innumerable ways to us but what really
comforts me is not simply
that god loves me but that the god that
loves me
has the power to fulfill the desires of
that love
that he's not handcuffed by laws he's
made he's not
uh tongue-tied by the creation that
surrounds him that god is in sovereign
control over the world and that he can
bring about exactly what his love
desires to be brought about
if i didn't have a kind of god who was
both all-powerful and all-loving
there would be no reason to be assured
from his love because he might be so
impotent that he couldn't accomplish any
of his loving desires for me
but norm i think the question becomes if
god has the power to do these things out
of his love
why doesn't he why does the person die
why does the accident happen why does
the rapist
mutilate the body of the young girl i
think that's a good question
as i see it there are two answers to
that or two aspects of it to the bible
one we're free
and god gave us freedom and two is that
this world is not the whole story
if we assume that this life is the whole
story
then it seems unjust but if we assume
there is a life
after this and that god is not finished
with us yet
that he's going to resurrect the dead
that there's going to be a day of
reckoning of reward
and punishment then of course it takes
on entirely different color
the bible says that jesus christ brought
life and immortality to light through
the gospel
and what gives me hope as a believer is
that jesus reversed the course of death
he suffered for us
and he brought us hope of an immortal
life therefore
you