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The
conclusion ‘God does not exist’ is by no means a logical
deduction from the phenomenon of suffering. The existence of
suffering could be used as evidence against God’s existence only
if you could first prove that an all-loving God does not have
good reasons for allowing suffering to continue. [15]
Biblical faith adopts a stance quite unlike the comprehensive,
doubt-dispelling perspectives on suffering found in other
religious traditions. The God of the Bible bids us to approach
Him with our doubts, our fears and our frustrations. For it is
precisely in this mode of personal engagement that God whispers
back His rather unexpected reply. [36]
I am glad that the God of the universe intends to right all the
wrongs—it’s good to know that those who perpetrate evil against
others will not escape—but I am also glad that he delays this
judgment so that all of us, none of whom are stain-free, can
experience the mercy and renewal that lie at the heart of
biblical faith. [49]
Someone challenged me to point to biblical texts that describe
the afterlife as a disembodied, nirvana-like bliss. I couldn’t.
Every passage I turned to challenged the Hollywood version of
heaven. It turns out that the biblical ‘kingdom come’ is not an
ethereal place of clouds and ghosts, but a tangible place of
real existence: it is a ‘new creation’. [58]
Christ’s rising to life is central to biblical faith not merely
because it marks out his life as a unique moment in history, but
because by it God shows that he is willing and able to breathe
new life where there is currently death. The resurrection of
Jesus is God’s tangible pledge within history that he intends to
do the same for the whole creation at the end of history. This
current world convinces me of God’s
ability to re-create
the universe; the resurrection of Jesus convinces me of his
intention to do just
that. [59]
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