Journey of Joy: Frequently Asked Questions about Christianity

Read and respond to these questions online at http://www.journeyofjoy.com/questions/index2.html

How can a loving God allow pain and suffering in the world?

When you ask this question are you thinking of a specific situation or
experience which you have had?

If your question stems from a personal need, you need to know that even though God doesn't give us a reason for each of the hurts that come into our lives, He does promise to help us through those problems.

You see, His own Son suffered many of the same things you and I suffer: loneliness, a loss of a loved one, physical injury, and finally even death on a cross. He wants to strengthen us in our time of need and suffering.

If your question is: What possible reason could a God of love have to allow evil and suffering to continue? I mean, if He really cares about us?

There could be many reasons. Suffering often turns men and women back to God. And we should of course remember: most of the suffering in the world was created by man. God has given us the ability to make choices, and He allows us to experience the consequences of those choices, as painful as they often are.

It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere.

Suppose you believed with all your heart that your car had a full tank of gas, but in fact the gas tank was empty. The sincerity of your belief would not make the car run. Sincerity is a wonderful quality, but it does not tell us whether our belief is correct or incorrect.

It simply tells us how deeply we believe. Jesus taught that there is a
problem between God and man, the problem of sin. He said that sin was very real and very serious, just like the car. Our sincerity will not change the reality of the situation.

The only way to experience a relationship with God is to have our sin
forgiven and removed. That is why Jesus lived, and died, and was raised from the dead.

The church is full of hypocrites.

The church is far from perfect, because it is made up of imperfect people. Every Christian claims that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Master, but not a one of us lives the holy life that Jesus lived.

It's been said that the church of Jesus Christ is the only institution in
the world where the only requirement for membership is that you have to admit that you are a sinner.

I used to feel very critical of the church until I realized that the people
whom I accused of being hypocritical go to church for help - not because they're perfect. They go to church because they need God's help. The church is not a retail store, but a repair shop.

What about all the people in the world who have never heard of Jesus Christ or the gospel?

God does not hold people accountable for things they don't even know. But the Bible teaches that even those who have never heard of Jesus still are not completely ignorant of God's existence and power. We are reminded of our consciousness and by the complexity of nature all around us. No one will ever be able to stand before God and say: ‘I never even knew You existed.' Each person is accountable for what he does know about God.

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