{"id":1483,"date":"2018-03-18T18:12:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T23:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/?p=1483"},"modified":"2018-03-18T18:13:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T23:13:06","slug":"why-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/why-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Suffering?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-1484\" src=\"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/why-suffering-1024x538.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"390\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/why-suffering-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/why-suffering-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/why-suffering-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/why-suffering.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/>Human Suffering<\/h3>\n<p>Today we wrestle with the enigma of Human suffering in light of the Sovereignty of God. Does God passively allow human suffering, actively cause it, unable to do anything about it, or able to end it but unwilling to do so? Furthermore, what does our answer say about the character of God?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2019My grace is sufficient for you.\u2019 Most gladly therefore will I boast in my infirmity.\u201d II Cor. 12:9<\/p>\n<p>Several years ago some purported evangelicals proposed a solution to the enigma by hypothesizing a theology they dubbed \u201cOpen Theism.\u201d<!--more--> In their scheme, God does not know in advance the future free actions of His moral creatures nor can He control their choices. Because He is eternal though, He can make some pretty good guesses knowing the character of men.<\/p>\n<p>They also believed tragic events could occur over which God had no control. Therefore, God should not be blamed, because He was neither willing they occur nor unable to stop them from occurring. At times, God may even realize that the guidance He gave was inadvertently inadequate and thus, in sorrow God \u2018repents\u2019 of those actions.<br \/>\nThey painted God as the ultimate risk taker- a Benevolent Being that was willing to take risks and then work for a cosmic solution- even at great pain to Himself. O how nice.<br \/>\nMy friend, this is nothing short of heresy!<\/p>\n<p>The God of the Bible is the Absolute Sovereign of the Universe. Of course, we may differentiate between His permissive will and His proscriptive will. God could not actively prescribe sin and still be good (James 1:13). Nevertheless \u201cHe actively works together all things for the good of those who love Him\u201d and even \u201cthe wrath of men shall praise Him.\u201d In mysterious ways beyond our ability to fathom, Our Father takes the most tragic events and weaves them into a beautiful tapestry of His grace and for His eventual glory.<\/p>\n<p>He does all things well. Ask Job: \u201cThe Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.\u201d When you are tempted to impugn His character because of some troubling affliction that has come your way, choose instead to see through the lens of the eternal and by faith cling to the truth and rest in His sovereignty. When we are weak, He is strong.<\/p>\n<p>Because of grace,<br \/>\nTim<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_counters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:2px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_c=new Array(\"twitter\",\"facebook_like\",\"facebook_send\",\"google\",\"pinterest\");var hupso_counters_lang = \"en_US\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_c=\"\";var hupso_title_c=\"Why%20Suffering%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/counters.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Human Suffering Today we wrestle with the enigma of Human suffering in light of the Sovereignty of God. Does God passively allow human suffering, actively cause it, unable to do anything about it, or able to end it but unwilling to do so? Furthermore, what does our answer say about the character of God? \u201c\u2019My [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Suffering? - EBCSV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/why-suffering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Suffering? - EBCSV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human Suffering Today we wrestle with the enigma of Human suffering in light of the Sovereignty of God. 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