If God is Good, Why Do Bad Things Happen?

One of the most-asked questions by both Christians and non-Christians alike is: ‘If God is good and loving, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?’

Is God UNABLE to do something about the situation (i.e. not all-powerful)? Or is He UNCARING (i.e. not all-good)? Or perhaps, as some critics claim, the presence of evil and suffering in the world are proof that God DOESN’T EXIST at all?

The answer is ‘none of the above’! As Dr Mark Harwood explains, the biblical account of history makes sense of the world around us, including evil and suffering, and provides deep and meaningful hope through even the darkest personal pain.

⏳ TIMESTAMPS ⌛

• 00:00 Teaser
• 00:46 Introduction: A perfect world gone bad
• 02:23 A problem of perspective: We’ve arrived in the MIDDLE of the story!
• 03:57 Disasters and the Boxing Day Tsunami: Why doesn’t God prevent these?
• 04:20 → We’re living in a world broken by sin (God didn’t make the world this way!)
• 05:32 → We’re living in the aftermath of a global judgement (the Flood)
• 07:02 → We’re living in a universe designed to operate on ‘cause and effect’
• 08:09 Is God unable to intervene to make things better? Miracles and answered prayer
• 10:41 God is like a good parent: He allows difficulties—for growth!
• 11:31 Job and the account of his suffering
• 14:50 God is sovereign
• 15:39 → The analogy of the potter and the clay
• 17:20 Is God not ABLE to prevent suffering, or does he not really CARE? A false dilemma!
• 19:00 Genesis history is the key to understanding our broken world
• 20:08 Evolutionary history undermines the character of God, and the logic of the Gospel!
• 28:04 Responding to typical claims (e.g. Fry and Attenborough) about God and suffering
• 30:03 A note about the second law of thermodynamics
• 33:42 Mark’s Story: I lost My Son
• 38:34 Without God there is no hope in the face of suffering
• 39:52 Doesn’t the Old Testament show that God is a moral monster?
• 44:26 What has God done about the problems of natural and moral evil?
• 49:58 How do I get to know this God, personally?
• 54:38 What if I’m ‘not quite there’?

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