This is a question that many atheists pose and often use as the reason for their philosophy in life. At first glance it proves that the Christian God is not real because since there is pain, God cannot be both all good and all powerful. The atheist would claim that since there is pain, then God shows he is either not good, or not able, thus disproving the Christian God’s existence. It is also a question that many Christians pose that can cause doubt in who their God is because of the same reasons that many atheists will point to. It is a great question to delve into because it is a legitimate one but it is also one that has been given a more than satisfactory answer to. Even though an answer is given, it still is difficult to wrap our minds around it. At the same time, when we are experiencing pain and suffering, the last thing we want to hear is an expository on why our good God allows pain and suffering.

If you are currently experiencing pain (and to some extent we all are), this will not provide the comfort that you are looking for; but hopefully it will help us all better understand the God of the universe and His purposes. Anyways, lets jump right in. C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain” does a wonderful job breaking things down. Here is an excerpt from his book that gives a great set up to understanding the existence of suffering,

“In the fallen and partially redeemed universe we may distinguish (1) the simple good descending from God, (2) the simple evil produced by rebellious creatures, and (3) the exploitation of that evil by God for His redemptive purpose, which produces (4) the complex good to which accepted suffering and repented sin contribute. […] A merciful man aims at his neighbor’s good as so does ‘God’s’ will, consciously co-operating with ‘the simple good’. A cruel man oppresses his neighbor and so does simple evil. But in doing such evil he is used by God, without his knowledge or consent, to produce the complex good — so that the first man serves God as a son, and the second as a tool. For you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John”

Looking at this excerpt we must understand that God is sovereign (in control). He is able to use things that are both good and evil for his purposes. The simple good that is descended from God includes mans ability to choose. We were given the choice to obey God or not to obey God. Looking at our world today mankind has chosen to disobey God.  The choice that God gives us is intrinsically good; however, because we are given that choice, we as man have rebelled against God and as a result produced evil.

Now the evil itself is not the pain and suffering. The pain and suffering is a result of the consequences of evil. But God, has put himself into the center of that suffering in order to redeem man but man must choose to be redeemed or else he continues doing evil. The savior is there because God knows the extent of our suffering, and the horrific nature of our evil and how we are enslaved to it, his goodness is why Jesus is here. Jesus himself suffered for our sake. He took on the wrath of God so we could be reclaimed by God as righteous. God uses both evil and suffering in order to carry out his goodness with his perfect wisdom.

God’s wisdom is the last thing I want to touch on. We as humans have finite wisdom. God’s wisdom is infinite. He knows everything and it is all at the forefront of his mind. Many of the things God understands are things that we do not. I think a full understanding of goodness and evil is included in that. I heard a great quote recently from a woman named Rachel Barkey who was dying from cancer. As she was speaking to a congregation she said “God allows in his wisdom what he could easily prevent with his power.” God is powerful enough to rid the world of suffering and pain. Instead God has chosen to use suffering and pain to bring more people to a relationship with himself and that is the greatest good.

Mike

Excerpt from C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain. 1940

Rachel Barkey quote is from her speech entitled “death is not dying”. It can be found here http://deathisnotdying.com/.

by Jonathan Dodson

Over the past three decades, I have failed in countless ways in being a disciple of Jesus, in obeying and honoring Him as my Redeemer and Lord.

I’ve wandered the wasteland of religion in an attempt to earn the un-earnable favor of God. I’ve chased the pleasures of the world, in an attempt to satisfy my infinite longings with finite things. And neither the legalistic rules of religion nor license from rules in worldly living have satisfied.

These twists and turns on my discipleship path have not honored Christ. Yet, despite my failures, year after year, the desire to honor and obey Christ has not withered. In fact, it’s grown even amidst failure.

“Sharing Your Faith”

Along the way, I’ve come to understand that following Jesus alone is not really what it means to be a disciple. Both the church and the parachurch taught me that being a disciple means making disciples. I was told that this meant two primary things. First, I should be active in “sharing my faith.” Second, I should find Christians who are younger in the faith to tell and show what it means to be older in the faith.

It took me quite a while to realize that this practice of making disciples was incomplete. Making disciples requires not only “sharing my faith,” but also sharing my life — failures and successes, disobedience and obedience.

Making disciples is not code for evangelism, nor is it a spiritual system whereby professional Christians pass on best practices to novice Christians.

Professional Disciples vs. Novice Disciples

But I preferred only to disclose my successes, to pass on my accumulated wisdom and knowledge, while hiding my foolishness and ignorance. It’s not that I wasn’t making disciples; people gobbled up my platitudes and piety. The problem was the kind of disciples I was making, disciples who could share their faith but not their failures.

Why did I embrace this kind of discipleship? Should blame be laid at the feet of the church or parachurch? Not really. It was my fault. My motivation for obeying Jesus (in this case, making disciples), had shifted from attempting to earn God’s favor, to earning the favor of my disciples. “Disciple” had become a way to leverage my identity and worth in relationship with others. As the dispenser of wisdom and truth, I was comfortably placed on a pedestal. The more disciples I made, the better I felt about myself. My motivation for discipleship was to receive praise, worth, significance.

I was a disciple lacking authenticity and community, motivated by a mixture of genuine love and lust for praise.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of good intentions and a lot of good fruit from these relationships, but in a sense, I was still following Jesus alone. The professional/novice relationship created a comfortable distance, not only from admitting my failures but also from genuine community. I stood at the top of the stairs of discipleship, instead of sitting in the living room with fellow disciples. I put the best foot forward and hid the ugly one behind me.

Disciple had become more of a verb than a noun. Less about a community centered on Christ and more about an activity centered on what I know.

The Gospel is for Disciples Not Just Sinners

Fortunately, Jesus is big enough for my misunderstanding of what it means to follow Him. As I continued to “disciple” and read the Bible, I was struck by the fact that the disciples of Jesus were always attached to other disciples, that they lived in community. This community was authentic.

They confessed their sins and struggles alongside their successes. But they also seemed to continually come back to Jesus, not merely as their example, but also as their identity, their entire sense of self.

The New Testament is filled with exhortations to keep Christ at the center of our discipleship, not only for instruction but also for transformation. I began to realize that Jesus is not merely the start and standard for salvation, but that He is the beginning, middle, and end of my salvation. He is my salvation, not just when I was 6, but every second of every day.

Contrary to the unforgiving demands of religion, Jesus forgives us when we fail. He doesn’t kick us when we are down, but dies to lift us up. Unlike the deception of worldly pleasure, Jesus offers true satisfaction and joy. Instead of wooing me into death, He leads me into life, His resurrection life.

It slowly became apparent to me that the gospel of Christ was where I was meant to find my identity, not in impressing God or others. Refusing to share my life with others, especially my failures, was a refusal to allow the gospel of Christ to accomplish its full breadth of redemption in my life.

Very simply, God was leading me into a kind of discipleship with the gospel at the center, a constant, gracious repetition of repentance and faith in Jesus, who is sufficient for my failures and strong for my successes.

Jesus frees me from trying to impress God or others because He has impressed God on my behalf. I can tell people my sins because my identity doesn’t hang on what they think of me. I can be an imperfect Christian because I cling to a perfect Christ. As it turns out, the gospel is not just for sinners; it’s also for disciples, disciples who sin.

Discipleship with Jesus in the Center

This kind of discipleship is, in the end, not about what I do but who I am — an imperfect person, clinging to a perfect Christ, being perfected by grace.

And in this I am not alone. I am one disciple among many. I no longer stand at the top of the stairs but sit in the living room, where we share our faith and our un-faith, our obedience and disobedience, our success and our failure.

With Jesus at the center, we can encourage one another to persevere in faith, to endure in suffering, to increase in love, to multiply in mission, bypassing the professional/novice distinctions. With Jesus at the center, we can obey from our acceptance not for our acceptance. With Jesus at the center, we can be the church to one another and to the world, without bearing the burden of perfection, a burden reserved for the Spirit, who through grace, makes us more and more like Christ.

With Jesus at the center of discipleship, I immediately enter into grace and into community. Where making disciples flows from being a disciple.

Jesus doesn’t reject me when I fail, and His constant acceptance frees me to succeed in following Him. And that moves me into hopeful confession: both of my sin and in my Savior.

Copyright 2009 Jonathan Dodson. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. This article was published on Boundless.org on June 25, 2009.

I thought this would be a good article to share to help us gain perspective on what discipleship is. As I am learning more about it, I am seeing that it is a communal thing. A couple questions to ponder,

Is our view of discipleship consistent with Jesus’ discipleship? What needs to change?

How can the community in Epic, and among believers here in Davis help foster discipleship that is true to how Jesus did discipleship?

Mike

My friend Chris Tan who was involved in Epic a few years back gave a memorable talk where he mentioned that most people understand Christianity from the viewpoint of the media. He explained how the primary exposure of many teenagers to Christ comes from shows like Southpark. Kids will here Cartman screaming “Eff Christ” and that’s that.

The way the world views Christianity is deeply skewed and oftentimes absurd. However, it has been very encouraging to see how Epic students have embraced our savior and are growing in stature as a result. It has been a blessing to see students understanding of Christianity shift towards truth.

There is still much work to be done though. To share the good news in our modern times is not just a one way message. We also have to combat the worldviews that have disparaged Christianity. We have to meet people where they are at and have a decent understanding of how they got there. Then we can start to build trust by loving them and representing true Christianity to them.

Let me pose a couple of questions.

What would be the first thing you would want to communicate if you were talking to someone about your faith?

How would you communicate such a thing amidst the preconceived notions about Christianity from the world?

Philemon 6, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Mike Aalseth

Beneath the surface,
in the shadows I hide.
Afraid of what I become,
when I walk in the light.
I only show the parts of me,
that appear to be clean,
but you desire for,
my all to be redeemed.

I am so afraid of my decay.
I am sick and tired of running away
I cannot stay in hiding
and fake who I am
Will you recognize my face?
Will you accept my meek embrace?

As I learn more about myself, and about the God who created this place in which we dwell, I am struck by how often I try to hide certain parts of me. I am constantly upholding an image of myself that doesn’t match up to who I truly am. The truth, I’m a beggar, in desperate need of a savior. Finding that savior was the sweetest moment of my life.

The two questions posed in this poem here is towards the body of believers. If I walked into your home as a beggar, would you recognize me, and would you accept me as I am?

Mike