Local Church Discussions - View Single Post

Cal · 06-20-2013, 03:16 PM

The problem of evil would exist if the Bible and the Psalms didn't exist. The problem of evil would exist if there was no religion in the world.

So it's really not a matter of arguing which parts of the Bible we think are truly reflective of God. Because the God who lets innocents suffer would exist even if we didn't have the Bible and all its vexing propositions. So blaming the problem on mean-spirited OT writers doesn't solve it. God has let more innocents suffer than the writer of Psalm 137 ever thought of cursing.

We have a proposition (God is good and loving) and a fact (innocents suffer). If you believe the first then you must believe that innocents suffering is not incompatible with love and goodness. And if you can truly accept that, then Psalm 137 is not a problem to you, because it will mean you've become able to look behind the veil a bit and realize that love is a lot more mysterious and complex than our shallow, Santa Claus, hippie version of it.

06-20-2013, 03:16 PM	#146
Cal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: USA Posts: 4,333	Re: The Psalms are the testimony of Christ The problem of evil would exist if the Bible and the Psalms didn't exist. The problem of evil would exist if there was no religion in the world. So it's really not a matter of arguing which parts of the Bible we think are truly reflective of God. Because the God who lets innocents suffer would exist even if we didn't have the Bible and all its vexing propositions. So blaming the problem on mean-spirited OT writers doesn't solve it. God has let more innocents suffer than the writer of Psalm 137 ever thought of cursing. We have a proposition (God is good and loving) and a fact (innocents suffer). If you believe the first then you must believe that innocents suffering is not incompatible with love and goodness. And if you can truly accept that, then Psalm 137 is not a problem to you, because it will mean you've become able to look behind the veil a bit and realize that love is a lot more mysterious and complex than our shallow, Santa Claus, hippie version of it.