Theology

If God Is Good, Why Is There Evil and Suffering?

Author Amy K. Hall Published on 10/28/2016

The topic of evil and suffering is something we all, eventually, will face and must deal with—and I don’t mean merely intellectually; I mean personally. When real suffering finally hits you, you will either run to God or run away from Him. What you decide to do will depend on the theological understanding of God—who He is, what His purpose is for us, what we should expect from Him—that you develop now, before your crisis hits.

If God really is good, if He loves us, if He knows everything and is powerful enough to prevent any harm from coming to us, why do we suffer?

Below is a talk I gave at a Thinking Matters apologetics conference in New Zealand a few years ago that addresses this question. For more on this topic, see my review of Randy Alcorn’s If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil.