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How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

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D.A. Carson is one of the more respected theologians of our day. He is one of the few evangelical scholars who has written extensively both on Biblical exegetical and interpretational matters, and on matters of contemporary worldviews and issues. Many evangelical scholars tend to focus on one or the other, but Carson is highly respected in both areas. This work deals with perhaps the most vexing question that has ever faced the human race, the question of suffering. For what Carson is trying to accomplish here, I think he does an exquisite job.

As Carson indicates at the start of this book, the book is not an attempt to provide a full orbed theodicy that will cover all aspects of suffering or the problem of evil. This is not a book that is devoted to exploring the philosophical origins of evil and how such origins reflect on the existence or nature of God. Carson does devote about two chapters to this, but it is not the thrust of the book, as Carson properly points out at the start. This is a book written to Christians mainly as 'preventive medicine' as Carson describes it.

It appears that what Carson is trying to achieve here is to provide the reader with a rather comprehensive analysis of what Scripture says about suffering, and equally important, what Scripture does not say. I thought that a big strength of the book was Carson's insistence on not going beyond the Biblical text to find more palatable or easy answers to such vexing questions that might make people feel better, but are not especially faithful to Scripture. Carson's mission appears to be to lay out for the reader what the Bible says and acknowledging the tensions that the Bible gives us on many aspects of the issue of suffering without using these tensions as an excuse to throw up his hands and declare incoherency. It is here that Carson's supreme expertise in Biblical exegesis becomes evident, and it is a source of comfort to the reader.

I was very impressed with Carson's willingness to repeatedly tackle tough questions and not shying away from difficult Scripture passages. As he says numerous times, the book is not necessarily offering full orbed answers to every tough question, but it is offering very sound and compelling thoughts where Scripture is clear, and acknowledging a certain amount of mystery over what is not clear, and clearly defining both.

Overall, I felt that the book was extremely balanced and thoroughly grounded in Scripture. This is a book that in my view, properly refrains from the extremes of offering overly simplistic answers that pretend to comprehensively deal with this topic, as well as the extreme of overly appealing to divine mystery as a way of dodging the tough questions. This is the best book I've read on the problem of evil that is something other than a philosophical defense. This is an exegetical defense, and a very good one.

Lastly, it needs to be pointed out who ought to read this book. I don't think an unbeliever will get much out of this, as Carson states. It is a book written by a Christian, for Christians who are not looking to use the issue of suffering to debate the existence of God. Likewise, I don't think it's the first book that Christians who are in the grips of suffering should pick up and read either. As Carson states, this is not a book that's really meant to comfort someone who is in the grips of suffering, but rather a book that is meant to provide a Christian foundation for suffering BEFORE the suffering comes so that Christians will have a better basis for coming to grips with it. Although I do think that those who are in the grips of suffering would profit from this book, I think the main audience for this book are Christians who are looking for a Biblical foundation for suffering. I also think that pastors and lay leaders would also greatly profit from this book since I thought there were a number of outstanding insights geared towards those Christians who are called to minister to those who are enduring suffering. It should also be pointed out that because the book was written 10 years ago, some of the discourse on AIDS is outdated and should be taken cautiously.

An outstanding book for what it deals with.

Carson discusses why there is evil in our world, how God can be good and allow evil, the relationship between human moral choice (sometimes called free-will) and divine sovereignty, comforting those in suffering and preparations to make before suffering comes. He has much sound exposition of relevant passages from the Old and New Testaments.

Some readers might struggle with its depth. This book is not for the casual reader. But it will repay the serious student many times over. I highly recommend it, especially for pastors and for Christian students in philosophy.

Carson presents a biblical theology of suffering, though he doesn't put it that way. He looks at the broad sweep of scripture, seeing the bearing it has on the various problems about evil and suffering. He starts with daily life concerns and how we should view our lives, ourselves, God, other people, and what happens to us. He paints the proper perspective gleaned from the whole portrait of God and his actions throughout history across the scriptures and then warns of some serious dangers we might easily fall into when arriving at conclusions or when dealing with hard times.

The main focus of the book points to themes throughout scripture. The heart of the book has a chapter on each of the following topics - sin, the various kinds of suffering and evil, God's suffering people, hell and holy war, sickness and death, the final restoration we're moving toward, suffering in the book of Job, and God's own suffering. The final chapters look in depth at the mystery involved in our responsibility in a world in which God is absolutely sovereign (in which Carson defends, biblically, compatibilism about God's sovereignty and our responsibility for what we do), the comfort we can derive from God's sovereign care, and some pastoral reflections about how to live our lives in response to the biblical portrait he's examined. He concludes with a 10-page appendix on AIDS.

This is by far the most balanced book I've read on the topic. Most philosophers focus on the problem of evil in intellectual debates and end up saying little of relevance. Most non-philosophers look at how we should respond to suffering in our lives but often in terms of inner psychological matters, as if our own inner problems are the real focus. Alternatively, the popular books could be more or less lists of practical things to do, not always helpful in times of difficulty.

Carson gives full treatment to both kinds of problems but is less concerned with debating intellectual arguments, analyzing psychological issues, or listing off which ten things we need to change in our behavior. His focus is on God has revealed himself and acted in history, treating the biblical text as fundamental.

This is a balanced Christian focus, and other sorts of things can come out of that. In the end he does give practical suggestions, many requiring a change or development in understanding God and his carrying out his purposes in history. He says plenty to apply to the philosopher's problems of evil. He also deals in depth with hell, sin, human responsibility, and God's own suffering, crucial points in a full Christian response to that sort of problem, far more significant a package than either the standard "free will defense" that fits little with scripture or the Leibnizian "best of all possible worlds" response that doesn't fill in any details of what's so good about it.

Carson's treatment of hell, sin, human responsibility, and God's suffering is the place for philosophers to look. Hell isn't the place of torture for a capricious being to get his jollies from people's suffering, nor does it simply keep people from heaven. God's justice is satisfied one way or another (by Christ or by hell), and that's significant. Evil isn't permanent. It gets dealt with by a loving, caring God who won't stand for continuing evil. God's plan of salvation allows evil to continue temporarily so that greater numbers of people might enter salvation by turning to God for help out of sin's ensnarement. A holy God couldn't allow evil in his presence, yet a good God couldn't stand by and do nothing, so he entered history as Jesus Christ to deal with the problem, suffering himself in a greater way than any others would ever suffer, not because of the suffering on the cross, great though that is, but because of his total separation from his Father, something no mere human being has even done yet, since the final judgment is still to come.

Hell is necessary for those who won't admit their rebellion against God and the necessity of his action to solve the problem, since such people are resistant to God to the end. There's no place for them in the restored community of perfection. But it's not so much a place of torment directed against them as the torment within them due to increasing rebellion against God and good. It's what rejecting God points toward, and every human being (besides Jesus) deserves it, but God saves and restores those who follow him. This is the Christian gospel and not new to those who absorb biblical teaching, but its relevance for the problem of evil is often passed over.

If God has suffered more than anyone else, that says something. If hell is the logical result of human rebellion against God (what human attitudes against God would logically lead to) and simultaneously preserves God's people from evil, that's significant. God's plan has huge ramifications if there's a goal to history. Human responsibility for sin explains evil in ways that don't interfere with God's sovereign plan for history, contrary to the standard philosophical approach to these matters. This approach is refreshing after reading lots of "free will defense" responses that make free will primary and necessary, something undermined somewhat by Carson's approach, since God's plan is the key element in all this.

Carson also does more for the human person asking these questions than does abstract statements such as the traditional "best of all possible worlds" response by G.W. Leibniz. Leibniz may be right in some significant sense if God's overarching plan took into account the other ways things could have gone. However, it's terribly misleading, as demonstrated by Voltaire's drastic misunderstanding of Leibniz in his parody Dr. Pangloss (in Candide). What Leibniz intended, and any way Leibniz would be right, has to involve these other aspects emphasized by Carson, and it has to start from where he starts - these key themes in scripture.

As other reviewers have noted this book is aimed at Christians and not for those looking for immediate relief from some trial in their lives. However, there is very much to commend Carson's work for those beginning to explore suffering, free will, and God's sovereignty and their many links to Christian doctrine and experience. While Carson says at one point that we may wish to skip Chapter 11 on the Mystery of Providence, I think it is worth the price alone.

There were 3 or 4 places in the book where he ended a section with a statement that I thought needed another line or two of explanation, but these are minor issues of style correctable for me by rereading a paragraph. Carson references Basinger & Basinger's Predestination & Free Will and Carson's comments provide a useful supplement and corrective for some of the views in Basinger. For those who quickly run to some sort of theodicy, Carson makes us pause and consider how great a God we do have. Before jumping on the process or open theological train, please read this. Overall this is a very readable yet challenging coverage of the subject.

I have read other very instructive D.A. Carson books such as Cross & Christian Ministry and A Call to Spiritual Reformation (Two highly recommended works). This book did not leave me disappointed.

Carson's purpose for the book is explicitly stated from the get-go - this is a book of "preventative medicine" so Christians "will think deeply on the subject of suffering and evil." I think that this is wise counsel. We should think about suffering BEFORE it happens. Make no mistake, however, in thinking one can completely prepare for the shock of suffering. So Carson describes suffering with a frank and vivid analogy - "It is like jumping into a bitterly cold lake; you can brace yourself for the experience all day, but when you actually jump in, the shock to your system will still snatch your breath away" (pg 141). This book will not "solve" all of the dilemmas of suffering, but it does provide a Biblical framework through which to view them.

Carson organizes the book into 3 parts:
Part 1 - Thinking about Suffering and Evil
Part 2 - Parts of the Puzzle: Biblical Themes for Suffering People
Part 3 - Glimpses of the Whole Puzzle: Evil and Suffering in the World of a Good and Sovereign God

I have organized my understanding of his insights into the following broad themes: 1.) What a bad theology of suffering believes/does, 2.) What a good theology of suffering believes/does, 3.) a Biblical Analysis of Providence, 4.) the Suffering of Job, and 5.) Viewing one's Suffering in light of the Cross.

1.) A bad theology of suffering...
o Is only satisfied in one's own temporal security. "We want security; we want it desperately. But it has very little to do with the security of belonging to God..." (pg 25)
o Does not consider that the Bible is full of suffering: Carson says, "We remember the wonderful triumphs of Joseph, Gideon, and David...We are less inclined to think through the sufferings of Jeremiah, the constant ailments of Timothy, the illness of Trophimus, or the thorn in Paul's flesh" (pg 25).
o Does not account for mystery. We may have such a well articulated systematic theology, that "we leave precious little scope for mystery, awe, unknowns." (pg 26)
o Views that God "is limited and [only] involved with human beings in the grand enterprise of trying to relieve evil and suffering" (pg 29) instead of seeing him as sovereign over it.
o Spends all time and energy wondering how to exonerate God of suffering and misses the obvious - that we should be considering how we ought to be responding to the suffering by calling upon the Lord for help. (pg 59)
o Fails to see the many examples of suffering that are without a specific sin that caused it and without any associated miraculous healing: Paul's illness that directed him in the first instance to Galatia (Gal 4:13), Timothy's frequent illness (1 Tim 5:23), Trophimus being left behind due to illness (1 Tim 4:20) (pg 101).
o Does not have a large enough framework: Instead, health and wellness theology "...tries to establish a theology of healing and power encounter without a theology of suffering...a theology of victory without an adequate theology of the cross...a theology of life without proper reflection on death...discusses God's power but rarely wrestles with God's predilection for displaying his power in the context of continuing weakness...encourages triumphant faith, but does not establish a broad enough grid to show that triumphant faith may be exactly what is displayed where there is raw perseverance in the face of incredible suffering...[appropriately] sees sin and suffering as intrinsically evil, but fails to think through how a sovereign God in some way stands behind them..." (pg 111)
o Fails to see that God's true healing is never trivial or ambiguous. "...there is no record of Jesus himself holding a healing service, inviting people to be healed, or offering generalized prayers for healing and inviting people to come forward for a laying on of hands." (pg 111)
o Fails to preach and teach in such a way to make "heaven the Christian's hope and goal" (pg 130)
o Puts trust in other people or other vain confidence (Ps 146:3)
o Arrogantly assumes that "everything that takes place in God's universe ought to be explained to us" (pg 152)
o Is infatuated with moral and spiritual ambiguity. "The pluralism of our age delights in moral ambiguity - but only as long as it costs nothing. Devotion to contemporary moral ambiguity is extraordinarily self-centered. It demands freedom from God so that it can do whatever it wants. But when the suffering starts, the same self-centered focus on my world and my interests, rather ironically wants God to provide answers with sparkling clarity." (pg 155).
o Ignorantly cries for "justice." Carson says of this, "Justice alone will destroy us all. Only the triumph of justice and love will meet our needs; and this triumph is so integrally linked to the very heart of the gospel, the cross of God's dear Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we dare not, as Christians, take our eyes off this perspective." (pg 163)


2.) On the other hand, a good theology of suffering...
o Explores the parts of the puzzle of suffering, and locates evil and suffering within a certain Biblical "framework." (pg 37)
o Understands suffering in light of the "Bible's Storyline" and meditates on "the price of sin". Carson says, "If in fact we believe that our sin properly deserves the wrath of God, then when we experience the sufferings of this world, all of them the consequences of human rebellion, we will be less quick to blame God and a lot quicker to recognize that we have no fundamental right to expect a life of unbroken ease and comfort." (pg 44)
o Sees suffering from the perspective of the eternal kingdom. "If we can get over our tendency to evaluate everything that transpires from a merely individualistic perspective, and glimpse at least a little of the broad movements of God in redemptive history, we may not only be a little less surprised when we suffer, we may also find it is somewhat easier to `make sense' of suffering: at least it fits into a pattern that Jesus himself predicted." (pg 123)
o Understands that I have, in a sense that I have participated in sin, caused by my own death. W must face up to our corporate as well as our individual responsibility (pg 99-100)
o Understands that Jesus did not treat wars and natural disasters "as agenda items in a discussion of the mysterious ways of God, but as incentives to repentance. It is as if He is saying that God uses disaster as a megaphone to call attention to our guilt and destination, to the imminence of his righteous judgment if he sees no repentance." (pg 61) (c.f. Luke 13:1-5, Amos 4)
o Understands that suffering is part of God's discipline for our good that we might share in His holiness (Heb 12:5-12). It is important to see that at least some of God's means of discipline, all designed for our good, can simultaneously be viewed as calamitous evils (pg 66).
o Follows Habakkuk's example of "taking the long view" in "assurance that God's justice will prevail over the oppressors even though the oppressors are instruments in God's hands to punish..."(pg 69-70) Such a one continues to delight in the Lord and praise (Hab 3:17-19).
o Glories in suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance as it is mingled with faith and delight in our being reconciled to God (Rom 5:1-4) (pg 71). Rightly accepted, pain "cleanses us from self-centeredness, gives us insight into the nature of this fallen world, prepares us for death, makes us remember the sufferings of Christ and of others." (pg 108). As Welsh hymn-writer and evangelist William Williams testifies that he gained on his deathbed more knowledge of himself, and more knowledge of the goodness of God, than during the pervious forty years of his life (pg 108).
o Views suffering on behalf of Christ as a privilege, a grace granted (Phil 1:29-30) (pg 78).
o Follows Jesus' example of learning obedience by what he suffered. "...though He was Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvations for all who obey him." (Heb 5:7-9). Carson says, "if Jesus `learned obedience from what he suffered', what ghastly misapprehension it is-or arrogance!-that assumes we should be exempt." (pg 72)
o Runs to the scriptures (such as Psalm 23 an 90) (pg 98)
o Recognizes that death is "no different in kind from what you and your spouse have lived under all your life; that you have been preparing for this day since your conversion; that you have already laid up treasure in heaven, and your heart is there." (pg 106)
o Will certainly grieve in death of a Christian...but not "like the rest, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Him" (1 Thes 4:13-14). It waits for the new heaven and new earth with no more death, mourning, crying or pain (Rev 21:3-4) (1 Cor 15:56) (c.f. 1 Peter 1:3-9)
o Encourages people with terminal illnesses to think about death. It does not rob them of the enormous comforts of the gospel. It engages in helping believers to "die well" (pg 115). It encourages them to think on Rev 4-5 and 21-22, and to "think about God and the salvation He has provided, to develop a certain longing for the new heaven and the new earth, to reestablish the Christian's goal." (pg 131)
o Views the prosperity of the wicked in light of the next world as shown in Psalm 73. As the Psalmist says at the end of the chapter, "Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds" (v 27-28) (pg 127).
o Sees suffering as under God's providence - "To the eyes of faith, there are, finally, no accidents, only incidents, and in these, Paul assures us, God is working for our good." (pg 214) God works out his purposes for us is far greater than our incessant focus on the present.

3.) Providence:
o A Biblical defense of "compatibilism" that says 1.) God is absolutely sovereign and that 2.) Humans are morally responsible.
o Since the Bible affirms this view, "...then it must be the case that God stands behind good and evil in somewhat different ways; that is, he stands behind good and evil asymmetrically. To put bluntly, God stands behind evil in such a way that not even evil takes place outside the bounds of his sovereignty, yet the evil is not morally chargeable to him; it is always chargeable to secondary agents, to secondary charges. On the other hand, God stands behind good in such a way that it not only takes place within the bounds of his sovereignty, but it is always chargeable to Him, and only derivatively to secondary agents." (pg 189)
o In other words, if I sin, God is not to be blamed. But if I do good, it is God working in me both to will and to act. God's grace is manifest and he is to be praised. (pg 189)
o "Human freedom cannot include such liberal power that God Himself becomes Contingent" (pg 190)
o "In Jesus, the divine determining and the perfection of human obedience come together in one person...Here we see "free will" at its best!" (reference to John 10:18) (pg 191). "His obedience therefore provides us with a model of how we ought to respond to the claims of God's sovereignty" (pg 212-213)
o A wrong view of free will assumes that it must entail "absolute power to contrary" (pg 194)
o In the Bible, we see God's will of Decree, Desires, Permission (pg 198)

4.) The example of Job:
o In the book of Job, we find that suffering "falls within the sweep of God's sovereignty" (pg 139)
o Job highlights that there IS such a thing as "innocent suffering" (pg 140).
o Within "certain boundaries...it is better to be frank about our grief, candid in our despair, honest with our questions, than to suppress them and wear a public front of puffy piety" (pg 141)
o There are some things you will not understand for you are not God (pg 153). This is why Job's answer is so appropriate. He does not say "ah, at last I understand!" but rather "I repent". "He does not repent of sins that have allegedly brought on the suffering; he repents of his arrogance in impugning God's justice, he repents of the attitude whereby he simply demands an answer as if such were owed him" (42::5-6) (pg 153). "To those who do not know God, to those who insist on being God, this outcome will never suffice. Those who do know God come in time to recognize that it is better to know God and to trust God than to claim the rights of God." (pg 153)
o The book of Job does not "disown all forms of retribution; rather, it disowns simplistic, mathematically precise, and instant applications of the doctrine of retribution." (pg 155)

5.) Seeing your Suffering in light of the Cross:
o When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith? (pg 156) This faith must be praiseworthy by finding repose in a faithful God (pg 159). "If our attention is focused more on the cross, and on the God of the cross, than on the suffering itself" (pg 173)
o "In the darkness of the soul, Christians have something to hang onto that Job never knew. We know Christ crucified. Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God's love, they cannot escape the cross. "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Rom 8:32) (pg 171)

As a study on why God allows suffering, this book is not unique. There must be many thousands of books written by believers on this difficult issue. I have read quite a few of these, and I would argue that this volume by Carson is right up there - certainly in the top ten.

This book first appeared in 1990, with this second edition appearing in 2006. Carson seeks to lay out the biblical material to help us get a handle on why suffering and evil exist, and how the believer is expected to deal with these issues.

He provides one of the better treatments of the subject, offering a balanced and judicious understanding of what the biblical material has to say about these topics. It is not a work of apologetics as such, and it does not attempt a lengthy philosophical theodicy. Instead it seeks to help Christians of all walks of life with some biblical, theological and pastoral discussions about evil and suffering.

Carson is right to suggest that we do not give the subject "the thought that it deserves" - at least until we undergo a nasty spell of hardhip. But we certainly need to develop a theology of suffering, if for no other reason than because so much sloppy thinking on the subject persists in Christian circles.

Indeed, Carson begins his volume by looking at some faulty answers to the question of suffering, from both Christian and non-Christian sources. After looking at some of these false starts, he develops in some detail the various biblical themes relating to the problem.

The entry of sin into the world is a big part of the biblical answer, of course. Indeed, the Bible takes the reality of evil very seriously. Much of the suffering that we experience is directly due to the reality of sin. Because many people today have a quite low view of sin means that they fail to fully understand its devastating consequences.

But suffering does not just come into our lives as a consequence of evil choices. Suffering can also be a tool of God's loving chastisement and discipline. But we live in an age which looks aghast at all suffering and hardship, and few of us are willing to let God complete the work he has started in us, which often requires hard times and adversity.

Carson also looks at many of the hot potato issues, such as hell, sickness and healing, whether God judges nations today, and other difficult topics. And then there is the whole issue of the sovereignty of God and the reality of evil. How do these things connect?

Like many, Carson feels that the overall picture gleaned from the biblical data leads one to adopt a position known as compatibilism. That is, the apparently conflicting claims of Scripture are in fact compatible. On the one hand, the full sovereignty and control of God is throughout the Bible affirmed. On the other hand, the full moral responsibility of humans is also affirmed. While it might seem that one rules out the other, Scripture assumes both positions to be true, and that they are not mutually exclusive.

Somehow the choices that we make are genuine and we are therefore responsible for them. Yet it is also the case that God is in charge of this world. These two truths of Scripture are repeatedly expressed, and the best option we have is to accept some sort of compatibilism in response. Plenty of passages can be provided here, where both truths are affirmed - sometimes in the same passage - and Carson examines this material in some detail.

Carson also acknowledges that at the end of the day we must allow some room for mystery as well. We are finite and fallen, so all of our understanding and knowledge will be partial and limited. And there must be a role for faith as well. "God is less interested in answering our questions than in other things," says Carson. These include, "securing our allegiance, establishing our faith, nurturing a desire for holiness".

There are plenty of questions about how genuine moral responsibility and divine sovereignty can coexist. But the biblical data that is available has to be dealt with, and Carson does as good a job as anyone of putting it all together.

As a leading New Testament scholar who is at home in the worlds of theology, biblical studies and pastoral work, Carson brings the required skills to pull off discussing such an important topic as this. If you have only room for a few books on the problem of suffering and evil, this book should be at the top of your list.

I was honestly unprepared for this book. About to go to sleep, I thought I would read a few chapters before conking out and it was like a brick thrown at my head. He begins by describing the internal torture of a parent who's child was accidentally crushed by a garbage truck backing up, then asking the question, "where was God?"

He prefaces the book by expressing that this is not intended for those who are currently going through such struggles, but describes his work as a "preventative medicine", so that when (not if) suffering happens, we will have an idea as to what is going on and Who we can turn to as our sovereign refuge.

A number of questions are addressed, such as "If God is good, how could He allow suffering and evil?" and "If he is good, is he incompetent to prevent it? or is he just unwilling?" These are very good questions that people will tend to ask when tragedy strikes. But sadly, many will ask these questions and assume one or the other and come to a conclusion without seeking the truth. This is why such a book was written.

When we grasp that the root of evil is found within and not from without, we begin to attain an awareness of why things are the way they are. Most people can look at the world and see that there is a problem, but WHY there is a problem is usually misinterpreted. Some might say, "If God is good, why doesn't He just eliminate the evil in the world?" That question comes with the presupposition that the evil is "out there", and assumes that God runs off of our standard of goodness. If He were to truly take out evil, you and I would be swept away with the current, since we have done evil.

Though we have a root of how evil entered the world (Genesis 3) and while Carson brings to light many of the reasons why it may happen in the lives of believers and non-believers alike, the question of why God allows it to persist is not for us to declare. We simply do not know, but we can rest in His promises that He will do away with it one day (Revelation 21:1-7), and in His great mercy He has stepped in to save us from our evil by the death of His Son Jesus. His physical resurrection being the stamp on death itself, putting death to death.

Through repentance and faith in Jesus for a right relationship to God, we are given assurance of a future hope, though the world is decaying around us. By faith we are united with Him in a very tangible way. "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." (Romans 6:5) The resurrection of Jesus was to be the first of many more to come. And a physical eternal heaven with God is the greatest reality to look forward to for those who are in Him! "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Though suffering and evil persist, we know that God is good, and that He will make all things new. An amazing reality to look forward to!

"When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith?"

If you seek a different approach to the topic of Sovereignty vs. Agency, Good God vs. Evil Reality, you've come to the right place. Carson's overarching theme is what he calls COMPATIBILITY. When dealing with texts seemingly mutually exclusive,using Scripture's own suppositions yields mutual compatible sense where texts complement each other, not compete or contradict. Mystery in Scripture is not meant to be resolved, but wise exegetes try to elucidate the unknowns that most faithfully and plausibly address counterarguments. When dealing with the Infinite God, multiple truths can co-exist simultaneously on different planes (God's and ours). Good vs. Evil, among other Biblical mysteries, cannot be fully, finitely comprehended, let alone synthesized and exhaustively communicated theologically, logically, metaphysically, philosophically or otherwise. These are merely components of the Biblical 'givens' Scripture's authors teach or assume. The interpreter's challenge is to locate the mystery in the right place, define terms, remain anchored to Scripture's own parameters and givens, ask the right preliminary questions before positing answers and avoid eliminating the tension in mystery between planes (God's and ours) so as not to do violence to either plane. Beware the all too intuitive and natural eisegetical approach that makes absolute, epistemologically precise, phenomenologically rigid, logically/literally wooden reading of marshalled texts the sine qua non of pre-conceived theological systems. This leads to massive misreadings of Scripture which are 'too clever by half'which artificially justify unvalidated a priori's that weave a grid unwittingly filtering out complementary data. Let balanced exegesis taking all compatible(surface tension, depth resolution) texts fairly and plainly and in unison 'stand in their naked power and function without endless reductionism'. Amen!

Carson provides a work on this subject that is extremely helpful to theologians and laymen alike.

D.A Carson says that this is not meant to be a philosophical study of the problem of evil, and that it is just a collection of reflections for believers in Christ. Yet after reading the book, I felt that it was something that could benefit everyone. Carson begins by giving some stories from his own experience illustrating the problem of evil in our world. Then he proceeds in the succeeding chapters to discuss what the scripture says about evil and how we can experience the comfort of God in times of grief.

He stops along the way to critique theologies which do not leave room for a theology of evil (John Wimber's theology), and he points people again and again to scripture. Well done!