Faithful Thinkers: Suffering and Evil

Pain, suffering, and evil are all parts of life. We all have physical and emotional ailments and events in our lives that cause much pain. Part of the reason that I questioned the truth of Christianity years ago was because of painful events that took place in my life. I saw pain as evil and the idea that God would allow such evil was incoherent. The presence of evil and pain were offered an incompatibility with the "good" God of Christianity.

Since pain, suffering, and evil are a great part of reality, if a worldview claims to be true, then it must make sense of these in a way that is coherent within the worldview. Some worldviews completely deny that pain, suffering, and evil exist; others attempt to make sense of them but deny another part of the worldview in the process. But Christianity not only affirms their reality in a coherent way, but gives meaning and purpose to and ultimate relief from them. A defender of Christianity should be able to show the incoherence pain, suffering, and evil in other worldviews along with their coherence in Christianity, but this needs to be done at the appropriate time. People may not be asking questions; they may just need comfort. Here are several posts written that expand on the coherence of pain, suffering, and evil from the Christian worldview:

How Can We Know That "Good" And "Evil" Are Objectively Real?