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The problem of suffering: Questions / notes for groups
1 How does the issue of suffering affect your faith in God? Consider the options below individually and then discuss as a group:
a I find suffering difficult and it is a blockage to faith in God
b There are times when suffering has weakened my faith but I still believe
c I don’t really know how to relate suffering and faith
d There are times when suffering has actually strengthened my faith
e It’s not my own suffering I worry about but seeing it in loved ones or friends
f Other
2 Would you accept that much of the suffering people experience in the world is caused by other people? Does this mean that the Christian view of human nature is actually quite realistic? How does this challenge humanism’s optimism about humanity?
3 The study pages have basically focused on the cross and the promise of heaven as the two poles of the Christian response to suffering. Have you found this helpful or not? Discuss your reasons.
4 The booklet chapter asked how we could say God loved you in a world of suffering. God knows you through and through, better than you know yourself. He knows the gifts and abilities he has given you (his ‘image’) but also the failings, the regrets, the things of which you are ashamed, etc. Knowing all this, knowing that you and I are as much implicated in causing suffering to others, the Bible says that Jesus still chose to die for you on the cross. Does this help you to understand something of God’s love for you? Not that you ‘deserve’ his love but that he loves you because he loves you; the response is your free choice.
Use the email address below to give feedback / ask questions to the author, whose views these pages reflect
Six Big Questions Rev John Hibberd sixbigquestions@throughfaithmissions.org |
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