dkm3870

Thank you for your insights! I guess where I was going with this is that I can understand man-made evil in this world. We are "survival" oriented like all other animals and since we are at the top of the food chain, we can choose to harm others to make our own life more comfortable. But there are natural

In thinking about why there is pain and suffering in the world, I start by breaking this down into two root causes- Man-made- God gave us free will so that we can be individuals and not puppets. This gives man the option work for the good of the community and help others (love), or to be self-centered and hurt others. This explains that part of pain and suffering in the world. Nature-made- Natural disasters, diseases, random accidents. Why does God let these things happen if he is all powerful? The only answer that I can come up with is that God can change the minds and hearts of people through the life of Jesus and the actions of other people, but is not able/willing to change the laws of physics that control the natural world. We can do something about the Man-made pain and suffering by following the teachings of Jesus and showing love to others, but we cannot stop the natural world entirely. Are there any published theologians that have proposed a similar view? Others thoughts on this?

Thank you for your responses. I look forward to getting into deeper discussions and learning from "the wisdom of the crowd".

Hello All- I am a thoughtful, logical Christian. Technically United Methodist, but more liberal than the leadership of this denomination. Read a lot of Spong and agree with most of his stuff, but not sure I can live with how remote his God is. Also reading a lot of Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest- who tracks along with Spong on most things, but for him Christ is everywhere and in everything, just waiting for us to realize it and accept it. I have been frustrated in trying to find a group to have civil discussions with about theology. I think we all learn and benefit from open discussion, but A) it is not something most of my family or friends want to talk about and those who are connected to our church only want to talk about "what" God is doing in their lives, not "whether" God is active in their lives. I am hoping that this is place where I can compare thoughts and insights with others with a similar interest? Is that the case?