Another Question Along the Same Lines

One of the most basic, fundamental objections people raise to the idea of an all-powerful creator God is this:

If God is all-loving, how come there is suffering in this world?

Note: Or, rephrased so it ties more closely to your most recent question: "If God is the creator of all things, then did he create suffering?"

There's a really problematic aspect to this:

• If one allows that God is all-powerful, then one must conclude that suffering falls under the control of God's omnipotence

However ...

• If one allows that God is unable to stop the suffering, then one denies the omnipotence of God.

In response to this dilemma, some have opted to craft a vision of God based on the second bullet. This is known as "Open View Theism," wherein God's powers are not limitless; that he is learning as he goes along; and that the suffering that occurs on this earth is because God is helpless to do anything about it.

Of the two choices facing me -- accepting the mystery of suffering in the presence of an omnipotent God, or defining God down to a limited deity -- I hold steadfastly to the former. In my mind I see absolutely no way to reconcile the "Open View" approach with a God capable of rendering all sin absolved through the death of himself incarnate in Christ. A God capable of merely saying "Let there be" and in an instant the heavens and the earth are created is a God who is the very definition of the word "omnipotent." On a far more basic level, the Open View proponents need to ask this question: "If God is limited in what he can do, why bother with any form of intercessory prayer?"

What's my point in all this? Just this: it is impossible to approach the Christian faith with the expectation of having every question answered, every dilemma worked out, every difficulty explained, every aspect fully understood. There is an element of faith in revealed things beyond our ability to comprehend. The Trinity is at its heart a mystery we'll never, ever understand completely while in this mortal world. What happened on the cross at the moment of atonement is a mystery that cannot be expressed with words as we know them. The extent of God's Holiness is beyond our minds' ability to imagine.

The Christian faith all comes down to an issue of trust. That does not mean an unthinking, "put your brain under the pew" approach. Christianity is a remarkably complex thing; it taxes my abilities to reason as these posts illustrate all too well. But ultimately, it boils down to a trust in the things the cornerstones have being discussing:

• A trust that God does exist and that he has revealed himself in nature and in written word
• A trust that God is Holy; perfect in his ways and therefore worthy of our trust
• A trust that I cannot overcome my sinful ways and that I must rely on God, not me
• A trust that God provided one and only one way to him, through Christ Jesus our Lord
• A trust that by surrending our lives to Jesus, the power of God's Holy Spirit will guide our lives in a manner pleasing to God
  

Logic cannot fully explain that. Which is why it is called faith.