Why Does God Allow Suffering? Sean McDowell Teaches

Why Does God Allow Suffering? Sean McDowell Teaches
 
Five leading theologians recently visited Saddleback for a teaching series titled, How Do I Know I Can Trust the Bible? as part of our annual Ahmanson weekend. So we asked our friends on Facebook and Twitter to submit their answer to the following question: If you could ask a Bible scholar any question about God, Christianity, or the Bible, what would it be? Read on to hear the speakers answer your questions.
 
Today, we’re hearing from Sean McDowell as he answers the question: Why does God allow suffering if he really is a ‘good’ God?
 
Sean: “Why would God allow suffering if he is good? Hands down this is one of the most troubling and difficult questions that people ask because it’s not just an academic question we solve like a math problem. It’s one that strikes at the heart of the suffering and pain each of us have been through in different ways.
 
A book in the Bible that deals with this is the book of Job. Job loses his family, he loses his health, he loses his reputation, he loses his finances. He comes down and actually has a conversation with God and he says, ‘Why would you allow this to happen?’ And, God’s response always fascinates me. God does not give him an answer as to why it happens. Rather, he says, ‘Job where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Job, where were you when I created the sea monsters in the depths of the ocean?’ In other words he’s saying, ‘Job, I am all good, all knowing, I am all powerful. You can trust me even though you can’t see it even though it hurts in the present. You can trust me that I have a good reason that I allow suffering to take place.’

When I look at scripture, one of the things that sets Christianity apart is this - we need to realize that every religion, every worldview has to do with why there’s suffering, why there’s evil. What’s unique about Christianity is we have a Savior who didn’t stand aloof from suffering, didn’t just send us a book, didn’t just send us a prophet, but we really believe the God of the universe took on human flesh and entered in to our world and suffered profoundly on the cross. So we can’t say to Jesus, ‘Boy I’m feeling such physical pain, you don’t understand.’ He understands. We can’t say God, ‘I’ve been betrayed by a friend.’ Jesus is sitting there saying ‘Yeah, I’ve been betrayed too.’

Part of the christian answer is where is Jesus when there is suffering. Jesus is right there with us comforting us, walking through it with us. [He will] ultimately redeem us from our suffering and use it to draw us closer to him. Now when i look at the pain and suffering in the world, inevitably its deep and significant. But when I ask people, including young people, where most of their pain came from - from natural things or does it come from other people - 75% of people will say that suffering comes from other people. God is not the cause of suffering. He allows it. He allows evil to take place because of human free will. God did not want robots. God did not want to force people to love him, he gives us a choice. We can love God and do what is right or we can reject God which leads to suffering and leads to pain.
 
So in summary, we serve a God who is in control and he hasn’t let go of the wheel. A God who has suffered there with us, a God who promises to be with us while we suffer and a God who will ultimately use our suffering and our pain for his good. And he offers his eternal life to those who will turn to him.”
 
Missed the teaching series? You can watch all of the Ahmanson messages here.

Source: Saddleback Church Website, December 26 2011


Related Links

• Sean McDowell profile at GodQuest
• Sean McDowell and Josh McDowell information
• Saddleback Church homepages here and here
• Pastor Rick Warren: Why does God allow Evil?

Leaf Blower Abuse: Noise Nuisances

Wonder how loud that machine is. Anyone have a video of this?

Terra Nova Landscaping recently posted a report on leaf blower use abuse. Here's an excerpt:

Here at Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping we support a leaf blower ban and we recognize that we are in the minority within our industry on this subject. We must be an oxymoron. I mean, how can we be a landscape business and not be completely enamored with the omnipresent labor-saving device known as the leaf blower? This is a touchy subject or should I say a noisy one? Everyone has an opinion about gas powered leaf blowers, from the folks like myself who refer to them as Polluting Noise Bazookas, to those who think of them as indispensable and use them as a primary tool in outdoor janitorial work. I thought it would be helpful to lay out the issue blow by blow, if you will.

It is good to understand both sides of the story. Believe me, I know, I’ve been there. “My Escape from the Land of the Two-stroke Back-pack Bowers” is an article I wrote a few years ago to tell my story. While I do address electric leaf blowers, what follows primarily discusses the use of gas-powered leaf blowers because they are the main offenders in this story.

My friend Steve Zien is Executive Director of Biological Urban Gardening Services (BUGS), an international membership organization of professional landscapers. He states, “BUGS has opposed the use of leaf blowers for many years for a variety of reasons. There are many hidden costs when utilizing blowers regularly. The leaf blower is perhaps the most over-used and inappropriately used landscape tool. Autumn’s tremendous amount of organic debris that requires collection might be considered appropriate use of this tool. However, the weekly routine of blowing abuses the soil and damages landscape plants while the noise creates ill will from neighbors and clients alike.”

A conservative estimate is that there are four million leaf blowers in California to date. The majority are gas-powered. Everyday these blowers spew over 1.5 million gallons of raw, unburned, two-stroke fuel into California air for a total of over 540 million gallons per year. This dumps over 48,000 tons of carbon dioxide into California air, totaling over 18 million tons per year. This is a significant contributor to climate change.

*A Grand Jury convened on the subject of leaf blowers in San Luis Obispo County, CA, concluding that, “Considering the evidence…the health hazards citizens are exposed to from two-cycle leaf blowers outweigh the possible benefit they provide.” The Grand Jury went on to recommend that all cities within that county initiate a phase out of leaf blowers.

[....]

Read the full report here.


Permalink: http://www.thedailydecibel.com/2012/01/leaf-blower-abuse-noise-nuisances.html

Leaf Blower Ban, Santa Monica: The Patch

Leaf-Blower Ban Sees Mixed Results After a Year
City officials saying the enforcement of the ban is having an impact, but some residents say it's "a joke."

• By Stephanie McNeal
• Email the author
• October 27, 2011

In Santa Monica, leaf blowers were supposed to be gone with the wind. Last year, the Santa Monica City Council took special care in making sure a decades-long ban on leaf blowers within city limits was enforced, in hopes of getting rid of them for good. But the gas-powered machines—which are bad for the environment and annoying to many residents—are still around.

Part of the amendments, which went into effect Oct. 28, 2010, tasked the Office of Sustainability and the Environment with enforcing the law. Since then, the office has made numerous efforts not only to enforce the law, but also to educate the community on why the law is necessary.

“We knew the number of violations would be high,” OSE Watershed Management Program Coordinator Neal Shapiro said. “But thanks to our division’s community outreach programs, including bilingual educational classes showcasing alternatives to leaf-blower machines for maintenance gardeners and informational pamphlets for both gardeners and homeowners, we’ve helped the community find alternatives to these machines.”

For the six-month period through April 30, 2011, OSE received a total of 1,133 reports of leaf-blowing activity from the public.

The OSE is preparing its second report on the ban for distribution next month, which will have updated numbers on the violations from the past six months.
Shapiro says these numbers show that, so far, the OSE’s enforcement of the ordinance has been a success.

“Before the new prohibition procedures last October, few violations were given out ,and blower use was widespread,” he said. “With the new enforcement procedures, the program has been a huge success in giving the public someone to call or email right on the spot, and getting an immediate response and results.”

However, results from the community regarding the ban have been mixed.
Despite the increased enforcement, most residents who spoke with Santa Monica Patch said they have not noticed a decrease in leaf blowers. One woman, who asked not to be named, said she had no idea the ban existed and had not noticed a difference in the past year.
Recent Santa Monica transplant John Tant said he didn’t notice the lack of leaf blowers either.
“It doesn’t bother me one way or the other, and I haven’t noticed a difference,” he said.

Mike, a resident who asked that his last name not be used, said he hasn’t noticed the lack of leaf blowers, but the alternative tools the landscapers use bother him.

“A landscaper rakes outside my house on cement all the time, and it really annoys me,” he said. “I just want to yell at him to get a push-broom.”

Kirsten, who lives on Third Street and also requested that her last name not be used, said she feels like her multiple complaints about leaf blowers have fallen of deaf ears, despite the increased enforcement.

“Every time we call to complain to the department, nobody ever gets a ticket,” she said. “Nobody ever comes. So it’s a waste of time. It’s a joke, really.”

Shapiro admitted that one of the main challenges the OSE faces in enforcing the ban is the large number of complaints it receives.

“The sheer number of violation reports, responding to all of them and getting the warning letters in the mail in a timely manner is a challenge,” he said. “Also a challenge [is] developing a new database to enter and track violations in an efficient manner, so we can be responsive to the public when queries come in.”

[....]

Read the full article here.

Source: Stephanie McNeal, The Patch