I’m reading through D.A. Carson’s excellent book, How Long O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil. Carson begins the book by outlining a few false steps in explaining the reality of suffering and evil. He notes that sadly believers can even fall prey to these false steps. He then lists five reasons why we are susceptible to having a poor theology of suffering and evil:
- We may get the balance of Scripture wrong
- We may succumb to the crush of the urgent
- Some of us thoroughly misunderstand a number of important texts
- Some of us have absorbed a form of theology with all the answers
- Above all, many of us have not adequately reflected on the cross
Any of us are prone to these five reasons to offer a bad theology of suffering. I am enjoying the book so far and it is proving very helpful. To read more you can buy the book here.