Christian author Lee Strobel answers the question most frequently asked to him: “If God is real, why is there suffering in the world?”
Lee Strobel
The Case For Christ author sat down with Kirk Cameron to discuss the most common questions people have about God. Their discussion revolved around how to answer them with love and gentleness as modeled by Christ.
Lee shared that he would open a conversation with people by asking them, “If you could ask God any one question, and you knew He’d give you an answer right now, what would you ask Him?”
The atheist-turned-Christian found that 80% of the time, people would ask, “If God is real, why is there suffering in the world?”
He would then give a five-point sermon on why God allows suffering. But recently, Lee discovered that it was no longer the most effective way to answer their question.
He said, “I don’t do that anymore. You know what I do? If I ask that question, and they say, ‘Yeah, if God is real, why is there so much suffering in the world?'”
“Instead of giving them a five-point sermon, I say, ‘Wait a minute. Of all possible questions in the universe, why did you choose that one?’ And then they say, ‘Because we lost a child in childbirth five years ago. I want to know where was God when that happened.’ Or ‘my wife was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Where’s God in the middle of that?'”
At that point, Lee realized that the people don’t need a sermon answer.
Be Jesus
“You know what they need? For me to put my arm around their shoulder, to weep with them, to console them, to relate to them, to love them, and to show them grace and be Jesus to them.”
He continued, “I found that 90% of the time, that’s what they’re looking for. And I found the most powerful apologetic is to love people the way that Jesus would love people.”
1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
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