Skip to content
Discussion September 28, 2026 · 32:42 · 6 min

'But why not?': the crisis of faith over God's permission

The second main topic opens: Ben once hit a crisis not over 'God causes all this bad' but over 'God allowed it.' God's blessings are clear — offspring, land, 'go forth and multiply,' the knitter in the wombs — yet faithful couples lose pregnancies and children die young. Stephen Fry's atheist objection gets a hearing: the parasite in the eye of a starving child in Africa, built into creation's mechanisms. 'My heart's aligned with his heart. I believe he can, and I know he wants it — and it didn't happen. I think that's the hardest question.'

Clips from this

More on Suffering

Now playing
0:00 0:00