Suffering
87 conversations where the hosts get into suffering.
87 conversations
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Midlife-crisis faith questions: when suffering gets close to home
- Which of God's promises can I count on as mine when people are free to refuse them?
The hosts name the first cluster of midlife-crisis faith questions: when the broken world's weight lands close to home, believers ask whether God is really good even when they cannot see it.
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
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Suffering, character, and the weed-whacking analogy
- Is suffering and going through hard things worth the good that comes out of it?
The host engages Emma's core doubt: is suffering worth the good that comes out of it? God isn't buying perseverance by hurting people — human suffering is reality, and he can use it for good; it's more call to repentance than punitive lesson.
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Why people ditch God
- Why do people ditch God?
Reading a Christian Post article by Robin P. Shoemaker, the hosts work through three reasons people leave faith: bad events that wreck a life, bad representatives of the faith, and bad morals that collide with sexual freedom.
From No. 505 · Because of Fussy and Fuzzy
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Temptation four: avoiding suffering and failure — "Dan, let me ask you directly"
- Are you tempted to avoid suffering and failure?
Ben reads the article's fourth temptation — avoiding suffering and failure — and asks Dan directly whether he's tempted by it. Dan and Mike both say no.
From No. 429 · Following the American Jesus
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TikTok faith conversations, the ban, and the verdict
- Is going live on TikTok a valid way to talk to people about Jesus?
- Why would God allow the coronavirus pandemic and racial injustice?
Boova describes late-night TikTok lives where strangers ask about his faith — why God allows the pandemic and racial injustice — and the surprisingly good conversations that result, including regulars from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
From No. 408 · Gone, Gone Boova
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Reading the Denhollander interview
- Can God's call to forgive be misapplied or weaponized against abuse survivors?
- How should the church respond when sexual abuse happens inside its own community rather than outside it?
A host reads through the Christianity Today Q&A with Rachel Denhollander. She describes wrestling with God's perspective on abuse, her conviction that Christians gloss over the…
From No. 340 · Rightfully Miffed
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Statement #5: 'God won't give you more than you can handle'
- Does God really never give you more than you can handle?
A host reads the article's reversal: everything is more than we can handle; faith is surrender (2 Corinthians 1:8, Matthew 11:28).
From No. 229 · Unbiblical Statements
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Statement #7: 'Bad things happen to good people'
- Why do bad things happen to good people?
A host reads the article's argument: comparison-based goodness is flawed (Romans 3:10). The hosts push back on being heavy-handed: people saying it usually mean well, not posturing.
From No. 229 · Unbiblical Statements
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'What did Jesus mean?' — your faith has healed you
- What did Jesus mean by 'your faith has healed you' (Greek sozo), and how should Christ followers live those passages out today?
Dave Herrick, named on-air, leads the hard-question segment: Jesus repeatedly said 'your faith has healed you' (Greek sozo, also rendered 'saved you') — to the sinful woman who…
From No. 212 · 50 Things the Holy Spirit Does
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Is God the author of sickness and disease?
- Is God the author of sickness and disease?
The hosts read and debate a Facebook article arguing 'I can assure you that God is not the author of sickness and disease,' with commentary on John 9 (the man born blind).
From No. 190 · Is God the Author of Sickness?
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Prayer for healing and God's discipline
- What is the place of praying for healing if God can be glorified through sickness?
- Should we expect God's discipline in this earthly life, and how do we tell discipline apart from fallen-world suffering?
The discussion turns to the place of praying for healing, biblical precedent for petitioning God (Moses interceding after the commandments; the parable of the persistent widow), and Hebrews 12 on God's discipline as corrective rather than punitive.
From No. 190 · Is God the Author of Sickness?
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Rebutting proof #44: the Christian housewife's mustard-stain prayer
- Is God imaginary because He supposedly answers trivial prayers, like removing a mustard stain from a blouse, while great suffering goes unanswered?
The hosts read proof #44 from godisimaginary.com, which argues God is imaginary because believers pray trivial prayers — a Christian housewife in Pasadena who believes God removed a mustard stain from her blouse — while terrible suffering goes unanswered.
From No. 140 · The Mustard-Stain Prayer
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Proof 35 read aloud: notice Jesus' myopia
- If Jesus were God, why didn't he use his power to end slavery, sexism, disease, poverty and war?
A host reads the full text of proof 35 from godisimaginary.com. The argument: if Jesus were God, he would have used omniscience and omnipotence to end slavery, sexism, racism,…
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Is Hurricane Sandy God's wrath? Don't speak for God
- Was Hurricane Sandy God's wrath — does God send natural disasters as judgment?
The hosts discuss claims in some Christian circles that Hurricane Sandy was God's wrath on New York City — tied to a UN move against Israel — and reject the reasoning: God…
From No. 123 · November 19 2012
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Job theology: was Satan right, and the 'sin causes suffering' assumption
- Was Satan right — did Job sin by demanding justification from God after his blessings were taken?
Responding to a chat question asking whether Satan was right and Job sinned by demanding justification from God, the hosts argue Job got whiny but never outright rebelled.
From No. 78 · November 28 2011
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Why do bad things happen? The discussion
- Is it wrong to rationalize suffering after the fact ('that's why God did that')?
- Does God micromanage every detail of life, or does he intervene when asked?
Reacting to the clip, the hosts wrestle with theodicy. Stories include a host's police ride-alongs to notify families of sudden deaths -- grandparents told of a grandson's car…
From No. 29 · Why Bad Things Happen To, Uh, People
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Practicing humility: pain, not counting, faithful means
Asked what to do practically to keep the main thing the main thing, Ben says he finds humility in deep, dark places and has prayed God not take away his pain because peace makes him push God out.
From No. 588 · hypokritēs
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Ask the Pastor: why Ezekiel eats the scroll
Cody McCormick's complaint-line question: why does Ezekiel snack on scrolls in Ezekiel 3? Ben reads Ezekiel 2–3 at length.
From No. 568 · Like Jesus
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Stephen's martyrdom, hospice peace, and the book of Job
Dan, drawing on his years as a hospice chaplain, points to Stephen being stoned in Acts 7 and to the Holy Spirit-given peace he has seen in dying believers versus the anger he observed in the dying without faith: 'people die the way they live.'
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
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Perseverance, Onesimus, and being faithful in the means
The hosts root the cure in perseverance. Paul's building of endurance is cited: growth comes slowly, through stretched obedience, not instant 'steroid' results.
From No. 545 · By Invitation Only
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Six Things, Part 3: Everything Happens for a Reason
Item three of the article: 'everything happens for a reason.' The discussion follows the article's caution that the phrase can short-circuit real engagement with suffering, with the hosts probing when the saying comforts versus when it dismisses.
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Return to Job: Bildad, the snow, and parable vs literal
After a mid-show break the hosts return to the book of Job: one host would ground theology on Job 1 alone, another notes Job 38's "do you know where I keep the snow," and they…
From No. 504 · Saul, Naturally
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Boova's world religions class: putting God on trial
- Is the Old Testament God just a murderous bully?
Boova -- introduced by another host as 'Boopa,' who 'has a story' -- tells how his college world religions class watched a video of Jewish men in a Holocaust concentration camp…
From No. 316 · Putting God on Trial
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Speaking for God: Daniel in the furnace
Asked where his confidence comes from, a host admits the discomfort of speaking for Christ about ugly situations that will not land well, then turns to Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meshach…
From No. 441 · Right Thing, Wrong Way