THERE IS A GOOD SIDE TO HAVING NO ANSWERS WHEN SOMEBODY IS TAKEN AWAY IN A CRUEL DEATH

 
Questioning Evangelism, Randy Newman, Kregel Publications, 2004, page 113
 
This book speaks of how Billy Graham tried to comfort people who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma Bombing. They wanted to know why God let this happen.
 
Graham simply said, "I don't know."
 
He added that the tragedy can make us hard and bitter and mad at God. Or it can be an opportunity for us to reach out to others as we trust in God though we do not understand. His point was that it is better to face the tragedy with God than without him.
 
This leads Newman to state that it is liberating to have no answers. We just trust in God without understanding and it helps us at least a bit.
 
Page 109 under guidance from the Book of Job says we must realise that God doesn't want us to know why the innocent suffer for he wouldn't tell us and that it is better to trust in God no matter what happens than to curse him and lose your trust.
 
Would you trust a doctor who wouldn't tell you why you needed a horrible treatment? If you trust him then you have somehow managed to convince yourself that you trust him for you cannot.
 
It may feel better to trust the doctor but is it better? Newman wants us to trust God no matter what he does for it feels better!
 
Trust should have its limits. If you trust a person because you want to feel good then do you really trust them? Your motive is not to trust them but to feel good.
 
If you really trust God, it is not the reality you are trusting but the image you have made of God.
 
Anyway why trust in God? If you are terminally ill you can trust that your children and spouse have the power to be happy again. You can trust that you will be recycled by the earth. And you can trust these things easily. It is harder to trust people even God than to trust facts.
 
Some pop psychologists say that if we wonder why we have misfortune or suffer, we may be creating their power to make us unhappy and keep us unhappy. They say we could be creating an obstacle to letting these evils go. They say we have to be aware of the problems and hold on to them in order to seek answers. There is nothing wrong with looking for answers as long as you do not hold on to the suffering. Suffering is the experience of worthlessness therefore it cries out for answers. It is cruel then to tell people that they suffer because God lets it happen. That raises the why question. Atheists simply see suffering as caused by pure chance and that is the answer. It is cruel to urge or help anybody to believe in God.

Geoffery Berg in the Six Ways of Atheism says we would recognise that a cruel and nasty being could not be God (page 57). The trouble is, once you say a good God is forced to allow evil for he needs it for a good and justifiable reason, God could try to come across and evil and nasty but we would never be able to tell if he really is evil and nasty. There is no way to tell when it is Satan or God. Instead of recognising this God as good, believers trust. This kind of trust is telling yourself he is good. How could that please him for it is not about seeing and celebrating his goodness?

The problem of evil is worse than Christians let on. It forces them to develop artificial worship of God. Religion is about them and they use God to cover that up.