People have argued about suffering for as long as there has been writing to argue in. I am not going to walk in and settle it. I do have opinions, and I have more questions than opinions, and this series is my best effort to work through both: what suffering is, how we experience it, and what it means for God and for us.
The title comes from the Book of Job. Job loses his children, his wealth, and his health, and asks God why. When God finally answers out of a whirlwind, the answer is a question: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4). We ask God where he was. He asks us back. I think both questions are fair, and I want to take both seriously.
Part 1 separates suffering from inconvenience and takes on the half of the problem that makes sense to me: the suffering we cause each other with free will. Natural suffering — childhood cancer, earthquakes, the things nobody chose — is a different story, and later parts take it on, along with what an all-knowing God knows about our choices, suffering before there were humans, Job himself, and what all of it asks of us. I am aiming for about six parts. It may run longer.
The parts list below stays in sync with the published essays — use it as the roadmap.
