Romans: Why does God allow suffering?

Kyle Johnson   -   August 7, 2024

This Week’s Sermon: Why Does God Allow Us Suffering?When I was a kid, the world was much different than it is now. In earliest childhood we did not have a television set, then we got a black and white set, then finally a colored television set. I was already near middle school when that happened. I grew up in a very rural, almost remote, place. Even if we had a television, it did not mean that you could get anything on it. In fact, we had only one channel. That fact is what made the Billy Graham crusades so difficult for a farm boy from western Minnesota. That one channel we got almost always broadcast the Billy Graham crusades and they could go on for a week at a time. Billy Graham, before he died was voted as one of the ten most admired men in America. When Billy Graham started preaching he had a partner, Charles Templeton, who was a better speaker than Graham was. They met at a youth for Christ rally in Chicago and together they founded Youth for Christ International. Together they held revivals all over the United States and toured Europe together. They would alternate preaching nightly, preaching in London, York, Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.What people did not know was that Templeton started to have doubts about his faith. Even though he was preaching to thousands every other night, even filling the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to over 50,000 people for an Easter celebration, internally he was struggling with his faith. Templeton enrolled in Yale University and Seminary to come to grips with his faith. Eventually he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church but left the ministry shortly after and never looked back. What Templeton struggled with was God’s allowance of evil and suffering. Here is one of the quotes he wrote:“If God’s love encompasses the whole world and if everyone who does not believe in him will perish, then surely this question needs to be asked: When, after two thousand years, does God’s plan kick in for the billion people he “so loves” in China? Or for the 840 million in India? Or the millions in Japan, Afghanistan, Siberia, Egypt, Burma – and on and on?”This Sunday we are continuing our study of Romans chapter 8 where Paul is going to talk about God’s allowance of suffering. Why does God allow suffering?

-Pastor Ken