Hi, new to this forum. There appears to be a wealth of knowledge and materials here so I'm looking forward to digging into it. I was raised in a Congregational church although my Mother was Catholic and my Father the son of a Southern Baptist minister. My experience with the Congregational denomination has been very positive as it's foundation is a supportive community where each church is autonomous, hires it's own minister, is self governing by the members and does not dictate individual theology other than the basics of belief in Jesus, etc.
I have recently moved to a non-denominational church as the Congregational church my daughter and I attended, like many mainstream churches, has become a 'gray church' with few youth. I will be leading a small group Bible study this Wednesday and chose the following topic:
Why does God allow children to starve - answering an atheist's objection to calling Him a loving God or that He exists at all.
I'm am trying to have our group prepared to answer this and some other questions from non-believers. So I've done a lot of reading on this question of material written by atheists and other non-believers. As a result, I've given the group some responses that we cannot use as I've seen how ineffective they are in answering the question for non-believers. That doesn't mean they are incorrect but I'm hoping if we keep digging and challenge ourselves we can find more robust answers as every soul is of equal importance and deserves our best effort.
Here are the answers that we are not allowed to use. Or at least have to take it to the next level with further explanation.
1) We are unable to understand the reasons God does or allows things so we'll have to wait until eternal life to learn the answers. (The non-believers take issue with this because it's a 'trust me' answer and they don't)
2) God expects humans to look out for the least of them and it is humans who are causing these children to starve and not God allowing it. (The non-believer response was how could a all knowing and loving God or a Father allow His children to starve to death with excuse that the babysitters (humans) were supposed to be watching over them.
3) God gave humans free will and there is evil in the world. Both human evil and natural evil (storms, floods, etc.) If God intervened and prevented the children from starving He would in essence be taking away that free will or removing evil from the world. (The non-believer sees the free will argument the same as #2. As parents we give our children free will but we don't stand by while they starve someone. As for evil in the world it becomes a more difficult discussion as the non-believer again cannot does not want to worship a God who allows evil to effect an innocent child.
So, if you have some responses that avoid using the above three rationales I would welcome you sharing them. If not, and you have some responses that include one or all of the three above but also addresses the core objections the non-believer has to those responses I would welcome those too.
Thank you in advance for any insights you can provide. In your responses if you can provide references in the Bible that are supporting even better.
This is an area where I see a lot of churches lacking. Providing solid defensible talking points for Christians to engage in conversation with non-believers. Not just to defend our faith but with the genuine desire to show them the light by answering their genuine questions with a level of depth and understanding of their objections that may cause them to pause and begin investigating Christianity with a more open mind. Thank you.
I have recently moved to a non-denominational church as the Congregational church my daughter and I attended, like many mainstream churches, has become a 'gray church' with few youth. I will be leading a small group Bible study this Wednesday and chose the following topic:
Why does God allow children to starve - answering an atheist's objection to calling Him a loving God or that He exists at all.
I'm am trying to have our group prepared to answer this and some other questions from non-believers. So I've done a lot of reading on this question of material written by atheists and other non-believers. As a result, I've given the group some responses that we cannot use as I've seen how ineffective they are in answering the question for non-believers. That doesn't mean they are incorrect but I'm hoping if we keep digging and challenge ourselves we can find more robust answers as every soul is of equal importance and deserves our best effort.
Here are the answers that we are not allowed to use. Or at least have to take it to the next level with further explanation.
1) We are unable to understand the reasons God does or allows things so we'll have to wait until eternal life to learn the answers. (The non-believers take issue with this because it's a 'trust me' answer and they don't)
2) God expects humans to look out for the least of them and it is humans who are causing these children to starve and not God allowing it. (The non-believer response was how could a all knowing and loving God or a Father allow His children to starve to death with excuse that the babysitters (humans) were supposed to be watching over them.
3) God gave humans free will and there is evil in the world. Both human evil and natural evil (storms, floods, etc.) If God intervened and prevented the children from starving He would in essence be taking away that free will or removing evil from the world. (The non-believer sees the free will argument the same as #2. As parents we give our children free will but we don't stand by while they starve someone. As for evil in the world it becomes a more difficult discussion as the non-believer again cannot does not want to worship a God who allows evil to effect an innocent child.
So, if you have some responses that avoid using the above three rationales I would welcome you sharing them. If not, and you have some responses that include one or all of the three above but also addresses the core objections the non-believer has to those responses I would welcome those too.
Thank you in advance for any insights you can provide. In your responses if you can provide references in the Bible that are supporting even better.
This is an area where I see a lot of churches lacking. Providing solid defensible talking points for Christians to engage in conversation with non-believers. Not just to defend our faith but with the genuine desire to show them the light by answering their genuine questions with a level of depth and understanding of their objections that may cause them to pause and begin investigating Christianity with a more open mind. Thank you.
