Why do non-Christians suffer?

Life

As a Christian, suffering can be awful. We cry out to God from the depths of our pain. Yet what if you had no God to cry out to? What if you weren’t sure that there was anyone listening to your pleas? What if you didn’t know for certain that there was someone out there with things under control? You may suspect that a higher being exists, but they seem to be either too weak or too evil to stop the pain and suffering you see around you. What if you had no guarantee that in the end everything would be set right? This is how non-Christians have to endure suffering. (more…)

The servant’s paradox: Part III

Life

The last of Al Stewart’s columns exploring the tensions in Christian life and ministry.

Here’s one more paradox for those living to serve Christ and to grow his kingdom. It’s one which has been taxing my mind, because it goes to the heart of what Christians believe. We live in the time that gets called ‘the now and not yet’—the period of history after Christ’s resurrection and ascension, but before the revelation of his lordship to the entire universe. It’s an in-between time, so we have the blessings and securities of the eternal age, and yet we don’t see them all, experience them all, know them entirely or enjoy them fully.

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