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God's Problem

The Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer

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God's Problem

By: Bart D. Ehrman
Narrated by: L. J. Ganzer
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About this listen

 In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another. Consider these competing explanations for suffering put forth by various biblical writers:

The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin.

The book of Job, which offers two different answers: suffering is a test, and you will be rewarded later for passing it; and suffering is beyond comprehension, since we are just human beings, and God, after all, is God.

Ecclesiastes: suffering is the nature of things, so just accept it.

All apocalyptic texts in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: God will eventually make right all that is wrong with the world.

For renowned Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, the question of why there is so much suffering in the world is more than a haunting thought. Ehrman's inability to reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of real life led the former pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church to reject Christianity.

In God's Problem, Ehrman discusses his personal anguish upon discovering the Bible's contradictory explanations for suffering and invites all people of faith - or no faith - to confront their deepest questions about how God engages the world and each of us.

©2008 Bart D. Ehrman (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers Bible Study Bibles & Bible Study Christianity Religious Studies Spirituality Middle East
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Confirms why I gave up trying to be a Christian 40 years ago. Never made sense or felt real to me and this book confirms what I struggled with then. God needs anger management counselling.

Well deconstructed

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I love Bart's work, but this narrator made me lose the will to go on.

Brilliant book, ghastly narrator

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really interesting, really enlightening and really well written. this book kakes a very good argument.

Perfect

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highly recommended. particularly good for those dissatisfied with the standard christian answers for the problem of suffering and some of the very troubling parts of the old testament. Dr Ehrman is a masterful teacher. provocative, thoughtful and straightforward. I benefited greatly from this book.

absolutely brilliant

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