The Problem of Evil

Some friends let me borrow a book I've been wanting to read for a while, Randy Alcorn's, If God is Good.  I've shared some quotes from his book, Heaven, before, and I'm sure I'll have to do the same as I read his new book.  Poor KJ.  Whenever I read a Randy Alcorn book I usually end up rehashing it for him point by point.  But his writing is just so good. There's my excuse.  Plus, he always quotes my favorite authors and books.  I was greeted on the opening page with the following:

"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes

solemnly as he laid down the paper.  "What

object is served by this circle of misery

and violence and fear?  It must tend to

some end, or else our universe is ruled by 

chance, which is unthinkable.  But what end?

There is the great standing perennial problem 

to which human reason is as far from 

an answer as ever."

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box"

As Alcorn put it, "Even the world's greatest fictional detective couldn't solve the mystery of evil."  After reading the first two chapters I am encouraged to continue reading.  Alcorn writes, "Most of us don't give focused thought to evil and suffering until we experience them.  This forces us to formulate perspective on the fly, at a time when our thinking is muddled and we're exhausted and consumed by pressing issues.  Readers who have 'been there' will attest that it's far better to think through suffering in advance."  As one who has been spared much suffering thus far, I think that he is right.