Month: November 2014

Don: Evil seems to be actualized by death and, perhaps even more, by pain. Not just physical pain, but emotional, psychological, economic, and conceivably spiritual pain. As a doctor I deal with patients’ pain every day. Diagnosis is based to a large extent on defining their pain—its location, type, severity, and onset. When blood flow…

Don: Nothing challenges faith more than the problem of evil. The argument goes: “If god exists and is all-good and all-powerful, then why did he allow evil into the world to begin with? And since it is here, why does he not eradicate it? Since we do see evil, either god must be not all-good…

Don: In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said (Matthew 5:20): “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus was alluding to the accepted definition of righteousness (which is essentially synonymous with goodness) as the keeping of the…

Don: We are asking: What is mystery? What can we know about it? Can we develop a theology of mystery? Is it possible to lead a satisfactory spiritual life alongside unexplained mystery? Why is there a human compulsion to have mystery explained—especially, the mystery about god? The need to have mystery explained seems to be…

Don: It is odd that a book that Christians affirm has the answers to life discusses and elaborates on many “mysteries.” It confirms my thesis that the bible is more a book of questions than answers. In the New Testament, the issue of mystery is raised over and over again, first by Jesus and then…