When Bad Things Happen to Good People

play show:

Date: 1 May 2008

Suffering: God's Problem

It’s one of the world’s oldest questions: If God is all powerful, and loving and caring, why does God permit suffering? Religious scholar Bart Ehrman reviewed the major biblical answers to this question, and found them all wanting. Among the most famous Biblical passages on the subject is the story of Job, an innocent man inflicted with great misfortune (depicted in a painting by William Blake, left.)

Bart Ehrman, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question: Why We Suffer

Belief in the Face of Grief

Starts at 23:32

As pastor to some 800 Virginia Tech students, Matt Rogers ministered to students in the wake of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, in April 2007. He says that this deep sorrow didn't shake his faith - even when God's presence was hard to discern. In his new book, Rogers reflects on his community's grief and looks for ways to experience God in the hardest of times.

Rev. Matt Rogers, co-pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship at Virginia Tech, author of When Answers Aren’t Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn’t

The 1936 Berlin Olympics

Starts at 32:28

This year’s Olympic Games, held in a country criticized for its human rights record, has echoes in the games some 70 years ago, when Nazi-controlled Berlin played host to the 1936 Olympics. Then as now, countries were divided over whether participating in the games meant condoning repressive policies.

Susan Bachrach, historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and curator of the exhibit, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936

Funny...AND Christian? Yes!

Starts at 42:48

Don’t be fooled by his last name ---Brad Stine is a Christian comedian, and you won’t find him drinking a latte, ordering vegan, or voting Democrat. We caught up with the saucy southerner to talk about his new DVD, Wussification, and why he thinks evangelicals get a bad rap.