Perhaps the most difficult question my atheist friends like to ask to challenge my belief in God involves the problem of evil, pain and suffering, and our mortality. Simply stated, the problem is this: how can a benevolent God allow evil to exist and torment us? Why does God allow us to suffer illness, pain, and eventually, death? When I debated Ed Buckner, former president of American Atheists, I felt like that was the most difficult challenge he posed in his argument advocating atheism. It's a very good question, I must admit. I think part of the answer involves free will. We are given the ability to choose or reject God by the fact the evidence for His existence is not direct, but mostly circumstantial in nature. However, there's a little bit more to the answer than simply "free will", in my opinion. Derek Denhard was my friend. We graduated from the same high school, Savannah Christian, in 1978. We weren't exactly what you'd describe as close friends, but every time I ran into Derek after graduation, we always smiled, shook hands, and promised we'd get together soon for dinner. I can't recall ever exchanging harsh words with the guy. Nobody disliked Derek. Sadly, we both took "soon" for granted, I'm afraid. The reason I am writing about Derek in past tense is because recently and quite unexpectedly, he died from a heart attack, at only 54 years old. Younger than me. Derek seemed far too young. He was far too healthy and happy with his life, blessed with a beautiful family and great joy for life. This is typically when my own morbid … [Read more...]