1. WHEN CHRISTIANS GET IT WRONG When Bad Things Happen

2. Sometimes a Christian’s faith is challenged trying to reconcile a loving God with the suffering they experience as well as see in the world around them.

3. When a six week old child dies, some people offer comfort saying things like God needed a little angel. Many would find it difficult to worship, serve, and trust a God who acts this way. How would you respond to someone who just lost their baby?

4. The book talks about a young soldier who has 5 of his friends die in battle. He asked the question if there’s a loving and compassionate God, then why did his friends die? He asked when someone tells you that there is a God, God loves you, God cares about you, and God has a plan for you, then did that plan factor in when He killed five of my friends?

5. How do you feel or respond when something bad happens to you and your friends or family tell you that it is just a part of God’s plan for your life?

6. Theodicy (theo – God and dike – justice) is the word used when discussing the problem of evil in the world in terms of this question: How can a good and loving God allow, perhaps even cause, the suffering that happens in our world? How would you answer this question, especially if you were talking to a non-believer or someone who had left the church?

7. The purpose of this chapter is not to answer the theodicy question. The author is going to suggest long held assumptions about God’s involvement in the daily affairs of our world, the things Christians say in the face of suffering, may be wrong and actually serve to push people away from God.

8. What does the statement “everything happens for a reason” mean? Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?

9. The author says that Christians really get it wrong when they begin to diagnose the suffering of others as acts of God’s judgment.

10. Sometimes when people are going through a bad time in their lives, well meaning Christians say things to offer comfort but actually have the opposite effect. Some of what is said is based on assumptions about how God works in our world. Many people accept these assumptions without question.

11. When Christians say things like” it must be God’s will”, it assumes that everything happens because God wills it. How do (or would) you feel when you are going through a bad time in your life and someone says it is God’s will?

12. When a Christian says everything happens for a reason”, it assumes that a predetermined plan in place for everyone and that everything that happens is written in the script and serves a purpose we cannot see now. How do (or would) you feel when you are going through a bad time in your life and someone says everything happens for a reason?

13. Some people going through a bad situation believe that God is punishing them. What would you say to a person who believes that?