God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

This post is not really about suffering. It's about expanding our understanding of God. Aside from the fact that the book of Job is great literature, who among us can't empathize with Job's predicament? He is being tested by God. He has lost his children, his goods, and his health. He's covered in painful sores and he smells. Dogs lick his wounds. His wife is shrieking at him and his supposed friends, those misguided comforters, are accusing him of being a sinner. Job doesn't understand what is happening with his deity. God is behaving in ways that don't make sense. Something is terribly wrong, but what and why? The fact is, Job's friends and accusers were standing on solid ground. They were drawing on God's holy, inerrant, unchanging Word. Deuteronomy 27 and 28 assure the reader that bad things happen to disobedient sinners. Good things happened to the obedient. They had ineffable tradition on their side.  "Ask the former generation and find out wh...

Why does God allow his people to suffer and be persecuted? Psalm 14 offers us hope.  Psalm 14:1 is famous for the line, "Fools say in their hearts, 'There is no God.'" This is also the verse often cited where the Lord looks down on mankind and sees that "there is no one who does good. All have gone astray." Evangelicals use the passage to point out that all mankind is compromised. No one can be good enough to earn their way into heaven, so we must rely on faith. However, the psalmist, allegedly King David according to the attribution headline, is expressing his immense frustration over the constant repression of righteous people by wicked unbelievers. Taken out of context, the verse sounds like all human beings are corrupt by genetic disposition ergo we all need redemption. Well, we are and we do, but that is not what the psalmist is referring to here. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God. 3 All hav...