Believing in a God Who Allows Evil
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
Ascension
4.9 • 7.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2020
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It may sound foolish to believe in a God who allows evil, tragedy, suffering, and disasters. But God never promised to rid the world of these things. He promised us hope:
“and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
At some point we are going to experience heartbreak, loss, and suffering. Anyone who thought having faith in God would take away those things in life had the wrong idea of who God is.
Fr. Mike says he has never been disappointed in God, because he knows what promises God did make. God is faithful. He will never break his promises, but he never promised that you would not experience grief. He did promise that in the midst of the pain he will be there. In being there, he will help you to love the giver of peace more than the gift of peace.
Discipleship is a daily cross. God promised trouble, not peace. He encouraged us to take heart in the midst of that trouble, and that’s how we grow stronger and holier.
There will be floods and fire and sickness and tragedy. Turn to the one who promised he will be there with you through it all to help carry you through it. When we feel we have been let down by God the most, those are the times when trust in him means the most.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | God is faithful to what He's promised, and He never promised you would not experience grief. |
| 0:15.4 | Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents. |
| 0:18.4 | So I'd given a talk at a stupid Phil conference. |
| 0:20.6 | It was one of the only conferences in the summer because of COVID and everything being locked down. |
| 0:25.1 | So these livestreamed it and whatnot. |
| 0:26.8 | And in the middle of that conference, I give a talk and it was entitled, |
| 0:31.3 | Hope Does Not Disappoint. |
| 0:33.0 | It comes from St Paul's Letter to the Romans, where it talks about our afflictions, |
| 0:36.8 | a produced character, a character produces hope and hope does not disappoint. |
| 0:40.3 | And in the midst of that, I had to make a confession, and I'll make this confession to you as well. |
| 0:45.2 | I think, to the best of my memory and my awareness of self, I have never been disappointed in God. |
| 0:53.3 | No, that doesn't mean I've never been disappointed. |
| 0:56.0 | That doesn't mean I go sure Father because He gives you everything you want. |
| 0:59.0 | Like, no, no, that's not the case. |
| 1:01.0 | I have been massively disappointed in my life. |
| 1:03.4 | I have, yeah, just like every other human being, I've experienced the heartbreak of life and loss and suffering. |
| 1:11.1 | Let me clarify this one. |
| 1:12.1 | There are many people watching this, listening to this, who have suffered far greater than I have. |
| 1:16.6 | And so, you have greater disappointments. |
| 1:19.2 | You've had greater wounds and greater losses than I have. |
| 1:22.6 | So I'm not like saying, like, I'm in the race for like winning that. |
| 1:26.6 | I have experienced the suffering of life, like everyone has. |
... |
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