From "So That" to "And Yet:" A Theology of Suffering

Voxology

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is God's will for humanity? Is it found in Genesis 1 and 2, or does Genesis 3 reveal something deeper? In this episode, Mike and Tim tackle "The Mystery of God's Will" by unpacking Genesis 3 and exploring how God's ideal will contrasts with the realities of a fallen world. With a focus on themes like cruciformity, faith, and navigating cultural challenges, the conversation dives into questions about suffering, the role of ideologies, and how theology shapes our understanding of justice and faith.

The hosts discuss how God's will operates within suboptimal conditions, the complexities of prayer, and how Jesus challenges simplistic moral frameworks. They also examine the role of the church in society and the intersections of faith and politics, offering insights on how Christians can engage with cultural issues while holding space for mystery, tension, and humility in their faith.

Join the conversation as they challenge common assumptions about God's nature, human suffering, and the role of theology in understanding our world. Engage with the discussion, share your thoughts, and send in your questions—we'd love to hear from you as we pursue these important conversations together!

CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Tim's Punk Rock Show 01:40 - Corrections 03:20 - Understanding God's Will 06:40 - This Week in Christian Nationalism 16:04 - Women's Voting Rights Debate 17:14 - Final Thoughts on Ideologies 21:31 - Ideologies Explored 23:20 - Changing Ideological Systems 27:10 - Combating Ideological Challenges 34:45 - Complexity and Mystery of Faith 36:38 - Seeking the Truth 42:10 - What is the Truth? 42:53 - Intro 45:50 - Romans 8:28 Explained 51:10 - Moral Calculus in Christianity 54:00 - Insights from John 9 59:56 - God's Plan for Humanity 1:02:48 - God's Will Revisited 1:05:30 - How Prayer Works 1:06:36 - The Problem of Evil 1:07:31 - Understanding God's Nature 1:09:40 - OUTRO 1:11:32 - Outro

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

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Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody.
0:11.0	Mike Erie, Tim Stafford, and Seth Erie wants to say hello from school.
0:15.2	So he said, right when I was dropping him off this morning, tell Voxology hi.
0:20.0	He didn't say it like that, but that's what he meant.
0:21.9	And so hello, Voxology, on behalf of Seth Eerie, who, because we have Christmas decorations up,
0:27.9	we're the first week in November kind of people, has been announcing that Christmas is any day now.
0:33.9	Any day now.
0:34.7	And yeah, exactly right.
0:36.9	Nope, he's not wrong.
0:37.9	40 days as of today, I think, according to my little app.
0:42.9	And the reason Seth Erie, you know, Christmas matters is that his birthday is the next day.
0:49.5	And, and I mean, I'm not going to lie.
0:53.3	There are people that are bummed because they have a Christmas
0:56.8	birthday. Not this guy. This guy loves it. It's a marker. He gets loads of presents over the
1:06.4	course of two days. And he's very happy about that and i want you to know we probably spent the
1:11.3	last eight months going over his christmas list so yep i've got it down cold floppy it's good to prep
1:19.6	shoe in shirts plastic straws okay a ukulelele an electric guitar with an amp um a saxophone oh my yeah yeah so yeah we got our hands full
1:37.1	we got our hands full with that one um tim stafford big news with tim stafford i got a
1:43.0	i received from our mutual friend of video of a punk rock show in Northern California.
1:52.5	What do we call that, dad punk?
1:54.0	Is that what we call it?
1:55.8	The punk dads.
	...

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