“It provides clear and honest answers to the age-old question of pain and suffering.”

Kim Jin-hyeok (author of "Pure Christian"), Kim Hye-ryeong (author of "Cheerfully Until Death")
Recommended by Christopher Wright (author of "God's Mission") and others

This book is about suffering, a long-standing problem in Christianity.
This book, based on the personal experience of losing his wife, who had cancer, and the communal experience of the civil war in his home country, Sri Lanka, does not trivialize the issue of suffering.
The author draws attention to the biblical tradition of the Psalms of Lament and the Book of Job, and to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, C.
S. Lewis, Kitamori Kazo, and other scholars and literature explore suffering from a multifaceted Christian perspective.
This book, painstakingly written by “one of Asia’s foremost Christian thinkers,” will serve as a balanced and educational resource in today’s world, where misunderstandings and distortions about suffering are rampant.

This is a masterpiece that combines the author's insight, extensive knowledge, and extensive reading.
Life cannot be properly understood without the theme of suffering and death.
This book delves into this very topic from a variety of angles, including theology, science, history, and philosophy.
In this respect, this book can be said to be a must-read for those who are serious about studying life.

In our suffering, we doubt, become discouraged, frustrated, angry, argue with God, and even cling desperately to Him.
When we meet God in the midst of that confusion and realize His will, we will find our laughter again.
This book is not simply a theological discussion; it offers practical comfort and direction to those seeking God in their suffering.
Through this book, readers will be able to reflect on their own suffering and find new hope in God's presence.
--- From the Translator's Preface

I wrestled with this question that kept coming up.
Where was God when the innocent suffered? And why did vaccines and antibiotics arrive so late in human history? What relevance do traditional Christian doctrines like "God's sovereignty" and "God's providence" have in this situation?

Even in times of pain and confusion, if we know that we are loved unconditionally by God, we can freely question Him, challenge Him, and even express anger.
The security of being loved allows us to sigh and gives us the courage to sigh.
--- From “Chapter 1, O Lord, Why Do You Hide Your Face?”

The Book of Job does not ask us to be patient.
Job is a rebellious believer.
He shouts to the heavens his honesty and innocence.
His righteous anger is directed not only at his own suffering but also at a God who appears indifferent to the suffering of all innocent victims.
He accuses God of being arbitrary in his treatment of humans.

Job's friends did not understand (and modern readers do not realize) that Job's questions were not intellectual inquiries.
The question Job faces is one of existential and relational crisis, not a theological one (the "problem of evil").
The moral order within the created world that he had taken for granted had collapsed.
Why had God, his lifelong protector, now become his enemy? Job saw that the trustworthiness of God, upon whom he could rely, was now in jeopardy.
And Job, troubled by these questions, which his friends consider utterly blasphemous, demands a personal answer from God.
--- From "Chapter 2: Job and the Confusion of Theology"

God is revealed not as one who inflicts suffering or avoids suffering, but as one who suffers.
But if Bonhoeffer's famous phrase, quoted earlier in this chapter, "Only a suffering God can help us," is true, then that God must freely choose to suffer with us, yet not be overwhelmed or defeated by suffering.
For God, suffering cannot be an end in itself.
However, God accepts suffering as a means to achieve a purpose in the relationship between creation and the created world.
Therefore, the resurrection of Christ and the 'new creation' that it initiated are inextricably linked to the crucifixion.

There is power in the story of God suffering.
Even if our suffering seems meaningless, we can juxtapose our stories of loss with God's story and see if they might have some meaning.
We can wait to see how the dire situation will be resolved and how God will bring good out of tragedy.
--- From "Chapter 3 God's Tears"

Theologians and philosophers have traditionally used the term "natural evil" to refer to (1) in biology, the presence of suffering, death, and extinction in the animal kingdom, and (2) in geophysics, climatic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes that cause large-scale destruction to humans and animals.
This chapter will attempt to argue that this use of the term is seriously misleading.
--- From “Chapter 4 God and Natural Evil”

It has been said that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but the desire for certainty.
That's right.

He chose to be God for us.
This means that God allows us to be influenced and allows suffering and evil to come upon Him.
But God is not overwhelmed by them.
This also means that God's existence has a true future enriched by the responses it receives from His creation.

--- From "Chapter 5 Future Tense"