God's Problem Quotes

“There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer

“Faith is a mystery and an experience of the divine in the world, not a solution to a set of problems.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“When I was growing up, my family always said grace before dinner. Often, it was just a little prayer that we kids took turns reciting when we were little: “God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food.” I still think this is a beautiful prayer for its simplicity, in saying just about all that needs to be said. As I got older, the thanks became more sophisticated and the praise more nuanced. But there came a time in my life when I found that I simply could no longer thank God for my food. And the irony is that it was because I came”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“According to this view, to say that the righteous suffer is a bit of nonsense: no one is righteous, so how can the righteous suffer?”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all. For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them. (Eccles. 9:11–12)”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“Salvation required suffering. For Paul, even more than that, it required the horrific suffering of crucifixion.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“almost every economic system known on earth, the problems can be seen—and felt, if you are on the short end of the stick.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“Many of those who were not killed were sent away from the land into exile, and people from other conquered nations were brought into the land, where they intermarried with the remaining local population. This was Assyrian policy: by relocating potentially disruptive people and creating intermarriages, they were able to break down any remnants of nationalism and, in effect, within a couple of generations, force a nation’s people out of existence.20 The nation and peoples of the northern kingdom of Israel disappeared from the face of the earth, never to reappear.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“(As we will see later, the prophets also thought that human beings themselves were often to blame for the suffering of others, as the rich and powerful, for example, oppressed the poor and powerless: it was precisely for such sins that God had determined to punish the nation.)”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“This matter of “what would happen if they refused” is the full extent of the “predictions” made by the prophets.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“Moreover, if the Christian God is the one who suffers, then who is the one who created and sustains this world? Isn’t it the same God? By saying that God suffers with his creation, we seem to have sacrificed the view that God is sovereign over his creation. In other words, once again, God is not really GOD. And we are still left with the problem of suffering: why is it here?”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer

“now I’ve deconverted. And I have to say, the deconversion process was not easy or pleasant. As I pointed out in an earlier chapter, I left the faith kicking and screaming.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer