Sovereign Over Sickness

Mark 5:21-43 · 2024-08-25 · Jason Wolin · Gospel of Mark | Cross and Crown

Mark 5:21-43 · Suffering. Sovereign Over Sickness — sermon from Cypress Bible Church on BibleSlides.

Sovereign Over Sickness Download discussion questions (PDF) Slideshow for this message can be viewed HERE Introduction When we try to pursue, there are two types of arguments. There are strong logical arguments and then there are strong emotional arguments. For example, a person make make an argument for why the US should stop funding the war in Ukraine or Gaza. And they could show a picture of a wounded child, a child whose limbs had been destroyed in a bombing. And the basic argument is that if we don’t stop this war, then more of this innocent suffering will continue. That’s an example of a very strong emotional argument but extremely weak logical argument because we all know that innocent casualties are are result of any war. That’s a given. But it hasn’t even begun to answer the question whether the war is worth fighting. Most persuasive arguments are primarily emotional. For example, what is the most persuasive argument against the existence of God. Why is there evil in the world? Right? It’s important to point out that while this is a very strong EMOTIONAL argument this is a very weak LOGICAL argument. To demonstrate it, let’s setup the syllogism for the problem of evil: So the conclusions of logical arguments are valid if and only if the premises are valid. That’s how logic works. So are the premises valid? Let’s analyze them individually. Anyone want to claim that the world is actually filled with good. No. This is clearly true. Universal agreement. What about premise one? Could God have created a world where evil did not exist. We assume so. We assume his power would allow for that. So the only premise left to attack is the second. A God who is all-good would want to prevent evil in the world. The way to show that this premise is false is by pointing out that it can be true that God wants to prevent evil in the world but not at the cost of all other things. If it could be demonstrated that there is something more important than the elimination of suffering and God still be good then the argument falls apart. Let’s use this same sort of LOGIC at work in a different context. Let’s see if you can see the logical falacy here: You can see here that while it is true that good parents are able to give candy and they often want to give candy, that’s not the highest goal. And so not giving the kids candy is not evidence that they are not good or don’t exist. Here’s really the problem of evil in a sentence – because I can’t think of any good reasons for suffering, therefore, there can’t be any good reasons. That’s horrible logic. Our emotions failed logic class. God’s highest goal is not to give us non-stop uninterrupted happiness and freedom from the influences of evil. There are other goals that are greater. But what do we do about the emotio…

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