facethebook: What kind of God allows suffering?

Wars, earthquakes, racial violence and injustice crowd the newspaper headlines. Just about every evening the TV news brings into our homes reports of distress, abuse and killing.

Is God really there? What sort of a God allows such suffering in our world?

The two words most often used to describe God in the Christian tradition are “almighty” and “love”. But these two words also pose a profound problem. If God is almighty why does he seem helpless to stop the suffering? And if he is loving why does he seem so uncaring? 

What insights can the revelation we have of God in the bible and in Jesus Christ help us come to some understanding of these questions?

The video "A Thousand Questions" was used at the beginning of the service

This story, told in poetic language and music, is the fictional account of a young filmmaker who is traveling the world looking at it through her unblinking lens.

She sees the beauty, the pain and destruction, the hope and disappointment, and she passionately asks God: WHY?
  Why is mankind in such a mess?
    Why has God allowed it to happen?
      And what in the world can be done about it?