Engaging God's Problem -- Disagreements with Chapter Five

Chapter 5 of God's Problem by Bart Ehrman's has some problems chief among them is his assumption that god does not intervene in human affairs.

1. Bart makes the statement that if God heals -- why does he not do so today -- heard that before and my response is he does -- I have grown up in Pentecostal churches -- when a person says they have cancer and that the doctors (more than one) have confirmed it and then that person is prayed for and they come back and don't have cancer -- confirmed by the same doctors you have to think something is up. It sounds like Hume when I listen to him on this. "I don't believe in miracles because I don't want to believe in miracles". In addition, he has this -- "God should heal all the time without conditions" attitude.


2. Ehrman talks about being committed to truth and integrity -- but if their is no God to be accountable to about truth then what difference does it make?


3. I think Bart over thinks Grace in pages 128-129 -- he talks about how if a person thanks God for food isn't that person condemning God for not feeding others. Here's the thing -- famine often happens because of short sighted agricultural methods or deliberate starvation of human beings by others -- either through malicious intent or apathy. He quotes the United Nations about the 850million starving stats as well. Yes, I am sure that the UN does not have ulterior motives in saying such things seeing they use such numbers to get more aid from other nations.

4. Why is it that when people want to blame God for everything, they always say that the problem in question is too big for humans to handle? Maybe their just looking for a personal excuse?

5. Says government should do more, quite frankly they cause more problems than they solve.

6. Assumes God always gets his way -- if God's will and his kingdom are a done deal and cannot be messed up than why in Jesus instructions to us in prayer does he ask us to pray that God's will be done and His kingdom come. Seems a strange thing to pray for if both just are and cannot be messed with -- another over reliance on classical theology.

7. Pharoah's hardened heart -- it is not hard to push a person a little harder when they have already demonstrated hardness in the first place. I would also point out for the record that the Egyptians were holding the Israelis as slaves. On the one hand he condemns Solomon for such a practice but here he is saying poor Egyptians forced to be victims of plagues when they are doing the same thing. The Egyptians were not nice people and the people who disobeyed the Passover had some control if they only believed enough to obey.

8. Going back to David's child -- David's own words kind of put this in perspective -- "I will see him again" The fact is what is better -- to live here suffering the stigma of sin and being a bastard child or Paradise. Here is Ehrman's saying poor child, but then turning about and say to be on this planet is suffering -- anybody else see the contradiction.

9. Bart assumes that Paul influence how the gospels are written -- he has no evidence of this other than more higher critical theories but were going to proceed as if it is fact anyway.

10. The Bible does not claim all suffering is redemptive like Ehrman attests on p. 155 (bottom). in fact I would say that sinful suffering is many times senseless and the Bible says this as well.

Next: Agreements with Chapter Six

Why I Am A Pentecostal

Pentecostal -- of, relating to, or constituting any of various Christian religious bodies that emphasize individual experiences of grace, spiritual gifts (as glossolalia and faith healing), expressive worship, and evangelism --Webster

I guess this is the hardest one for me these days, but I still hold to it. I grew up in the Assemblies of God and became ordained in them as well. The difficulty I have now is the fact that I no longer believe in the restrictive nature of Pentecostal theology.

What I mean is that once Pentecostals formulated doctrinal statement, true creative thought about the Holy Spirit and how HE works was lost. The Holy Spirit in my opinion became boxed up and unable to do anything except by the Pentecostal script of how HE works.

1. The Holy Spirit only baptizes people in a certain way and only with certain signs.

2. The Gifts of the Spirit work only this way and not any others.

Then there is the opposite extreme of letting anything go without thought to the Bible.

3."I don't care what the Bible says I know what the Spirit is saying to me"

4. The massive violation of good sense in interpretation of Scripture.


I am a Pentecostal in the sense of what it was like in the early days before Pentecostal denominations.

1. Freethinking about the Holy Spirit with a heavy dose common sense Biblical interpretation.

2. Open to the possibilities but closed to anything outside of Scripture.

This is where I like to be and what Pentecostalism lost when it lost sense and reality. I can only do my part and believe as a Pentecostal believes without losing my way in the mucky muck of twofold nonsense -- strict and closed doctrinal understanding and experiential theology with no Biblical backing.

Why, because I believe in the power of God to do the impossible and to act today in the world. I believe that God has promised healing and power for the believe to minister in this world. I believe in joyful and expressive worship. That's why I am a Pentecostal.