Bart D. Ehrman God's Problem

In response to Fresh Air's Feb. 19, 2008 segment with Dr. Bart Ehrman, I post this as there may be some who may have been misled with the argument presented on suffering. During the episode, the discussion simply glosses over 'freewill' and doesn't get to the root of original sin as recorded in Genesis 3. Without that as a foundation it is easy to make a weak argument on the origin of suffering and say it's God's problem. To the contrary, including this text would help show that Eve and Adam brought suffering on themselves and bestowed it on their descendants.

Without mentioning our original temporal parents, the origin of suffering isn't addressed. This is not to say that Ehrman doesn't reflect on the Bible. His comments during the segment are peppered with references to the prophets, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc. but interestingly avoids Gen. 3 which would soundly defeat the remainder of his statements on this episode.

Whether Ehrman believes his statements to the degree that he implies on the episode or whether he simply makes the statements to incite debate and the purchase of his book, I'm not sure. Below is the text of the email that I sent to Dr. Ehrman to which I didn't receive much of an argument to the contrary.

I didn't hear any mention of what happened in the Garden of Eden which offers the origin of man's suffering (i.e. Genesis chapter 3). With that in mind, it offers a reference point for suffering being a curse on the planet and all humanity. A similar comparison can be made to an infant touching a hot iron or burner. The scar or burn from that incident may mar their skin for the rest of that individual's life just as the fall of man and subsequent curse has marred the remainder of life on this planet with suffering.

Similarly, during the discussion with Ms. Gross about Job there was no mention of how everything was restored to Job and many times more. With the entirety of Job's life in mind (i.e. initial wealth, loss, restoration of wealth), we can view suffering from a vantage point where whether we suffer or not won't change our opinion of God. Job's wife challenged him to curse God and die, but his opinion of God wasn't dependent on physical wealth or material blessing as Satan suggested.