--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The question, 'How can you believe in a…" description: "\"The question, 'How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?' is therefore very much around at the moment, and it would be surprisi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d9/rowan-williams-8580_believe_the-question-how-can-you-believe-in-a-go_1338566.jpg" --- # The question, 'How can you believe in a God who permits… ![“The question, 'How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?' is therefore very much around at the moment, and it would be surprising if it weren't - indeed it would be wrong if it weren't.” quote by Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d9/rowan-williams-8580_believe_the-question-how-can-you-believe-in-a-go_1338566.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d9/rowan-williams-8580_believe_the-question-how-can-you-believe-in-a-go_1338566.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d9/rowan-williams-8580_believe_the-question-how-can-you-believe-in-a-go_1338566.jpg) > “The question, 'How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?' is therefore very much around at the moment, and it would be surprising if it weren't - indeed it would be wrong if it weren't.” [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Theodicy confronts the paradox of a benevolent deity allowing massive suffering, a central theological debate today. **In simple terms:** Questioning God's role in suffering. Key Takeaway Explore faith and doubt together. Themes theology suffering faith philosophy ethics Mood thoughtful serious Type theological philosophical When to use this quote - personal loss - global tragedies - ethical debates - interfaith dialogues Key Concepts theodicy existential crisis spiritual inquiry Questions to Reflect On - Can suffering coexist with belief in a loving God? - What role does human agency play? A Different Perspective Answers may remain unsatisfactory for many. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Believe God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-god/) [God Permits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-permits-258756/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Permit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/permit/) [Permits Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/permits-suffering-4514989/) [Question Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/question-believe-1010291/) [Scales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scales/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Surprising](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surprising/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [To say that God permits evil in the world may not be pleasing to the ear. But if He is held responsible for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/to-say-that-god-permits-evil-in-the-world-may-not-be-pleasing-to-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [God permits what He hates in order to accomplish something that He loves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-eareckson-tada/god-permits-what-he-hates-in-order-to-accomplish-something-that-he/) [Joni Eareckson Tada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-eareckson-tada/) > [“If we are going to create lives of love, compassion, and purpose, we have the charge to question what we believe. It is only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/regina-cates/if-we-are-going-to-create-lives-of-love-compassion-and-purpose-we/) [Regina Cates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/regina-cates/) > [I am not officially involved now in the direction of the Teen Challenge ministry, but I rejoice that God permits me to be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wilkerson/i-am-not-officially-involved-now-in-the-direction-of-the-teen/) [David Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wilkerson/) > [The thing I have to do as a writer, and that God permits me to do, is that I have to be willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/the-thing-i-have-to-do-as-a-writer-and-that-god-permits-me-to-do-is/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [It is easy enough to say, I do not believe in God. For God permits all things to be said of Him with impunity.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/it-is-easy-enough-to-say-i-do-not-believe-in-god-for-god-permits-all/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [When God permits trials, He also provides comfort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-god-permits-trials-he-also-provides-comfort/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It will seem to many persons very inconsistent with their ideas of the dignity of a spirit that they should appear and act in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-crowe/it-will-seem-to-many-persons-very-inconsistent-with-their-ideas-of/) [Catherine Crowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-crowe/) > [The gracious, eternal God permits the spirit to green and bloom and to bring forth the most marvelous fruit, surpassing anything a tongue can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-tauler/the-gracious-eternal-god-permits-the-spirit-to-green-and-bloom-and-to/) [Johannes Tauler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-tauler/) > [In His boundless love God permits the atheist to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/in-his-boundless-love-god-permits-the-atheist-to-live/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [God permits war in order that men may bear the consequences of their sins as punishment. How clearly this is shown time and time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martyn-lloyd-jones/god-permits-war-in-order-that-men-may-bear-the-consequences-of-their/) [Martyn Lloyd-Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martyn-lloyd-jones/) > [It often happens that we pray God to deliver us from some dangerous temptation, and yet that God does not hear us, but permits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonsus-liguori/it-often-happens-that-we-pray-god-to-deliver-us-from-some-dangerous/) [Alphonsus Liguori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonsus-liguori/) > [Remember, love is all a woman has to give, but it is the only thing which God permits us to carry beyond the grave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-dreiser/remember-love-is-all-a-woman-has-to-give-but-it-is-the-only-thing/) [Theodore Dreiser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-dreiser/) > [When God permits trials, He also provides comfort. God is always with you, everything will work out fine. Keep the faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-god-permits-trials-he-also-provides-comfort-god-is-always-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm just telling you, God permits things in our lives sometimes for reasons that we do not understand yet because of the spiritual level…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-meyer/i-m-just-telling-you-god-permits-things-in-our-lives-sometimes-for/) [Joyce Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-meyer/) ## More by Rowan Williams > [A flourishing, morally credible media is a vital component in the maintenance of genuinely public talk, argument about common good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/a-flourishing-morally-credible-media-is-a-vital-component-in-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Religion has always been a matter of community building; a matter of building precisely those relations of compassion, fellow feeling and - I dare…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/religion-has-always-been-a-matter-of-community-building-a-matter-of/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [“By affirming that all 'meaning,' every assertion about the significance of life and reality, must be judged by reference to a brief succession of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/by-affirming-that-all-meaning-every-assertion-about-the-significance/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [I have, by God’s grace, learned as a member of the Christian community what is the nature of God’s mercy, which does not leave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/i-have-by-god-s-grace-learned-as-a-member-of-the-christian-community/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [We can at least see that the question is asked, and asked on the basis of a clear recognition that there is no way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/we-can-at-least-see-that-the-question-is-asked-and-asked-on-the-basis/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [In sharp contrast to the idea that this stage of life is enviable, we hear high levels of anxiety about getting old, anxieties about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/in-sharp-contrast-to-the-idea-that-this-stage-of-life-is-enviable-we/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Loneliness has little to do with what we do or where we do it, whether we're married or unmarried, optimists or pessimists, heterosexual or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/loneliness-has-little-to-do-with-what-we-do-or-where-we-do-it-whether/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [At the end of the Middle Ages, nobody would ever have expected the monasteries to vanish from the scene within a generation - yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/at-the-end-of-the-middle-ages-nobody-would-ever-have-expected-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [We discover too late that we have turned a blind eye to the extinction of a species that is essential to the balance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/we-discover-too-late-that-we-have-turned-a-blind-eye-to-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Serving democracy and nourishing the common good is, for the media, something that requires not only attacking corrupt secrecies in a society, but also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/serving-democracy-and-nourishing-the-common-good-is-for-the-media/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [I do feel that federation, loose parallel processes, are less than we've got, less than we could have and, in the very long run,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/i-do-feel-that-federation-loose-parallel-processes-are-less-than-we/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Quite a lot of our contemporary culture is actually shot through with a resentment of limits and the passage of time, anger at what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/quite-a-lot-of-our-contemporary-culture-is-actually-shot-through-with/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Whether something is old-fashioned or not doesn't resolve the question of whether it's true or not. 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He's going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-osteen/resist-discouragement-by-speaking-his-word-over-your-future-keep/) [Joel Osteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-osteen/) > [I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-can-t-believe-that-i-m-sitting-in-meetings-with-steven-spielberg/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [There is no such word as item girl in the dictionary. People have created this word and I don't believe that I am an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shefali-zariwala/there-is-no-such-word-as-item-girl-in-the-dictionary-people-have/) [Shefali Zariwala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shefali-zariwala/) > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-understand-that-it-s-the-music-that-keeps-me-alive-that-s-my/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [I don't really like too much credit. I know nobody's going to believe this, but I'd rather be able to score goals and nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bradley-wright-phillips/i-don-t-really-like-too-much-credit-i-know-nobody-s-going-to-believe/) [Bradley Wright-Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bradley-wright-phillips/) > [“What I have a problem with is not so much religion or god, but faith. When you say you believe something in your heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penn-jillette/what-i-have-a-problem-with-is-not-so-much-religion-or-god-but-faith/) [Penn Jillette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penn-jillette/) > [Bush reiterated his stand to conservatives opposing his decision on stem cell research. 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