I'll never forget my visit to Haiti two years ago--the dusty streets, the car wrecks everywhere, the UN tanks and armed soldiers stationed on every corner. I'll never forget seeing whole families living in half-built bessar-brick shanty homes, the scores of people lining the main roads of Port-au-Prince selling old shoes, mattresses or little bags of water to earn an income. I'll never forget some of the buildings we walked through, looking at the crumbling concrete and brick work and wondering if they were safe. I'll never forget the half-clothed children, the street dogs, the 80 percent unemployment rate, the little boy telling me how thankful he and his family were to find one potato to eat one night.

So when a magnitude-7 earthquake hit Haiti just a few weeks ago, killing an estimated 170,000 people, displacing millions more, leaving thousands hungry, leaving orphans without parent or even carers, and resulting in some of them now becoming vulnerable to human trafficking... like you, I could only hang my head and say 'God... why Haiti?'

 

Such suffering leads us the greatest faith question: why does a good and all-powerful God allow suffering in the world? Renowned theologian John Stackhouse helps us discover some answers. 

 

Tell us your thoughts on this.

 

* Can God be trusted?

* Why does God allow suffering?

* Why do you think he allows things like the Haiti earthquake to occur?

* What do such disasters show about the character of God, and where can we find God's love in the midst of such tragedy?