Should We Fire God? - Jim Pace

Let’s face it. From our perspective it doesn’t look like the all-powerful, all-good God we serve is always up on things. The Bible says He’ll take care of us and that He’s in control and yet if we turn on the news we see just how unsafe things can be. Why do bad things happen to good people? Does he even hear my prayers? Can He do anything about them? We aren’t the first generation to struggle with this. King David felt the same:

² Now hear my prayer;
      listen to my cry.
 ³ For my life is full of troubles,
      and death draws near.
 ⁴ I am as good as dead,
      like a strong man with no strength left.
 ⁵ They have left me among the dead,
      and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
   I am forgotten,
      cut off from your care. – Psa. 88:2-5

So what are we supposed to do? Jim Pace asks the question very bluntly in the title of his book Should We Fire God? Jim is a graduate of Virginia Tech, copastor of New Life Christian Church at Virginia Tech. On April 16, 2007, Jim Pace had hundreds of people asking him that question when a gunman unleashed his fury on the campus. He was thrust into spotlight to answer the question, every TV reporter wanted to interview him. They expected him to have an answer. Should God be fired?

In a book that his part theological discussion, part autobiography, Pace shares how that one day changed his life and formed his theological response to this question. With a conversational tone, Pace backs up Biblical principles with stories from a practical reality.

Pace suggests that isn’t always a bad thing, and that we can’t always see the reason God has for letting us go through what he does. He suggests that out of God’s love, He’s given mankind the ability to mess things up, but then He’ll walk through those tough times with us. In the end, Pace concludes that God should not be fired, because He’s doing exactly what He should be doing—allowing us to have the freedom to do evil, then being brokenhearted and walking with us through the pain.

For those interested in a layperson level discussion of the problem of evil, this is a good add to the collection. Pace reminds us of all that God has done, and reminds us of all He’s promised to do. And when that happens, all pain from this earth fades.

Should We Fire God? - Jim Pace