“The Christian worldview is a good answer at the end of a very difficult question.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Dig & Delve, Ottawa’s largest annual apologetics conference, set its sights on one of life’s hardest questions. “Life Hurts. God?” is the tagline for this year’s conference, running November 2 and 3 at the Bronson Centre.

“The question of pain and suffering is one of the primary questions that human beings ask when they consider their relationship with God,” explains Dan Byrne, a member of the Dig & Delve steering committee. “How can there be a good god when there is so much pain and evil in the world?”

Byrne says people examine the question of suffering two ways: philosophically, but also through their own deep, emotional experiences with the pain and evil of the world. The conference aims to address it from both angles.

“We brought in a philosopher, a theologian, and an apologist to address the intellectual aspects of the question. But what will set this conference apart from Dig & Delve conferences in the past is the local speakers sharing their stories. The faith that exists just in the pews of this city left me marveling at God’s goodness and His ability to sustain people.”

Dig & Delve aims to engage both Christians and non-Christians, in honouring ways, with life’s deeper questions. Byrne says the organizers aim for at least 20 percent of conference participants to be unchurched.

“This conference will be a good opportunity to think a little deeper about things.”

“We think it will be a great conference to invite friends to, especially from different faith backgrounds. For people who are not Christians, evil is often a question that has been a barrier that has pushed them further away or kept them from coming to God.”

Conference organizers recognize that there is not one Christian perspective or response to suffering. They chose speakers to help explore the diversity of those views.

“It shapes the Christian worldview differently depending on the nature of which Christian worldview you take,” explains Markus Marshall, who manages Dig & Delve’s social media presence. “This conference will be a good opportunity to think a little deeper about things. I think the Christian worldview [in all of its expressions] is a good answer at the end of a very difficult question.”

While the Bible is clear that there will be suffering in this life, one unique aspect of the Christian faith is the belief that God joined humanity in our sufferings through the person of Jesus, says Byrne. That belief is also ultimately what conference speaker Alycia Wood, of Ravi Zacharias International Ministry, points to as evidence that the Christian god is loving and good.

“I think what Christianity offers is a god who is willing to enter into our suffering,” she says. “I think the greatest evidence of God being good or loving is the cross. God sacrificing Himself for people is the action of a god who loves not just in word but in deed. By God showing Himself to humanity in that way, we see Him not just as loving, but as perfect. He showed love in the greatest possible way; through self-sacrifice.”

Visit Dig & Delve for more information or to register for the conference.