Part of the problem here is the assumption that God is "everlasting and
unchanging" in the sense of being completely immutable & impassible. On the contrary,
God's eternal & unchanging love & purpose for creation is shown precisely in the fact
that the "Word became flesh" (i.e., did not simply dress up in flesh) & suffered & died
on Calvary. "The One who lives forever has fallen prey to death" (Barth). This is not
a neat "solution" to the problems of evil & suffering but it casts those problems in a
very different light from that of common-sense theism which has to picture a timeless
deity moving creatures through situations which bring suffering & death upon them but
who can in no way share in that suffering or be moved by it.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/