The story of Jane Marczewski (aka Nightbirde) is special because it portrays a person who is experiencing immense tragedy on a scale many of us have not known. What makes it special is that she is managing her tragedy in ways not only remarkable but inspirational. Her response is simply,Continue Reading
Tish Harrison Warren offers important insight into what appears to be an inescapable predicament. Here’s the issue: In the throes of real pain and genuine suffering, we struggle to make sense out of the goodness of God (assuming there is some sense to be made under such pressure). This predicament favors no one and applies to everyone, whether …Continue Reading
In his classic Confessions (Book X), Augustine prays, “Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou willest.”
Some say that God never demands more than we can handle, but is this true? You may say,
“Of course it’s true! After all, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13: ‘No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.’”
But note: the text does not say God give will never give us more than we are able to handle. It says he does not give us more than we can handle ON OUR OWN. How else will our need for God manifest unless we are at our wits end?
My experience has shown me time and again that …Continue Reading
The most well-known prayer of all, the Lord’s Prayer (from Matthew 6:9-13), has been such an inspiration to me over the years. As I pray through it each day, I’ve finally written down some reflections and decided to compile them here. Nothing technical or complicated. Just a few thoughts andContinue Reading
When John W. Cooper’s Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate came out I was not only intrigued but sold on his views of what it means to be an integrated human, body and soul. Much later J. P. Moreland’s The Soul: How We Know It’sContinue Reading
As hard as it is to accept, I propose that my cognitive and moral equipment is handicapped and my interpretive skills are inadequate when it comes to making sense out of evil and suffering. True “we know in part” (1 Cor 13:9), but the pain of not knowing why GodContinue Reading
I’m almost finished with Eleonore Stump‘s most excellent Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering. As thoughtful as it is thorough, she takes the characters of Job, Abraham, Sampson, and Mary of Bethany from the biblical narratives and shows that the benefits received because of suffering are greater than theContinue Reading
Having taught a class on suffering and evil recently, I’m always looking to expand my knowledge on topics that I will likely teach again. When I learned Michael Gorman recommended Laura Reece Hogan’s book, I Live, No Longer I: Paul’s Spirituality of Suffering, Transformation, and Joy, I quickly requested a review copy from theContinue Reading
Holy Scripture (and I dare say all of life) confronts us with two realities: 1) the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God and 2) the presence of suffering and evil. Perhaps the most perplexing difficulty Christians face is embracing both. This is not just an intellectual puzzle to be solved.Continue Reading
Being transformed by God’s grace into the image of God’s Son is the destiny of God’s people. But what does God say about the journey? On the one hand Scripture encourages all believers to rest in the hope that “he who began a good work in you will carry itContinue Reading
Scot McKnight has a brief post pointing to Larry Hurtado‘s newest release Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World. There he highlights distinctions between political, cultural, and religious identities in the first century world and notes that a Christian religious identity was unique among them all.Continue Reading
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