foy vance : gabriel and the vagabond
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new look
Voiced Thoughts has a new look! I’ve been meaning to try a new theme for a while now. Like it? Don’t like it? Let me know if you see any bugs, too.
I like it because it’s “cleaner” than the last theme.
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suffering : more exploration
I said something at my last small group meeting that really made me think – how big headed is that?! – but for the life of me, I cannot remember the precise wording I used. (That’s the way it is with me: I remember well sentiments, ideas, feelings, abstract things; I remember poorly phrases verbatim, names, etc.) It was something about the glory of God, His will, peace and the fact that it all doesn’t mean a life without suffering.
Suffering… there’s that subject again. When one mentions suffering in Christian circles, the same question always comes up: why does an all-loving God allow suffering to happen? Lately, I’ve been thinking that the asking of this question belies a misunderstanding as to the state of play in the world at the present time. (Forgive me if I’m just trying to be smart… I don’t mean to be. Equally, forgive me if I touch any nerves… I don’t mean to be insensitive; rather, I just want to explore my own thoughts.)
The said question presupposes that suffering is not meant to happen (amongst other presuppositions). Based on this presupposition, it is right to draw the conclusions that God is either powerless to prevent suffering (and therefore not God) or is unwilling to help us in our suffering (and therefore not all-loving). In my mind (and this is me where I am on my spiritual journey), I suggest that the presupposition itself is not true.
So am I saying that God means for suffering to happen? Well, not quite… actually, it’s all our fault. Way back in Genesis 3 we read of the punishment justly pronounced upon Adam and Eve and the curse placed upon the earth (because of Adam). Why? Because of the rebellion against God by Adam. Sin gives birth to sin; suffering gives birth to suffering. And here we find ourselves.
God does not mean for suffering; rather, suffering exists because of the world we live in and the sin that is so prevalent in our lives.
So does God let suffering happen? Obviously the answer is yes because we see it and experience it every day. This then begs the question: why does God let suffering happen? Well, I guess I could respond with: why not? I don’t mean that as a cop-out. If God were to snap His fingers and make things all better (and what is “better”?) would God be just? No, and an unjust God is a horrible thought. If God were unjust, He could potentially let Hitler off with his sins. Equally, He could damn to Hell the penitent sinner who knew Christ as saviour and friend.
My thinking leads me to conclude that God must be just (or I don’t want to know Him). But why does God continue to let suffering happen? Well, I guess it goes back to the choice in the Garden of Eden – death over life was chosen. God let’s our free choice take its course… but it’s all part of His unchangeable will.
Life is all about God’s glory. God’s will is all about God’s glory. In the words of Louie Giglio, “God is all about God.” (And it is not egotistical of Him to be like that – if He is truly God. Why? Because there is no one greater than Him. This is leading off topic… so I’ll leave it for another conversation.) Although God is a God of peace, that does not automatically mean that God does not/should not allow suffering.
Leaning on the doctrine of God, which describes His sovereignty and omniscience (and which I will not defend or explore here), we know that Adam and Eve’s choice was not a surprise to God. Furthermore, suffering was not a surprise to God. But everything was created in His full knowledge of what would happen. Strangely this leads to the idea that suffering is for God’s glory. Is that so strange? After all, Christ came to earth and suffered, and He descended into Hell and suffered, but all to and for the glory of God. We, too, suffer (perhaps deservedly so, perhaps as a by-product of original sin) but again it must be to or for God’s glory.
On the face of it, and keeping our thoughts personal and small and selfish, this might make God appear malevolent and evil, but I instead say it’s all to the glory of God.
I think only those in the elect might be able to see this truth (if it is such, and not just my ramblings). Those not will undoubtedly put it down to confusion, dreaming, brain washing or the like. But we in the elect know that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” [Romans 8:18]. We understand that all suffering (due to sin) is deserved and just. (To disagree with this is to be ignorant to the nature of sin.) We know that this life is temporary and that by God’s great mercy and grace (and only by such – c.f. Calvin’s first point on the depravity of man and his second point on the unconditional election of the chosen ones) we will not suffer forever. We hope against hope that Revelation 21:4 will be true for us:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Postscript
I know that some of the conclusions I have drawn are hard to accept, and no one would want to articulate them to the mother who’s child is stillborn, the man whose diagnosed with aggressive testicular too late or the child who’s parents are no longer speaking. But believe me when I say that I am not touting the reason for man’s suffering. I am no theologian. I don’t know the mind of God. I am merely exploring things that I meet on my journey of faith. I note them down here, not for my glory, but for my benefit, my memory and my correction (by others through comments).
a dream : a battlecry
Ben has posted inspiring words – go read!
My favourite lines are:
This smile isn’t priceless, it was paid for by the blood of Jesus.
…I refuse to quit, I fall seven times and pick myself up eight.
Lines that are especially true:
Others are still moaning about the sin I committed a week ago, and I have jumped a million hurdles after that.
I change in my heart, but because I don’t publicise it, the negative perception some people have sticks.
i’m a superhero!
Your results:
You are Superman
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You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.  |
Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…
(Hat tip to Buff.)
the fear of unconditional election
You know what scares me even more than the way the world is going? The thought that I am not part of the elect.
The general doctrine of Predestination is something that I have never really got to grips with in the past. Only now am I beginning to grasp what it’s on about – in particular, Calvin’s application of this doctrine in one of his Five Points (Unconditional Election).
The Westminster Confession (1646, Chap. X, p. 1-4.) puts it thus:
All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ … This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein … Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, … yet they never truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved …
It’s that last sentence that hits home with me: “although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, … yet they never truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved…” If I am not in the elect, I never will be; there is nothing I can do to earn, get or buy salvation. How do I know I am part of the elect and not merely “called by the ministry of the Word”? Is it wrong to doubt one’s salvation?
