We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
The Warfare Worldview: What Would You Tell the Younger You?
Jessica Kelley has been fleshing out the Warfare Worldview on her blog in a series of posts using the lens of the death of her child, Henry. Jessica is a beautiful writer, and her reflections are powerful and tender. You’re going to want to be listening to her. Her voice is an important one as we reflect on the problem of evil and our picture of God.
From her blog reflection:
I picked up a stuffed seahorse from her nightstand and pressed its belly. The toy lit up with an amber glow and began to play soothing lullabies. That seahorse would lure Henry to sleep for years, and even accompany him into surgeries when she and her husband, Ian, were forced to stay behind. Henry would develop a deep sense of security and comfort from his seahorse… though it offered no real protection.
I realized that what I mostly wanted was to beg Young Jess to wrestle with her picture of God. It would be two years before she learned that God’s heart was fully represented in the person of Jesus Christ. Until then she’d believe in the blueprint worldview, the notion that everything occurs in accordance with God’s perfect plan, his “meticulous divine blueprint,”2 as though God would orchestrate or nod in approval at what was to come.
Category: General
Tags: Henry, Jessica Kelley, Picture of God, Problem of Evil, Warfare Worldview
Related Reading
The Reality of Satan and the Spiritual Realm
A theme that underlies Jesus’ entire ministry is the apocalyptic assumption that creation has been seized by a cosmic force and that God is now battling this force to rescue it. Jesus understood himself to be the one in whom this battle was to be played out in a decisive way. The assumption is evident…
Who You Are Reflects the Kind of God You Worship
We always reflect the mental picture of God that we envision, for better or worse. If you have a fear-based picture of God, it will even affect the structure of your brain. You become the kind of person that you worship. If you have a threatening picture of God, you become threatening. If you have a…
Enduring an Evil-Infested World (6 Principles) —part one
We live in the midst of a spiritual battlefield where we face evil daily. Yet we are also in the midst of an ambiguity that hinders us from knowing why any given evil occurs as it does. Can we find solace, hope, and courage in the midst of this war, especially when we face meaningless…
New Testament Support for the Warfare Worldview
Warfare in Jesus’ Ministry The theme of God striving to establish his sovereign will (his Kingdom) on earth over and against forces that oppose him is prevalent in the New Testament. In keeping with the apocalyptic climate of the time, there are many references to angels at war with God, demons that torment people, and…
Where is Human Free Will in the Bible?
The Bible is emphatic on its teaching that humans possess free will and are capable of originating evil. Notice, for example, that in the very first chapter of the Bible God commands humans to be fruitful and exercise dominion over the animal kingdom and the earth (Gen. 1:26). The fact that God must command us…
Secret Doubt
J L via Compfight We don’t usually do this, but Jessica Kelley (Henry’s mom) over at Jess in Process wrote a piece about her struggles with doubt, and we got her permission to reprint it in its entirety. She perfectly represents the basic premise of Greg’s upcoming book Benefit of the Doubt. Thanks Jess! Secret…