We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

The Open View and Radical Suffering

photo-2Jessica Kelley spoke at Open2013 this morning, sharing her journey with tenderness and authority. Jessica began wrestling with her view of God a couple of years ago and embraced Open Theism prior to the diagnosis and eventual death of her four-year-old son, Henry. Everyone here at the conference was profoundly affected by her story and by the beauty of the God who walked with her and her husband through the darkest days of their lives. We’re so grateful that she has been open to sharing with us in this way.

Someone commented afterwards, “Theologians can work their whole lives to refine their views, but there are places where our words fall short. We have to allow the voices of those who have suffered to rise up and teach us.” This was a moment where a room full of theologians listened in silence and with tears to the voice of a grieving mother, and learned what this theology really means when radical suffering comes. Jessica reminded us, “The blueprint worldview turns broken people away from the One who was broken for them.”

Although her portion of the conference was not taped (big mistake) we’ll be working at getting her presentation to all of you as soon as possible. God is doing something amazing here.

Related Reading

When God’s “Plan A” Falls Through, What’s Next?

Image by Katie Tegtmeyer via Flickr Suzanne was angry, to say the least. Since her early teens, her only aspirations in life were to be a missionary to Taiwan and to marry a godly man with a similar vision, and she prayed daily about these. She went to a Christian college and, quite miraculously, quickly met…

Topics:

What’s the signficance of Judges 10:6-17

The Israelites rebelled against Yahweh and worshipped other gods. As a result, Yahweh withdrew his protection of them and “sold them into the hands of te Philistines and the Ammonites” (Judg. 10:6-7). The Israelites eventually acknowledged their sin and cried out to God (vs. 10) but Yahweh, perhaps perceiving that their repentance wasn’t genuine, told…

Topics:

What is the significance of Deuteronomy 30:19?

After establishing the terms of the covenant he was entering into with Israel, the Lord says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” This passage represents the most fundamental motif…

Topics:

Podcast: If the Future is Open How Can We Know God Wins in the End?

Greg discusses the open future and speculates on how God can still be assured victory in the end. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0069.mp3

How do you respond to Ezekiel 26:1–21?

There are a number of specific prophecies against various cities in the Old Testament which were fulfilled (though some were not, see Jer. 18:6–10). The Lord’s prophecy against Tyre is one of the most impressive. The Lord says Nebuchadnezzar will ravage the seaport (vs. 7–11) and tear down all the buildings and throw the rubble…

Freedom in the Subatomic World