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.

Grieving and Comfort

2006-08-26 Mourning pretty

Henning Mühlinghaus via Compfight

Ben Witherington posted this heartfelt reflection on the sudden death of his young daughter. Theology can sometimes be a relatively benign part of your life until something like this strikes without warning. That’s where things really begin to matter. This reminded us of Jessica Kelley’s reflections on the death of her son Henry. These are the voices that ring with authority on the topic of theodicy and suffering and the picture of God that you hold.

From Ben’s blog:

One of the primary reasons I am not a Calvinist and do not believe in such predestinings from the hand of God is (1) because I find it impossible to believe that I am more merciful or compassionate than God.   Also, (2) the Biblical portrait of God is that God is pure light and holy love; in him there is no darkness, nothing other than light and love.  (3) The words “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away,” from the lips of Job, are not good theology.  They’re bad theology.  According to Job 1, it was not God, but the Devil who took away Job’s children, health and wealth.  God allowed it to happen, but when Job said these words, as the rest of the story shows, he was not yet enlightened about the true nature of where his calamity came from and what God’s will actually was for his life — which was for good, and not for harm.

Related Reading

Dying to Live

Image by Benjamin Corey A few days ago, Benjamin Corey over at Formerly Fundy posted a blog about an encounter he had with God in the Holy Land. He shared that he’s been going through a difficult time, and that God met him in a desolate place to speak to him. You should definitely hop…

In the Face of Blueprint Words

Many of you know Jessica Kelley through the posts we’ve featured about her on the ReKnew site. She is someone we’ve come to love very much. Jessica lost her five year old son Henry to cancer and has since begun writing a book about her journey. We can’t wait until it’s published. While Greg has…

Podcast: Can a Person Choose Jesus After Death, and is that Fair for Everyone?

Greg points his analytical periscope into the afterlife to consider the complicated nature of sanctification. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0110.mp3

A Calvinist Take on the Problem of Evil

Carnie Lewis via Compfight Here’s a Calvinist view on the problem(s) of evil in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings. It’s the old God-as-author analogy. In essence, this is how Calvinism views God’s role in any instance of radical evil (quoted from the Desiring God article): But, of course, the Bible says more than…

Is God Good?

Andrew Stawarz via Compfight This reflection by David D. Flowers seemed like a good addition to Greg’s recent blogs on free will. Here David talks about the problem of evil and how it is that we can call God “good” in light of a world full of evil. He even quotes Greg extensively. From the…

Penal Substitution View of Atonement: Did God the Father Just Need to Vent?

In this video blog, Greg outlines the penal substitution view of atonement which says that the Father poured out his wrath on Jesus instead of us so that we could be forgiven. This view is very common and you might even be nodding your head in agreement with that description. However, this view creates some…