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
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.
Category: General
Tags: Ben Witherington, Death, Grief, Hope, Jessica Kelley, Picture of God, Theodicy
Related Reading
Why? The Question That Cannot Be Answered
Yesterday Greg sent out the following flurry of tweets: To provide some background to these tweets, the following illustration will prove helpful: They mystery of evil and an eight-second interval Let’s assume that there is an eight-second interval between two cars. Now let’s try to explain why there is this eight-second interval at this particular…
“Natural” Evil? 7 Arguments Implicating Satan
Image by Jmos® via Flickr We believe that God is the Creator of nature, but nature simply does not seem to point to a God of love. Parasites, viruses, bacteria, diseases and cancer kill millions and torment millions more, humans and animals alike. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, mudslides and volcanoes do the same. Theists have traditionally argued that…
Reflections on Divine Violence in the Old Testament
As some of you know, for the last five years I’ve been working on a book addressing the problem of divine violence in the OT. (For alleged violence in the NT, see Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld, Killing Enmity: Violence in the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2011). It will be a highly academic tome, approximately 600…
Podcast: Dear Greg: My Friend Committed Suicide. Should I Pray for Her Soul?
When does our story end? Greg talks about suicide and praying for the dead. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0414.mp3
Starting to Smell
What happens to you when you die? Do we immediately go to heaven as is commonly thought? What can we learn from near death experiences? In this short video, Greg speaks to what the Bibles says about our future after we die.
Reflecting on Henry and the Heart of God
Several years ago Jessica and Ian had their theology revolutionized by coming in contact with the vision of God and the warfare worldview that ReKnew ministries stands for. Tragically, this last September this wonderful couple learned that their precious 4-year-old son Henry had a massive brain tumor and that he had only months to live.…