Suffering
Greg Shares His Journey With Chronic Pain
Category: General
Tags: Greg Boyd, Pain, ReKnew, Staying Awake, Suffering
Greg recently decided that he needed to discontinue taking his pain medication despite chronic neck issues for which there are no easy answers. Here he shares that decision and the journey he’s on to remain…
The Gift of Bearing Witness
Category: General
Tags: Faithfulness, Jonathan Martin, Listening, Prototype, Suffering
Eustaquio Santimano via Compfight Our friend, Jonathan Martin, was featured in She Loves Magazine in a piece he wrote called At Least One Person Waiting. It’s an extraordinary reflection on sitting with the ones we…
On Mental Illness and Jumping from a Burning Building
Category: General
Tags: Ann Voskamp, Compassion, Love, Matthew Warren, Rick Warren, Suffering, Suicide
seyed mostafa zamani via Compfight Ann Voskamp wrote this piece in the wake of the suicide of Rick Warren’s son. It’s disheartening to hear so many thoughtless and cruel comments by other Christians when tragedies…
The Witness of Graffiti (Rocks Crying Out)
Category: General
Tags: Creation, Easter, Jesus, Justice, Kingdom, Suffering
Ibrahim Iujaz via Compfight On this eve of Easter, we wanted to share something that fit the mood of the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. D.L. Mayfield wrote this striking piece on the…
On Suffering and God’s Goodness
Category: General
Tags: God's Character, Kingdom, Suffering, Theodicy
Hani Amir via Compfight Seth Haines wrote a guest post on Tanya Marlow’s blog called The Overcoming Kingdom. He reflects on his young son’s illness and the questions it provoked in him, and the hope he…
Violence: What Did Jesus Do?
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Non-Violence, Suffering, The Way of the Cross, Upside-Down Kingdom
Thomas Quine via Compfight Here’s a spot-on reflection on what Jesus taught us about responding to violence. Whatever you think about the justification of violence in particular situations, as Christians we simply cannot escape the fact…
The Suffering of God
Category: General
Tags: Creation, Current Events, Doubt, Faith, God, Newtown, Pain, Problem of Evil, Suffering, Theodicy
NYC.andre via Compfight This seems like a good follow-up post from what Greg posted yesterday. Charisma posted this reflection on the problem of evil and the suffering of God. It’s a great summary of our…
When Free Will Meets Unfathomable Evil
Category: Q&A
Tags: Current Events, Emilie Parker, Evil, Faith, Free Will, God, Greg Boyd, Grief, Newtown, Problem of Evil, ReKnew, Robbie Parker, Satan, Suffering, Theodicy
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
In the face of tragedy Christians unfortunately tend to recite clichés that attempt to reassure people that, however terrible things seem, everything is unfolding according to God’s mysterious plan. We hear that “God has his…
God-Talk When Disaster Strikes
Category: General
Tags: Picture of God, Suffering, Theodicy
Kent Annan posted 5 God Excuses to Avoid After a Natural Disaster and Conor Finnegan shared some social media God-speak that was posted in the aftermath of Sandy’s devastation. Disasters like this reveal so much…
Approaching Chronic Illness with Wisdom
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Suffering
CNN posted this article on what to say and what not to say when someone you love is suffering with chronic illness. Sometimes our best intentions cause more harm than good, and we need to…