I believe that God can and will generate good out of everything, even out of the worst evil. For that, he needs people who allow that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.
I believe that God will give us in each state of emergency as much power of resistance as we need. But he will not give in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves but on him alone. Through such faith all anxiety concerning the future should be overcome.
I believe that even our mistakes and failings are not in vain, and that it is not more difficult for God to cope with these as with our assumed good deeds.
I believe that God is not a timeless fate, but that he waits for and responds to honest prayers and responsible action.
Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 December 2013
The Question That Never Goes Away
Heavenly Father,
whose children suffered at the hands of Herod,
though they had done no wrong:
by the suffering of your Son
and by the innocence of our lives
frustrate all evil designs
and establish your reign of justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Philip Yancey, The Question That Never Goes Away: What is God up to in a world of such tragedy and pain? (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2013) has the following quotes:
"Only a suffering God can answer whether this planet is worth the cost. I have a clue to the answer, though, after talking to families who lost a son or daughter. If you ask them - 'These six or seven years you had with your child, were they worth the pain you feel now?' - you will hear a decisive Yes. As the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote after the death of a young friend, ''Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' Perhaps God feels the same way about fallen creation?" (109)
whose children suffered at the hands of Herod,
though they had done no wrong:
by the suffering of your Son
and by the innocence of our lives
frustrate all evil designs
and establish your reign of justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Philip Yancey, The Question That Never Goes Away: What is God up to in a world of such tragedy and pain? (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2013) has the following quotes:
Miroslav Volf: Those who observe suffering are tempted to reject God; those who experience it often cannot give up on God, their solace and their agony...You can protest against the evil of the world only if you believe in a good God. Otherwise the protest doesn’t make sense.(Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace ([Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005], 190-91
and having asked for many years "Where is God when it hurts?" now also asks: "Where is no-God when it hurts?"Ingmar Bergman: You were born without purpose, you live without meaning, living is its own meaning. When you die, you are extinguished. (The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography [New York: Viking Penguin, 1988], 204)
"Only a suffering God can answer whether this planet is worth the cost. I have a clue to the answer, though, after talking to families who lost a son or daughter. If you ask them - 'These six or seven years you had with your child, were they worth the pain you feel now?' - you will hear a decisive Yes. As the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote after the death of a young friend, ''Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' Perhaps God feels the same way about fallen creation?" (109)
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