Evidently, God Has A Problem

Or is it that we have a problem with God?

Hmmmm.
Some things make my stomach turn. This is one. Though I have been feeling nauseated today...maybe it's just making it worse. Still, I felt fine yesterday when I read this and in seconds my tummy did a 180*.
I was reading my new issue of Answers in Genesis, which I LOVE. Get it ASAP!!!! No, I'm not getting paid to say that...but GET IT! It was just a little blip only three paragraphs long.




The God Problem


"If there's an all-powerful and loving God in this world, why is there so much excruciating pain and unspeakable suffering? This variation of an often asked question opens a new book entitled God's Problem. The author, who trained at a well-known Bible institute and then earned his doctorate in New Testament studies from Princeton, eventually rejected Christianity because that question seemed unanswerable.
As he studied the nature of evil and God's existence, the writer drifted away from his evangelical upbringing and eventually became an agnostic because he found no satisfactory answer.
Apparently, the author of God's Problem never took seriously Genesis's account of the origin of death and suffering."

(Taken from Answers in Genesis magazine Vol. 3, #4 (and it goes on a little)



I didn't have to read more about this man (you can learn more about him here), or his book to feel very, very sorry for him. It drove me to thinking and accumulating thoughts scattering here and there the last few weeks in my brain. Here is the scrapping in random form. Please excuse the jumbling.



1- God does not have problems, He is all righteous....we are the ones who have problems. Every single thing He does, did, will do fits together perfectly in the awesome pattern of his desire for His glory and we only benefit from taking part in that.



2- As Donna said in a post comment here, we will naturally disagree with God. I found it so profound, and I have been contemplating it's truth the last week.

Yesterday I was closing the door to my fridge to find the smiling face of my dad staring back at me. I keep his memorial service picture there. I was overwhelmed with remembering his quiet submissive response to God making clear it was time for him to die. The God who he loved for years, trusted, served and held onto for His very soul was telling him it was time to die. Did he agree with God? I can tell you, absolutely not. He wanted to stay. He wanted to see my kids, his grand babies, grow up. He wanted to be there for my mom and brother. You could see the struggle on his face. But people, it was not a struggle to believe, it was a struggle to accept. God did not expect my dad to agree with Him, expected him to submit and trust.

I should not be surprised that I disagree with God at times, just like I'm not surprised my daughter disagrees with me when I say she can't do an extra educating activity after school three nights a week because it takes away from our family. I do expect her to submit to me and trust me. I owe the same to God.

The fact that the fate of humanity involves suffering for now anyway, does not take away my faith in God. I don't agree that we should suffer, but I don't think God expects that of me.



3- The author says that the bible does not answer why we suffer. This is not true. The bible tels again and again that we suffer because of sin entering the world. As Answers in Genesis goes on to say:



"Genesis 3 explains that God cursed the world because of mankind's sin, beginning with Adam. But God's Word also reveals that HE had a higher purpose in mind. HE promised to send a Seed of Adam- God's own Son, Jesus Christ (BTW, aren't you glad it's almost Christmas!) who would one day 'conquer death' and remove the Curse."



4- God does not have a problem, Bart D. Ehrman has a problem with God. He disagrees with Him. God has ordained that man should suffer for a time (Indeed, he must since he is the complete author of all time and nothing happens that he has not allowed. We may not like this, but it does not make it false) This is the dark hue in the amazing painting of history. We don't like that it's black, but we also cannot see from heaven's perspective, how amazing the finished piece will be.



5-What is the other alternative? And this is where I feel truly sorry and deeply sad for this man. He has traded the truth for a lie and it will, in the end lead him into utter despair. Where is the triumph in proving that God does not exist by saying that God does not answer why we suffer?

Let me spew for a moment:

IF there is not God, and man suffers so, he is truly the saddest product of evolution or what ever other belief system there is. There is no future solution to his sin and suffering, no promise, no redemption, only despair. Why does man suffer if not for the reason that God allows it for a beautiful result in the end? Are we just plain miserable, in a miserable world, haunted by a miserable existence?

Let's take this a step further:

If there is not God, I declare my right to do exactly as I please. I declare my right to seek my own happiness and comfort at the expense to all. Perhaps that sounds shocking. Yet, who do I own anything to? Do I owe the world my being a good humanitarian? Why? It does me no good. Do I owe the earth my kindness? Why, I won't be here forever. Why should I seek anything besides my own peace and fulfillment? Because it's just the right thing to do? Says who? Says other people? Why should I do what they say? If there is no God, I don't have to be anything I don't want to. I am just existing in a sad and meaningless circle of despair. Even the very beauty of the world would begin to mean nothing to me because it would not save me from my meaninglessness because it does not stand for anything beyond itself. I would do what I want, when I wanted. I would not love one man, I would lust after many. I would not stay home and give of myself for my children, I would strike out and find a new thrill. Why not? There is no reason to be good, helpful, responsible, accountable, loving.....etc. There is only me.

I truly believe if it were not for God, my one life would be one shot at something satisfying because there would be no reason for otherwise.



People might say: "Well, you should do what you can for the future!" Why? Why should I care about the future of humanity? That has nothing to do with me!

People also say that all of creation is working toward a better tomorrow and a better species. If it's getting better, I'm not seeing it. Furthermore, if there is no God, I really should not have to care what anyone else thinks or does. ME would be all that mattered.

Why do people do unselfish good things outside of God then? One reason, it makes them feel good, and THAT is how it's still about THEM.

To reject God would be to reject my own happiness. They are one in the same. My happiness is wrapped up in His. To reject him would mean to loose that happiness in the eternal future, and to loose it hear in the temporal present. As the quote on my blog says:

"Aim at heaven, and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth, and you get neither."

C.S. Lewis



Men reject God because they want to do what they want, to be the god of themselves. Little do they know that because they were not made by the creator to achieve happiness this way, they cut off their only link to true happiness. Even doing what they want their whole lives will make them completely miserable.

Ehrman has a problem with suffering, so he rejects God. Unfortunately, he has just signed on for a present and eternal existence of true suffering.

To suffer is to be separated from God. That is the ultimate suffering.

We are created to be with Him. We are separated because of sin. The solution to sin was Jesus. Now we can endure our present suffering with joy. Joy of the redemption we have been given. To reject all these is to reject the only answer to our suffering that the universe is offering.

There is no other offering of healing to man's suffering. He will only make himself more miserable the more he rejects his creator.



6-In essence Ehrman is saying: "Because God can't show me a good reason why He has allowed for me to suffer, I reject Him as God."

The irony is that this man has rejected God because he does not feel that a loving God could do this, and in the end, he has rejected the amazing love that can be trusted. For indeed, it can. We are the ones who have to choose if we trust. God remains the same. He does not have a problem because we say he does.

Many men will run to this book and will praise it, because many men are looking for more "smart" reasons to reject God.



"But we know that our present sufferings cannot compare to the joy set before us" Romans 8:18



Mr Ehrman...what better has the universe offered you?

I'll stick with the joy set before me instead of trading it for meaningless suffering and a evolutionary race going nowhere but further on in their existence of meaningless suffering.



As a matter of fact Mr. Ehrman, if you reject God because he does not answer why you have to suffer, yet he promises a glorious end to your story anyway, if you trust him, why then would you trust yourself to an agnostic exchange? Having no God doesn't answer your question either and it has no such glorious promise for you to look forward to.



I plan to read this book. I think it is probably a highlight example of when man let's his own understanding trump his faith. The end result is always complete despair. I was angry at first at this man, but the more I think of it, the more I am truly overwhelmed with sadness for him.



I will be there the day God explains why he let us suffer. Where will you be Mr. Ehrman, or will you still be suffering?

I pray you will trade your manly wisdom for godly faith.

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. C. S. Lewis

Lord, thank you that you are truth and that you are unchanging. Thank you that because you are the author of love, you are incapable of doing anything that is not truly loving. Thank you that you hold the mysteries and you can be trusted with them. Thank you that faith is believe what is unseen and yet faith is the assurance greater than what is seen. Thank you for not leaving me to myself and therefore utter misery. Most of all thank you for Christ, the great answer in the universe to our suffering.

The Devil Would Prefer You Be A Naturalist

I'm slowly moving through the Heaven book. Loving it, but moving slow. Summer breaks are never as endless as they seem!
What I read today is something I love to think about and remember. Thought it worth sharing. Show of hands.... post comment if you have read "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn, or are planning to read it in the next few months. What did you think of the book if you did read it? Have you read any of his fiction? What did you think of it?

The more I get caught up in heaven, the more I see how people could see me as insane. I mean, let's be real here... those wonderful extremist are willing to blow themselves up for the truckload of virgins on the other side right? (how disappointed THEY shall be!) Are we in the same quack category as they are? Well, I guess it's easy to think of believers as nuts because of one thing....

The enemy has bestowed on us with our sin nature a spell of naturalism. Here is Alcorn:

"C.S. Lewis depicts another source of our misconceptions about Heaven: naturalism, the belief that the world can be understood in scientific terms, without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations.
In The Silver Chair, Puddleglum, Jill, and Eustace are captured in a sunless underground world by an evil witch who calls herself the queen of the underworld. The witch claims that her prisoners' memories of the overword, Narnia, are but figments of their imagination . She laughs condescendingly at their child's game of "pretending" that there's a world above and a great ruler of that world.
When they speak of the sun that's visible in the world above, she asks them what a sun is. Groping for words, they compare it to a giant lamp. She replies, 'When you try to think out clearly what this sun must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like a lamp. your sun is a dream; and there is nothing in that dream that was not copied from the lamp.'
When they speak of Aslan the lion, king of Narnia, she says they have seen cats and have merely projected those images not the make-believe notion of a giant cat. They begin to waver.
The queen, who hates Aslan and wishes to conquer Narnia, tries to deceive them into thinking that whatever they cannot perceive with their senses must be imaginary- which is the essence of naturalism. The longer they are unable to see the world they remember, the more they lose sight of it.
She says to them, hypnotically, 'There never was any world but mine,' and they repeat after her, abandoning reason, parroting her deceptions. Then she coos softly, 'There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan.' This illustrates Satan's power to mold our weak minds as we are trapped in a dark, fallen world. We're prone to deny the great realities of God and the Heaven, which we can no longer see because of the Curse."

Now.... here is the part I love....that I sat across the dinning room table when my dad was still sitting up, and read to him. He was discouraged and tempted to doubt at the very door of death whether all he had put his faith into was what he would find when he walked through that door... I read this:

"Finally when it appears they succumbed tot he queen's lies, Puddleglum breaks the spell and says to the enraged queen, 'Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things- trees and grass and sun and moon and starts and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that.... the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow.'"
(oh, man, don't you just LOVE Lewis!!!! The astounding thing about Lewis is his endless imagery of the gospel hidden in his fiction and each time you read it you seem to peel back another layer and see more! How does he do that? And yet, on the whole, it is an amazing children's work to boot! Amazing.)

Alcorn goes on to say that the things in that world (lamp and cats) are actually reflections of the real world's sun and Aslan, not the other way around. Also, that earth is an extension of Heaven, created by the Creator, not Heaven being the extension of earth.
He then adds:
"Sometimes we're like Lewis's characters. We succumb to naturalistic assumptions that what we see is real and what we don't see isn't. God can't be real, we conclude, because we can't see him. And Heaven can't be real because we can't see it. But we must recognize our blindness. The blind must take by faith that there are stars in the sky. If they depend on their ability to see, they will conclude there are no stars.
We must work to resist the bewitching spell of naturalism. Sitting here in a dark world, we must remind ourselves what Scripture tells us about Heaven. We will one day be delivered from the blindness that separates us from the real world. we'll realize then the stupefying bewitchment fires of naturalism so that we may clearly see the liberating truth about Christ the King of Heaven, his kingdom."

One of my favorite songs is Toby Mac's "Loose My Soul" and these word are the highlight of the song (you can find the song on Youtube if you want to hear it)

Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world,
That fight for our love, and our passion,
As our eyes are open wide and on you.
Grant us the privilege of your world view,
And may your kingdom be, what wakes us up, and lays us down.

More Jane Eyre Thoughts

I just finished part 2 of The Master Piece Theater version of Jane Eyre. It was absolutely excellent. There was one scene where I found acting a little forced but the only reason I noticed it is because it is one of the most passionate scenes in the book and Timothy Dalton played it so well in the BBC version. It was not bad, but it did not rise to the occasion of the novel. It was the scene where Mr. Rochester speaks of his coming wedding (he is not telling Jane that he means his wedding to her, but allows her to think he speaks of his intentions for Miss Ingram), until Jane is unable to be tormented no longer. I WILL say, that this actress of Jane played the scene in excellence! She is an awkwardly plain and yet beautiful actress. She makes a very good Jane in the scene that she captures more the heart of Jane from the book more than the BBC Jane. She has more passion and humor which I remember feeling from the book but which was totally lacking in my favorite version of the movie.
I would not say I like this one more, I like the Timothy Dalton one for it's own reasons. However, I will say that I like it equally and that is saying something. On that note, I have noticed that there was a new version made into movie in the past few years. I will have to check it out.
Nothing beats the book, so read it first.
Every time I read or watch the story of Jane Eyre my heart is swelling at the end. Like it has been running laps on some emotional treadmill. At times the walk is light, at times your unable to catch your breath your sprinting so fast, and in the end you feel like you have been somewhere far away and are back again. Like you have emotionally traveled and are happily weary.
You Tube is filled with many wonderful music video's of the movie, yet some are also stupid and ridiculous. I really thought this one captured the heart tug of the story. It does not cary on to the happy ending but it gives you a good idea of the movie. Enjoy!


Just a last note of interest....the young Jane Eyre is played by the actress who is Lucy Pevancy on The Cronicles of Narnia. They look amazingly alike she and the older Jane actress.

The Providence of God

I'm in a ladies bible study going though Jerry Bridges book Trusting God Even When Life Hurts. We are not too far into the book yet, this week is chapters two and three.
I was amazed at a startling identification of wrong thinking that he brings to the surface. He states: "The implicit assumption in the minds of many is: If God is both powerful and good, why is there so much suffering, so much pain, so much heartache in the world? God is either good and not all powerful, or He is powerful and not all good. You can't have it both ways."

I was struck by this because it reminds me of one of the main questions I get from unbelievers. "If God is so great, why are people starving in Ethiopia?" I remember that one since I was a child. I think even kids grapple with it.

Yet Jerry goes on to point out that the bible teaches us that "God is sovereign (all-powerful) and He is good." We refer to this as the Providence of God. Yet, two things go wrong he points out with the way in which e refer to the providence of God. "For one, we almost always use the expression 'the providence of God' in connection with apparently 'good' events."

How true that is! I have done that myself. Even though going through my dad's death was the most grueling and yet faith building experience of my life, you would never have heard me state in any conversation or testimony that "In God's providence by dad died of stomach cancer at 54". It makes it sound like I wanted it. Eeeek, does that mean that God wanted it!? Well, we use the word wanted, where He uses the word willed. This does not come easy to our nature to accept. Bridges states that "we are reluctant to attribute 'bad' things to the intervening hand of God".

The second problem was not one I related to as closely but that I have experienced from others. "The second problem with our popular use of the expression 'the providence of God' is that we either unconsciously or deliberately imply that God intervenes at specific points in our lives but is largely only an interested spectator most of the time. When we think this way, even unconsciously, we reduce God's control over our lives to a stop-and-go, in-and-out proposition. Our unconscious attitude is that the rest of the time we are the 'master of our fates' or conversely the victims of unhappy circumstances or uncaring people that cross our paths."
Bridges then defines the providence of God: "God's providence is His constant care for and His absolute rule over all His creation for His own glory and the good of His people."

At this point, one, like myself, could become scared or depressed by the fact that God is not only not going to spare me pain, he may will that I suffer! How can he do that if he loves me?! I think I use to think that sin was the reason for all the bad things happen and God made it for good. Well, that is still true, but the fact is that God allows it to touch me just as he allowed Satan to have his way with Job. There is some fear that arises here. Then, Bridges says the most soothing balm to my soul, that God has a two-fold objective, His glory and our good. "God never pursues His glory at the expense of the good of His people, nor does He ever seek our good at the expense of His glory. He has designed His eternal purpose so that His glory and our good are inextricably bound together." My heart sighs a deep sigh. The byproduct of that sigh is an overwhelming wave of trust. Do I expect to understand the pain while I still live? No, not always, but He is totally focused on my good and His glory in a perfect balance that I cannot understand, that is a spiritual treasure that cannot be contained!

Note, however, that the definition of 'my good' is not my earthy happiness or provisions, it is my eternal good. What state will my heart be in regard to him when I step into heaven? That is what He is working on. What effect will I make on those around me for His glory? That is what He is working on. What part do I get the privilege of partaking in for his ultimate glory? That is what He is working on. Oh, and so I race forward in my mind to that wonderful day at the beama seat when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess He is Lord, and all glory of God will finally be seen by those who chose to be reconciled and even those who did not before the final judgement. That amazing moment, is when my good will be realized and I will experience it for all it's worth, never to turn back to the pain that brought me to it. WOW! Jesus compared this journey to a race, and He was right to do that. The pain of the running, the pushing on, the sweating and the muscles aching, are all what this working of His is. The finish line and the Glory of the guarantee of championship is what we are headed for, and what He is working towards. How can we not think He is involved in the pain as well? Now that I think about it, I am thankful to Bridges for pointing it out because I think I do subconsciously think this way even with all the harsh things I've gone through. "Because He (God) does not act as we think He should, we conclude He cannot act as we think He would." Now we know why he barked back at Job saying "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world?" I LOVE THAT STATEMENT! I both hate it and love it. My sinful side hates it because it shrinks me to nothing. The Holy Spirit in me gets thrilled to death because it blows him up to the biggest fraction of His greatness that my mind can possible contain. There is such joy in submitting to how great God is! I truly believe that this act of submission is the one thing that keeps people from bowing their hearts to Christ. What do you think their thoughts are when Christ knocks at their heart? He says "Here I am, I am showing my truth to you through this person, or this event, or this reading of my word, won't you let me in to be the Lord of your life and reconcile you back to my Father?" I imagine that the immediate thought of the unbeliever is related somehow to being the one in control of their life, or that they can manage themselves, or that they are their own god, that they don't need Him or want to give into Him. It has to have something to do with the rejection of submission. Yet, the fact is, that submission to God, TRUSTING HIM, is the greatest one-way ticket to joy the world cannot give through any of its wealth, fame, medicine, or success. Why? Because it has nothing to do with us and all to do with the one who WAS there at the foundation of the world!
So, as my heart swells with amazing realization I find it affects my practical life in the smallest way. We have a major leak in our house. This seemed unbelievable to me at first. Our home is only nine years old. We thought the tub was leaking underneath but found it had nothing to do with the tub. The wall in the bathroom is soaked inside and black mold is on the drywall at the bottom. Then, I look up and there is a yellow circle on the ceiling right next to the wall that is wet on the bottom. The water came in and soaked all around the tub. Our big rug was saturated. It has been raining so much. There is a definite problem. My normal self panics at this. We just cracked our budget down to a no meat level (that's another blog), we can't afford this. I usually panic and start getting so grumpy. This time I found myself saying to myself "In God's providence, my house is leaking. Well, I can't wait to see how He will fix it!"
Hey, you have to thank God for your spiritual baby steps. He has probably been trying to get through for a long time:).

ps: My keyboard has been having problems where some letters don't register when I type them. I try so hard to edit these posts but sometimes I don't catch it all. Thank you for your patience. Yesterday Rick read my post below and we both cracked up when we realized that it stated that the house was worthless for "hosing" the Holy Spirit. Please, don't hose the Holy Spirit people:) It has been changed to "housing".