Posts Tagged ‘suffering’

“… and those only that feel the keener wound are known as Lovers”[1]

I have lived a life of quite undeserved happiness and health.  However, a few weeks ago I was struck with a severe pain running down the entire length of my left leg from some pinched nerve.  At approximately the same time I was teaching from Julian of Norwich’s Showings and was struck by her desire for “three gifts of God” and how they relate to the mysterious role of suffering and a life of love. Read the rest of this entry »

            Psalm 1:3 declares that the righteous who meditate on God’s word prosper in all that they do, whereas the wicked are blown away like chaff.  This sounds wonderful, but reality often contradicts it.  The wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.  Does Psalm 1 mislead us?  Is God’s word false? Read the rest of this entry »

      Skeptics rightly complain that Christians point to answered prayer as proof for the existence of God while ignoring the fact that many events happen contrary to those very prayers. 

      On the other hand, popular Christian slogans proclaim that faith works and prayer changes things.  Followers of the so-called “Health and Wealth Gospel” take these slogans to an extreme and contend that true faith ensures against suffering.  Hebrews 11 corrects both skeptical and Christian false ideas about faith. Read the rest of this entry »